Animate. Encourage. Empower junior youth.

The word 'animate' means to "give spirit and support to" something.

In the movies, animators can breathe a human spirit into a lion or a candlestick. In real life, the best animators are those who inspire other human beings to be the best they can be.

For two decades, a global social movement has called upon youth aged roughly 16-25 to give spirit and support to groups of junior youth aged 11-15. The aim is to help these younger youths live up to their potential.

This week in St. John's, the Northeast Avalon Junior Youth Empowerment Team is looking for youth who would be willing to animate junior youth groups.

The Junior Youth Spiritual Empowerment Program helps participants develop their capacity to understand the world around them, to express their thoughts and aspirations and to be of service to their community.

These qualities are nurtured through art, games, crafts, music, literature, drama and service projects.

The junior youth gather in groups of 10-15 every week. Helping them is a youth animator, who is there to encourage the junior youth and to be a friend to them rather than a leader or teacher.

The real protagonists of the program are the junior youth themselves, who come up with their own community service projects and follow through on them. These service projects can be as simple as a neighbourhood clean-up or as advanced as a public awareness campaign on racial unity.

To find out how you can help guide junior youth along a path of service, you can attend two events coming up this week:

1. An informal social gathering at Room EN 1001 of the Memorial University Engineering Building, 140 Arctic Avenue at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 1.

2. An introduction to the JY program beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 3 at the St. Thomas Parish Hall, 8 Military Road (right across from Coffee Matters). This event will be followed by lunch at noon and a chance to see the junior youth empowerment program in action at 12:45 p.m.

You can also swing by the University Centre between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday. We'll have an information booth near the food court, right by the student volunteer centre.

Join us Thursday evening for a social and conversation about the Junior Youth Spiritual Empowerment Program

We began this article with a definition of the word 'animate' - to give spirit to. You'll notice that the word 'spiritual' is part of the name of our program. The program is Baha'i-inspired, but its purpose is not to promote the Baha'i Faith. Rather, it advances universal spiritual principles such as honesty, courage, justice, unity and love. It is open to people of all belief systems.

The Junior Youth Spiritual Empowerment Program was founded by Baha'is in Colombia about two decades ago as part of a community-building process. Its purpose is to elevate the human soul and to bring people closer together.

So far, hundreds of thousands of youth around the world have participated in the Junior Youth Spiritual Empowerment Program. You can be part of this movement. If you're a youth aged 16-25 who would like to be an animator, please email us at junioryouthnl@gmail.com or call 709-221-1873.

The Junior Youth Spiritual Empowerment Program is part of a worldwide social movement dedicated to drawing communities closer together. Here is the story of one youth from El Salvador who became a youth animator in the United States.