Published: February 08, 2011
Kansas' Top Two Youth Volunteers Selected in 16th Annual National Awards Program
TOPEKA, Kan. - (BUSINESS WIRE) - 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.
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.
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
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 http://www.news.prudential.com/.
Editors: Graphics depicting the award program's logo and medallions
may be downloaded from spirit.prudential.com.
Prudential Financial
Harold Banks
(973) 802-8974 (office)
(973)
216-4833 (cell)
harold.banks@prudential.com
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