Juniors and best friends Cayla Mortman and Trini Rojas know a thing or two about community service: they’ve been volunteering in various ways since freshman year.

  This dedication to service is what led them to create Helping Hands Unite (HHU), a group dedicated to providing fun service opportunities and making a difference in the community. The PPCHS students work together to develop their outreach through word of mouth and social media, and though HHU is not an official school club as of this year, it still continues to motivate students to give back together.

   According to both co-presidents, “The idea to start [HHU] began at the beginning of our sophomore year, but really got into action once we saw how our community was impacted by COVID-19.”    

   So far, since HHU was launched, they’ve held multiple meetings and an event with Televëda in January, during which members participated in musical performances and a fun bingo game with senior citizens. For the coming months, they’ve calculated a smart and effective plan for giving back .

  “Each month we focus on different aspects of the community. For instance, February focuses on the military, March focuses on youth… We decided to run [Helping Hands United] this way in order to give back to all parts of the community,” the pair shared. 

   Co-president Cayla states that, “Before we started [HHU], we made a whole schedule of what the activities would look like for the year. We have everything planned and ready to go, so when the time comes it’s super smooth.”

   In addition, Trini and Cayla have the added benefit of being best friends while leading a group Trini states, “… I wouldn’t have wished to have any other co-president. Cayla and I have very similar thought processes and our friendship allows for everything to run perfectly.”

   As for the future of Helping Hands Unite, Trini and Cayla hope to gain even more members who share their passion for service and plan on acting as co-presidents of HHU until they graduate. Cayla even expresses that “hopefully after we leave the school, [Helping Hands United] can still continue.”