Jax Thrive is an organization that has been around since 2017. With the help of many schools, including Bolles, it has grown significantly in the past 8 years. More than 850 teens have volunteered, accumulating over 11,000 community service hours and helping over 300 refugees.
The organization was created to help recently settled refugees in Jacksonville with things like education and self-sufficiency.
They have multiple programs, including Super Saturdays, they have super Saturdays which all students a part of the club here at Bolles and welcome to attend, and many do which are a helpful and fun time for kids, and EmpowHer, which helps female refugees with mentorship, self-defense, mind and body wellness, and provides students with feminine hygiene products.
Super Saturdays will be themed based on the holidays that month. On the Super Saturdays they provide supplemental education services such as English, math, and science. There are arts and crafts for fun and physical activities like dance and sports. This is to teach the refugees more about America, to help them interact with other refugees, and learn more English.
More programs are the financial literacy program, which helps the refugee students learn about money and budgeting, and annual gift drives, which are done during back-to-school season, winter, and summer. Lastly, they offer a tutoring program where teen volunteers tutor the children. least two Saturdays every month,.
The kids are not used to speaking English at home, andsuper saturdays help them to keep it fresh in their minds. They teach them basic vocabulary words that would most likely not be taught in American schools because the other kids would already have an understanding.
For example, at the last Super Saturday they taught the younger refugees words like towel, toilet, and sink. Every Saturday, they help around 100 kids. They also offer virtual tutoring.
Jax Thrive is a nonprofit organization, so help from our school is very valuable to them. At our school, there is a club in the middle headed by 3 students of class of 2030 Blake Joseph, Devon Hardy, Cathy Landa, and teacher Mrs. Velcio. The club has 35 members.
At the high-school the club is headed by students Olivia Owens 27’, Greer Davis 27′, and Jack Burnett 27’, and teachers Ms. Moyer-Shad, and Ms. Jacobson. The club works hard every year to try and get as many volunteers from our community as possible.
Throughout the year, they have fundraisers like food drives to help the refugees. Most of these refugee families struggle to provide enough food for their children. Because Jax Thrive is a nonprofit organization, it relies heavily on schools for donations.
Super Saturdays are themed based on the month, and last month’s is Halloween themed. At the last meeting, they made Halloween bags for the kids. Inside, we put little goodies such as candy and little toys. In total, they made 50.
This is a fun treat for the kids because they do not often receive items like this. Being a part of this club is helpful in many ways. It allows students to be a part of a different community and see life from others less fortunate than them from their perspective.
According to Sahana Desai 27’ the club allows students to help other students in many ways. The opportunity to spend your free time helping the community by tutoring refugee students, providing them with necessities like food, and teaching them activities. The feeling of helping others less fortunate than you is one of the best feelings there is. This club gives that feeling, especially because there are so many different ways to help and so many opportunities to help.
