Children ages 8 to 11 are required to complete a specified number of volunteer hours, and they may choose where to volunteer. If they do not fulfill this requirement, they do not receive a job assignment when they turn 12. If a child finds himself in this situation, it “cloud[s] his entire future” (28). When they do eventually complete enough hours, they receive the assignment in private, without a ceremony. Jonas considers the choice of where to volunteer as a freedom, “a wonderful luxury,” since “other hours of the day [are] so carefully regulated” (26). He has volunteered at many different places, and he is glad he has experienced the differences among various types of work. Volunteering also helps the children build skills and discover their occupational interests and aptitudes. Jonas knows some children have an outstanding aptitude for certain types of work. However, even children who have accomplished great things in their volunteer work can’t talk about it very openly, for there is “never any comfortable way to mention or discuss one’s successes without breaking the rule against bragging, even if one didn’t mean to” (27).

Jonas meets his friend Fiona at the House of the Old, her favorite place to volunteer.