Members of Teenagers, Inc. (from left) Faith Ouimet, Sam Bauer, and Claire Boyle complete a house for this little girl's family of seven. (Photo courtesy of Jason Huber)

by Lilly Soroko

Teenagers, Inc., a local non-profit organization focusing on teenagers, is gearing up for an international service schedule. They are known throughout Chestnut Hill for being active and dedicated members of the community. “Our mission is to build community for teenagers by teenagers,” said Jason Huber, executive director of Teenagers, Inc.

The current membership of about 60 teens participates in a variety of service projects and community building events. The Inc. Spot (located on Bethlehem Pike) serves as a hangout space for members most days of the week and often hosts events like movie nights or weekly writing clubs. However, they are planning on focusing most of their energy this upcoming school year on their global service trips.

One of Teens Inc.’s signature service projects is their annual 10-day trip to Guatemala in July. Fundraising for the trip starts in early winter as the teens host a variety of events like the Ghost Walk, carwashes and a Carnival-inspired dinner and auction. The teens also fundraise individually and host events like a poetry night or a painting class.

“This trip allows us to completely change the lives of the people we meet, and in return, they remind us how important it is to remain humble and appreciate all that we have,” said Kathryn Dwyer, 19, of the University of Delaware.

Once the teens arrive in Guatemala, they partner with The God’s Child Project. Together they have built close to 30 homes and donated about 20,000 pounds of clothes, tools and supplies to villages in need. The teens also volunteer at an elementary school and work at homeless shelters and malnutrition centers.

While frequent local service and an annual trip to Guatemala would probably satisfy most humanitarians, Jason Huber wants more. He plans to consolidate Teenagers, Inc. with his other organization, the Global Classroom Project (which offers a trip to Costa Rica), in an effort to offer more trips to teens. Eventually, Huber would like to offer Teens Inc. members the opportunity to travel to Guatemala, Costa Rica and possibly a third country.

He would also like to offer those trips multiple times per year so that teens on different schedules could all participate. Huber deeply values these international trips because he believes that global travel helps builds teens’ foundation for passionate local service.

Huber explained, “You know the bumper sticker ‘Think globally, act locally?’ That’s great, but you almost need the global perspective to even be able to act locally.”