TUSTIN : Teen’s Volunteerism Grows With Him

For 17-year-old Joshua Goldstein, 2 1/2 years of volunteer work for the Red Cross has so far been an excellent adventure.

“I’ve had so much fun,” said Goldstein, a junior at Foothill High School. He said his volunteer work started when he signed up for a three-day leadership seminar for youth volunteers in Big Bear three years ago.

At that time, he thought it was nothing more than a nice break from schoolwork. Now, he spends hundreds of volunteer hours after school and on weekends with the Red Cross. Each week, he tutors and organizes activities for children at a homeless shelter in Orange.

He is vice president of the executive board of the Youth Council, which coordinates more than 20 Red Cross school clubs in Orange County. Last summer, he worked at a Red Cross shelter in Baltimore.

The Red Cross has appreciated that commitment. This year, the Orange County chapter honored Goldstein with the Golden Circle Award, which is usually given to adults.

Not only that. As a result of his volunteer work, Goldstein was featured in a KOCE-TV documentary, “A Time to Grow.” Goldstein played himself, a young man who has started to mature and realize he has to give something back to the community.

A TV crew filmed his daily activities, Goldstein said. “They followed me around, at home, in school and wherever I did volunteer work,” he said. “It was great.”

Goldstein’s mother, Linda, director of advertising sales of Orange Coast magazine, said there’s no great volunteerism tradition in their family. Nobody pushed Goldstein to be a volunteer. A cousin, who is a regular Red Cross volunteer, asked him to volunteer--and that was it, Linda Goldstein said.

“He gets quite a pleasure doing it,” she said. “He has done it more and more. We’re very proud of him. It’s important for kids to know a sense of responsibility.”

At the Christian Temporary Shelter in Orange, a homeless shelter, where Goldstein tutors and organizes activities for children of residents, Trevor Birkholz, the shelter’s program director, said the young man has been a tremendous help with the children.

“People feel embarrassed to stay in the shelter,” Birkholz said. “The stress and stigma are transferred to the kids.” By organizing games and social activities, volunteers such as Goldstein help release the tension, he said.

Birkholz said the shelter, on average, houses seven families with up to 15 children. Aside from Goldstein, four other youths do volunteer work every week.

Michael, 14, and his sister, Melissa, 10, have been in the shelter for more than a month. Their mother is trying to find work and save enough money so they can move to an apartment.

Goldstein plays with the children and helps with their homework.

“My dad left us when I was 2 years old, “ Michael said. “I always wanted to have a big brother. He (Goldstein) is like the one that I never had.”

Goldstein said he receives more than he gives from his volunteer work.

“You get this warm feeling inside when you see and help these kids who have so little,” Goldstein said.