WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Raymond Mohler, 14, of Lynbrook, N.Y., was named one of America’s top 10 youth volunteers of 2012 today in a ceremony today at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, winning a national Prudential Spirit of Community Award for his outstanding volunteer service. Selected from a field of more than 26,000 youth volunteers across the country, Raymond received a personal award of $5,000, an engraved gold medallion, a crystal trophy for her school, and a $5,000 grant from The Prudential Foundation for a nonprofit charitable organization of his choice.
Also honored this week in Washington, D.C. was Christopher Yao, 15, of Jericho. He and Raymond were named New York’s top youth volunteers in February, and were officially recognized last night at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History along with the top two youth volunteers in each state and the District of Columbia. At that event, each of the 102 State Honorees for 2012 received $1,000 awards as well as personal congratulations from New York Giants quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning. The honorees also received engraved silver medallions and an all-expense-paid trip with their parents to Washington, D.C., for this week’s recognition events.
Raymond, an eighth-grader at Lynbrook South Middle School, created a foundation to help alleviate the pain, fear and anxiety felt by young hospital patients by providing toys and other gifts, arranging celebrity visits and assembling mobile entertainment centers. When Raymond was 4 years old, he was diagnosed with a rare hip disease that left him in a double leg brace for two years. During his stay he said he felt “tremendous fear and anxiety” because of the place he was confined to, but also he felt fortunate that he did not have a life-threatening illness like other young patients he met. “I felt bad for the children I left behind who were not coming home for the holidays,” he said. “I felt I had to do something to take their minds off the pain that they were in.”
He donated his Christmas toys to the kids in the hospital, and then asked neighbors, friends and relatives for donations so that he could deliver more to pediatric wards. Soon after, Raymond, who was born on Christmas Eve, formed the Little St. Nick Foundation, and with help from his parents and volunteers, organizes a variety of other activities to brighten the days of hospitalized children from New York to Finland. He recruits sports stars to sign autographs and take pictures with the kids, packs gift bags for children who go through emergency rooms, and builds mobile entertainment centers that can be wheeled up to a child’s bed. Raymond’s foundation also grants wishes, one of which was an $80,000 home extension for a severely handicapped child.
Christopher, a sophomore at Jericho High School, developed an annual “read-a-thon” that has funded 60 cleft-lip surgeries in developing countries. He then created a nonprofit organization that has established a center for orphans in Kenya, provided educational materials to students around the world and helped other young people start their own charitable fundraising programs. Christopher was diagnosed with a jaw-bite problem in sixth grade, and even though his condition was eventually corrected, discovered that children around the world had much more difficult dental challenges than he did. “I know how it feels to go through tough situations, and wanted to help others with conditions that were much worse than mine,” he said.
So in 2007, Christopher began going to schools and libraries each year to encourage kids to participate in a “read-a-thon” and raise money to fund cleft surgeries for children around the world through the Smile Train organization. Last October, Christopher’s initiative paid for its 60th operation and also sponsors student trips overseas to witness the cleft surgeries and the training the program provides for local doctors. Seeing the power of how young people can change lives, Christopher founded a nonprofit organization, “Kids Change the World,” with an aim to advocate for children's needs and engage youth in service. The program has aided local villagers in establishing a center for orphans affected by post-election violence in Kenya and has provided educational materials to students through a website. Christopher's organization also provides grants to youth-led nonprofit organizations and offers support for young people to launch their own charitable initiatives. "The knowing that I have been able to change somebody's life, in any way big or small, is the greatest gift I have ever received," said Christopher.
“Through their extraordinary acts of volunteerism, these students are powerful examples of the way one young person can make a big impact,” said John R. Strangfeld, chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial, Inc. “We are proud to honor them for their achievements, and hope their stories inspire others to consider how they, too, can make a difference.”
More than 26,000 young people participated in the 2012 awards program last fall through schools, Girl Scout councils, county 4-H organizations, American Red Cross chapters, YMCAs and affiliates of the HandsOn Network. The top middle level and high school applicants in each state were selected in February, and flown to Washington this week with their parents for four days of special recognition events.
