High School Students in Nampa, Idaho, Unify Community through “JustServe January” Initiative
Contributed By Hannah DeTavis, ChurchofJesusChrist.org Church News staff writer
Students raised awareness for JustServe January, Skyview High School’s monthlong service initiative, by sporting JustServe T-shirts.
Article Highlights
- Students sporting JustServe T-shirts promoted JustServe.org.
- Their high school’s JustServe January rewarded service with a basketball game.
- Students learned to love service and built relationships in their community.
“One thing we can agree on is that Jesus Christ taught that there should be no poor among us. … When we drop all the rest of it and ‘just serve’ with each other, we develop a special bond.” —Autumn Stringam, JustServe Nampa coordinator
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NAMPA, IDAHO
On January 31, the Skyview High School basketball stadium in Nampa, Idaho, overflowed with teenagers wearing blue JustServe T-shirts. Each student had earned the shirt by participating in a monthlong service initiative.
The school adopted “JustServe January” to encourage teens to improve the community through JustServe.org, a website created by the Church that matches volunteers with local organizations in need of helping hands. (See related story.)
Because of JustServe January, the number of consistent JustServe signups for volunteer opportunities in Nampa jumped from 67 in December to 241 in January. The high school’s initiative also ushered in 73 new projects and an astonishing 706 hours of volunteer service.
One student, Jacob Dunn, said, “When I saw the sea of JustServe logos, I saw high schoolers who were all signed up for service and who had each donated five cans of food for our food drive.”
It all started when Nampa local Autumn Stringam logged on to JustServe.org to help her high school-aged kids find fun, productive activities over the summer. As her teenagers invited their friends to service projects, their “JustServe Summer” grew to about 30 solid volunteers.
“It developed organically because kids like to be where kids are,” Stringam said. Her daughter, Melanie, even took a date to the Salvation Army homeless shelter to answer phone calls at the front desk—all while having a great time in a safe environment. “It’s so much better than the movies,” Stringam remarked.
“If there’s one thing I learned about myself in the past month, it’s that serving others helps me get out of my own head,” said Ashley Coburn, a junior at Skyview High School. “When I help someone, I feel so much happier.”
Stringam saw the positive influence that these projects had on her high schoolers and hatched the idea of assembling a pilot service program for all teenagers in the Treasure Valley of Idaho.
Skyview High School students pose in their JustServe shirts. Photo courtesy of Autumn Stringam.
Walking billboards
As summer came to a close, Stringam brainstormed an advertising strategy for a teen-targeted service initiative. Dunn explained, “We had a budget for a billboard or some kind of advertisement, and Autumn suggested, ‘What about walking billboards?’”
Those “walking billboards” were the teenagers themselves, representing JustServe.org by wearing a T-shirt with the organization’s heart logo on the front and the group’s Instagram username on the back: @justservetreasurevalley.
To earn a shirt, teens simply had to sign up on JustServe.org, participate in two service activities, and tag @justservetreasurevalley in an Instagram post.
As teenagers sported their JustServe shirts in public, their peers became interested in service projects they could do with their friends. Local organizations also took notice of the walking billboards and their underlying cause. “We gave local sponsors an opportunity to get behind something amazing, and they were more than happy to fund more shirts,” Stringam explained.
The new, sponsored T-shirts came in two styles—baseball tees and dry fit—with quotes about service on the back from well-known individuals including President Thomas S. Monson, C. S. Lewis, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and even the Grinch.
“Teenagers love free shirts,” Dunn said. “It became a trend, and I’d hear kids at school asking, ‘Hey, haven’t you gotten your T-shirt yet?’ It was positive peer pressure working to our advantage.”
“We still see those shirts everywhere,” Stringam laughed. “Kids wear them out to the movies, at the rec center, everywhere. They’ve become a fashion statement here in Nampa.”
JustServe January
Seeing many of their students donning JustServe shirts, the administrators of Skyview High School asked to jump in on the program. They soon created a schoolwide initiative: JustServe January.
“As soon as the school got involved, it changed from being a Mormon thing to be a community thing, which is what JustServe intended in the first place,” Stringam noted.
For Skyview High School’s JustServe January, students earned T-shirts by creating a JustServe account and donating five cans of food for the Nazarene Care House, an organization that feeds the needy and homeless in downtown Nampa. The school collected more than 3,000 pounds of food.
“I was excited that my whole school was involved in something that would benefit the whole community,” Coburn said. “High school is hard with everybody in their own cliques, but JustServe January helped us break down boundaries, meet new people, and help our community. Service really is love in action, and I saw that during JustServe January,” she said.
