North State Teens Give Back To Their Communities With Creativity, Hard Work & Love

Thomas W., Yreka

Grace P, Chico

Grace is 13 years old and is the president of CCC, a Chico club dedicated to educating others about climate change and doing everything they can to prevent it. The club does projects and events to reduce their own, their schools and their community’s greenhouse gas emissions and educate others about this topic.

Abby B., Red Bluff

Abby is 14 years old and started Abby’s Sweet Feet in 2015 when she was eight. She says the program helps provide school aged children with proper shoes and socks for school “ so they can put their best foot forward into learning.” She has also been able to help adults and children with shoes during California wildfires. To date Abby has been able to provide almost 800 pairs of shoes and socks.

Leah P. and Lily G., Redding

Leah, 17; and Lily, 18, were juniors at Shasta High School when the pandemic hit last March. In addition to their extra-curricular activities (art and taekwondo for Lily, sewing and Science Bowl for Leah, and Model United Nations and California Association of Student Councils leadership for both), they volunteered as after-school peer tutors. Over the summer, Lily and Leah created a tutor application process, built a website, and recruited tutors for the Zoom-based program. By fall, Copernicus Tutoring had 16 tutors. Since launching on Instagram and starting a blog in September, Lily and Leah have expanded into three states on the East Coast, with 20 high school tutors offering one-on-one virtual help to kids as young as kindergarten, all the way through 12th grade.

Magella M., Willows

Two years ago Magella, who is now 18 years old, created the Socktober community service project, collecting new pairs of socks for people in need. This year she placed collection boxes around Glenn County at local businesses to collect new, warm winter supplies and invited the Willows High School Key Club and Glenn County 4-H to help collect and wrap the items for Christmas. Magella delivered 339 gifts to people in need throughout the county.

Thomas W., Yreka

Thomas is 18 years old and is involved in the Interact Club through Yreka High School and the Teen Leadership Council through the Siskiyou Family YMCA. Both of these groups are dedicated to community service. In these programs, he has fed the homeless on Saturday mornings, volunteered as a leader for Parents Night Out and was a counselor for Camp L.E.A.D during his junior and senior years of high school.

Emma C and Sylva C., Mt. Shasta

Emma, 17; and her sister Sylva, 15, are officers in the MSHS Rotary Interact club and do a lot of volunteer work through this organization. They managed a food drive, made dog toys for the humane society, wrote cards to healthcare workers and repainted the high school sign. Emma and Sylva also help pick up trash and remove invasive plants from local parks and lakes through Key Club and an Environmental Sustainability club. Sylva also volunteers with Junior Statesmen of America, and Emma helps with community events and fundraisers. The pair are part of the school’s leadership team and volunteer at and organize many school events.

Ashlee D., Anderson

Ashlee is 16 years old and has been volunteering with Redding’s Turtle Bay Exploration Park in the Animal Care Department since 2017. She has been an active participant in Turtle Bay’s Teen Conservation Club, and recently stepped in to serve as Interim President of the club. Ashlee has incredible heart for her community, Turtle Bay, and especially the animal ambassadors.

Anastasia H., Red Bluff

When she was eight, Anastasia started Project Heroes as a way to give back to local military families and veterans by delivering meal baskets and toys at Christmas. When she was13, Ana turned her project into a corporation and delivered to veteran and military families and also disaster relief. Now 14, Ana has delivered meal baskets, toys, new blankets and pajamas to hundreds of military families, as well as families from the Rancho Tehama shooting and the Carr and Camp fires. Her goal is to take her project nationwide to help veterans and military families all across the United States.

Ethan B., Chico

Ethan is 16 years old and has created a letter-writing organization called One Letter, Endless Joy. The group reaches out to assisted living facilities in the community to show continued respect and love for the seniors who are unable to have any visitors during the pandemic. He and his brother, Cade, created a website to help spread the word and rally volunteers around the world to write a unique, thoughtful letters to seniors in assisted living facilities. Ethan is integrating One Letter, Endless Joy into Interact, a club at his school that brings the community’s young adults and seniors together.

Peyton L., Redding

Peyton is 15 and is a sophomore at Foothill High School. Last fall she helped sort food and toy items that were donated to the Salvation Army for families in need. In mid December she used the Salvation Army individual child wish lists for kids from infant to 18 to “go shopping” through the donated items to create a bag of Christmas gifts that included necessities like clothes and wish list items like games, sports equipment, dolls, Barbies and bicycles. Her favorite part was creating the gift bags for the kids because it made her feel like Santa as she picked items based on each child’s favorite colors and interests.

Jeremy M. and Alison B., Redding

Jeremy, 15; and Alison, 16, volunteer at their church, helping the elderly with yard work and chores. They also spend a great deal of time during the holidays to bake and distribute cookies and deliver poinsettias to neighbors, friends and senior church members, spreading cheer throughout the year.