Take Me To Post Comment Form With the New Year upon us, many of us are planning our New Year’s resolutions. Most of us vow to lose weight, again. But in our hearts we know that this resolution won’t last. And that’s okay, because we can try it again next year. Sound familiar? Why don’t you make a resolution in 2008 that you can keep? Plan to do something that will make you feel good about yourself and help someone else at the same time. Resolve to volunteer. There is no better way to feel better about yourself: Make someone else’s life a little better, help the environment, or change a child’s life. There are so many ways you can volunteer in Santa Clarita. Take a look at the Web site at SCV Resource Center for lots of ideas. There are opportunities to help maintain trails in Towsley Canyon and Placerita Canyon, tasks that have the extra benefit of exercise. This, of course, might help you to attain that old resolution of yours! There are also opportunities to help schools, seniors, numerous non-profits, or just to help clean up unsightly trash. Do you belong to a local church or scout troop? These organizations help the community out in many ways, on many occasions. The Eagle and Boy Scout troops at the local Latter-Day Saints and First Presbyterian churches just helped to build two bridges at Placerita Canyon Nature Center. Together they volunteered nearly 100 hours in one day. When asked why they did it, one child responded, “Pride of accomplishment. Then he added, “Besides, my dad made me. There are also opportunities to become a hike leader with the Community Hiking Club, where you can take kids and adults on local hikes and into Santa Clarita’s forests. Yes, Virginia, Santa Clarita is surrounded by Angeles National Forest and proposed wilderness areas! Volunteering is a great way to give back, to open your eyes to so many different things that you may not have known about before. Enrich your life while you enrich someone else’s. For more information about volunteering, contact the Santa Clarita Valley Resource Center. E-mail office@scvrc.org or visit www.volunteerinscv.org/. You can also contact the Community Hiking Club for trail work, trash cleanups and hike leader opportunities at www.communityhikingclub.org. You’ll be so glad you did!