LANSING, Mich., Feb. 4, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Jessica Goldberg, 18, of Farmington Hills and Alex Vanharen, 13, of Oxford today were named Michigan's top two youth volunteers of 2020 by
The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, a nationwide program
honoring young people for outstanding acts of volunteerism. As
State Honorees, Jessica and Alex 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 four days of national recognition
events. During the trip, 10 students will be named
America's top youth volunteers of 2020.
The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, now in its
25th year, is conducted by Prudential Financial in
partnership with the National Association of Secondary School
Principals (NASSP).
These are Michigan's top youth
volunteers of 2020:
High School State Honoree: Jessica
Goldberg
Nominated by North Farmington High
School
Jessica, a senior at North Farmington High School, built a
support network for the siblings of young people dealing with
mental illness, providing them with support groups, social events,
networking opportunities, an advocacy voice and other resources.
"As someone who has a sibling that struggles with mental health, I
am intimately familiar with the anger, frustration and resentment
that my chaotic home can bring," said Jessica. After searching for
a "safe place" in her community to cope with her emotions and
finding none, she decided to create an organization to serve the
often-overlooked siblings of children with mental illnesses.
The main component of her organization is support groups for
children ages 6 to 18, where, with the help of a licensed
psychologist, they can discuss their feelings, deal with negativity
and learn coping skills. As the founder and president of the board
of her nonprofit, named "Sib4Sib," Jessica is in charge of the
day-to-day operations, leads brainstorming and focus group
sessions, manages partnerships, develops support group agendas,
designs promotional material, oversees fundraising committees and
serves as the public face of the organization. Recently, Jessica
won an award with a prize of $36,000,
which she will use to hire an executive director. She said she will
remain president of her board after she leaves for college next
year, and plans to start a chapter at her new school when she
arrives.
Middle Level State Honoree: Alex Vanharen
Nominated by Oxford
Middle School
Alex, an eighth-grader at Oxford Middle School, has donated more
than 7,500 hats, gloves, and scarves to people in need over the
past five years, and has organized annual donation drives to
collect pop tops for a Ronald McDonald House, eyeglasses for the
Lions Club and hygiene items for victims of domestic violence. It
all started one cold day when Alex was out on the school playground
and saw a group of students wearing lightweight clothing, trying to
stay warm. "At that very moment, I realized how fortunate I was and
I wanted to help them," he said. As soon as he got home, he
announced to his mother, "We need to learn how to knit right now!"
That same day, they studied a YouTube video on how to loom, and
went out to buy knitting supplies.
Before long, word got out about his desire to help others, and
volunteers began offering to assist with knitting, to donate or
purchase yarn and other items, and to make deliveries. Alex now
spends most of his time tracking and organizing donations, storing
and loading them onto delivery vehicles, and maintaining a Facebook
page to promote the initiative. To date, Alex's nonprofit has
distributed winter apparel accessories through 22 schools and more
than 20 charitable organizations. In addition, his drives have
collected more than 40 pounds of pop tops for Ronald McDonald House, and over 400 pairs of
glasses for the Lions Club, plus building materials for Habitat for
Humanity, blankets and towels for an animal rescue organization,
used books for a children's charity and personal hygiene items for
an agency serving victims of domestic
violence.
Distinguished Finalists
The program judges also
recognized eight other Michigan students as Distinguished
Finalists for their impressive community service activities. Each
will receive an engraved bronze medallion.
These are Michigan's
Distinguished Finalists for 2020:
Addy Battel, 17, of Cass City,
Michigan, a member of Huron
County 4-H and a home-schooled senior, co-founded "Meating
the Need for Our Village," through which nearly 500 volunteers
raise animals to provide meat, milk, cheese and eggs to low-income
families in the community. Addy was inspired to start her project
after the only grocery store in her community closed; so far,
10,000 pounds of youth-raised meat, 2,700 gallons of milk and 300
dozen eggs have been distributed to those in need.
Abigail Collins-Carey, 18, of
Farmington Hills, Michigan, a
senior at Oakland Early College, started and runs "Shared
Exchange," a program through which current and past exchange
students connect with others to discuss culture through video calls
or in-person discussions; her program includes participants in the
U.S., Austria, Japan and France. Abigail was inspired to start this
project after participating in an exchange program in Bella Unión,
Uruguay.
Pearl Daskam, 17, of
Ubly, Michigan, a member of
Huron County 4-H and a
home-schooled senior, co-founded "Meating the Need for Our
Village," which has distributed 10,000 pounds of youth-raised meat,
2,700 gallons of milk and 300 dozen eggs to people in need in her
community; her efforts include securing grants, recruiting
volunteers, raising chickens and organizing deliveries. Pearl was
inspired to start her project after her town's only grocery store
closed and the community became a food desert.
