How Latter-day Saints Changed Lives in Honor of Global Youth Service Day

Thousands of young of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints across the globe rolled up their sleeves in April 2025 to celebrate Global Youth Service Day by serving and making a tangible difference in their local communities.

In many locales, including Argentina, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the United States, the spirit of giving was palpable.

In Argentina, youth collected and sorted refuse to create a cleaner environment by separating recyclable materials from non-recyclable ones.

“The activity was great,” said Susana Orue, who works with the mayor in Vicente López, the suburb where the service occurred. “[We had] lots of youth and neighbors come. We were able to collect 100 bags of trash in just an hour and a half. This had a great impact which s our green initiatives here in Vicente Lopez.”

In Canada, the KARA Family Resource Centre in Edmonton, Alberta, invited youth from across the city to assist with their spring cleanup. Over 30 community helpers cleaned playground equipment, weeded flower beds, and raked 20 bags of leaves.

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Jethro Infante shared his positive experience: “The Just Serve initiatives are awesome,” he said. “It gives me opportunities to serve that I don’t usually get. Volunteering was fun, and I found joy seeing so many others willing to help out as well.”

Nikki Kirk, the people and culture manager at KARA, added, “We have really enjoyed using JustServe and have made some amazing connections with wonderful volunteers. We are very grateful.”

JustServe is an online community service platform sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In Southern California, more than 200 youth from 83 schools in Orange County crafted thousands of seed pods to aid in the regrowth of areas ravaged by the early 2025 fires. They also cut hundreds of shoe templates for SoleHope.org to benefit people in Africa.

“It felt good to help people that are devastated from the fires,” said Alaina Dustin.

In San Diego, some 400 youth collected peanut butter for the North County Food Bank, made paracord lanyards for active duty military personnel, created hair accessory kits for refugee girls and ABC books for refugee children, designed “Welcome to the USA” posters for refugee families, wrapped Christmas presents for children in need, made no-sew fleece blankets for kids in Mongolia, and created T-shirt dresses for girls in Zimbabwe.

Karsten Agle, a JustServe club president, shared his joy in serving.

“It’s awesome,” said Agle, who worked on welcome signs, lanyards, and blankets. “It’s really joyful with people laughing and having a great time. It’s cool to know that I get to make something that someone is going to be really happy to see. Knowing that those are going to people that are risking their lives to protect us is awesome.”

Lola Waldron, who worked on the “Welcome to America” project, added, “Writing the letters really helped me because I had a friend from Poland and she didn’t know English at all. She just came with her mom. She felt like kind of alone at first. I feel like if they know they are not alone and people care about them it would feel really good. I love it. It makes me feel so happy to know other people are benefitting from it. It brings me so much joy.”

Parker Bienz, who made a poster that said “United We Stand,” shared, “It made me feel happy to let people know who are coming to the U.S. that we stand with them.”

In Puerto Rico, the spirit of giving shone brightly as youth connected with Largo Plazo de Puerto Rico (GRALPPR) LTRG of Puerto Rico, a disaster relief center. This organization, a crucial during weather emergencies, offers short-term housing and meals for the vulnerable. With JustServe sponsoring a national day of service in Puerto Rico that aligned with Global Youth Service Day, dozens of young volunteers came together to help GRALPPR.

Despite an initial rain delay, their efforts resulted in the painting of more buildings, including a wheelchair ramp, marking significant progress in revitalizing the GRALPPR campus.

“Providing service helps me look unto Christ by helping me follow His example,” Lucas Murray said. “I know that in His life, He served a lot of people in every way he could, and this is my way to follow his example.”

In Davis County, Utah, north of Salt Lake City, young people focused on ing teen centers in the Davis County School System by preparing essential food and hygiene kits for the 1,200 homeless students within the local school system.

“They need ,” Utah’s JustServe Director Brian Searing said of the homeless students. “They need laundry services. They need hygiene facilities. They need food. They need a place where they can have access to computers to do homework. These teen centers do that kind of work and the young people here. A lot of them are located right in the school, so the young can come there. A lot of the projects that are taking place today are to give them the supplies, the food packs, the hiking materials that they need for that.”

The students’ efforts also extended to meticulously prepping yarn for the Magic Yarn Project, which makes Disney character yarn wigs for children experiencing hair loss.

“It makes me happy that so many people would come out and volunteer to help for this,” said one participant.

Shane Smoot, a JustServe specialist in Davis County, emphasized the unifying power of service.

“Service is a wonderful catalyst from a relationship standpoint,” Smoot said. “When you serve side by side with anyone, regardless of their background, difference in political belief, political perspective, or religious, it unites you. And you come to understand that we are very much like one another, and that we’re all children of God, and we are better when we’re serving, and especially when we’re serving together.”

Read more in this related Church News story Youth help their communities for Global Youth Service Day