Published: May 03, 2010

Two Missouri Youth Honored for Volunteerism at National Award Ceremony in Washington, D.C.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. - (BUSINESS WIRE) - Two Missouri students, Simone Bernstein, 18, of St. Louis and Alexander Wood, 11, of Lee's Summit, were honored in the nation's capital last night for their outstanding volunteer work during the presentation of The 2010 Prudential Spirit of Community Awards. The two young people - along with 100 other top youth volunteers from across the country - received $1,000 awards as well as personal congratulations from former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Olympic snowboarding champion Seth Wescott at the 15^th annual award ceremony and gala dinner reception, held at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

Simone and Alexander were named the top high school and middle level youth volunteers in Missouri last February. In addition to their cash awards, they received engraved silver medallions and an all-expense-paid trip with their parents to Washington, D.C., for this week's recognition events.

"The Prudential Spirit of Community honorees give us great hope for the future," said Dr. Rice. "Their compassion and commitment are already making a real difference in so many lives, and I have no doubt that their leadership will continue to positively impact the world for many years to come."

Simone, a senior at Clayton High School in Clayton, 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," with a website at www.cleanhandsbakery.com. He passes out fliers, takes orders, and delivers the cookies, cakes, and breads that he makes from scratch. Most of 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.

"Simone and Alexander are wonderful examples of young Americans who care about the world around them and have taken the initiative to improve that world," said John R. Strangfeld, chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial, Inc. "We salute their effort, their achievements, and their spirit of community."

More than 21,000 young people submitted applications for the 2010 awards program last fall through schools, Girl Scout councils, county 4-H organizations, American Red Cross chapters, YMCAs and affiliates of the Points of Light Institute's 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.

Conducted in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards were created 15 years ago by Prudential Financial to encourage youth volunteerism and to identify and reward young role models. Since then, the program has honored nearly 100,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level.

"The young women and men in America's schools are nothing short of amazing, and nowhere is this more evident than amongst this year's award recipients," said NASSP President Steven Pophal. "They possess a keen intellect, servant hearts, capable leadership skills, and are filled with energy and ambition. NASSP and Prudential are honored to recognize them."

The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards are supported by the American Association of School Administrators, the National Middle School Association, the National School Boards Association, the Council of the Great City Schools, Girl Scouts of the USA, National 4-H Council, the American Red Cross, YMCA of the USA, the Points of Light Institute, and other national education and service organizations.

More information about The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards and this year's honorees can be found at http://spirit.prudential.com or www.principals.org/spirit.

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, visit www.news.prudential.com.

[Editors: full-color pictures of the Spirit of Community Awards program logo and medallions are available at spirit.prudential.com.]

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