The ManaTEEN Club, a program of the Volunteer Center of Manatee County, Florida, is considered to be the nation's largest, locally-based, youth led program in the nation, with 13,100 active teen volunteers! These youth donate more than 1.6 million hours of service each year to benefit 511 organizations in SW Florida through community based service-learning efforts. ManaTEENs was created by Laura Lockwood at the age of 12 in 1994. Today, at 21 years of age, she continues her role as a ManaTEEN mentor and coordinator, serving her third year in national service as an AmeriCorps member in the Volunteer Center.

ManaTEENs are encouraged to mobilize people and resources in identifying and addressing local needs. As a result, 37 programs have been created, developed, implemented, evaluated and sustained by youth volunteers in our community. These programs address issues pertaining to the environment, animal welfare, seniors, persons with disabilities, children, families, homeland security, disaster preparedness, response, and recovery, and of course, Health.