September 15, 2021 • 25 mins
Today we have a super fun episode! We’re going to be talking about how people from different generations view volunteerism, zoning in on Gen Z. Suzetta Cannon volunteered at her first three-day, 50 mile walk two weeks before she was born. That's because her mom, Teri Cannon, has been planning nonprofit fundraising events for three decades and Suzetta was born into volunteering.
Teri Cannon has a wealth of experience with volunteers as she currently works as the Senior Major Gifts Officer for Children’s Hospital, she was previously the Executive Director for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and before that a VP with the National MS Society. Both women talk about how they see volunteerism differently, and the same.
Teri Cannon has a wealth of experience with volunteers as she currently works as the Senior Major Gifts Officer for Children’s Hospital, she was previously the Executive Director for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and before that a VP with the National MS Society. Both women talk about how they see volunteerism differently, and the same.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
Hello, friends, Welcome to readFinding Volunteerism, a podcast by hands on
Twin Cities. I'm Tracy Nielsen,the executive director of hands on Twin Cities,
and I'm your host. So todaywe have a super fun episode.
(00:36):
We're going to be talking about howpeople from different generations view volunteerism zoning in
on gen Z. Just to setthe stage, Generation Z. We're born
in the mid to late nineteen ninetiesthrough the early twenty tens. They are
also digital natives who have a littleor no memory of the world as it
existed before smartphones. When it comesto volunteerism, gen Z already demonstrates higher
(00:59):
rates of civic and agement than oldergenerations. So I asked my friend Terry
and her eighteen year old daughter,Suzetta, and they agreed to join me
for this episode to talk about howthey see volunteerism differently and the same and
oh it's so beautiful. Suzetta Cannonvolunteered at her first three day fifty mile
walk two weeks before she was born. That's because her mom, Terry Cannon,
(01:21):
has been planning nonprofit fundraising events forthree decades, and Suzetta was literally
born into volunteering in her young life. Suzetta has organized remembering ceremonies and served
as a Sunday school teacher, andso much more. Terry has a wealth
of experience with volunteers, as shehas held leadership roles within Children's Hospital,
the Leukemia and the Film with Society, and the National MS Society. And
(01:45):
I won't keep going, but needlessto say, she has worked with many,
many volunteers and has volunteered herself.I can't wait any longer. Let's
get to the interview. Thank youso much Terry and Suzetta for joining me
today to kick things off. Let'shave you introduced yourself and tell us a
(02:07):
little bit about your relationship to oneanother too. Sure. Well, my
name is Terry Cannon, and Ihave been fundraising in the Twin Cities for
nonprofit health organizations for the last thirtyyears, and my daughter Suzetta was born
(02:28):
into fundraising. In fact, Iwas only two weeks away from having her
at our at a three day fiftymile walk. Oh my goodness, that's
an adventure, so I would sayshe was on that three day fifty mile
walk, oh my goodness. AndSuzetta tell us a little bit about yourself.
(02:50):
Hi. So I'm Suzetta Cannon.I'm eighteen years old and I'm a
senior in high school and I've beenvolunteer hearing my whole life. That's pretty
important information about you, I wouldsay, so, Terry, as you
mentioned, you know, you've beeninvolved in nonprofits for pretty much your whole
(03:12):
career. Just tell us a littlebit about what volunteerism has meant to you,
both professionally and maybe what it's alsomeant to you personally. Sure.
Well, I started as a fundraiserat the Marchadimes and then I've worked at
the MS Society, and I've workedat the Leukemian Lamphoma Society. So every
place I've gone, I've done specialevent fundraising that relies just one hundred percent
(03:38):
on volunteers. Volunteers to me arepriceless. Whether it's taken you know,
a dozen volunteers or thousands of volunteersto put on some of my special events,
it's been the core of what I'vedone. And whether it's leadership,
volunteers, volunteering on a board,or just that come out for one day
(04:00):
and hand out T shirts. Icouldn't I haven't been able to do my
job without volunteers. So I believein volunteerism, and personally I've been a
long time volunteer too. I taughtfirst grade Sunday school for nineteen years and
every chance that I get, Ijust think, if you have time,
(04:21):
you have time to volunteer. AndI try to instill that in my kids
too. That's amazing, amazing,Susanta. Not to mention your you know,
pre birth fifty mile Rock, butit sounds like you have been attending
nonprofit events almost your whole life,and maybe you can tell us a little
(04:44):
bit about what it was like togrow up around those events see volunteerism and
participate in that way. Yeah.So when just growing up, I've been
involved in Twin Cities marathons like LSwalks and MS mud runs, and personally
that was probably one of my favoriteones because I got to test out the
(05:10):
mud in the obstacles. So yeah, so just like volunteering at a young
age, it it's really it's reallynice, because I don't know which is
nice. I don't know, it'sfun, but it's nice. Do you
feel like, um, you knowa lot of your friends were volunteering when
(05:31):
you were doing all of these thingsgrowing up or were you unusual in that
regard um When I was younger,it was definitely not as like popular,
I would say, like, notas many kids were volunteering when I was
younger. But as I've been gettingolder, this generation has been really involved
(05:56):
in volunteering and protesting and just beinginvolved in social justice. Absolutely, And
do you think that is somewhat driven? I know that now there are some
service requirements related to school and thingslike that, But do you think that's
driving it or do you think it'sjust really this personal passion that folks have.
