There are more than a hundred youth-led chapters in over twenty countries, so there may already be one near you. If there is not, the form below is how a new one begins.
A chapter is a local branch of Detailing for MCAS, run by the students in it. There is no regional office above you and no staff member assigned to you. You decide what your chapter runs, when it runs, and who does what.
Chapters range from six members to fifty or more.
Some are school clubs with a faculty sponsor. Some are community groups with no school attached. A few are statewide initiatives that coordinate several schools at once. All three are chapters, and none of them is the right shape — whatever works where you are is what the chapter should be.
What a chapter does is set out in our service programs: the detailing events the organisation is named after, the fundraising that pays for research, and the card drives that reach patients in 23 hospitals. Most chapters run all three over a year. Members of your chapter earn community service hours for the work, the same as any other volunteer.
Chapters are running in twenty countries. If one of them is yours, there may be a chapter close enough to join rather than start — ask us and we will tell you what is nearest you.
That list grew by application, not by plan. Every country on it began with one person filling in the same form, usually with no idea whether anyone else in their school would turn up. What the chapters have added up to since 2021 is counted separately.
A card drive is the usual first thing a new chapter runs.
Two stages. There is no interview.
It asks who you are, where the chapter would be, and what you intend to run. You do not need the whole year planned. You do need to have thought about who else is doing this with you, because a chapter of one tends not to last.
You will get an update within a week of submitting. Not every application is accepted — there are more applications than the organisation can support properly at once, and a chapter that is approved but then left alone helps nobody.
If you are turned down, it is not permanent. You can apply again, and in the meantime you can do all of the same work as an individual volunteer.
Chapter registration form →Questions about applying: Detailingformcas@gmail.com
None of the following is on this page. It is sent to you after your chapter is accepted, because most of it only makes sense once there is a chapter to apply it to.
Every chapter on the list started the same way, including the first one. In 2021 that was one high schooler detailing cars in a driveway in Illinois; our story covers what happened next, and our impact page has what the chapters have added up to since.
If you would rather not run one, you can still volunteer with an existing chapter or fund the research directly. If you want to understand the condition first, start with what MCAS is.
Start a chapter →