Volunteer Center names Youth Service Challenge winners
The Volunteer Center of Northwest Suburban Chicago (TVC) recently announced the winners of the first annual Youth Service Challenge, a student volunteer initiative sponsored by Zurich in NA. Molly Crane of Evanston Township High School and The Girls' Group of Township High School District 214-Vanguard School will each receive $1,000 dollars plus assistance from The Volunteer Center to implement their service projects.
The mission of the Youth Service Challenge is to inspire youth to improve their communities through volunteerism. Several students and student groups from high schools in the northwest suburbs submitted proposals that sought to address important issues within their communities, ranging from poverty to eliminating the achievement gap. The selection committee chose the two projects that they believe display high potential for student leadership, community engagement and social impact.
Molly Crane, a junior at Evanston Township High School, won for her proposal to conduct a community-wide shoe drive to benefit the nonprofit organization Shoes for Orphan Souls. Over the past 10 years, Shoes for Orphan Souls has distributed over two million pairs of new shoes to orphans in 69 countries around the world.
Collection boxes will be located at Evanston Township High School, The Volunteer Center in Arlington Heights, Zurich headquarters in Schaumburg, as well as various shoe stores throughout each of these communities. Molly hopes that her project will not only benefit recipients of new shoes, but also bring awareness to the larger problems of poverty throughout the world.
“Participating in a drive not only helps people in other communities. It increases awareness close to home,” said Crane.
The second winning proposal came from The Girls' Group at the Vanguard School in Arlington Heights. These young women believe in the power of a positive role model, and that through proper guidance, youth will steer away from the negative influences of adolescence. In doing so, they believe these girls will gain the necessary confidence to succeed both socially and academically.
Their proposal builds on their mentoring program at Chippewa Middle School. With the assistance of the project, The Girls' Group will host a women's empowerment day. This will be an opportunity for middle school girls to learn about the importance of personal and intellectual growth, dedication, responsibility, and openness to new experiences. The day will feature team-building exercises, speeches from professional women, and finish with a volunteer outing to a local nonprofit agency.
The Volunteer Center and Zurich in NA are very excited to help make both of these service projects a success. For more information on the Youth Service Challenge and the winners, please visit www.volunteerinfo.net.