©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Teenagers.: helping Hill residents can be fun
by PAULA M. RILEY

Teenagers Inc. board members include, from left, Tyler (T.J.) Perry, Mary Dwyer, Anne Dwyer and Todd L. Perry, II. As teen board members, they plan and participate in the numerous volunteer activities they perform in Chestnut Hill.. (Photo by Paula M. Riley). Teenagers Inc.: helping Hill residents can be fun

This is the seventh in an ongoing series of articles by Paula M. Riley on Chestnut Hill volunteers.

If you live in Chestnut Hill, you’ve been affected by Teenagers Inc. They clean your parks, nurture your neighbors and support your community groups. Best of all, they have a ball doing it!

“The community service we do with Teenagers Inc. is so much fun! That’s a big reason why we do it,” explains Tyler J. Perry, a Teenagers Inc. member and Board representative. He is joined by fellow Teenagers Inc. teen board members including his older brother Todd L. Perry II, Board Co-President; Anne Dwyer, Social Coordinator, and her older sister, Mary Dwyer, Secretary.

All of these high school students share Tyler’s sentiments. All offering their own stories, they tell how much they enjoy community service. Though they use different words, all seem to understand the impact their service work has on the community. Tyler, whom they call T.J., explains, “I think our community service gives other kids and older people an idea of just how much teenagers can do. Through our work with Teenagers Inc., adults see that teenagers are actually helping out and contributing to this community.”

That’s not the only message their work is sending, “It lets people know that teenagers care about where they live and show they are willing to help make it better for future generations,” T.J. Perry continues.

Future generations, as well as the current ones, are benefiting from their work. Let’s start with the parks. From the top of the Hill to the bottom, Teenagers Inc., also known as Teens Inc., has helped clean local public areas. Long before the fountain was installed at the Top of the Hill Plaza, teens from Teenagers Inc. were cleaning this unattended area. Inspired by this effort a few years ago, CHCA volunteers organized the effort to establish a permanent park in this location. Teenagers Inc. has also helped clean Pastorius and Buckley Parks. Most recently, they celebrated Earth Day in collaboration with other community groups as they bundled sticks and collected over 100 bags of debris from the Water Tower Recreation Center.

Teen volunteers from Teenagers Inc. often support the efforts of other community groups. They have collaborated with the Rotary Club, assisting in their clean-ups of the pergola area and Germantown Avenue as well as the repainting of the SEPTA maintenance building.

Beyond getting their hands dirty, they care for their neighbors. When the Senior Center held the Book & Bake Sale, volunteers from Teenagers Inc. packed, loaded, delivered, unloaded and sorted scores of books for their fundraising sale. On past Martin Luther King Days of Service, members cleaned Jenks School and delivered their homemade Valentine cards to local homebound veterans.

“The good thing about our service is that the kids get to know different generations. The service work always involves different age groups in the community. They become associated with students, adults, and seniors that they would not normally have an opportunity to interact with,” says Mrs. Maryanne Dwyer, mother of Anne and Mary and Director of Teenagers Inc. “Service is so important to kids. It broadens their perspective and makes them more understanding in dealing with those who are different from them.”

The perfect illustration of this lesson is the work the organization does with Northwest Interfaith Hospitality Network. This program assists homeless families on a path toward stable, self-sustaining life. When these families are housed at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church for a week twice a year, teens prepare dinner for these families. “The last time we had a blast making tacos.” Todd L. Perry explains, “We helped with homework and played with the kids.”

Mary Dwyer chimes in, “We even celebrated someone’s birthday!”

As Teenagers Inc. board members, they direct the organization’s programs with guidance from Mrs. Dwyer. Meeting monthly, they plan all the fundraising, social and volunteer activities. Everyone serves a different role in planning their many volunteer projects.

That is the magic of the volunteer service at Teenagers Inc. There are so many opportunities for service that appeal to many different personalities and interests. If the cleanups or elder and homeless visitation aren’t interesting, members can choose other service options.

These opportunities include carrying the collection fishbowl during intermission at a summer Pastorius Park concert, collecting recycling at the Wyndmoor Train Station, distributing pamphlets for ‘Run for the Hill of It’ or going door-to-door soliciting donations for Bocce Club’s Fourth of July celebration.

One of their largest service events is the running of the annual Ghost Walk, held the Saturday before Halloween. This family event includes visits to storytellers at various locations in Chestnut Hill. The teens dress in costume, escorting families to these locations and providing refreshments.

Mrs. Dwyer is proud that Teenagers Inc. offers so many service options saying, “We offer such a variety that each teen can find his or her niche. You can’t force kids to do volunteer work, but if they find a niche, they will continue to do it as they get older.” This is exactly how the teens feel.

In reflecting on how they believe their service work will influence their future, Todd & TJ Perry fully expect to continue to volunteer throughout their college years. Todd explains, “We are so used to community service that I think we have become prone to doing it. I expect that we will continue volunteering for a long while.” The Dwyer sisters agree, as Mary adds, “I know we’ll keep doing volunteer work because we have fun doing it and always feel good that we’ve helped someone.”

Teenagers Inc. doesn’t just help community members; they care for their own as well. Teen members tutor younger grade levels. High school students provide tutoring to middle and junior high school students attending local grade schools. Students initially used the Chestnut Hill Community Center, but now this takes place in the great space at the Teen Center, located on Bethlehem Pike.

Donated by Richard Snowden, of Bowman Properties, the Teen Center is just for teens. In this casually decorated first floor, you’ll find couches, pool and ping-pong tables, a stereo and TV. Opened on Friday nights for junior high students and on Saturdays for ninth graders and above, the Center is always staffed with an adult supervisor and is open until 11 p.m.

Though the Center didn’t open until 2000, Teenagers Inc. was established five years earlier by Dick and Jane Becker, dedicated to offering teens opportunities for leadership training, community service, social events, and mentoring. After gaining funding from CHCA, Mrs. Dwyer became a paid part-time director. Though her nominal salary is funded by CHCA, there have been years when no funding was available. This did not alter her commitment to these great kids who have enjoyed the many facets of Teenagers, Inc.

The teenagers interviewed wanted to ensure they represent themselves and the organization honestly. “We like to volunteer, but that’s not all we do,” Mary Dwyer explains. “At Teens Inc., we take great trips including a weekend Pocono ski trip, white water rafting on the Lehigh and our trip to New York City.” They laugh as they share great memories - the dance parties in the Poconos after skiing all day, bargains found on Canal Street in New York and the chilly water they swam in after rafting all day.

Though these memories will fade, the commitment to their community that Teenagers Inc. taught them will stay with them as they grow. TJ Perry speaks for the group when he says, “I think that many of us will stay in this area, because once you start giving to a community at such a young age, you want to stay and continue to give.”

To learn more about getting involved with Teenagers, Inc., contact Mrs. Maryanne Dwyer at 215-242-4976.