First JustServe Club on Oahu Formed by 16-Year-Old

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By Leah Haynes, Church News

Giovanni Miller, a sophomore at Kaiser High School in Oahu, Hawaii, has a lot on his plate: practicing each of the five musical instruments he plays, attending football practice for his high school team, and even acting in Disney’s live action “Moana” movie and performing as a dancer on cruise ships.

Amid the busy day-to-day commitments, Giovanni has learned the value of service — and chose to prioritize it.

Giovanni helped form the first high school JustServe club on the island of Oahu — a club that plans to attend and host service activities two to four times a month. With around 50 students signing up in just over a month, the JustServe club is gaining traction among teens in Oahu. Within 30 days, clubs opened at high schools around the island, at Kaiser, Farrington, Roosevelt and Punahou, with over 150 members among the four schools. He said roughly 90% of members are community friends, while 10% are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

JustServe is a search engine of service opportunities. A person simply looks up the JustServe.org website or app and searches for service opportunities in his or her area. They can also find local places to volunteer, large service projects coming up and success stories.

Giovanni and his friends set up a booth at Kaiser High School’s club rush on August 22. “We saw a lot of people that we knew, and we called them over to come check out our booth,” Giovanni said. The club hosted its first meeting of club members interested in leadership roles on September 9.

“When Jesus was on the earth he served people, and doing the same helps us grow closer to Christ,” said Giovanni. “And so when I serve others, I feel like I’m becoming more like Christ every time, and I can feel His love.”

This isn’t Giovanni’s first time gathering people to serve. Months earlier, he brought together about a dozen friends from his ward and his school’s football team to serve at the Angel Network food pantry while wearing their matching JustServe shirts to unload nearly 600 boxes of food.

“Most of the veteran volunteers at the pantry are retired elderly people working in the hot sun. They were so excited and relieved to have young volunteers assist with setting up the tents, heavy lifting and cleaning,” Giovanni said. “Because there were more hands to help, it sped up the process of giving out food to those in need.”

Danny Tengen of the Angel Network commented on what happened.

“On June 6, we almost had to cancel food distribution due to lack of enough volunteers. A youth named Giovanni Miller surprised us with 12 of his fellow high school peers. We had enough people still needing food, so we didn’t have to send all the food to a landfill that day and could remain open,” he said. “Thank you, Gio and his high school buddies, for doing something meaningful in the community. I found them to be kind, respectful, hardworking and happy to be there.”

The service projects planned for members of the JustServe club are no different; club members will contribute in various capacities, from food banks to cleaning up beaches, even when the climate makes service challenging.

“Usually, it’s out in the sun; on the beach, it’s hot,” said Giovanni. “But once I start doing the service, I feel a lot better because I know I’m helping someone and I’ll receive blessings for trying to help others.”

Giovanni’s mother, Tilini Miller, is a proud, beaming parent: “It’s pretty much entirely youth-run, and I’m proud of the example he is to his other brothers and his younger sister.”

Giovanni is the oldest child and starting serving in the home long before the JustServe club at school. He has a 7-year-old nonverbal brother with autism, and service was burned into Giovanni’s heart long ago.

“He helps out with him a lot, and I think this is just an extension of his service that he does at home,” said Tilini Miller. “I’m glad that he’s out there on the Lord’s errand. I feel that this is preparing him for a mission and preparing him to be a husband and a father someday, and to be a righteous priesthood holder. All those roles require a lot of sacrifice and a lot of service.”

Now, with the formation of the JustServe club, Giovanni and other club members are helping to serve in their families and communities on Oahu.

“I think service helps us grow spiritually, especially in today’s world with the internet and all the distractions that we have,” Giovanni said. “Our peers have a heavy influence on us, and so if we can have lots of teenagers and their friends do service, that can help their entire friend group move closer toward Christ.”

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