There is work that gives you monetary returns and then there is work that gives you peace. Volunteering certainly falls in the latter. There’s certain kind of growth that doesn’t show up on transits and test scores, but it comes from handing water bottles on a hot summer day to marathon runners. It comes from organizing coats for kids you’ve never met or probably will never meet. It might sound like a lot of effort, but for Danielle Herschitz, it’s her routine, something she looks forward to every single day.
As a team leader at a youth and teen organization, Danielle Herschitz has spent years guiding young people through their first real exposure to community service. For her, it’s not just the impact of the work that matters but it’s how it rewires teens’ brains. It’s about how powerfully these tiny things affect young minds.
But what, exactly, are they learning?
Accountability in Action
When you think about volunteering or charity, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? It’s how good of a person you are, right? But as per Danielle Herschitz, it’s more than that. It’s the small things that really make a difference, things like showing up on time because someone else is counting on your or taking things in your own hand because it makes someone feel at ease.
Danielle Herschitz points out that teens often begin service projects thinking they’re stepping into flexible, feel-good experiences. What they find instead is that volunteering can feel more like a job – one where professionalism is non-negotiable.
And that’s the point.
Charity events, fundraising, and training programs all depend on good planning. When teens are placed in charge of organizing a coat drive or setting up tables for a fundraiser, they’re learning to be dependable. For many, being reliable is the first time they really see what work ethic looks like outside of school.
The Teens Learn To Listen
It’s natural for teens to have an opinion, especially if they’re growing around a culture that is dependent on individualism and digital noise. In such cases, even a simple act of listening can come across as a challenge.
Volunteering forces a kind of pause. Whether it’s hearing someone’s story or taking direction from a nonprofit team, teens begin to realize that service isn’t about being the hero – it’s about becoming a better listener.
Danielle Herschitz has observed that the teens who stick with volunteering long enough begin to approach people and problems with more curiosity and less judgment. That shift, she says, is one of the most powerful developmental outcomes of community service.
Empathy Without Pity
Being involved in charity and volunteering work for so long herself, Danielle Herschitz firmly stands by the fact that people tend to get more mature and often become more empathetic. It’s never pity, but a calm awareness that some things can only be helped by presence and consistency.
One of the other and more subtle subtle lessons that teens pick up is how to sit with discomfort, without needing to fix it right away. When they volunteer, they encounter real-world hardship that isn’t always solvable in a day. It takes time, and it’s okay that it does.
They Find a Voice and Learn When to Use It
When you’re leading a team, you need to have a voice and you need to speak up when necessary. Yes, being a good listener is important, but speaking up when things go south is also extremely crucial. But as per Danielle Herschitz, the timing is everything. The timing of knowing when is the right time to keep forward a point is something that teens learn via volunteering.
When they lead, they learn how to communicate clearly, delegate, and hold their peers accountable. When they follow, they learn how to respect structure, observe dynamics, and learn from others. This balance builds communication muscles that are hard to develop anywhere else and teens notice it.
They Understand The Quiet Confidence of Contribution
Danielle Herschitz believes and experiences the difference in teens by the end of the service. There is always a shift in the way they carry themselves. It’s not boastful or loud or very visible. But it’s the quiet confidence rooted in the knowledge that they’ve helped someone in some way.
And for Danielle Herschitz, that’s the real outcome of youth charity work. Not just stronger résumés, but stronger character. Not just community hours, but community belonging.
She doesn’t think that youth charity projects are about making people more generous in the future. They are meant to make people better leaders, thinkers, and doers. Teens don’t need another lecture, they need responsibility. And when they get it, they don’t just show up. They step up.
