Youth-led JustServe Club in Oahu Collects Over 1,100 Pounds of Trash in One Day

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By Leah Haynes, Church News

The island of Oahu, Hawaii, recently got a little bit brighter — and cleaner.

Ellie Burton, a freshman at Punahou High School, and Ian Stevens, a junior at Kaiser High School, came together earlier this year to complete service projects in their community and bring youth together through acts of service. Ellie and Ian, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also started organizing a JustServe club at Punahou High School that was later approved.

Months later, they were critical to breaking a record on Oahu and collecting 1,100 pounds of trash on Sand Island Beach in a single day this fall.

Ellie organized several beach cleanup sessions with the Global Preservation Initiative in May. She gathered a few friends, including Ian, and started serving the Lord and others in their local sphere.

“We were able to clean up the Hawaii Kai Ward’s Sandy Beach, and in less than an hour, removed over 60 pounds of trash while having fun with our friends,” said Ellie. She added that, to their surprise, the event exceeded the Initiative’s goal of 50 pounds collected a day.

A few months later—and with an official JustServe club—on September 21, Ellie, Ian and about 40 volunteers, primarily high school students from Punahou High School and other area high schools, which also had their JustServe clubs represented, collected 740 pounds of trash at Sand Island Beach. That broke the island record of 680 pounds of trash collected in one day.

“It was very rewarding to plan and execute this service project with lots of great people from our community,” said Ian.

JustServe is a free website and app where community organizations list their service needs and where volunteers can find service opportunities around them.

Momentum and enthusiasm for service only continued to grow.

On November 2, Ellie, Ian and more than 100 volunteers collected over 1,100 pounds of trash in a single day— beating their own record of 740 pounds. The volunteers included more than 60 youth in Oahu who came together from four high schools: Roosevelt, Punahou, Kaiser and Farrington. The beach cleanup was 100% student-led.

“This shows the tremendous positive impact we can make when we work together,” said Aaron Magee, founder of the Global Preservation Initiative.

Ryan Tanaka, a local Church member and business leader, sponsored the JustServe club. Tanaka provided funds for over 200 JustServe shirts for the youth and dinner for more than 100 volunteers who participated in the beach cleanup on November 2.

Tanaka, along with other adult supporters — retired Judge Bode Uale and his wife, Beth Uale —spoke at the event, which included both the cleanup and dinner, encouraging youth to push forward and be leaders.

Bode Uale said: “It was so inspiring to see youth show up of their own accord to do service. They seem to exude love and happiness. You could easily see that in their eyes and faces. It was an honor to share with them my thoughts on youth service.”

Magee said, “It was inspiring to be a part of an event made possible by the effort and contribution of these youth. It is essential to involve the next generation in caring for our communities through service to instill a sense of collective action, which ultimately creates impactful, lasting change.”

With so much success among their high school friends and youth members, Ellie and Ian decided to take their love for service one step further.

Ellie and Ian led a training session for local youth and leaders — including a stake president, bishops, JustServe adult leaders from throughout the island, and youth from the tri-stake area — with eight other youth on September 15. Every chair was filled, and the back of the room was filled with people standing to see the presentation. Students fielded questions, shared pictures from past events and shared their service experiences.

Honolulu Hawaii Stake President Paul Kurihara said, “As we witness youth leading youth, we realize that youth are inborn leaders, spiritual sons and daughters of God waiting to shine.”

Ellie also spoke to her ward about JustServe’s mission and how the youth are getting involved.

Beth Uale said, “There is always strength in numbers. When so many youth work together for good, it makes a powerful impact. I appreciate all of the youth who gave their time to be of service at the beach cleanup project. I hope the experience inspires them to continue serving and to extend an invitation to friends and classmates to join them for the next project.”

By the fall, the JustServe club was approved at Punahou High School, and over 170 students signed up in one day at the club rush on September 26.

Ellie said, “I am looking forward to continuing to help our youth and ward get more involved in the JustServe organization and service projects. JustServe is such an amazing and unique tool that we can all take advantage of to give back to the community.”

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