West Virginia's Top Youth Volunteers Of 2019 Selected By National Program

CHARLESTON, W.Va., Feb. 5, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Quinn Raffo, 15, of Craigsville and Chloe Orecchio, 11, of Weirton today were named West Virginia's top two youth volunteers of 2019 by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, a nationwide program honoring young people for outstanding acts of volunteerism. As State Honorees, Quinn and Chloe 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 four days of national recognition events. During the trip, 10 students will be named America's top youth volunteers of 2019. 

The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, now in its 24^th year, is conducted by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP).

These are West Virginia's top youth volunteers of 2019:

High School State Honoree: Quinn Raffo
Nominated by Richwood High School

Quinn, a sophomore at Richwood High School, founded a summer backpack food program that has provided more than 30,000 meals over the past five years to students in her rural county who otherwise would not have enough to eat when school is not in session. When she was 10, Quinn had to fast for 24 hours before some medical testing. "I'll admit, at first I thought it would be fun to only eat jello and popsicles for an entire day," she said, "but I got hungry really quickly and realized it was terrible. I had never felt that type of hunger before." That made her think about the kids at her school who would take "extras" home from lunch to keep from going hungry. She knew she had to do something to help them.

Quinn began volunteering at a food pantry and then learned that her town did not have a program to feed hungry kids over the summer. She researched how to start a backpack program, arranged to use a church's community room, sent application forms to local schools, and then set about raising money through grants and fundraisers such as a car wash and a softball tournament. With money in hand, Quinn sets a weekly budget, plans a menu, shops for groceries, recruits volunteers to help assemble bags and delivers a stuffed backpack to each student's house. Every child receives five breakfasts and lunches and 10 snacks for 10 weeks during the summer. Last year, Quinn had to quickly ramp up her program when teachers in her district went out on strike. She pulled together dozens of volunteers to provide meals to more than 750 kids during the 10-day walkout. "It never gets old to be able to provide something that you know people truly need," she said.    

Middle Level State Honoree: Chloe Orecchio
Nominated by St. Joseph The Worker School

Chloe, a sixth-grader at St. Joseph The Worker School, organized a monthly cleanup program to keep her school campus free of litter. While riding to school every morning, Chloe began noticing litter along the sides of the road and in the school yard. "All of the trash on our campus made our community look very dismal," she said. "I told my parents that someone should clean it up." After a few days of complaining, Chloe's father asked her to come up with a solution. She realized that "it is up to us kids to keep our schools clean," and so she came up with a plan for "Chloe's Campus Clean-Up."

She prepared a PowerPoint presentation to explain her plan to the St. Joseph School Board, which approved it immediately. Then she started recruiting fellow students to form a cleanup team and gave them instructions on how she wanted to run the operation. The first cleanup collected four garbage bags of trash from the grounds of Chloe's elementary school and a high school and church across the street. Chloe now schedules a cleanup on the third Saturday of every month. "It has made a big difference on the campus," she said proudly. "No litter to be found!"           

Distinguished Finalists

The program judges also recognized two other West Virginia students as Distinguished Finalists for their impressive community service activities. Each will receive an engraved bronze medallion.

These are West Virginia's Distinguished Finalists for 2019:

Tylee Oldham, 18, of Hurricane, W.Va., a senior at Hurricane High School, is a hospital volunteer, spending hundreds of hours working in registration, lab and patient support, as well as coordinating stuffed animal and care package drives. Tylee was inspired to start working in a hospital after spending time with her grandmother in hospice care, and hopes to pursue a career as a materials engineer, helping design prosthetics materials to be used in medicine.

Stephanie Santilli, 15, of Philippi, W.Va., a member of Barbour County 4-H and a freshman at Notre Dame High School, is a dedicated member of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, spreading awareness of the disease by coordinating events, writing letters, making calls, participating in media interviews, and connecting with local and national lawmakers. Stephanie was inspired to become involved in this cause after the death of her uncle, who died from pancreatic cancer when she was young.

"These young volunteers learned and demonstrated that they can make meaningful contributions to individuals and communities through their service," said Prudential CEO Charles Lowrey. "It's an honor to recognize their great work, and we hope that shining a spotlight on their service inspires others to consider how they might make a difference."

"Each of these honorees is proof that students have the energy, creativity and unique perspectives to create positive change," said JoAnn Bartoletti, executive director of NASSP. "We commend each of the 2019 honorees for their outstanding volunteer service, and for the invaluable example they've set for their peers." 

About The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards

The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards represents the United States' largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer service. 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 Points of Light's HandsOn Network, were eligible to select a student or member for a local Prudential Spirit of Community Award. These Local Honorees were then reviewed by an independent judging panel, which selected State Honorees and Distinguished Finalists based on criteria including personal initiative, effort, impact and personal growth. 

While in Washington, D.C., the 102 State Honorees – one middle level and one high school student from each state and the District of Columbia – will tour the capital's landmarks, meet top youth volunteers from other parts of the world, attend a gala awards ceremony at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural

History, and visit their congressional representatives on Capitol Hill. On May 6, 10 of the State Honorees – five middle level and five high school students – will be named America's top youth volunteers of 2019. These National 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.  

Since the program began in 1995, more than 125,000 young volunteers have been honored at the local, state and national level. The program also is conducted by Prudential subsidiaries in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ireland, India, China and Brazil. In addition to granting its own awards, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program also distributes President's Volunteer Service Awards to qualifying Local Honorees.

For information on all of this year's Prudential Spirit of Community State Honorees and Distinguished Finalists, visit http://spirit.prudential.com or www.nassp.org/spirit.

About NASSP

The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the leading organization of and voice for principals and other school leaders across the United States. NASSP seeks to transform education through school leadership, recognizing that the fulfillment of each student's potential relies on great leaders in every school committed to the success of each student. Reflecting its long-standing commitment to student leadership development, NASSP administers the National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society, National Elementary Honor Society, and National Student Council. Learn more at www.nassp.org.

About Prudential Financial

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 and investment management. 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 www.news.prudential.com.

For Spirit of Community Awards program logo and medallion graphics, please visit https://spirit.prudential.com/resources/media

SOURCE Prudential Financial, Inc.

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