Robert Eimers, 17, of
New Haven, Michigan, a
home-schooled senior, started "The Eimers Foundation," through
which he provides support to people who are homeless; his efforts
include distributing food, water, clothing and blankets,
contributing money to a family facing foreclosure, and setting up a
scholarship fund for high school seniors dealing with housing
insecurity. Robert, who has also lobbied his representatives on the
issue of homelessness, has raised more than $90,000 for his foundation.
John Fletcher, 17, of
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a
senior at Ernest W. Seaholm High School, started and runs "The
Giving Room," a project through which he collects and redistributes
toiletry items for people in need; his efforts include soliciting
and picking up mini toiletries from hotels, then organizing,
packaging and delivering them to warming centers across
Detroit. John was inspired to
start his project after learning that hotels regularly throw away
unopened toiletries.
Dora Ivkovich, 15, of
Ingham, Michigan, a senior at
Okemos High School, runs "A Chance to Dance," which has offered
adaptive social dancing lessons to 25 high school and college
students with disabilities; her efforts include gaining
certification to teach, recruiting volunteer dance partners and
securing space and assistive devices. To expand the impact of her
program, Dora also started offering instructional skill workshops
to help social workers, teachers and physical therapists learn how
to teach adaptive dance.
Mackenzie Martin, 17, of
Oakland County, Michigan, a
junior at Detroit Country Day School, co-founded "MK Blanket
Wraps," through which she has sewn and distributed more than 700
warm, colorful fleece wraps to people experiencing homelessness.
Mackenzie, who started the project with her younger sister, has
also hosted summer classes at shelters to teach residents how to
sew; they are currently expanding their impact by recruiting other
sewing teachers to run similar classes in additional shelters.
Paloma Palomino, 14, of
Royal Oak, Michigan, an
eighth-grader at Academy of the Sacred Heart, started a project to
spread awareness about "period poverty," the lack of access to
feminine hygiene products for women in need; she gave an
informational presentation at a school assembly and collected and
donated feminine hygiene products to a local shelter. Paloma
started her project after reading about the high number of women
who have to miss work or school due to lack of access to basic
hygiene products.
"In our 25th year of honoring young volunteers,
we are as inspired as ever by the work students are doing to
address the needs of a changing world," said Charles Lowrey, chairman and CEO of Prudential
Financial, Inc. "We hope that their resolve, their initiative and
their perspectives on society's challenges move others to consider
how they can make a difference, too."
"Middle level and high school students are doing remarkable
things to shape the future of their communities through volunteer
service. They inspire all students and schools to drive learning
with real-world challenges," said JoAnn
Bartoletti, executive director of NASSP.
"Congratulations to each of the 2020 honorees – it's an honor
to celebrate your commitment to creating positive change."
About The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards
The
Prudential Spirit of Community Awards represents the United States' largest youth recognition
program based solely on volunteer service. 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 Points of Light Global Network members, were
eligible to select a student or member for a local Prudential
Spirit of Community Award. These Local Honorees were then reviewed
by an independent judging panel, which selected State Honorees and
Distinguished Finalists based on criteria including personal
initiative, effort, impact and personal growth.
While in Washington, D.C., the
102 State Honorees – one middle level and one high school
student from each state and the District
of Columbia – will tour the capital's landmarks, meet top
youth volunteers from other parts of the world, attend a gala
awards ceremony at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural
History, and visit their congressional representatives on Capitol
Hill. On May 4, 10 of the State
Honorees – five middle level and five high school students – will
be named America's top youth volunteers of 2020. These National
Honorees will receive additional $5,000 scholarships, gold medallions, crystal
trophies and $5,000 grants from
Prudential for nonprofit charitable organizations of their
choice.
Since the program began in 1995, more than 130,000 young
volunteers have been honored at the local, state and national
level. The program also is conducted by Prudential subsidiaries in
Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ireland, India, China
and Brazil. In addition to
granting its own awards, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards
program also distributes President's Volunteer Service Awards to
qualifying Local Honorees.
For information on all of this year's Prudential Spirit of
Community State Honorees and Distinguished Finalists, visit
http://spirit.prudential.com or www.nassp.org/spirit.
About NASSP
The National Association of Secondary
School Principals (NASSP) is the leading organization of and voice
for principals and other school leaders across the United States. NASSP seeks to transform
education through school leadership, recognizing that the
fulfillment of each student's potential relies on great leaders in
every school committed to the success of each student. Reflecting
its long-standing commitment to student leadership development,
NASSP administers the National Honor Society, National
Junior Honor Society, National Elementary Honor Society,
and National Student Council. Learn more
at www.nassp.org
About Prudential Financial
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 and investment management. 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 www.news.prudential.com.
For Spirit of Community Awards
program logo and medallion
graphics, please visit
https://spirit.prudential.com/resources/media
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