I think it's I think it's genuinelya personal passion because well, now
(06:21):
with the social justice stuff, peopleare just like tired of like they just
want to see change, and sovolunteering is like a really good way to
show change and to get other peopleinvolved, no matter the age. Absolutely.
So. Our whole community has beengoing through a lot following the murder
(06:43):
of George Floyd and acknowledging the disparitiesthat exist here in our community. You
know what sort of sparked what didyou see amongst your friends following the murder
of George Floyd? Right after ithappened everybody. It just hit home for
everybody because as we all live veryclose to where it happened, so everybody
(07:04):
wanted to be involved. Um,everybody wanted to see change. So we
all went out to the protests andwe had signs and we were trying to
like be heard, so there wasnews crew and everything, and yeah,
so a lot of people were involved, young people from ages five to fifty
(07:30):
five, Like, oh, Iguess that's not that old, but but
there's there's everybody there, and yeah, it's it's really nice to see people
like my age because I didn't thinkthat a lot of people would have participated
(07:54):
in the protests, especially because ofCOVID two. So um, to see
a lot of people might age andthey have signs and to be voting too,
it's just very it's very eye opening, Yeah, Tracy. One of
the things that you know, Ididn't even know about everything that went down
on the corner of thirty eighth inChicago, Susanna was already out there Tuesday
(08:18):
morning making signs before I'd even Ieven knew what had happened, because you
know, her friend is good friendswith Darnella Frasier, who filmed everything,
So immediately that went on to socialmedia and Suzetta was you know, two
degrees away from experiencing this and justimmediately when she and her friends went into
(08:43):
actions, So before adults even knewwhat was happening, the kids were already
out there because this was their friends, the you know, these were the
people that were on the corner whenit happened. Suzetta knows quite a few
people that worked at Cut Foods.You know, we live in South Neneapolis
just blocks from there, so thishit home and spread very quickly. So
(09:05):
I was inspired by her the reasonI took action and and you know,
started a women's book club and antiracism group and got you know, things
moving. On my end, whatI could from my basement in covid M
was one hundred percent because of herand what she was doing on the front
lines, actually standing on a streetcorner. That's amazing. So s is
(09:28):
thatta, like, what does actionlook like like when you and your friends
are like, hey, we gottaget out there, we gotta you know,
spread the word, take a stand. Um, you know, what
are different ways that you're seeing peoplesort of step up and get involved.
There's a group of activists, UMyoung activists actually on Instagram and I believe
it's called M and ten Activists andUM it's an Instagram page where it just
(09:56):
has a whole bunch of information aboutvolunteer work and just where to go when
there's going to be a protest orwhen like anything for teams to be involved
in. Social media seems to playlike definitely a part in the way you
(10:16):
all organize, do you think,you know, how do you see that
sort of central to the way thatyou've been able to take action over the
last year, mainly just get otherpeople on those social media platforms to come
out and volunteer with us when therewas the speech at thirty eight in Chicago,
(10:41):
just like getting friends, like anyfriends to come out and bring a
sign in to just be a partof it because it's gonna make history.
So, you know, when Ilook for volunteer opportunities, I go onto
the internet and I look for websitesand I look, you know, what's
(11:01):
the volunteer posting on a website andwhat opportunity do they have for me?
And I would never even think aboutgoing onto Instagram to find a volunteer opportunity
and Suzetta, when's the last timeyou went on a website to find someplace
to volunteer? I can't even remember. Never, never, never. That's
not how you do it, youknow. And I was just looking for
(11:24):
a volunteer opportunity today, And whatdid I do? I went to the
website and looked for, you know, what could I do? And you're
creating what to do? And becauseof that, you know, I think
you are multiplying those opportunities, andyou know, I just look for what
already exists that I can plug into. So quite a way, right,
(11:46):
a different way of looking for informationand seeking those things. Terry, hopefully
you're going to hands on twin citiesdot org to find those volunteer opportunities.
