More: AmeriCorps leads the way ECHO teens at the YMCA Habitat for Humanity Soaringwords uses positive phrases to inspire ill children For seven years Golden Key chapters have participated

A series on organizations in the volunteer world

It's fun to help others at the YMCA

Demetrius Keys has been hanging out at the YMCA Holton Youth Center in Milwaukee for seven years. For Keys and his friends, the "Y" is a spot to shoot baskets and play games.

But now that Keys, 15, is maneuvering through his teen years, it's also a place where he's learning to be a first-class citizen.

Keys volunteers there as a member of ECHO, which is short for Erasing Color Lines and Hurdling Obstacles. The group helps seniors and teens communicate across age and race barriers.

"Having people look up to me, being able to help someone, black or white -- it's just a good feeling," Keys says.

Keys and other ECHO teens at the Holton and the Southwest branch of the YMCA of Metropolitan Milwaukee have been working together for almost three years. The group of nearly 40 youths hails from two neighborhoods -- one downtown and predominantly black, the other a majority-white suburb. Together, they accomplish much.

"Kids nowadays are so used to getting something for nothing," says Rob West, the Holton "Y" senior program director. "But our kids are learning that when you do good stuff for others, there's no better feeling in the world."

A national event

YMCAs in Milwaukee and across the United States are planning volunteer projects for Oct. 22, USA WEEKEND's Make A Difference Day. The YMCA -- with its core values of caring, honesty, respect and responsibility -- is a "good fit" for the nation's largest day of volunteering, but this is the first year it participates nationally. "As soon as I read about Make A Difference Day," says Kevin Shermach, a resource development official at the national YMCA, "I thought, 'Are you sure we don't participate?' I mean, this is the stuff we do!"

On Oct. 22, YMCA volunteers will spruce up neighborhoods, host youth forums, help military families and more. In Charlottesville, Va., at the Piedmont Family YMCA --- a "Y" that supports 6,000 children a year and has no permanent facility -- swim team members plan to fix up a 2,500-square-foot multipurpose room used by children for dance classes, karate, cheerleading and other activities.

-- Patricia Kime