Tribulations unify teens for their community

For the 15th consecutive year, Fresno Christian’s high school students volunteered to be of service all over Fresno at 10 varying locations, Feb. 17. Serve Day is a unique opportunity provided for students to broaden their views of the tribulations others face, and with a little assistance a little sacrifice can go a long way.

To improve the sanitation and appearance of Fresno, the mayor created a new project called Beautify Fresno, which is a

community-based effort to improve the city.

Students were transported on several buses to the projects they signed up for. Areas in need of revitalization such as Martin Park, Southeast Park, graffiti infested regions, The Well, Cross City and the Lowell community were all assisted for the day.

The executive director of the Lowell Community Development Corporation, Esther Carver, goes into depth of the vitality for why everyone needs to be involved.

“Anytime that we give up our time in a context that is different from what we are used to or what we know is beneficial for us and for the other community because it helps us learn the complexities in our communities and how different areas are affected by different things,” Carver said. “We get to see the beauty and the diversity in our entire community.”

Brynn Foster, ’23, joined the graffiti clean-up crew to experience a new outlook.

“I find it important to help the community,” Foster said. “It encourages high school students to do service outside of school and makes our community better place to live.”

A group of students prepared the Fresno City Firehouse Station 18 for their opening on February 22, 2023. The Deputy Fire Marshal, Jay Tracy, shares his gratitude and recommends several programs offered by the firehouse for teenagers to be a part of.

Such as the Fire Explorer and Fresno Girls Empowerment programs, giving the younger generation firsthand experience of the daily life of a firefighter.

Another serve day location was The Central California Food Bank, where the mission is to solve hunger and food related issues causing harm unto the community.

Angie Counts, the teacher for Math 1-3, exudes her enthusiasm for what her group has accomplished in a day at the food bank and the effects of their good deeds.

“It was crazy, our first job was putting bags together for families and we rocked it. But I was thinking that there are little boys out there putting peanut butter on their toast in the morning because of this ministry,” Counts said. “What made it so much more fun is thinking of the people getting these bags and taking them home to their families.”

Along with off-campus service projects, there were several projects on FC campus as well: People’s Church and Reading Heart.

Matthew Markarian, the People’s Church Facility Pastor, encourages students to look at where they are at now and discover how they can help in what is right in front of them.

“Many times we assume you have to leave and go somewhere to serve when oftentimes it is the hardest to serve where everyone knows you,” Markarian said. “When students serve in the community God clearly softens hearts and brings students together when they are serving.”

Reading Heart is a book donation program which began as a dream by a little eight year old girl, Danay Ferguson.

“What inspired me [to start reading heart] was my own love of reading and I wanted to share that with everybody else,” Ferguson said.

Student volunteers separated, packaged and shipped out books for the betterment of student libraries across the country.

Giada Salazar, ’26, aided in every segment needed and disclosed of her experience as her first time doing Serve Day.

“I really enjoyed helping and supporting our community by pushing out books to children around the central valley with friends and classmates,” Salazar said. 

How do you serve the community? Why is serving important? Leave a comment in the section below.

For previous serve day articles, read, FC Serve Day 2022, or 7th annual serve day aids community through student service.