10 Boys Who Care turn service into fun

Sam Reynolds, 13, gets together with nine of his friends once a month.

But their gathering is not just for hapless adolescent shenanigans, it comes with an agenda — and lately a plan for a giant garage sale.

In August, the 10 Laguna Beach seventh-graders formed Ten Boys Who Care and started building an athletic scholarship for Laguna Beach High School seniors.

Sam, the group’s treasurer, talked casually of his organization.

“I think it’s pretty fun,” he said. “I get to hang out with some of my friends.”

Modest words from a seventh-grader who is helping create a scholarship for students five years his senior.

The group has painted curbs and washed cars en route to reaching its goal of $2,500 and hope a 10-family garage sale set for Saturday will be its best money maker.

In addition to the wares of the families, the yard sale will feature donations from Jon Madison, owner of Madison Square and Garden. He donated about $5,000 in surplus items from his holiday sale, Sam said.

The group was founded last summer when Sam’s mom, Carrie Reynolds, and other moms discussed the idea at a baseball game.

She said “ideally [the boys] find some passion along the way” and continue to serve the community.

The boys are not only developing a sense of community service but also learning how organizations are run, Reynolds said.

She said the parents make the agendas and outline the roles of officers but the rest is left to the boys. They voted on their officers, opened a bank account, maintain a presence on social media and have done an interview on KX 93.5.

They use Instagram to communicate meeting times and places to each other. They also send emails to the parent responsible for each meeting’s snack.

The idea for the focus of the project, designed for one male and one female athletic scholarship, came from the boys’ heavy involvement in sports. The winners of the scholarship will be chosen in an essay contest.

The topic? To write about the most embarrassing moment they had in sports and how it helped them grow.

“We wanted to read funny essays,” Sam said.

When the group started, Sam didn’t know if it would be a good idea but he said the community response has been overwhelming positive. .

They hope to earn enough to start the scholarship for next year and he said, “maybe, just maybe” they will expand to 11 or 12 Boys Who Care.

The yard sale is from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday at Legion Hall, 384 Legion St.