Volunteering is a great way to share your talents and your time with the community. The Northeastern Center has so many opportunities for volunteers to help out as much as they can, and Kids on the Block is one of them. Kids on the Block is a puppet show with puppets almost the size of real kids. The type of puppetry is a form of traditional Japanese puppet show call bunraku (boon-ra-coo). The puppeteers wear all black and stand behind the puppet to act as its shadow. Volunteers perform skits about teasing, bullying, abuse, and different cultures for 2nd and 3rd graders.

This week was the beginning of performances for this year. Tuesday the 10^th, senior Dezaray Barr and I left at noon and headed for Avilla Elementary. I performed there last year with Dezaray and I had a blast. At Avilla, they have character counts class time; we usually perform during this class. We had a smaller group this time around, but the kids still interacted and they said they had fun watching the puppet show. Then we headed straight to North Side to perform for two classes together. It was a much bigger group. We performed the same shows about being teased and how to tell an adult about it. This group had much more to say since it was the end of the day. I think they were excited to end school work early and they were eager to go home.

Overall, it was a good day. I love to volunteer as much as I can. I completely enjoy giving back to my community that does so much for me. If you would like to join you can call the Northeastern Center and ask for Darcy Vance, the director, email me at [email protected], or come to the cafeteria Tuesday in Academic Lab and get more information.