But Terry, you touched on ita little bit. But I mean,
do you think that having a teenagedaughter makes you think about sort of the
events of the past year or justother ways of taking action through a different
(12:09):
lens? Yeah? Like I said, I would have never thought of looking
at social media for how to getinvolved. And one of the main reasons
that I want to get involved isbecause of my kids, because you know,
I have, you know, ason who's about to be twenty one
and a daughter who's eighteen, andI want the world to look different for
(12:30):
them moving forward. So you know, anything that I'm involved in right now
that's related to social justice, it'sone hundred percent because of them, And
I just am curious. So youknow, this podcast is about redefining volunteerism.
So, Terry, you come froma place where you know and many
of us do, where it's like, here's the volunteer project, you sign
(12:52):
up for two hours, you likego in advance, And it sounds like
and sees that if you could speakto what are people your age looking for
with regard to ways to get involved? Is it that traditional kind of model
or do we need to break themold and say like, hey, people
want to show up maybe in adifferent way. Yeah, I think people
(13:16):
my age try to come up withstuff that's like kind of different and unique
to stand out. And so actuallythere was recently there was something going on.
It was gonna happen at thirty eighthin Chicago and one of the fences
(13:37):
over there because they are thinking aboutopening up the street, and so there
was going to be a couple ofteens that would just get locks like padlocks
and every in they're trying to geta whole bunch of people just to put
padlocks onto a fence and just putthem all over the place over there so
(14:03):
that they can't like it's something simple, but it's a reason for them to
like have a harder time opening upthe street. So something that's like not
many people would think of. Theyounger generations are trying to come up with
or create different ways to yea cheatthe system, I guess seems very symbolic,
(14:28):
you know, putting all of thoseblocks on fences and you know,
I mean probably just a very visualopportunity to say about you know, what's
going on there and what people aretrying to get in place. So that
makes sense just at the cusp ofvoting age. So sees that you voted
(14:50):
for the first time in this lastelection. Is that true? Yes?
Yes, and I was very excitedand it was long overdue. Would your
mom have let you go through thisseason without voting? No, I think
I would have been kicked out.Oh gosh. So we're seeing, you
(15:16):
know, gen Z demonstrating higher ratesof civic engagement than older generations. So
I mean, when whether it wasvoting, whether it was the activist vision
other ways, do you see thistrend playing out for yourself and for your
peers like that you see almost moreengagement than other generations in the past.
(15:39):
Like, do you think that thefeature for this um, for this generation
will be different? Definitely, Ithink it would be different. It's already
started off pretty different, but especiallywith Covidum, I don't know what the
future is going to look like,so it will be a lot of outside
(16:03):
volunteering and a lot of like distancekeeping distance and so honestly, I don't
necessarily know what the future holds,but I do know that it is going
to be different than what volunteering islike now. Terry would love your input,
(16:25):
as you know, seeing all ofthese different groups of people that you've
worked with. What is your opinionabout gen Z's engagement or how it might
be different? Sure, well,I do believe that the gen Z is
going to drive us in a newdirection, because I feel like they were
already there when it came to youknow, being engaged in social media and
(16:47):
having that connection. You know,you just think about when we went into
lockdown, it was a lot harderI think for adults to move to a
virtual world because we were used togoing into an office. Kids were used
to going to school too, butat least in your free time you were
connected through social media and where adults, you know, moving into zoom was
(17:10):
really hard for us. So Ithink moving, you know, changing how
we volunteered was a little bit harderthan it was for kids to you know,
gone or the days when you youknow, go to to a gala
or you know, do these indoorevents or stand right next to each other,
you know, putting on rest stopsand you know, handing out T
shirts and all of that. Um, now it's it's about what can you
(17:34):
do online? What can you doon your phone? You know, all
of the volunteering that I've done inthe last year has been you know,
phone banking and things that I cando over zoom. Um it's not like
I counted on volunteers for so manyyears to show up and load trucks and
hand out snacks, and you know, I haven't done that kind of volunteering
(17:56):
recently. So I already see howteenagers jumped into that a little bit faster
than I did. Yes, Ithink all of us have learned to adapt
quickly, but technology it's it's ayou know, something that we continue to
iterate on, that's for sure.So curious to have you share a little
(18:22):
bit about sort of what about theother person inspires you the most or gives
you the most hope, giving forward, going forward. So Terry, maybe
you know what is it about genZ that sort of is sparking your hope
and making you feel like maybe thingswill be okay? Maybe yeah, well,
yes, I totally believe that thateverything's in good hands with the next
