One day in April I noticed that my two teenagers were twinning: They both wore a T-shirt from the American Red Cross featuring a smiling cartoony drop of blood. Turns out that Graham, 19, and Ivy, 16, had recently donated blood.
What prompted them? It was Ivy’s idea. “I wanted to do it since I was little,” she told me. “It’s an easy way to help people, and it’s not going to negatively impact me.” You have to be at least 16 years old to give blood, so she was newly eligible; my wife signed off. Graham said Ivy’s enthusiasm motivated him to do it, too.
The T-shirt is one of the benefits of donating, along with free snacks. “And you get to save someone’s life,” Ivy quipped.
Inspired by their selfless act — and with permission from the local chapter of the American Red Cross — I added “Recruit blood donors” to this summer’s Good Citizen Challenge, the youth civics project for kids in grades K through 8, organized by Seven Days.
It’s one of 25 different activities kids can do as part of the 2025 Challenge. The list is designed to appeal to young people with a variety of interests. Budding artists might enjoy designing a new “Future Voter” sticker for the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office. Young musicians can sing or play a Woody Guthrie tune such as “This Land Is Your Land.”
Last summer, kids completed more than 1,300 activities and raised upwards of $5,000 for local charities.
History buffs can visit area museums and historic sites — including Fort Ticonderoga across Lake Champlain in New York. This year is a good time to go; the fort just celebrated the 250th anniversary of its capture by Vermont’s Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys — the first victory for the home team in the American Revolution.
Some activities, such as recruiting blood donors and organizing support for local charities, might take some planning. Others can be knocked off in an afternoon. Families headed to Fort Ti might also stop at Mount Independence State Historic Site on the way, as well as pick up and read a copy of the Addison County Independent or Seven Days. That’s three activities done in one afternoon — four if they locate the newspaper’s masthead. Five if they borrow a library book before they go. Six if they listen to an episode of “But Why: A Podcast for Curious Kids” on the drive. See how easy it is?
Each completed activity that participants (or their caregivers) submit is an entry into prize drawings. We’ll be giving away $50 gift cards to Phoenix Books, tickets to sporting events, a Vermont State Parks 2026 vehicle pass and the grand prize, a free trip for two to Washington, D.C.
Drawings will happen every Thursday all summer long — on live TV. We’ll announce a weekly winner on “Channel 3 This Morning” at 6 a.m. We’ll also honor some outstanding student work from that week on WCAX and in the print edition of Seven Days.
The deadline to submit activities is Labor Day, September 1; we’ll draw the grand prize on September 4.
But the Challenge isn’t just about winning stuff: Last summer, kids completed more than 1,300 activities and raised upwards of $5,000 for local charities. In a 2024 survey, 73 percent of participants said they learned something new about the place they live; 41 percent said the Challenge made them more likely to follow local news; and 29 percent said it made them more likely to run for office someday.
That’s good news for our democracy, which depends on all of us getting engaged and doing our part for the collective good. Sometimes that includes working with people from different backgrounds, who might not share our beliefs. There’s a Challenge activity for that, too.
As Guthrie sang, “This land is your land, this land is my land.” In other words, we have to share it.
Find the full list of activities and submit entries at goodcitizenvt.com.
This article appears in Jun 11-17, 2025.
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