WAIMANALO — For 33 years, Jimmy Torres has helped thousands of Waimanalo youths, giving them educational opportunities and steering them away from trouble.

Today, the community will honor Torres, executive director of the Waimanalo Teen Project, as he leads the Waimanalo Christmas Parade as its grand marshal.

"Jimmy is heart and soul Waimanalo," said Mitch Werth, board member of the Waimanalo Teen Project. "He is for the healthy growth and interaction with children and their parents."

Torres, 52, was a participant of the teen project before he joined it as a counselor in 1972.

But his work wasn't limited to the project, Werth said. He was part of many community groups, serving on boards, participating in community projects and working with schools.

Best known for the minibike program, the teen project first served court-referred children but soon opened its doors to anyone who wanted to participate. Some kids considered misbehaving so they could take part in the program, he said.

Travis Kupahu, 23, has been around the teen project since he was 13 and said it kept him out of trouble at a time when he was doing "plenty bad things." He learned to ride minibikes and fix cars, and today he continues to hang out to help other youths in the program.

"If I never had places to go and hang out with good people, I probably would be hanging with the wrong people," he said. "You gotta have a positive example so you not getting in trouble."

Working on the minibikes helps you forget about your worries, Kupahu said, adding that Torres deserves the honor.

"He's a good role model, taking care of everybody, always helping the kids," he said.

The list of people touched by Torres isn't limited to Waimanalo residents.

Torres took a 2-acre section of land near the project and divided it into 20-foot-square plots where people could grow food crops.

"It was a way to help bring the community together," Werth said.

He also partnered with other communities to introduce youths from other areas.

"Instead of fighting each other, have them work together," Werth said, adding that kids from Wai'anae were brought over to work on the bikes. "That's the kind of thing to get kids to say, 'We're brothers.' "

At one time, the teen project hired tutors for high school students and opened its doors to girls being treated at Castle Medical Center. Torres also began a program to get youths farm land by providing the education and training they needed to qualify, he said.

"At one time every single agriculture business in Waimanalo had a teen project kid working on it," Werth said.

Torres said thousands of children have come through the teen project, and many return as volunteers to help with programs. There's a core group of 75 to 100 that come at least three times a week, and 300 to 500 show up for bigger projects.

Ongoing programs include auto-body repair and auto mechanics, but the auto mechanics workshop might be filled with wood to build box cars or have bicycles or mopeds, he said, adding that everything done at the project has an educational component to it.

"The actual activity centers around the interest of the kids in that particular group," Torres said.

Torres credits Robert "Doc" Gibson, an educator, and a few others for inspiring him to serve the community.

"I learned from him that there's educational value in everything," he said.

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com.