Missouri's Top Two Youth Volunteers Selected in 13th Annual National Awards Program

2008-02-12 14:23:34 -

prudential.com/spirit - Prudential Financial Harold Banks, 973-802-8974 or NASSP Shana Kemp, 703-860-7344 Kristen Allcorn, 18, of Sedalia and Nicholas Mozer, 13, of Blue Springs today were named Missouri's top two youth volunteers for 2008 by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, a nationwide program honoring young people for outstanding acts of volunteerism. The awards program, now in its 13th year, is conducted by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP).

Kristen was nominated by Smith-Cotton High School in Sedalia, and Nicholas was nominated by Moreland Ridge Middle School in Blue Springs. 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 - one middle level and one high school youth - 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 2008 at that time.

Kristen, a senior at Smith-Cotton High School, founded the Community Cafe, a table-service soup kitchen that has served close to 9,000 meals to needy residents since December 2006. While volunteering several times at a soup kitchen in Kansas City, "I fell in love with the idea of helping others through serving food," said Kristen. "It is such a practical way to meet the tangible needs of people." She began looking for similar volunteer opportunities closer to home, but couldn't find any program that offered a free hot meal to the needy on a consistent basis. So she decided to start her own.

First, Kristen persuaded a building owner in town to donate space for her cafe. She then worked closely with the Central Missouri Food Bank to secure a steady supply of food donations. Kristen recruited volunteers from her school's National Honor Society chapter and local civic organizations to prepare and serve the meals, and to clean up afterwards. As executive director, Kristen organizes food donations, plans meals, schedules and directs volunteers, registers diners, serves food, handles a great deal of administrative paperwork, and runs monthly board meetings. Today, the Community Cafe provides a hot evening meal to about 60 people five days a week, serving them at tables as if they were eating in a restaurant. "I walk away from the Community Cafe everyday with a sense of accomplishment," said Kristen.

Nicholas, an eighth-grader at Moreland Ridge Middle School, helped his family raise more than $175,000 for pediatric cancer research over the past four years by operating lemonade stands throughout the Kansas City area. Nicholas' brother, Jacob, was diagnosed with neuroblastoma as a baby. "Fortunately, he survived, but many other kids don't," said Nicholas. "I want them to have the same opportunity to live as he did."

Nicholas' family began selling lemonade when they learned about Alex Scott, a young cancer patient who founded a nationwide network of Alex's Lemonade Stands. Each year, Nicholas not only sells and serves lemonade, but assists in recruiting hundreds of volunteers to run the family's 24 lemonade stands over a two-day period. In addition, he created a slideshow presentation for the corporate sponsors, maintains a Web site, helps publicize the event, and helps out in other ways to make sure everything runs smoothly. "I still remember to this day what it was like getting through my brother's cancer," said Nicholas. "No one should suffer, and that is why I am working to cure this horrible disease."

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:

John Boatwright, 17, of Aurora, a senior at Aurora High School, constructed a black-granite memorial in a town square to honor two soldiers from Aurora who died while fighting in Iraq. John, who raised nearly $10,000 for the project, had the granite sand-blasted with a tribute in words and artwork, and erected two flagpoles alongside.

Chelsey Carter, 17, of St. Louis, a senior at John Burroughs School, volunteers with "Extra Hands for ALS," an organization that sends volunteers to the homes of patients living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease. In addition to being president of her school's Extra Hands Club, Chelsey visits three ALS patients each week to help them with household chores, errands, and other services.

Maureen Mahon, 16, of Sunset Hills, a sophomore at Cor Jesu Academy in St. Louis and a member of Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri in St. Louis, has volunteered as a weekly music minister at her church, cooked and served food at a local soup kitchen, and worked as an assistant at a camp for children with mental and physical disabilities. She also hand-made 500 rosaries and donated them to Cuban missions.

Brittany Pyle, 18, of Lamar, a senior at Lamar High School, created and maintains a Web site for a local shelter to help find homes for stray and abandoned animals. In addition to keeping the site updated with photographs of animals and information about how to adopt them, Brittany provides foster care to animals until they are placed in permanent homes.

Frederick Savage, 18, of Conway, a senior at Conway High School, started a junior firefighter program three years ago at his local fire department to provide valuable experience and opportunities for those who are too young to serve as volunteer firefighters. In addition, he has completed many hours of fire and first-responder training and is now a certified volunteer firefighter.

John Seipel, 18, of Maryville, a senior at Maryville High School, played a leadership role in a volunteer group that persuaded the Maryville City Council to ban smoking in local restaurants. John gathered research on the issue and represented the group as spokesperson at council meetings and in media interviews.

"Over the past 13 years, we've seen an incredible number of young Americans who have selflessly devoted their time and energy to helping others in their communities," said Arthur F. Ryan, chairman of Prudential Financial. "The volunteer work of this year's honorees is as inspiring as any we've seen, and we are honored to recognize the amazing contributions they've made to their neighborhoods, cities and nation."

"Congratulations to this year's state winners in The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards," stated Gerald N. Tirozzi, executive director of the National Association of Secondary School Principals. "The hard work and determination that these students have exhibited in trying to make a difference in the lives of others is remarkable."

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 Volunteer Centers, were eligible to select a student or member for a local Prudential Spirit of Community Award this past November. Nearly 4,500 Local Honorees were then reviewed by state-level judges, who 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 5 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.

Co-chairing the national selection committee will be U.S. Senators John Kerry of Massachusetts and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, and Arthur Ryan of Prudential. Also serving on the committee will be actor Richard Dreyfuss; Alma Powell, chair of America's Promise - The Alliance for Youth; Michelle Nunn, president and CEO of the Points of Light & Hands On Network; Amy B. Cohen, director of Learn and Serve America at the Corporation for National and Community Service; Kathy Cloninger, CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA; Donald T. Floyd Jr., president and CEO of National 4-H Council; Kathryn Forbes, national chair of volunteers, American Red Cross; Neil Nicoll, CEO of YMCA of the USA; Michael Cohen, president and CEO of Achieve, Inc.; Barry Stark, president of NASSP; and two 2007 Prudential Spirit of Community National Honorees: Kelly Davis of West Bath, Maine, and Kelydra Welcker of Parkersburg, W.Va.

In addition to granting its own awards, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program will be distributing President's Volunteer Service Awards to nearly 2,800 of its Local Honorees this year on behalf of the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation. 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. The program is part of a broad youth-service initiative by Prudential that includes a youth leadership training program administered by the Points of Light & Hands On Network; a free booklet of volunteer ideas for young people offered through the Federal Citizen Information Center; and a Web site featuring profiles of outstanding youth volunteers, volunteer tips and project ideas for students, an electronic newspaper on youth volunteerism, and more (www.prudential.com/spirit). The Spirit of Community Awards 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 www.prudential.com/spirit, or www.principals.org/prudential.

NASSP is the preeminent organization and the national voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals and aspiring school leaders. NASSP provides its members the professional resources to serve as visionary leaders. NASSP promotes the intellectual growth, academic achievement, character development, leadership development, and physical well-being of youth through its programs and student leadership services. NASSP administers the National Honor Society(TM), the National Junior Honor Society(TM) and the National Association of Student Councils(TM).

Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU), a financial services leader, has 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 individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth. The company's well-known 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.prudential.com.

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

Sedalia and Blue Springs students earn $1,000 awards, engraved
medallions and trip to nation's capital

Honors also bestowed on other top youth volunteers in Missouri

U.S. Senators John Kerry and Chuck Hagel to co-chair judging panel
that will pick 10 National Honorees in May