(18:47):
generation. You know, when Iwas growing up, I was not politically
engaged at all. I did volunteerfor different causes that I knew about,
but I wasn't as connected and forsure not poly politically engaged. So to
see Suzetta, you know, careabout voting and getting her friends to sign
(19:12):
up to vote and caring about politicalissues and social justice issues is just it's
eye opening to me because I didn'thave that lens. You know. It
might have had something to do with, you know, growing up in the
seventies and eighties and not reading thenewspaper like I should. News wasn't at
(19:34):
my fingertips, but I just wasn'tengaged. So I appreciate to see seeing
how these kids are just so motivatedby what's going on in politics and everything
around them. And Sezetta, thequestion to you, how has you,
know, seeing your mother's example arebeing involved in different events throughout your life,
(20:00):
how has that impacted you or inspiredyou? Honestly, I think it's
shaped me into who I am today, being able to spend time with my
mom and volunteer. Just hold on, um, let's just say. Let's
just say it was never a lackof T shirts in our house. Always
(20:26):
had a volunteer T shirt for anyany cause. Yeah, And no matter
how much I disliked it at first, like volunteering for certain like for certain
events, I'm I always end up. I always ended up having fun because
(20:48):
I was with my mom or witha friend. So, oh my god,
we're getting here. Uh that's amazing. Well, I'll tell you there
were times when I would have totwist her arm and say, you have
to get up early. You're gettingup at five thirty in the morning.
(21:11):
You're going to drive downtown with me. You are gonna you know, work
outdoors. You might be in thesnow, it might be cold, or
you're going to climb fifty three storiesto the top of Capella Tower while carrying
signs and taping them to the wall. I mean there were things that I
put this girl through and she stilldid it, you know, and lived
(21:33):
to tell a story about it thenext day. So she's always up for
letting me talk her into anything.Yeah, she might get kicking and screaming,
but at the end, yeah,she's got another volunteer t shirt.
You know. Well, for anyparents listening, I mean, look at
(21:53):
what this volunteering together can do.I mean, I just love this bond
that it's created between the two ofyou, and not to mention the impact
that then you have collectively on thecommunity, it's really really inspiring. As
a last question, so just kindof what else do you think our listeners
need to know? You know,we're talking about two different age groups,
(22:17):
some trends and gen Z transformation andvolunteerism through the generations. Anything that you
haven't touched on that you want ourlisteners to sort of think about or end
with. Well, I think Isaid this earlier, but I truly believe
that if you have time, youhave time to volunteer, and there's no
(22:37):
good excuse. I mean, watchNetflix at another time, there's everybody has
time to volunteer, and just rememberthat at the end of it, you
are going to feel better than ifyou had skipped that volunteer shift or you
know, put it off for somethingelse. And it's fun to engage others.
(23:00):
For me to bring my kids andhave a volunteer or to meet up
with a friend. It's a funactivity no matter what you no matter what
you do, there's plenty of thingsto ways to contribute and just find something
that makes you feel good and thatyou want to invite your friends too.
Great. Is that anything else thatyou want to share with our listeners before
(23:25):
we go? It's it's really easyto it's really easy to get involved into
volunteer, especially at a young age. Even with COVID, you have a
lot of access to different events andthings going on, and even just using
social media as as a platform tohave a voice, it's also another way
(23:51):
of volunteering in a way. Soif you have social media and and you
feel a certain way, don't bescared to use your platform and use your
voice in how you feel. Ilove that. That's a perfect, perfect
way to close. Thank you somuch, Terry and Suzetta for joining us
(24:14):
today and for being our guests onthe show. Really appreciate everything that you've
shared with us today. Thanks Tracy, Thanks Wow. I don't know about
all of you, but I lovethat conversation so much. If you had
any doubt in your mind that volunteeringwith your kids can lead to lasting impact,
(24:36):
I hope that this dealed the dealfor you. We're so grateful to
both Terry and Suzetta for being vulnerablewith us and sharing their story. It's
clear from this conversation and from researchthat gen Z is eager to make the
world a better place and seeking opportunitiesto engage as a gen Z or as
the parents of one. Consider rolesthat provide for flexible schedules, maybe only
(24:57):
short term commitments, or allow youto put your technical, video and social
media skills to use. No matterwhat your age or interests, you can
dig into a variety of these typesof opportunities at hands on twin Cities dot
org. Even with slightly different approaches, at the end of the day,
we can all come together to makea lasting impact in our community. Thank
(25:22):
you so much for listening. Formore information about hands on twin Cities and
to follow us on social media,head to our website. Redefining Volunteerism is
a production of Matriarch Digital Media executiveproducer twial A Day and producer and editor
Beth Gids and special thanks to SarahEdwards, Grace McAvoy and Ella Cochrane.
