Akaka Meets With Kaimuki Middle Schooler Honored For Community Service

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Akaka Meets With Kaimuki Middle Schooler Honored For Community Service
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Courtesy of Office of U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka
Source Office of U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka

AKAKA MEETS WITH KAIMUKI MIDDLE SCHOOLER
HONORED FOR COMMUNITY SERVICE

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii) met with Kaimuki Middle School 8th grader Kristyn Wong today in his Capitol Hill office to congratulate her for being named one of the top youth volunteers for Hawaii in 2009 by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program. Thirteen-year-old Kristyn was accompanied by her mother Debra Nakagaki.

Kristyn has been a leader of the Junior Optimist Club at Kaimuki and has recruited many other student to join. She has visited and entertained nursing home residents, worked at Thanksgiving dinners for seriously ill children and their families, collected food for the Hawaii Food Bank, mopped the deck of the U.S.S. Missouri, entertained kids at an Okinawan Festival, and helped raise money for organizations such as Big Brothers/Big Sisters. Kristyn will be attending Iolani for high school this fall.

"Kristyn will build upon this foundation of community service the rest of her life," Senator Akaka said. "I am glad this award program recognizes volunteers like Kristen who give up their personal time to help others in Hawaii. She is a great example for all of us. I give credit to the parents of Kristyn and the other awardees for a good upbringing instilled with a desire to help people."

"I joined the Junior Optimist Club because I wanted to help the community, and I really enjoy doing random acts of kindness," said Kristyn. "I know how important it is to volunteer, and I believe in the club's mission to promote volunteerism, and to make a positive difference in our community."

Also honored at the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards this week was 16-year-old Melissa Monette, a junior at Mililani High School, for founding a nonprofit organization that has provided more than 13,000 pounds of fresh produce and canned goods to low-income senior citizens and homeless people over the past two years.

"All it takes is one individual to provide the spark, and the power of one becomes the power of many," said Melissa, who became aware of poverty in her community by participating in church, school, and Girl Scout programs to aid the needy. She says the problem really hit home when her own grandmother turned to a food pantry for help and was denied assistance because she was not homeless. "It is very difficult and traumatic for (seniors) when they get turned away from nonprofit agencies distributing food because they are not poor enough to qualify," she said.

Kristyn and Melissa joined youth volunteers from every other state for a gala award ceremony this week at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History here in Washington, D.C. They received $1,000 awards in recognition for their outstanding volunteer work.

Nearly 20,000 young Americans applied for Prudential Spirit of Community Awards this year. Melissa and Kristyn were named the top high school and middle level youth volunteers in Hawaii 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 Awards represent the nation's largest youth recognition program based exclusively on volunteer community service. Conducted in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), the program was created 14 years ago by Prudential Financial, Inc. to encourage youth volunteerism and to identify and reward young role models. Since then, the program has honored nearly 90,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level.

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

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