VOLUNTEERS : Helping Others : Parents are finding that teaching their children to donate time to worthy causes is a valuable lesson.

It’s a far cry from summer camp.

But Berni Hilgaertner thinks her daughter Molly, 14, will get a lot more out of hanging drywall, sanding, tiling and painting a stranger’s house in Mississippi than she could from just hanging around. Hilgaertner, 50, of Thousand Oaks is taking Molly on a Habitat for Humanity project this month to help remodel a home for a poor family.

“My hope is that she will get a feeling for how valuable it is to help others, that sometimes the most important things in life are those you don’t do for compensation,” Hilgaertner said.

The Hilgaertners, and many other families, have found a wide range of opportunities to volunteer. New trails will be built in the Santa Monica Mountains. Hot meals will be delivered to shut-ins. Books will be shelved at the local library. For parents, volunteering with their children offers a concrete way to teach the value of giving back to the community. And some say it helps put the children’s consumption-crazy lives in perspective.

“The kids are into having things, and with each child we see it more,” said Hilgaertner, who has two children older than Molly. In a world in which teen-agers expect a car at 16, Hilgaertner thinks it’s important for them to see people who are struggling to live.

She isn’t asking her daughter to do anything she hasn’t done first. Last Thanksgiving, Hilgaertner joined about 15 others from Emmanuel Presbyterian Church in Thousand Oaks for a week remodeling houses in Coahoma, Miss. She worked on the home of a 26-year-old woman who was expecting her seventh baby. Hilgaertner learned to put in closet shelves, lay tile, paint--things she’ll teach Molly to do next month.

Habitat for Humanity--with 500 affiliates nationwide--is a Christian housing ministry that builds or rehabilitates homes and sells them at cost to families who would otherwise not be able to afford them. The Ventura County chapter started in 1983 and meets monthly to work on local projects and train new volunteers.

Volunteers can work locally or, like the Hilgaertners, opt for a neighborhood project in another city. Children from third grade and older are encouraged to participate in everything from mailing letters to hammering nails with parental supervision. Habitat provides the hammers, hoes, shovels and basic tools, and a project manager organizes the volunteers on the work site.

Hilgaertner, who works full time for the family’s graphics firm and is studying psychology and art at Cal State Northridge, said it’s not hard to find the time for volunteer work.

“It’s the most crucial thing I do. If my kids can learn that it’s important to help somebody to help themselves, it will be more valuable than anything they can learn at school,” she said.

Giving her children a broader education was Janine Johnson’s motivation for finding family oriented volunteer work. Johnson, 38, a Thousand Oaks resident, was teaching her 6-year-old and 9-year-old at home and wanted a service project they could do together. They settled on Meals on Wheels, a nonprofit organization that delivers hot and cold meals to shut-ins.

Every Monday for six months, Johnson and her two youngest children delivered meals to about 10 people.

“It was exciting at first to the children,” she said. “There were a couple of people who paid special attention to them, and it was good for them to see they could make a difference.”

While Meals on Wheels volunteers deliver prepared food to people in the community, volunteers at the Ventura County Rescue Mission in Oxnard actually make and serve 350 to 450 meals a day. From cutting up fresh vegetables to opening cans--or doing maintenance or office work if they prefer--families can get involved in helping the homeless.

Cheryl Rae Bart, 44, of Oxnard has been taking her twin sons, 11, and daughter, 14, to the Rescue Mission regularly for a year.

“I figured if it’s something I should be doing, it’s something the kids should be doing,” she said.

For her 14-year-old daughter, Gwen, the experience has been an eye-opener. “You realize some people can’t have all the stuff you have,” she said. “And you need to help the others as much as you can.”

The mission, which opened in 1972, offers room and board to 90 men a night, and provides drug and alcohol rehabilitation to 30. Besides cooking and serving meals, families can support the mission’s efforts by pulling weeds, doing repair work, cleaning and helping send out solicitations for donations.

Other volunteers find fresh-air community service more fun. Frank Padilla, resource ranger for the Santa Monica Mountains, said family volunteers work on trail construction projects and volunteer at visitor centers or historical sites. Some lead small nature walks, and those 18 and older may join the mounted assistance equestrian program and the mountain bike unit, which provide first aid and supervision on mountain trails.

Padilla said the trail projects are well-suited to families. The park service starts the day with a brief overview of instruction on trail safety and tools, and then shuttles the groups to the trail sites--tools provided.

“The younger children help pick up and gather the weeds, while the older ones can actually help clear the brush,” Padilla said.

Karl Macklin, volunteer coordinator for the National Park Service, encourages families to volunteer to help the parks. Some special events like the American Indian program in Newbury Park, require only onetime volunteers.

“The volunteers help clean and maintain the site, and then we end up the day with a potluck dinner,” Macklin said.

For some volunteer jobs a little training is necessary. The Ventura County Red Cross offers a series of classes to prepare members of a volunteer disaster team. Children learn to help adults set up a shelter, shuttle supplies, work with stricken families and keep records. “We’ll match families up with their interests and talents,” said Lenore Gabel, director of public support.

The Red Cross also uses volunteers for special fund-raising events, she said, and to help staff its November-to-March emergency warming shelters at the Oxnard Armory.

Some families prefer to volunteer in quieter surroundings: Margie Johnson, 43, and her daughter, Karen, 12, chose the Thousand Oaks Library. Side-by-side, they check in and shelve books, stamp date-due cards, type information on computers and help library staff.

The mother-daughter team, members of the National Charity League, each volunteered more than 100 hours last year. They say the best part is working together.

For Margie, who works part time in the accounting department at the Oak Park Unified School District, volunteering with Karen has shown her an entirely different side of her daughter.

“She’s really very responsible. There’s a new dimension there I wouldn’t ordinarily see when she’s just fooling around at home,” Margie said.

Karen said she likes the chance to just be with her mother, to feel more grown up by making a contribution.

“It’s true bonding,” Margie said.

GETTING INVOLVED

There is a wide range of volunteer opportunities available to families. Some require specific skills or interests; others ask simply that you have a desire to make a difference.

* Habitat for Humanity: An ecumenical Christian housing ministry. The organization builds and rehabilitates homes with the help of the homeowners. Volunteers need only basic skills and a desire to help. Parents sign an agreement to restrict Habitat’s liability if children come to a work site. (805) 648-4646.

* Santa Monica Mountains/National Park Service: For families interested in clearing trails, helping at the visitor centers or historical sites, or working with the mounted assistance program or mountain bike units (participants bring own horses or mountain bikes). (818) 706-1310.

* Meals on Wheels: Volunteers use their own cars and, after receiving an orientation to the program and to the route, deliver meals to about a dozen people. Volunteers must furnish two personal references and be physically capable of driving safely. Children may accompany parents on the route. (805) 643-5653 or 496-2009.

* Ventura County Red Cross: Families learn disaster-preparedness and become members of a community team that can set up shelters, shuttle supplies and help solve housing and other problems of disaster victims. Volunteers are also needed to help staff the November-to-March warming shelter in Oxnard and to staff special fund-raising and public awareness events. (805) 643-9928.

* Ventura County Rescue Mission: Families can help prepare and serve meals, provide office services and help maintain the mission. (805) 487-7667.

* Libraries: Opportunities vary by community, but volunteers are typically needed for shelving, check-in and support services. At the Thousand Oaks Library, volunteers can also help deliver and pick up books for the homebound and can assist with children’s programs. Thousand Oaks Library asks volunteers to contribute a minimum of three hours a week. (805) 497-6282