2010-02-09 14:59:23 -

Simone Bernstein, 17, of St. Louis and Alexander Wood, 11, of Lee's Summit today were named Missouri's top two youth volunteers for 2010 by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, a nationwide program honoring young people for outstanding acts of volunteerism. The awards program, now in its 15th year, is conducted by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP).

Simone was nominated by Clayton High School in Clayton, and Alexander was nominated by Cedar Creek Elementary School in Lee's Summit. 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 2010 at that time.


Simone, a senior at Clayton High School, created a website to inform teens about area volunteer opportunities. “At the age of 12, I wanted to volunteer in my community,” said Simone, but because of her age, “it was tough to find an organization that would allow me to volunteer.” She eventually found volunteer positions at a library, a children’s museum, an emergency childcare facility, and a veteran’s hospital. Knowing how hard it was to get to that point, Simone decided to create a website to make the volunteer search easier for other teens.

To start, Simone purchased a domain name, searched for a reasonably priced server, and learned how to build a website. She contacted dozens of agencies and nonprofits to inquire about volunteer opportunities for middle and high school students, and in the process, encouraged many of them to change their volunteer age policies. To promote her website ( www.stlouisvolunteen.com : ), Simone sent e-mails to local schools, churches, and youth and scout groups; and sought publicity from radio and television stations and local magazines and newspapers. Simone’s site currently lists more than 40 organizations offering youth volunteer opportunities, and provides links to online applications for many of them. From the website grew the idea for a “youth and family volunteer fair,” which Simone is planning for April. “I hope the website will motivate students to come up with creative ideas and solutions for the challenges facing our communities,” said Simone.


Alexander, a fifth-grader at Cedar Creek Elementary School, has raised more than $3,000 over the past five years for a variety of hunger-related charities by selling lemonade and baked goods that he makes himself. When he was just 5, Alexander heard his church minister talk about hungry children in Haiti. “I felt bad for those kids and wanted to give some money to help them,” he said. Since he loved to bake, he asked his parents to help him make brownies and lemonade, and then set up a lemonade stand at a neighborhood garage sale to sell them.

Over the next several years, Alexander recruited friends to help him run more lemonade stands and conduct food collection drives to feed the hungry through his church’s food pantry and organizations such as City Union Mission and Meals on Wheels. Last year, he launched his own baking business, “Clean Hands Bakery.” He passes out fliers, takes orders, and delivers the cookies, cakes, and breads that he makes from scratch. The proceeds from this business help provide livestock to poor families through Heifer International. “Each batch of cookies means one less hungry person at home and around the world,” said Alexander.

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

Madison Albert, 10, of Springfield, a fifth-grader at Phelps Center for Gifted Education, makes blankets, clothing, pillows, and toys for newborn babies at local hospitals and care centers, in conjunction with the national organization “Newborns in Need.” Madison, who began volunteering with the organization in 2005, has also made and sold artwork to benefit the organization and sponsors fund-raisers at her school.

Megan Corbin, 17, of Marceline, a member of the Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri in St. Louis and a senior at Marceline R-V High School, started a recycling program in her town using a $15,000 grant that she applied for. Megan purchased a recycling trailer with the grant money to collect recyclables, which are now delivered to an organization for developmentally disabled adults who earn money from the sale of recycled items.

Ashley Howery, 13, of St. Joseph, a seventh-grader at Bode Middle School, helped arrange for a mobile health unit to offer free healthcare services to homeless people at various locations in St. Joseph. Ashley, who worked closely with a friend to implement the project, applied for and received a $17,500 grant to underwrite the program.

Emily Mazzoni, 17, of Creve Coeur, a senior at Parkway North High School in St. Louis, raised more than $6,000 for the American Cancer Society over the past two years by helping to create and coordinate a “Mini Relay for Life” event at her school. After a friend died from cancer in the sixth grade, Emily joined the committee that produces her community’s summer Relay for Life fund-raiser, and then decided to enhance the effort by introducing a smaller version at her school.

Jacob Mozer, 13, of Blue Springs, a seventh-grader at Moreland Ridge Middle School, has helped his family raise hundreds of thousands of dollars over the past six years by hosting a series of lemonade stands for the national organization, “Alex’s Lemonade Stand.” Jacob, a cancer survivor and the motivation behind his family’s volunteer efforts, also has met with congressmen in Washington to urge passage of a law that would provide $30 million dollars to fund research into childhood cancer.

Meredith O'Malley, 18, of Kansas City, a senior at Saint Pius X High School and co-president of a school service club called “Letters of Compassion,” has led the club in raising more than $12,000 over the past two years to help build three school classrooms in the village of Turalei, Sudan. To raise the money, the club has hosted out-of-school-uniform days, craft and book fairs, online contests, and silent auctions.

“People as caring and committed as these young students are critical to the future of our neighborhoods, our cities and our nation,” said John R. Strangfeld, chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial. “By recognizing these honorees, we hope to encourage other young people – our future leaders – and all Americans to think more about the value and importance of volunteering in their communities.”


“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. Nearly 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 3 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 Strangfeld of Prudential; Steven Pophal, 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 2009 Prudential Spirit of Community National Honorees: Shardy Camargo of Orlando, Fla., and Colin Leslie of Rye, N.Y.

In addition to granting its own awards, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program will distribute President’s Volunteer Service Awards to more than 2,800 of its Local Honorees this year on behalf of President 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 90,000 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 President Jimmy Carter, Barbara Bush, Magic Johnson, John Glenn, Madeleine Albright, Rudy Giuliani, Whoopi Goldberg, Colin Powell, Peyton Manning, Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson and Laura Bush. The program also is conducted by Prudential subsidiaries in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Ireland.

For information on all of this year’s Prudential Spirit of Community State Honorees and Distinguished Finalists, visit spirit.prudential.com.

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.principals.org : or call 703-860-0200.

Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU) is a financial services leader with operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America.

Leveraging its heritage of life insurance and asset management expertise, Prudential is focused on helping approximately 50 million individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth. In the United States, the company’s Rock symbol is an icon of strength, stability, expertise and innovation that has stood the test of time.

Prudential's businesses offer a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds, investment management, and real estate services. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com : .

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


PrudentialHarold Banks973-802-8974 (office)973-216-4833
(cell) harold.banks@prudential.com : mailto:harold.banks@prudential.com