(25:42):
From some great people, let's getout there and be the change. Together
we can build a more equitable andthriving community
Hello, friends, Welcome to readFinding Volunteerism, a podcast by hands on
Twin Cities. I'm Tracy Nielsen,the executive director of hands on Twin Cities,
and I'm your host. So todaywe have a super fun episode.
(00:36):
We're going to be talking about howpeople from different generations view volunteerism zoning in
on gen Z. Just to setthe stage, Generation Z. We're born
in the mid to late nineteen ninetiesthrough the early twenty tens. They are
also digital natives who have a littleor no memory of the world as it
existed before smartphones. When it comesto volunteerism, gen Z already demonstrates higher
(00:59):
rates of civic and agement than oldergenerations. So I asked my friend Terry
and her eighteen year old daughter,Suzetta, and they agreed to join me
for this episode to talk about howthey see volunteerism differently and the same and
oh it's so beautiful. Suzetta Cannonvolunteered at her first three day fifty mile
walk two weeks before she was born. That's because her mom, Terry Cannon,
(01:21):
has been planning nonprofit fundraising events forthree decades, and Suzetta was literally
born into volunteering in her young life. Suzetta has organized remembering ceremonies and served
as a Sunday school teacher, andso much more. Terry has a wealth
of experience with volunteers, as shehas held leadership roles within Children's Hospital,
the Leukemia and the Film with Society, and the National MS Society. And
(01:45):
I won't keep going, but needlessto say, she has worked with many,
many volunteers and has volunteered herself.I can't wait any longer. Let's
get to the interview. Thank youso much Terry and Suzetta for joining me
today to kick things off. Let'shave you introduced yourself and tell us a
(02:07):
little bit about your relationship to oneanother too. Sure. Well, my
name is Terry Cannon, and Ihave been fundraising in the Twin Cities for
nonprofit health organizations for the last thirtyyears, and my daughter Suzetta was born
(02:28):
into fundraising. In fact, Iwas only two weeks away from having her
at our at a three day fiftymile walk. Oh my goodness, that's
an adventure, so I would sayshe was on that three day fifty mile
walk, oh my goodness. AndSuzetta tell us a little bit about yourself.
(02:50):
Hi. So I'm Suzetta Cannon.I'm eighteen years old and I'm a
senior in high school and I've beenvolunteer hearing my whole life. That's pretty
important information about you, I wouldsay, so, Terry, as you
mentioned, you know, you've beeninvolved in nonprofits for pretty much your whole
(03:12):
career. Just tell us a littlebit about what volunteerism has meant to you,
both professionally and maybe what it's alsomeant to you personally. Sure.
Well, I started as a fundraiserat the Marchadimes and then I've worked at
the MS Society, and I've workedat the Leukemian Lamphoma Society. So every
place I've gone, I've done specialevent fundraising that relies just one hundred percent
(03:38):
on volunteers. Volunteers to me arepriceless. Whether it's taken you know,
a dozen volunteers or thousands of volunteersto put on some of my special events,
it's been the core of what I'vedone. And whether it's leadership,
volunteers, volunteering on a board,or just that come out for one day
(04:00):
and hand out T shirts. Icouldn't I haven't been able to do my
job without volunteers. So I believein volunteerism, and personally I've been a
long time volunteer too. I taughtfirst grade Sunday school for nineteen years and
every chance that I get, Ijust think, if you have time,
(04:21):
you have time to volunteer. AndI try to instill that in my kids
too. That's amazing, amazing,Susanta. Not to mention your you know,
pre birth fifty mile Rock, butit sounds like you have been attending
nonprofit events almost your whole life,and maybe you can tell us a little
(04:44):
bit about what it was like togrow up around those events see volunteerism and
participate in that way. Yeah.So when just growing up, I've been
involved in Twin Cities marathons like LSwalks and MS mud runs, and personally
that was probably one of my favoriteones because I got to test out the
(05:10):
mud in the obstacles. So yeah, so just like volunteering at a young
age, it it's really it's reallynice, because I don't know which is
nice. I don't know, it'sfun, but it's nice. Do you
feel like, um, you knowa lot of your friends were volunteering when
(05:31):
you were doing all of these thingsgrowing up or were you unusual in that
regard um When I was younger,it was definitely not as like popular,
I would say, like, notas many kids were volunteering when I was
younger. But as I've been gettingolder, this generation has been really involved
(05:56):
in volunteering and protesting and just beinginvolved in social justice. Absolutely, And
do you think that is somewhat driven? I know that now there are some
service requirements related to school and thingslike that, But do you think that's
driving it or do you think it'sjust really this personal passion that folks have.
