Valley View middle school students are learning you’re never too young to serve.

In September, DuCap, a local group dedicated to helping youths make positive choices, and the Kiwanis Club of Bolingbrook and Romeoville teamed to launch the district’s first Builders Clubs.

Now in all five middle schools in both Romeoville and Bolingbrook, the clubs are giving students an outlet for their desire to give back to the community. Kiwanis International will officially recognize the clubs during the Builders Club Charter Night, set for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 18, and Romeoville High School, 100 N. Independence Blvd.

“It’s very rare for a club to charter five Builders Clubs,” said Kiwanis Club Treasurer Michael Carpanzano.

“It’s never happened before,” added Georgia Gilligan, area project supervisor for DuCap.

April Ballinger, senior program coordinator for DuCap, said her organization previously launched a youth service initiative called Teens in Action.

“It started with that,” she said.

But with Kiwanis President Jimmy Barber also serving as president of DuCap, the two organizations decided to combine their missions to create a single middle school organization. Similar to the high school Key Club, Builders Clubs are an extension of a Kiwanis, giving students a chance to show their leadership skills while learning about the importance of giving back to the community.

Each club has roughly 20 members, Ballinger said. The students choose their own service projects, brainstorming ways they can help in the community.

Recent Builders Club efforts including volunteering at Ready Set Ride, a therapeutic equestrian program; helping run a Halloween haunted house for charity; helping wrap Christmas gifts for needy local families; and volunteering at a local Breakfast with Santa event.

Ballinger serves as an adviser for all five clubs, but eventually, she will hand over the reins to the students. The club meets two to three times per month at each campus.

“It’s student run,” she said. “I’m in the process of teaching the presidents and vice presidents how to run the meetings. The goal is by the time April or May roll around, the kids will be able to run the enter meeting themselves. Now the kids are slowly starting to take over.”

Students not only decide where they want to direct their volunteer efforts, they also decide who will lead the club.

“They elect their own officers,” Ballinger said.

On Saturday, members attended officer training at the Bolingbrook Community Center to learn more about how to help lead their club. Kiwanis and DuCap members talked to students about their leadership roles within the Builders Club.

Ballinger worked with the art chairmen from clubs at Jane Addams, Brooks, Humphrey and Lukancic middle schools. The students are responsible for promoting the club and its volunteer efforts with posters and advertisements.

Jane Addams student Sylvia Sales said she got involved with the Builders Club after learning the group planned to work with local animal rescue groups.

“It just got my attention,” she said. “To hear that animals are suffering makes me sad. I just want to help.”

Ashley Barrera, an officer from the Humphrey middle school club, also sought out the group as a way to help others.

“They just do a lot of stuff to help people,” she said.