TALLAHASSEE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Wendi Oppenheim, 18, of Southwest Ranches and Rachel Wheeler, 11, of Lighthouse Point today were named Florida's top two youth volunteers for 2011 by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, a nationwide program honoring young people for outstanding acts of volunteerism. The awards program, now in its 16th year, is conducted by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP).
Wendi was nominated by Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale, and Rachel was nominated by Zion Lutheran Christian School in Deerfield Beach. As State Honorees, each will receive $1,000, an engraved silver medallion, and an all-expense-paid trip in early May to Washington, D.C., where they will join the top two honorees from each of the other states and the District of Columbia for several days of national recognition events. Ten of them will be named America’s top youth volunteers for 2011 at that time.
Wendi, a senior at Pine Crest School, co-founded an online guide to community service opportunities for young people in her area. The guide features descriptions of more than 100 organizations and programs that need volunteers, with ratings and reviews of each one submitted by actual volunteers. Wendi’s interest in volunteering began in middle school after the 9/11 tragedy, when she and her sister raised $25,000 for the victims by baking goods and organizing other students to make patriotic jewelry. Later, she routinely volunteered at a local homeless shelter and distributed food to the homebound. “I realized, through all of these experiences, the importance of helping those in need,” she said. “Thus, I knew at a young age that I wanted to spread the spirit of volunteerism.”
To do that, Wendi and her sister spent countless hours gathering and compiling information on local nonprofits needing student volunteers. They made presentations to solicit support from local businesses, formed a nonprofit organization to facilitate donations, and negotiated with local printers to print their guide at a reduced cost. Realizing that a printed guide had limited reach, they began developing an online guide at www.opp-guide.com using funds raised from grants and bake sales. In addition to providing information to potential youth volunteers, the “Opp Guide” created a matching-grant program that raised more than $45,000 for victims of the recent Haitian earthquake, and organized a student hair-collection drive to aid oil-cleanup efforts on the Gulf Coast. Wendi also has created a Spanish-language version of the website and a Facebook fan page, and is now recruiting college students to start Opp-Guides in other parts of the country. “I strongly believe that we should all ‘pay it forward,’ and that the guide helps young people do exactly that,” said Wendi.
Rachel, a fifth-grader at Zion Lutheran Christian School in Deerfield Beach, launched a fund-raising campaign that has raised more than $155,000 to build a new 25-home village in Leogane, Haiti, near the epicenter of the earthquake that occurred in January 2010. Two years ago, Rachel and her mother visited Food For The Poor (FFP), an international relief and development agency based in Florida, and learned about its work in Haiti from CEO Robin Mahfood. “When I saw the before and after pictures of the families he has helped, I knew he was doing God’s work and I had to help,” said Rachel.
At the suggestion of the local Chamber of Commerce president, Rachel attended a chamber meeting and stood on a chair in front of more than 100 business people to talk about her desire to aid earthquake victims in Haiti. Then she started appealing to friends, neighbors, and fellow karate students. Her school soon jumped on the bandwagon. Next, FFP issued a press release about Rachel’s efforts, and the news media came to interview her. As donations flowed in, Rachel decided that instead of just reaching her original goal of building 13 houses, she would build an entire village, complete with sanitation and potable water. Rachel not only raised more than $155,000 to construct “Rachel’s Village,” but she also inspired the Florida Marlins baseball team to build a village in Haiti. “I would tell other young people that we are the future, and we need to stand up for those who have nothing,” said Rachel.
In addition, the program judges recognized eight other Florida students as Distinguished Finalists for their impressive community service activities. Each will receive an engraved bronze medallion:
Danielle Colson, 18, of Pembroke Pines, a senior at American Heritage School in Plantation, has distributed 4,500 backpacks filled with school supplies and toiletries to needy children and people living in homeless shelters since 2007. Danielle, who volunteers at the shelter and has also collected other items for its residents, encourages members of the community and students at local schools to make donations to support her backpack project.
Kayla Dubnick, 17, of Boca Raton, a senior at West Boca Raton High School, has collected and distributed more than 1,000 articles of clothing to help neglected and abused teen girls living at the Brookwood Home in Coral Springs. Kayla, who had learned that the girls at Brookwood arrive with just the clothes on their backs, began her project, “A Time to Give,” in 2009 and now dedicates her time to collecting, sorting, and washing all the clothing donations.
Benjamin Gajus, 17, of Parkland, a senior at Majory Stoneman Douglas High School, collected and donated more than 40,000 gently used books, clothing, shoes and toys to families of critically ill children. Benjamin, who started his “Athletes Collecting Items” project in 2007, earned his Eagle Scout Award for this project.
Kelly Hsu, 17, of Miami, a senior at Miami Palmetto Senior High School, is the co-founder and coordinator of MAKE, a bakery goods organization that sells fresh-baked items to benefit needy school children from Nicaragua. Kelly, who originally established MAKE as a for-profit business, has provided shoes, toys, and school supplies to an entire classroom of children since she turned her project into a charitable organization in the fall of 2010.
