Local youth from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spend the summer focusing on serving others

A handful of local youth from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spent the summer focusing on serving others.

The youth, who ranged from middle to high school students, participated in a service club and completed more than 260 combined service hours for local nonprofits.  

The youth group started out small and continued to grow each week as the summer progressed. The group served weekly at Eight Waves Summer Camp reading and playing with kids, as well as sorting and boxing food at the Southeastern Food Bank. 

The group was able to process 80 pallets of food, helping to provide nourishment to 3,360 families. The group was excited to learn they had surpassed their initial goal of 100 combined hours. 

David LaCaze, director of outreach and operations at the Southeastern Food Bank, thanked the youth volunteers for their outstanding efforts. 

"We at the Southeastern Food Bank are immensely grateful for the dedication and enthusiasm of the LDS community," he said. "It’s always a wonderful experience working together to serve and support the needs of our community. Your phenomenal effort is deeply appreciated by everyone here at Southeastern and by the many lives you have touched.”

The youth use the Just Serve app as a resource to find local opportunities to serve. Just Serve is a free online platform which connects volunteers with nonprofits who need their help. 

There are several Just Serve high school clubs across the country, but very few in Florida. The youth group is hoping to start a Just Serve Club in some of the local high schools in West Orange and Southwest Orange counties.

“I like to serve, because I know people need our help and that we can make a difference," Athen Bingham, a founding member of the service club and an incoming freshman at Windermere High School, said. "I enjoy serving there every week. It makes me feel good.” 

In addition to the service club, local youth leaders from the church have organized larger group service projects for the youth over the summer. The youth have spent more than 1,200 hours this summer serving locally. 

Service hours at the youth camp involved activities including weeding and picking up trash at Wekiva Springs State Park, the nature trail at the Oakland Nature Preserve and West Orange High School, as well as collecting 112 bags of clothing and shoes and volunteering at the thrift store at the Central Florida Hope Center.

"I’m thankful to see many young people linking arms with the wonderful charitable organizations in our community," Gary Hansen, stake president who oversees the 13 local congregations for the church in and around the Horizon West area, said. "The service they collaboratively render blesses both those who receive and those who give. I cherish the example the youth set as they demonstrate their faith in Jesus Christ through service.”

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