Students rewarded for community service
CHALFONT >> Five high school seniors, including one from North Penn High School and one from Souderton Area High School, were presented with Merck Sharp & Dohme Federal Credit Union Raymond O’ Hoffman Memorial Awards. The students contributed a combined 6,973 hours to community service.
This year, the recipients were awarded $5,000 each and were recognized at the credit union’s annual meeting in March by Tom Eisenberger, MSDFCU chairman, and David B. Whitehead, MSDFCU CEO.
The following information on the award recipients was provided in a release:
• Casey Yin from North Penn High School volunteers with the Project Brother Love, Flood Philly, Franklin Institute Camp, Taiwan Short Term Missions, and Abington Lansdale Hospital. Her volunteer efforts transitioned online at Herald Crusade. There Casey tutored first-generation Asian American children in ESL.
• Peter Zucca from Souderton Area High School formed The Peter Powerhouse Foundation to make a difference in the lives of kids with cancer. At 17 years of age, he joined the board of the Delaware Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross.
• Yvonne Burke from Central Bucks High School South is a leader of Titans for Equity & Inclusion Club (TIE). She volunteers with Special Olympics, BCOP, Jack & Jill of Bucks County, and the 4 U Drew Foundation. Yvonne created The Kindness Project, which fosters inclusion in the local community.
• Anjali Kejariwal from Spring-Ford High School volunteers with the Balvihar Youth Group, Pottstown Hospital, and the Daily Bread Food Pantry. She and her brother founded a nonprofit called Sweatshirts to Scrubs (S2S) to teach elementary students about the medical field. She also founded Dancing Dreams, Bollywood dancing whose mission is to keep kids moving during quarantine through virtual boot camps. Anjali also raised money for charities and organizations in India.
• Aidan Lombardi from Cardinal Newman High School in Santa Rosa, CA. — Aidan’s passion lies in advocating for mental health, and he strives to be a voice for students who may be afraid to speak up and suffer in silence. Aidan sits on the student advisory board for a foundation started by his family called the Hilinski’s Hope Foundation. Its mission is to educate, advocate, and eliminate the stigma associated with mental illness.
“For 50 years, the Hoffman Memorial Award recognizes high school seniors who are active in their community and represent the ‘People Helping People’ philosophy of credit unions,” the release said.