I think it's I think it's genuinelya personal passion because well, now
(06:21):
with the social justice stuff, peopleare just like tired of like they just
want to see change, and sovolunteering is like a really good way to
show change and to get other peopleinvolved, no matter the age. Absolutely.
So. Our whole community has beengoing through a lot following the murder
(06:43):
of George Floyd and acknowledging the disparitiesthat exist here in our community. You
know what sort of sparked what didyou see amongst your friends following the murder
of George Floyd? Right after ithappened everybody. It just hit home for
everybody because as we all live veryclose to where it happened, so everybody
(07:04):
wanted to be involved. Um,everybody wanted to see change. So we
all went out to the protests andwe had signs and we were trying to
like be heard, so there wasnews crew and everything, and yeah,
so a lot of people were involved, young people from ages five to fifty
(07:30):
five, Like, oh, Iguess that's not that old, but but
there's there's everybody there, and yeah, it's it's really nice to see people
like my age because I didn't thinkthat a lot of people would have participated
(07:54):
in the protests, especially because ofCOVID two. So um, to see
a lot of people might age andthey have signs and to be voting too,
it's just very it's very eye opening, Yeah, Tracy. One of
the things that you know, Ididn't even know about everything that went down
on the corner of thirty eighth inChicago, Susanna was already out there Tuesday
(08:18):
morning making signs before I'd even Ieven knew what had happened, because you
know, her friend is good friendswith Darnella Frasier, who filmed everything,
So immediately that went on to socialmedia and Suzetta was you know, two
degrees away from experiencing this and justimmediately when she and her friends went into
(08:43):
actions, So before adults even knewwhat was happening, the kids were already
out there because this was their friends, the you know, these were the
people that were on the corner whenit happened. Suzetta knows quite a few
people that worked at Cut Foods.You know, we live in South Neneapolis
just blocks from there, so thishit home and spread very quickly. So
(09:05):
I was inspired by her the reasonI took action and and you know,
started a women's book club and antiracism group and got you know, things
moving. On my end, whatI could from my basement in covid M
was one hundred percent because of herand what she was doing on the front
lines, actually standing on a streetcorner. That's amazing. So s is
(09:28):
thatta, like, what does actionlook like like when you and your friends
are like, hey, we gottaget out there, we gotta you know,
spread the word, take a stand. Um, you know, what
are different ways that you're seeing peoplesort of step up and get involved.
There's a group of activists, UMyoung activists actually on Instagram and I believe
it's called M and ten Activists andUM it's an Instagram page where it just
(09:56):
has a whole bunch of information aboutvolunteer work and just where to go when
there's going to be a protest orwhen like anything for teams to be involved
in. Social media seems to playlike definitely a part in the way you
(10:16):
all organize, do you think,you know, how do you see that
sort of central to the way thatyou've been able to take action over the
last year, mainly just get otherpeople on those social media platforms to come
out and volunteer with us when therewas the speech at thirty eight in Chicago,
(10:41):
just like getting friends, like anyfriends to come out and bring a
sign in to just be a partof it because it's gonna make history.
So, you know, when Ilook for volunteer opportunities, I go onto
the internet and I look for websitesand I look, you know, what's
(11:01):
the volunteer posting on a website andwhat opportunity do they have for me?
And I would never even think aboutgoing onto Instagram to find a volunteer opportunity
and Suzetta, when's the last timeyou went on a website to find someplace
to volunteer? I can't even remember. Never, never, never. That's
not how you do it, youknow. And I was just looking for
(11:24):
a volunteer opportunity today, And whatdid I do? I went to the
website and looked for, you know, what could I do? And you're
creating what to do? And becauseof that, you know, I think
you are multiplying those opportunities, andyou know, I just look for what
already exists that I can plug into. So quite a way, right,
(11:46):
a different way of looking for informationand seeking those things. Terry, hopefully
you're going to hands on twin citiesdot org to find those volunteer opportunities.
