Nelsen Middle School Assistant Principal Elaine Love remembers having to miss school frequently when she was younger.

At age 10, she rode the subway in New York to take her grandma to appointments and to food banks. Love had to translate for her Puerto Rican grandma who couldn’t speak English.

“I had so many responsibilities at home that really weighed on me,” Love said. “And I was missing so many classes, but was too embarrassed to tell my teacher why.”

It was a mentor coming into her life that inspired Love to keep pushing forward and make goals for her future.

“I started working to be a successful person and trying to help other people in need,” Love said.

Love looked around Nelsen and realized there were many students experiencing the same things.

“There are students here that are burdened with having huge responsibilities at home, but they don’t share with each other because it’s a family issue and we are taught to care for our families,” Love said. “It’s too bad we don’t share because then everyone feels like they are all alone; they are the only one going through this.”

Love started the Latina Girls Group at Nelsen and now has 20 girls actively involved.

“The focus is for the girls to give back to their community, do group activities and share their stories with each other,” Love said. “We also have mentors for the girls.”

A group of women at University of Washington’s Bothell division meets with the girls frequently.

“It’s really fun to be a part of this group because we get to learn about each others’ family, cultures and religion,” said Jessica Monroy, 12. “It’s nice to have friends that understand what you’re going through.”

Monroy said she was hesitant to join the Latina Girls Group at first but was persuaded to attend a meeting by her friend Clarissa Gonzales, 11.

“I thought it sounded like fun and I didn’t want to go by myself,” Gonzales said, laughing. “We liked it right away and enjoy doing community service projects because it feels good to give back to others in need.”

A project the girls are working on this month is joining Love on her quest to make around 15 turkeys for homeless people in the Seattle and Renton community.

With a heart for community service, Love started feeding the homeless 20 years ago when she was a school counselor in the Tacoma School District.

“I usually do this all by myself, so it is really nice to have help this year,” she said.

Love launches into the culinary endeavor every Thanksgiving and Christmas, using the home economics ovens at Nelsen, that’s use has been donated. Her efforts are to support Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church’s homeless feeding program. Every third Saturday, as Tabernacle’s nutritionist, she prepares healthy food for the homeless that come to the church.

“It is so important to give back to the community because it makes you see your own situation in a different light,” Love said. “It changes kids in a positive way when they focus on other people and helping those in need.”

Love said she wants to start a Latino Boys Group at the school.

“It’s not just Latina girls at this school going through these issues, the boys are having the same experiences too,” she said. “We at Nelsen are trying to instill leadership, good citizenship, as well as learning to give back to the community by helping others.”