In addition to Raymond, the other National Honorees are:
Candonino Agusen, 17, of Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, a junior at Kealakehe High School, who has helped raise more than $64,000 to buy temporary housing kits for people displaced by the earthquake in Japan last year.
Matthew Benjamin, 14, of Tulsa, Okla., an eighth-grader at Regent Preparatory School, who has raised more than $30,000 to build a home for 33 orphans in Uganda by attracting sponsorships as he trained and ran in a half-marathon last year.
Neha Gupta, 15, of Yardley, Pa., a sophomore at Pennsbury High School in Fairless Hills, who has founded a nonprofit organization that has raised more than $375,000 to provide educational and other resources to disadvantaged children in India and the United States.
Samantha Kerker, 17, of Boca Raton, Fla., a junior at Atlantic High School in Delray Beach, who has founded a student club with chapters in all 28 high schools in Palm Beach County to promote monthly service projects benefiting poor people, and is now working to send 60 students on a poverty-focused mission to a third-world country.
Emily Kladar, 12, of Hayden Lake, Idaho, a sixth-grader at Canfield Middle School in Coeur d’Alene, who has created a nonprofit charity with her sister that has raised more than $60,000 to benefit the families of children needing heart surgery.
Catherine Mitchell, 16, of Oceanside, Calif., a senior at Guajome Park Academy in Vista, who has created a business called “Beauty 4 Life” that enables women in Uganda to earn a living and educate their children by selling their handmade paper-bead jewelry in the U.S.
Jordyn Schara, 17, of North Freedom, Wis., a junior at Reedsburg Area High School, who has created a nonprofit organization that collects and disposes of unused or unwanted pharmaceuticals so that they do not end up in the water supply, while raising awareness of prescription drug abuse.
Gracie Schram, 13, of Leawood, Kan., an eighth-grader at Leawood Middle School, who has recorded and sold copies of a CD that raised more than $20,000 to build two fish ponds in Africa and a home for 12 orphaned boys in Haiti.
Ashlee Smith, 13, of Sparks, Nev., a member of the Northern Nevada Chapter of the American Red Cross in Reno and a seventh-grader at Lou Mendive Middle School, who has founded a nonprofit organization that has collected and distributed more than 175,000 toys over the past five years for child victims of house fires and natural disasters.
The national selection committee that chose the National Honorees was chaired by Strangfeld and included Ken Griffith, president of the National Association of Secondary School Principals; Michelle Nunn, president and CEO of the Points of Light & HandsOn 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; Jaclyn Libowitz, chief operating officer and chief of staff for Girl Scouts of the USA; Felix Rouse, vice president of resource development for the southeast region of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America; Elson Nash, senior advisor for strategic partnerships at the Corporation for National and Community Service; Kate Blosveren, associate director for strategic communication and outreach of Achieve, Inc.; and two 2011 Prudential Spirit of Community National Honorees: Sarah Cronk of Bettendorf, Iowa, and Rujul Zaparde of Plainsboro, N.J.
Conducted in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards were created 17 years ago by Prudential Financial to encourage youth volunteerism and to identify and reward young role models. Since then, the program has honored more than 100,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level.
“These young people have demonstrated remarkable leadership, selflessness and compassion, and they set a fine example for thousands of other students across the U.S. who want to make a difference,” said Ken Griffith, president of NASSP. “The actions of these young volunteers exemplify the best of what America’s youth have to offer.”
More information about The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards and this year’s honorees can be found at http://spirit.prudential.com or www.nassp.org/spirit.
NASSP (National Association of Secondary School Principals) is the leading organization of and national voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and all school leaders from across the United States and more than 45 countries around the world. The association provides research-based professional development and resources, networking, and advocacy to build the capacity of middle level and high school leaders to continually improve student performance. Reflecting its longstanding commitment to student leadership development as well, NASSP administers the National Honor Society™, National Junior Honor Society®, National Elementary Honor Society®, and National Association of Student Councils®. For more information about NASSP, located in Reston, VA, visit www.nassp.org.
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[Editors: Full-color pictures of the Spirit of Community Awards program logo and medallions are available at http://spirit.prudential.com.]
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