But Terry, you touched on ita little bit. But I mean,
do you think that having a teenagedaughter makes you think about sort of the
events of the past year or justother ways of taking action through a different
(12:09):
lens? Yeah? Like I said, I would have never thought of looking
at social media for how to getinvolved. And one of the main reasons
that I want to get involved isbecause of my kids, because you know,
I have, you know, ason who's about to be twenty one
and a daughter who's eighteen, andI want the world to look different for
(12:30):
them moving forward. So you know, anything that I'm involved in right now
that's related to social justice, it'sone hundred percent because of them, And
I just am curious. So youknow, this podcast is about redefining volunteerism.
So, Terry, you come froma place where you know and many
of us do, where it's like, here's the volunteer project, you sign
(12:52):
up for two hours, you likego in advance, And it sounds like
and sees that if you could speakto what are people your age looking for
with regard to ways to get involved? Is it that traditional kind of model
or do we need to break themold and say like, hey, people
want to show up maybe in adifferent way. Yeah, I think people
(13:16):
my age try to come up withstuff that's like kind of different and unique
to stand out. And so actuallythere was recently there was something going on.
It was gonna happen at thirty eighthin Chicago and one of the fences
(13:37):
over there because they are thinking aboutopening up the street, and so there
was going to be a couple ofteens that would just get locks like padlocks
and every in they're trying to geta whole bunch of people just to put
padlocks onto a fence and just putthem all over the place over there so
(14:03):
that they can't like it's something simple, but it's a reason for them to
like have a harder time opening upthe street. So something that's like not
many people would think of. Theyounger generations are trying to come up with
or create different ways to yea cheatthe system, I guess seems very symbolic,
(14:28):
you know, putting all of thoseblocks on fences and you know,
I mean probably just a very visualopportunity to say about you know, what's
going on there and what people aretrying to get in place. So that
makes sense just at the cusp ofvoting age. So sees that you voted
(14:50):
for the first time in this lastelection. Is that true? Yes?
Yes, and I was very excitedand it was long overdue. Would your
mom have let you go through thisseason without voting? No, I think
I would have been kicked out.Oh gosh. So we're seeing, you
(15:16):
know, gen Z demonstrating higher ratesof civic engagement than older generations. So
I mean, when whether it wasvoting, whether it was the activist vision
other ways, do you see thistrend playing out for yourself and for your
peers like that you see almost moreengagement than other generations in the past.
(15:39):
Like, do you think that thefeature for this um, for this generation
will be different? Definitely, Ithink it would be different. It's already
started off pretty different, but especiallywith Covidum, I don't know what the
future is going to look like,so it will be a lot of outside
(16:03):
volunteering and a lot of like distancekeeping distance and so honestly, I don't
necessarily know what the future holds,but I do know that it is going
to be different than what volunteering islike now. Terry would love your input,
(16:25):
as you know, seeing all ofthese different groups of people that you've
worked with. What is your opinionabout gen Z's engagement or how it might
be different? Sure, well,I do believe that the gen Z is
going to drive us in a newdirection, because I feel like they were
already there when it came to youknow, being engaged in social media and
(16:47):
having that connection. You know,you just think about when we went into
lockdown, it was a lot harderI think for adults to move to a
virtual world because we were used togoing into an office. Kids were used
to going to school too, butat least in your free time you were
connected through social media and where adults, you know, moving into zoom was
(17:10):
really hard for us. So Ithink moving, you know, changing how
we volunteered was a little bit harderthan it was for kids to you know,
gone or the days when you youknow, go to to a gala
or you know, do these indoorevents or stand right next to each other,
you know, putting on rest stopsand you know, handing out T
shirts and all of that. Um, now it's it's about what can you
(17:34):
do online? What can you doon your phone? You know, all
of the volunteering that I've done inthe last year has been you know,
phone banking and things that I cando over zoom. Um it's not like
I counted on volunteers for so manyyears to show up and load trucks and
hand out snacks, and you know, I haven't done that kind of volunteering
(17:56):
recently. So I already see howteenagers jumped into that a little bit faster
than I did. Yes, Ithink all of us have learned to adapt
quickly, but technology it's it's ayou know, something that we continue to
iterate on, that's for sure.So curious to have you share a little
(18:22):
bit about sort of what about theother person inspires you the most or gives
you the most hope, giving forward, going forward. So Terry, maybe
you know what is it about genZ that sort of is sparking your hope
and making you feel like maybe thingswill be okay? Maybe yeah, well,
yes, I totally believe that thateverything's in good hands with the next
(18:47):
generation. You know, when Iwas growing up, I was not politically
engaged at all. I did volunteerfor different causes that I knew about,
but I wasn't as connected and forsure not poly politically engaged. So to
see Suzetta, you know, careabout voting and getting her friends to sign
(19:12):
up to vote and caring about politicalissues and social justice issues is just it's
eye opening to me because I didn'thave that lens. You know. It
might have had something to do with, you know, growing up in the
seventies and eighties and not reading thenewspaper like I should. News wasn't at
(19:34):
my fingertips, but I just wasn'tengaged. So I appreciate to see seeing
how these kids are just so motivatedby what's going on in politics and everything
around them. And Sezetta, thequestion to you, how has you,
know, seeing your mother's example arebeing involved in different events throughout your life,
(20:00):
how has that impacted you or inspiredyou? Honestly, I think it's
shaped me into who I am today, being able to spend time with my
mom and volunteer. Just hold on, um, let's just say. Let's
just say it was never a lackof T shirts in our house. Always
(20:26):
had a volunteer T shirt for anyany cause. Yeah, And no matter
how much I disliked it at first, like volunteering for certain like for certain
events, I'm I always end up. I always ended up having fun because
(20:48):
I was with my mom or witha friend. So, oh my god,
we're getting here. Uh that's amazing. Well, I'll tell you there
were times when I would have totwist her arm and say, you have
to get up early. You're gettingup at five thirty in the morning.
