If you visited Juneau’s Public Market this weekend, you may have noticed the prayer flags covering a booth staffed by teenagers.
Members of Juneau Teens for Change offered mini-donuts, hot chocolate, homemade candles and bracelets to raise money for their trip to Nepal.
“They actually lost about half of their net worth after the earthquake, so their country is in very much need of help,” co-founder Kayla Simpson said.
Nepal was devastated by earthquakes in April and May of 2015.
Widespread flooding this fall has further hindered rebuilding efforts.
Juneau Teens for Change is not school affiliated, but many of the students involved, like Simpson, are part of Thunder Mountain High School’s Interact club. One member is a student at Juneau-Douglas High School. Thirteen students are going on the trip.
The school has had liability issues with other clubs taking international trips in the past, so Simpson and her like-minded classmates organized their own trip.
“A big part of our group is not just the travel, but kind of the youth leadership portion of it,” Simpson said. “Everything down to the plane tickets and the travel preparations have all been planned by us who are teenagers, which is exciting for us.”
Since this is their first trip, they also partnered with Projects Abroad, an organization that supports volunteers traveling to foreign countries.
The group will leave Dec. 22 and arrive in Kathmandu Christmas morning, ready to begin work rebuilding schools for two and a half weeks.
“We’re doing construction for almost nine hours a day while we’re there. We’re trying to prepare for that, it’s gonna be different for a lot of us,” Simpson said. “Not all of us are used to doing that kind of work all day long, but that’s kind of the whole reason we’re going.”
Simpson said the group has raised about $6,000 so far. They have been planning the trip for about a year and a half, and have been frequent faces at local fundraisers in recent months.
Thunder Mountain Senior Miguel Cordero said local businesses and community members have also stepped in to support the trip.
At the Public Market, some curious passers-by took note of their flags.
“We’ve had a lot of people come up and just ask us questions,” Cordero said. “One gentleman yesterday actually came by and he said, ‘Remember, it’s better to give than to receive, please don’t change,’ and then he donated $20. It was awesome.”
The teens plan to document their trip and hope to hold public events to share what they learn with the community once they return.
