Teen raises $1,000 for non-profit to feed homeless

Claire Jimenez is a 14-year-old who participates in various community service projects in her free time.

Although she lives and goes to school in Escambia County, her philanthropy reaches other areas of Northwest Florida, including Santa Rosa County.

Claire started a club, Volunteens, with a group of her friends. Their latest project was to raise money for Waterfront Rescue Mission's Thanksgiving feast for the homeless in Northwest Florida counties. Claire and her friends raised more than $1,000 to buy turkeys, stuffing and anything else the organization may need to feed the homeless.

Here, we catch up with Claire about her charitable efforts, her aspirations and her everyday life.

Why did you want to help Waterfront Rescue Mission?

I was trying to find a service project to do and I thought the perfect one would be helping feed the homeless for Thanksgiving through Waterfront Rescue Mission. My family has worked with Waterfront Rescue Mission before, and we know it’s a trusting organization and helps a lot of people.

How did you get your friends involved?

They were willing and they were really generous about time and they helped me after school and through the weekend, and we got it done.

Can you tell me more about Volunteens?

It’s made up of [me and] my friends. What we do is get a project and we plan it out in our free time and we basically plan different times we can do it on our schedules so we always have a time to do the activity.

What’s next for you and Volunteens?

We’re thinking every month we’ll do a service project and do different organizations, and just help people throughout our community.

What do you like to do in your free time?

In my free time, I love [to play] volleyball. I play volleyball almost every day. I play school league and I play travel. And I also play basketball.

Do you know what you want to be when you grow up?

I’m not sure. I think I either want to be an architect or an interior designer or some kind of doctor.

When did you start becoming interested in community service?

I’ve always done community service through either school or Girl Scouts. I’ve been exposed to different projects and stuff, and it's always interested me. I just decided I wanted to make it a monthly thing, like I do something different for different organizations just to help people in our community.

What would you like people to know about you?

I just think that how old you are, it doesn’t matter; you can always help people in your community. It doesn’t take long, and it’s really fun.

This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Teen raises $1,000 for non-profit to feed homeless