(21:11):
You're going to drive downtown with me. You are gonna you know, work
outdoors. You might be in thesnow, it might be cold, or
you're going to climb fifty three storiesto the top of Capella Tower while carrying
signs and taping them to the wall. I mean there were things that I
put this girl through and she stilldid it, you know, and lived
(21:33):
to tell a story about it thenext day. So she's always up for
letting me talk her into anything.Yeah, she might get kicking and screaming,
but at the end, yeah,she's got another volunteer t shirt.
You know. Well, for anyparents listening, I mean, look at
(21:53):
what this volunteering together can do.I mean, I just love this bond
that it's created between the two ofyou, and not to mention the impact
that then you have collectively on thecommunity, it's really really inspiring. As
a last question, so just kindof what else do you think our listeners
need to know? You know,we're talking about two different age groups,
(22:17):
some trends and gen Z transformation andvolunteerism through the generations. Anything that you
haven't touched on that you want ourlisteners to sort of think about or end
with. Well, I think Isaid this earlier, but I truly believe
that if you have time, youhave time to volunteer, and there's no
(22:37):
good excuse. I mean, watchNetflix at another time, there's everybody has
time to volunteer, and just rememberthat at the end of it, you
are going to feel better than ifyou had skipped that volunteer shift or you
know, put it off for somethingelse. And it's fun to engage others.
(23:00):
For me to bring my kids andhave a volunteer or to meet up
with a friend. It's a funactivity no matter what you no matter what
you do, there's plenty of thingsto ways to contribute and just find something
that makes you feel good and thatyou want to invite your friends too.
Great. Is that anything else thatyou want to share with our listeners before
(23:25):
we go? It's it's really easyto it's really easy to get involved into
volunteer, especially at a young age. Even with COVID, you have a
lot of access to different events andthings going on, and even just using
social media as as a platform tohave a voice, it's also another way
(23:51):
of volunteering in a way. Soif you have social media and and you
feel a certain way, don't bescared to use your platform and use your
voice in how you feel. Ilove that. That's a perfect, perfect
way to close. Thank you somuch, Terry and Suzetta for joining us
(24:14):
today and for being our guests onthe show. Really appreciate everything that you've
shared with us today. Thanks Tracy, Thanks Wow. I don't know about
all of you, but I lovethat conversation so much. If you had
any doubt in your mind that volunteeringwith your kids can lead to lasting impact,
(24:36):
I hope that this dealed the dealfor you. We're so grateful to
both Terry and Suzetta for being vulnerablewith us and sharing their story. It's
clear from this conversation and from researchthat gen Z is eager to make the
world a better place and seeking opportunitiesto engage as a gen Z or as
the parents of one. Consider rolesthat provide for flexible schedules, maybe only
(24:57):
short term commitments, or allow youto put your technical, video and social
media skills to use. No matterwhat your age or interests, you can
dig into a variety of these typesof opportunities at hands on twin Cities dot
org. Even with slightly different approaches, at the end of the day,
we can all come together to makea lasting impact in our community. Thank
(25:22):
you so much for listening. Formore information about hands on twin Cities and
to follow us on social media,head to our website. Redefining Volunteerism is
a production of Matriarch Digital Media executiveproducer twial A Day and producer and editor
Beth Gids and special thanks to SarahEdwards, Grace McAvoy and Ella Cochrane.
(25:42):
From some great people, let's getout there and be the change. Together
we can build a more equitable andthriving community
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