2011-02-08 14:40:18 -

Jeffrey Hanson, 17, of Overland Park and Marleah Mullen, 14, of Wichita today were named Kansas' 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).

Jeffrey was nominated by Horizon Academy in Roeland Park, and Marleah was nominated by Pleasant Valley Middle School in Wichita. 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.

Jeffrey, a junior at Horizon Academy, has generated more than $180,000 for various local and national charities over the past five years by selling and donating original paintings and other artistic creations, despite having a genetic condition that causes severe loss of vision. In the fall of 2005, Jeffrey began going blind from neurofibromatosis and an optic nerve tumor. While undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatment, he started painting watercolor notecards to raise money for neurofibromatosis research, and discovered he had a talent for art. Soon after, he set up an early-morning “coffee shop” in his driveway every Saturday, selling notecards, paintings, and baked goods, and raising more than $13,000 for the Children’s Tumor Foundation.

As demand for his notecards grew, a local printing company offered to print them in large quantities. He now sells them, along with notepads, calendars, greeting cards, and acrylic paintings on canvas, through a website at www.jeffreyowenhanson.com : cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww .. .
In addition, Jeffrey has donated scores of original paintings to be auctioned off at charitable fund-raisers for as much as $5,000 apiece, and has gifted paintings to a South African orphanage and a school in Kansas City. In 2011, Whole Foods will begin selling an eco-friendly reusable grocery bag designed by Jeffrey, with a share of the proceeds going to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which named him a Global Ambassador at a convention last fall. In addition, Jeffrey is frequently invited to share his story at schools, churches, businesses and community organizations. “Every act of kindness helps create kinder communities, more compassionate nations and a better world for all … even one painting at a time,” he says.

Marleah, an eighth-grader at Pleasant Valley Middle School, helped lead a group of students in sprucing up their school grounds on Saturdays, during lunch break on school days, and over the summer. “I have always loved to do things to help, whether at church, school, home, or anywhere else,” said Marleah. So when her school’s Student Council and Honor Society began talking about improving the school’s appearance, Marleah jumped on the idea. “I am very proud of my school and wished others would be, too,” she said.

Marleah and several other students spent many lunch periods and Saturdays picking up trash in the schoolyard. In the fall, they planted bulbs in the school courtyards, trimmed trees and shrubs, pulled weeds, and raked leaves. In the spring, they painted hopscotch and four-square lines on the pavement, and painted the school’s basketball backboards.
And over the summer, Marleah and her helpers spent six weeks painting random designs on old concrete benches under a covered patio, and painting a huge mural in the school cafeteria. “We had to deal with extreme cold and heat, major humidity and miserable dryness,” said Marleah. Sometimes just two or three students would show up to work, but other times there were 10 or 12, “but even with a minimal amount of help, we still did a great job,” she said.

In addition, the program judges recognized four other Kansas students as Distinguished Finalists for their impressive community service activities. Each will receive an engraved bronze medallion.

Gordie Hamilton, 16, of Mission Hills, a junior at Pembroke Hill School in Kansas City, raised $15,000 to build a therapeutic playground for abused and neglected children by hosting a benefit tennis tournament.

Gordie, inspired to help abused children by his adopted sister’s history of abuse, recruited a group of volunteers who started “Ad-In,” a youth volunteer organization whose first project was the tennis tournament.

Anna Lipscomb, 14, of Overland Park, a freshman at Heritage Christian Academy, has raised nearly $50,000 through sales of her CD, “Anna from the Heart,” and donated the proceeds to the Global Orphan Project, which helps orphans from Haiti. Anna, who wrote the song “Heart for Haiti” after a trip to Haiti before the tragic earthquake in January 2010, conducts benefit performances and is planning additional fund-raisers to support the orphaned children.

Tayler McCullough, 18, of Rossville, a senior at Rossville High School, serves on the Advisory Task Force for the Rossville Community Pool that she helped to build through fund-raising and volunteer activities.
Tayler, who was only 10 when she first began on the task force, helped collect coin donations and aluminum cans, held an auction, and hosted a lemonade stand to raise the money needed to build the pool.

Megan Rowe, 16, of Leawood, a sophomore at Blue Valley Southwest High School in Overland Park, raised nearly $14,000 in her “Real Bikers Wear Pink” benefit motorcycle ride, which she created four years ago after several of her friends lost their mothers to breast cancer. Megan, who donates the funds to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, secures bike routes and corporate sponsorships, recruits bikers, and manages event promotion for the benefit ride.

“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 : cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww .. .

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 : cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww .. 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 www.news.prudential.com/ : cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww .. .

Editors: Graphics depicting the award program’s logo and medallions may be downloaded from spirit.prudential.com.

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Prudential FinancialHarold Banks(973) 802-8974 (office)(973)
216-4833 (cell) harold.banks@prudential.com : mailto:harold.banks@prudential.com