Moore was part of a group of high school students who did volunteer community service projects while living in an indigenous Athabasca village in the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge.
About 100 people live in the village, situated on the Tetlin River. In partnership with Tetlin Village Council and local community members, the teen volunteers constructed an outdoor cooking facility for use at community meals and events. This project entailed clearing and leveling ground, measuring and cutting lumber, digging postholes, placing and securing post beams, erecting and staining walls, framing the roof, and installing screens and windows.
“Service in the cross-cultural context provides teens the opportunity to make a difference and, just as important, know the people whose lives they are impacting in personal, mutually respectful ways,” says Katherine Dayton, VISIONS executive director.
Other services the teens provided to Tetlin included moving an outdoor community basketball court, assisting community elders with chores and small projects, and organizing a small day camp for local children.
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