As Jake Ehrbaker's mother observed, volunteering may be "kind of in his blood."
She, Tammy Ehrbaker, has been assisting non-profits and simply helping people who need help in their community.
Now that he's 13, Jake has stepped out on his own, volunteering at places like the library and Harford Family House.
But, as he discovered, opportunities to help aren't always easy to find when you're young. Many volunteer events are marketed to those ages 16 and older.
That's when Jake decided to combine his interest in volunteering with another passion: computers. One day in March, he surprised his parents by bringing out a website he created all by himself, called HarfordTeenVolunteer.com.
"I wasn't really 100 percent sure what I wanted it to be. I just wanted to help people start volunteering," Jake said from his home off Bel Air's Route 543, near C. Milton Wright High School.
The website seeks to list organizations that are open to younger volunteers and lets people sign up for emails to learn about new opportunities.
"There's just so many things out there for volunteers, but the problem is, they are not for people under 16," Jake explained.
He started volunteering at the library this year, and also helped his mother while she judged Harford's Most Beautiful Baby contest.
"My mom actually does a lot in the community," he said.
He mentioned to his parents at the dinner table that he wanted to start a website to connect other teenagers with non-profits and groups that needed help.
While they were supportive, his mother said: "I didn't think he would really be able to do it."
Then he approached her to ask for about $100 that he needed to pay for the site, and she realized it was really happening.
Jake even emailed organizations, like Anita Leight Estuary Center and Upper Chesapeake Health Foundation, to ask if they had volunteer opportunities for teens and were willing to be featured on his site.
"I thought, I might as well give it a try," he said of the website, explaining he spent about a week putting it together.
His father, Toby Ehrbaker, is proud of what Jake did behind closed doors, while his parents weren't looking.
"I didn't realize he could do that much with the computer," Toby Ehrbaker said. "It's impressive what he did with it."
His mother proofread it and helped him with some typos, but Jake said he didn't realize they would be so surprised to see the finished product.
"I thought they thought I was working on it," he said with a smile.
As his mother noted, Jake is an extremely responsible 13-year-old who has long been interested in computers. While his 11-year-old sister, Jordan, tries to buy more things on a whim, Jake spent two years saving up to buy a Macbook laptop that he wanted.
"He is a 20-year-old in a 13-year-old's body," his mother said, calling her son "my saver."
"He saves and saves and saves," she said, recalling taking him to the Apple store at Christiana Mall in Newark, Del., to buy the computer.
"He paid for it and he cares for it like a child," she said.
Tammy Ehrbaker, who owns NVS Salon & Spa on Bel Air's Main Street, added her family is blessed to have a nice home and good lifestyle, but she wants her children to know many others are not as fortunate.
"It means a lot to us to have them stay very grounded. I want them to see, if you work hard, you have nice things," she said. "I know for myself, we want our kids to volunteer, and it is hard if you have a 13-, 14-, 15-year-old, to find some place to volunteer."
She thought some places may be worried about younger volunteers for liability reasons, but pointed out many events, like Harford's Most Beautiful Baby contest, just need another pair of hands. At that event, the organizer needed someone to put bags together, she said.
She was especially impressed that her son reached out to organizations he wanted to put on the website.
"He took his time and really did it himself," she said. "All of them were so receptive."
Jake has not done much promotion of the website yet or had anyone sign up for the email list. Nevertheless, he continues to stay on top of the website metrics and has been happy with the attention it is getting.
He noted the site went from 27 page views to about 1,000 total.
"That's pretty crazy," he said.
Jake has even begun using some of his computer skills while volunteering. Tammy said his supervisor at the library wondered if he could help sign people up for the Summer Reading Program using iPads.
A quiet student at Southampton Middle School who has nearly straight A's, Jake has also found volunteering to be a good way to get out of the house and meet a new challenge.
In late May, he took part in a geocaching event called CITO (Cache In Trash Out) to help pick up trash on the Ma & Pa Trail. Jake and his parents set a goal to find 25 pounds of trash and were excited to ultimately get 28 pounds.
"It was amazing when we finally hit it," Jake said, clearly thrilled by his accomplishment.
When his science teacher heard he was organizing the CITO day, she offered extra credit to anyone who took part in it.
His school does not do much with technology, he said, but he was excited to learn he would be allowed to bring his computer to school next year as part of Harford County Public Schools' "bring your own technology" initiative.
"I just really want to expand the website and help as many people start volunteering and as many organizations get as many volunteers as I can," he said.
The message of Jake's story, his mother added, is: "You are not too young to volunteer."