T-L Photo/KIM LOCCISANO Teens across America are spending more and more of time as volunteers working for the benefit of another. Cameron Kalinsky, of Martins Ferry, considers his first summer of volunteer service at Wheeling Hospital to have already been a great success. One of his primary duties is as a “Pathfinder” which requires him to know the layout of the hospital complex and be able to help patients and family members get to their destination easily, above. “I take them to their destination. I make sure they get where they are to go, without adding the stress of getting confused about directions to their day,” said the Martins Ferry teen.

Volunteering is an American tradition which, at its core, is about sharing a gift many consider priceless: time. Contrary to popular belief, volunteering is not an exclusive right of America’s energetic retirees. The traditional community volunteer’s stereotypical image has changed quite a bit in recent years as more teens and college students look for increasingly rewarding opportunities in which to invest their time as volunteers. In the health care systems across the country the appreciation is often shared at an annual recognition event where donated hours are announced publicly. Teens in the local area have help bolster already high totals of hours donated on behalf of one particular facility. Wheeling Hospital total volunteer hours for 2007 came in at about 50,000 hours which included thousands of hours donated by younger volunteers, according to program director Debbie Romaine.