U.S. to Uruguay: Shine City Project Concludes 2022 Volunteer Work
Photo courtesy of Shine City Project
“Volunteering for Shine City Project this year allowed me to explore and learn more about different communities,” says Jennifer Silerio, a young Unificationist and longtime SCP volunteer. “I was able to help those who were less fortunate, as well as help take care of the environment. I also enjoyed creating friendships and working with those who had the same mindset of wanting to serve others.”
Throughout 2022, nearly 100 volunteers participated in the work of Shine City Project (SCP), a group composed of young Unificationists in Las Vegas dedicated to serving their Southern Nevada community in myriad ways. “It is so fulfilling when we are able to bring joy to others,” says Jennifer. “I am grateful for all the opportunities to help those in need and to be able to appreciate our community more.”
Jennifer and her brother, SCP National Director, Jeffrey Silerio, as well as Hiromitsu Kosaka, received the U.S. President’s Volunteer Service Award in February 2022 that recognized all their volunteering in 2021. It inspired the SCP team to reach even greater heights this year — with more than 1,200 volunteer hours invested among the group and 52 service projects completed, averaging one per week.
“In this past year, we collaborated more with our local organizations,” says Jeffrey Silerio. “We worked a lot with CARP Las Vegas and New Hope Foundation International, so members and guests of these organizations volunteered and participated more in our service projects.”
The team partnered again with a number of local non-profit organizations as well, including Opportunity Village, the Doolittle Community Center, the Las Vegas Rescue Mission shelter, and Ahern Orchard, among others. Volunteers took on a range of tasks such as cooking, cleaning, serving food, picking up litter, and planting and weeding green spaces in and around the city.
Most recently, on Dec. 3, Jeffrey headed overseas to Uruguay for a joint clean-up project between SCP and Youth and Students for Peace (YSP) Uruguay. “I worked with the YSP members there to help clean up and pick up litter at Playa Capurro (Capurro Beach),” he says. “We were able to collect so much litter in a short amount of time. The amount of trash that we collected filled the back of a small pickup truck.”
Jeffrey was among some 18 volunteers who came from the U.S., Costa Rica, Uruguay and other South American countries. They all traveled with the mission to help transform a heavily littered city beach in Montevideo. “The largest item that we found was a discarded inflatable boat, which required teamwork and efforts of several volunteers,” says Jeffrey. “Overall, I appreciated the unity that we had and how the service project involved the participation of people from across North America, Central America, and South America.”
For other SCP volunteers, like Saracelia Hardarson and Pierre Vasquez, they found it rewarding to build community bonds while making a difference, no matter how big or small. “It has not only been a real privilege to join the other volunteers in helping our city shine,” says Saracelia, “but it has also been a joy to interact with those volunteers and the communities we’ve been aiding.”
“After over a year of participating in the Shine City Project, I still look forward to it every time,” added Pierre. “It has helped make Las Vegas feel more like my home.”
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