Pebble Tossers, a non-profit that matches youth with non-profits to foster volunteer opportunities, also provides a leadership program that guides participants in developing lifelong skills.
The Pebble Tossers Teen Leadership Program for rising 9th-12th graders in Metro Atlanta combines life-skill workshops, projects, and peer-to-peer collaborations that focus on social and emotional learning, according to the organization.
Jon Gosse, Pebble Tossers’ executive director, who took the reins following the retirement of its founder, Jen Guynn, said the purpose of Pebble Tossers and its leadership programs is to find “what’s our ‘why?'”
“We came to three realizations in answering this question – ‘I can help, I am connected, and I am needed,'” Gosse told Rough Draft in a recent interview. “This leads to, ‘I matter.'”
There are several ways that the Pebble Tossers’ organization guides youth to those realizations, by connecting them to one of its 60 non-profit partners in the Metro Atlanta area and leadership lab programs that focus on 12 cause areas to create service projects.
Those cause areas include citizenship, social justice, vulnerable communities and homelessness, environment, U.S. troops and veterans, arts and culture, global awareness, education and literacy, the elderly, animals and wildlife, food drives and hunger, and family.
The cost for families to be part of Pebble Tossers is $159 annually, while individuals can join for $50 a year, which gives them access to hundreds of volunteer opportunities with partner agencies.
A win-win partnership
Inspiredu, with a mission to help underserved youth develop the skills needed for education and career success through technology‐based learning tools and engagement activities, is one of Pebble Tossers’ partners.
Marcus Hicks, the manager of technology at Inspiredu, said Pebble Tossers’ volunteers help “bolster our basic footprint locally, but also all through the state.”
“The team at Pebble Tossers has been an excellent community partner and aligns with our mission as well, which is bridging the digital divide for people who don’t have access to technology. Our goal is to provide them with a digital learning space,” he said.
Volunteers from Pebble Tossers tutor students who come through Inspiredu’s family learning and adult digital literacy workshops.
“For a lot of our families, this is their first time on laptop devices, so the [volunteers] help guide them through components, like how to get online, how to access files, and different skills,” Hicks said.
The Teen Leadership Program trains tomorrow’s leaders
The Teen Leadership Program, according to Gosse, goes beyond volunteerism, and explores core causes of clients’ needs.
“We concentrate on a curriculum that concentrates on interacting with the problem,” Gosse said. “We ask questions like ‘Is this effort putting a Band-Aid on a gushing wound?’ to help look at the core issues behind the need.”
Aanya Thumaty, a junior at South Forsyth High School, is one such youth participant in the Teen Leadership Program who has found value in the training. She first became involved with Pebble Tossers through the Sandwich Project, a Dunwoody-based initiative wherein volunteers prepare homemade deli sandwiches, which are delivered to local charities for distribution.
“TLP brings different types and kinds of grades to come together and work on one project per year that serves a different category of volunteering,” Thumaty said. “Last year, we did animals and wildlife, where we held an event for volunteers to come and make toys for animals out of everyday supplies.”
This year, Thumaty said she and her group will concentrate on education awareness that will involve a spelling bee and career fair for underserved youth “to teach them more about real-world jobs and learning experiences.”
The education effort also involves volunteers providing a practical road map for youth to follow as they pursue their dream careers or philanthropic aspirations.
Thumaty said she believes that Pebble Tossers and its programs do more than offer volunteer opportunities for its youth “because we get to collaborate with people from our age group,” with added geographic diversity that comes from having students from all around Georgia.
“We get to go through problems, and it teaches us how to collaborate and solve problems in the real world,” she said.