Once other organizations in the area heard about JustServe January at Skyview, they wanted to participate as well. Congregations of many other faiths have now launched JustServe projects for their youth groups after seeing its positive impact at Skyview High School.
“I started getting calls from other schools and even a member of the school board saying, ‘Why are you leaving other schools out of this? Can other schools do it?’” Stringam recalled. She anticipates that in a few months, many schools in the area will be launching their own JustServe initiatives.
Students wear their JustServe T-shirts at Skyview High School’s basketball game on January 31. Photo by Cari Adams.
“Insta-gators”
Many of the volunteers agreed that social media fueled the success of JustServe January.
Excitement for service ignited as the program’s Instagram administrators frequently posted about new service opportunities. Teenagers tagged their friends on posts of interest and soon, @justservetreasurevalley flooded with pictures of success stories.
“Insta-gators,” as Stringam called them, are young volunteers that understand social media and the power of a direct invitation. These teenagers would invite peers to serve in private messages on Instagram’s direct message system, Facebook Messenger, or text messages.
“When I saw all the Instagram posts, I wanted to get involved, but I was scared that I would be intruding on some kind of club,” Dunn said. “It wasn’t until someone directly messaged me that I felt a part of it. Direct messaging was our key to success, because it helped everyone feel included.”
Since so many “insta-gators” have reached out to other teens in their community, the group’s Instagram account has tripled in followers since last summer.
Coburn recalled her experience of recruiting through social media: “My friend’s brother is on the football team and he’s really cool, so I didn’t think he’d want to do a project with me, but I thought I’d ask him anyway, so I DM’ed [direct messaged] him and asked, ‘Would you be willing to come with me?’ And he said yes!”
“Everyone is on social media,” she added. “So why not use that resource for good?”
Students earned their T-shirts by creating a JustServe account and donating five cans of food for the Nazarene Care House. Photo by Cari Adams.
Projects
With a smile on their faces, teenagers in Nampa aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty as they help others in need of food, shelter, or sometimes a listening ear.
According to Stringam, a local retirement home drops off a group of elderly women at Walmart every Monday for shopping. A group of teenage volunteers meets the women at the store to escort them around, help them reach high-up items, and take them to the curb when the bus returns.
“They know these women by name,” Stringam said. “Sometimes, they sit down and have a pop with them. Now, the kids are painting the ladies’ nails and doing all sorts of things with them because they just love them.”
Teenagers also have the powerful opportunity to volunteer at the Nazarene Care House, where they can help people in need “shop” for free, donated items. Stringam explained, “The kids who serve at the Nazarene Care House are forever changed. They get to know these people’s stories and come away with a different perspective of poverty and what need really looks like.”
Coburn, who volunteers at Grace Assisted Living, recalled a Valentine’s party at the retirement home where one of her friends danced with an elderly man. “He said he hadn’t danced with anyone since his wife had passed away,” she said. “It really touched him that we would come.”
Another JustServe opportunity hosted by the school district invites students to feed the homeless and displaced adolescents at a local Presbyterian church. Dunn expressed, “The reason I love projects like this is that two people may enter a service project as strangers and leave as friends.”
Some other service opportunities that high school students reported included repainting middle school portables, removing trash from dog parks, painting fire lanes, and feeding children at the Salvation Army.
Skyview High School students sing the national anthem at the JustServe January-themed basketball game. Photo by Cari Adams.
Healing communities and teens
Because of Skyview’s JustServe January, teenagers have formed heartfelt ties within the Nampa community.
“There are a lot of religions in this community who may not understand each other,” Stringam explained. “But one thing we can agree on is that Jesus Christ taught that there should be no poor among us. So, when we drop all the rest of it and ‘just serve’ with each other, we develop a special bond.”
Many of the teenage volunteers were surprised by how fun and flexible service opportunities could be. Ashley described how she dreaded service projects growing up because she envisioned hours of grueling leaf raking. But now, she encourages teenagers everywhere to use a free Saturday or sometime after school to help another person. “And bring a friend or two with you,” she added.
Stringam explained that the key to attracting teenagers to service projects is to advertise activities that can be completed in an hour or less. She iterated that no matter how busy students think they are, they can always schedule a little kindness into their day.
Because administrators at Skyview High School were thrilled with the results of JustServe January, Stringam anticipates that they’ll re-create the initiative again next year.
“When teens serve strangers, it changes their self-esteem,” she said. “Not only that, but they’ve outpoured compassion toward the very poorest in our community—whether they be poor in health, finances, or companionship. It’s all about the heart-to-heart connection,” she said.
Coburn agreed. “Even though you’re just one person and you feel like your two hands can’t do much, they’re two hands that can change the world. You’re here to make a difference,” she said.
Learn more about service opportunities in your area by visiting JustServe.org today.
