Delaware's Top Two Youth Volunteers Selected in 15th Annual National Awards Program

DOVER, Del.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Ashley McNeill, 18, of Wilmington and Philip Moore, 13, of Dover today were named Delaware'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).

Ashley was nominated by Cab Calloway School of the Arts in Wilmington, and Philip was nominated by the Kent County 4-H in Dover. 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.

Ashley, a senior at Cab Calloway School of the Arts, has spent hundreds of hours over the past eight years helping to collect and distribute books for children and adults in need, so that they could discover the magic of reading. “I’ve always loved to read and hope to be an author some day,” said Ashley, so when her stepmother co-founded a nonprofit literacy organization in 2002 that encourages reading by giving away books, Ashley wanted to get involved.

At first, she helped sort, clean and label books. Then she began delivering children’s book baskets, assisted in the construction of several onsite libraries, and helped run book collection drives. Next, she reached out to friends and classmates to get them to join her in volunteering. Last year, while Ashley interned at a Boys & Girls Club facility in Wilmington, “I saw every day the lack of age-appropriate reading materials at the center,” she said. So, Ashley cleaned three rooms that housed the existing collections, brought in hundreds of brand new books, and organized them into three libraries, each for a specific age group. She also has put together hundreds of “book packs” as holiday gifts for underprivileged children, and assisted with large-scale book donations to schools, prisons, and senior centers. “By redistributing books to people in need, we can make a huge difference in the lives of children and adults everywhere,” Ashley said.

Philip, a member of the Kent County 4-H and an eighth-grader at Robert Moore Academy, is an avid community volunteer who spends a great deal of time participating in service activities with his church and 4-H group. His biggest project is assisting with a low-cost grocery supply service called Angel Food Ministries. “My parents started the ministry at our local church, but I was never told that it was a requirement that I had to help,” said Philip. “I wanted to get involved to help people be better able to stretch their paychecks and feed their family.” For the past three years, he has been packing food, carrying it out to clients’ cars, delivering groceries to senior citizens, and helping out in other ways.

Philip also has served as an assistant counselor at his church’s vacation Bible school, and worked with its youth group to make cookies for prisoners and provide gifts for their children. He helped his 4-H club make favors for nursing home residents, and created Christmas cards for soldiers. Philip, who considers himself shy, found that volunteering helped him to break out of his shell. “I learned that you can hide behind tables and keep to yourself or you can talk to people and ask how you can help,” he said.

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

Marisa Grimes, 17, of Ocean View, a senior at Worcester Preparatory School in Berlin, Md., taught English at an orphanage in Ghana during the summer of 2008, and upon returning home, raised funds to help build a new home for the orphanage. She now is working to create a program at her school to provide school supplies, textbooks and a computer for a school in Kenya.

Sierra Spicer, 18, of Laurel, a senior at Laurel High School, has served for four years on the Board of Directors for The Hope House I and II Project, a housing program for the homeless in the Laurel area. In that time, Sierra has spearheaded fund-raising events that yielded thousands of dollars to support the 50 families and 125 children that the Hope House has served.

“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.