Colby Lufkin, 17, of Vero Beach, a junior at St. Edward’s School, founded “The Guardians for New Futures Youth Committee.” As chairperson, he has helped raise $10,000 to support abused and neglected children through the committee’s parent organization, the “Guardian Ad Litem” program run by the local courts. For three years, Colby has recruited youth volunteers to help with a Christmas gift drive and an annual movie fund-raiser, and he has raised awareness through media interviews. In addition, Colby has been asked to expand the program through the Court Appointed Special Advocate Association.
Lucas Metropulos, 18, of Boca Raton, a senior at St. Andrew’s School, founded “Fishing for Families in Need,” three years ago and has since taught more than 150 children from needy families how to fish for food. Lucas, who has recruited 100 volunteers to help with the program, has also made arrangements to donate fish caught in tournaments to the local soup kitchen.
Catherine Trisch, 18, of Lake City, a senior at Fort White High School, founded “Creating Access to Stories,” a project that involved collecting and donating nearly 2,500 books to local hospitals and Head Start programs, where she also serves as a reading mentor. In addition, Catherine created “Bless the Vets,” a program for which she distributes “thankerchiefs,” care packages, and letters of thanks to veterans for their dedication to freedom.
Joshua Williams, 11 of Miami Beach, a fifth-grader at Fisher Island Day School, has raised more than $100,000 through his organization, Joshua’s Heart Foundation, which provides food to the elderly, the sick and low-income families of South Florida. Joshua used the funds to purchase more than 250,000 pounds of food, which was distributed to the community with the help of his family and volunteers he recruited from local schools, churches and council meetings.
“These award recipients have proven that young people across America are critical to the future of our neighborhoods, our nation, and our world,” said John R. Strangfeld, chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial. “Each and every one of these honorees deserve our respect and admiration, and we hope by shining a light on them, they will continue to serve as an example for others.”
“The young people recognized by the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards demonstrate an enormous capacity for giving and reaching out to those in need,” said Gerald N. Tirozzi, executive director of the National Association of Secondary School Principals. “NASSP is proud to honor these student leaders because they are wonderful examples of the high caliber of young people in our nation’s schools today.”
All public and private middle level and high schools in the country, as well as all Girl Scout councils, county 4-H organizations, American Red Cross chapters, YMCAs and affiliates of HandsOn Network, were eligible to select a student or member for a local Prudential Spirit of Community Award this past November. More than 5,000 Local Honorees were then reviewed by an independent judging panel, which selected State Honorees and Distinguished Finalists based on criteria such as personal initiative, creativity, effort, impact and personal growth.
While in Washington, D.C., the 102 State Honorees will tour the capital’s landmarks, attend a gala awards ceremony at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, and visit their congressional representatives on Capitol Hill. In addition, 10 of them – five middle level and five high school students – will be named National Honorees on May 2 by a prestigious national selection committee. These honorees will receive additional $5,000 awards, gold medallions, crystal trophies, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for nonprofit, charitable organizations of their choice.
Serving on the national selection committee will be John Strangfeld of Prudential; Jana Frieler, president of NASSP; Michelle Nunn, president and CEO of the Points of Light Institute & Hands On Network; Marguerite Kondracke, president and CEO of the America’s Promise Alliance; Donald T. Floyd Jr., president and CEO of National 4-H Council; Pamela Farr, the American Red Cross’ national chair of volunteers; Elson Nash, associate director for project management at the Corporation for National and Community Service; Michael Cohen, president and CEO of Achieve, Inc.; and two 2010 Prudential Spirit of Community National Honorees: Shannon McNamara of Basking Ridge, N.J., and Benjamin Sater of Plano, Texas.
In addition to granting its own awards, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program will be distributing President’s Volunteer Service Awards to more than 2,800 of its Local Honorees this year on behalf of President Barack Obama. The President’s Volunteer Service Award recognizes Americans of all ages who have volunteered significant amounts of their time to serve their communities and their country.
The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards represent the United States’ largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer service. Since the program began in 1995, more than 95,000 young volunteers nationwide have been honored at the local, state or national level. Many prominent public figures have assisted in saluting these honorees over the years, including Jimmy Carter, Barbara Bush, Magic Johnson, John Glenn, Madeleine Albright, Rudy Giuliani, Whoopi Goldberg, Colin Powell, Peyton Manning, Laura Bush, and Condoleezza Rice. The program also is conducted by Prudential subsidiaries in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ireland and India.
For information on all of this year’s Prudential Spirit of Community State Honorees and Distinguished Finalists, visit spirit.prudential.com or www.nassp.org/spirit.
In existence since 1916, the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the preeminent organization of and national voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and aspiring school leaders from across the United States and more than 45 countries around the world. NASSP’s mission is to promote excellence in school leadership. The National Honor Society ®, National Junior Honor Society ®, National Elementary Honor Society™, and National Association of Student Councils ® are all NASSP programs. For more information about NASSP, located in Reston, Va., visit www.nassp.org or call 703-860-0200.
Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential’s diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds, investment management, and real estate services. In the U.S., Prudential’s iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit http://www.news.prudential.com/
Editors: Graphics depicting the award program’s logo and medallions may be downloaded from spirit.prudential.com.