Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson is proud to congratulate four Idaho students for outstanding acts of volunteerism. Dylan Bass, 18, of Garden Valley and McKenzie Gredler, 13, of Meridian were named Idaho's top two youth volunteers for 2011 by the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, a nationwide program honoring young people for outstanding acts of volunteerism.  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 2011 at that time.

The program judges also recognized two other Idaho students, Zana Davey, 17, of Hailey, and Emily Miller, 19, of Kuna, as Distinguished Finalists for their impressive community service activities.  Each will receive an engraved bronze medallion.

“These young people are exemplary in the manner in which they choose to live their lives,” said Simpson. “I am proud of each of them and know they will enrich their lives and the lives of others through the service they provide, especially at such a young age.”

The awards program, now in its 16th year, is conducted by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP).  Since the program began in 1995, more than 95,000 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 Jimmy Carter, Barbara Bush, Magic Johnson, John Glenn, Madeleine Albright, Rudy Giuliani, Whoopi Goldberg, Colin Powell, Peyton Manning, Laura Bush, and Condoleezza Rice.

“These award recipients have proven that young people across America are critical to the future of our neighborhoods, our nation, and our world,” said John R. Strangfeld, chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial.  “Each and every one of these honorees deserve our respect and admiration, and we hope by shining a light on them, they will continue to serve as an example for others.”

“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.”

Dylan Bass, a senior at Garden Valley High School, is his community’s coordinator for a program that provides overseas military families with manufacturer’s coupons to help stretch their budgets.  His commitment to volunteering started at the age of four when he rode his tricycle a mile to raise funds for a local ambulance service. “No one thought I’d go very far, so they pledged a bunch of money – they were pretty shocked when they had to pay up!” Bass said. Over the years, he helped in various capacities in his community but it wasn’t until his junior year of high school that Bass decided to devote his efforts to helping military personnel. “The meager salary of a junior enlisted soldier is barely sufficient for living, and if they have any dependents, they are considered under the poverty line,” he said. That was when he stumbled onto a website about the Overseas Coupon Program. 

After “adopting” the U.S. Naval and Marine Corp base in Sigonella, Italy, Bass, with the help of his mother, went to work collecting, printing, clipping, sorting, and shipping coupons. At first it was slow going, but after an article about his efforts appeared in the local paper, volunteers in Idaho, Nevada and Oregon began clipping for his project. It wasn’t long before his house was filled with stacks of coupons waiting to be mailed. And Bass far surpassed his goal of a few thousand dollars in coupons. At last count, he had sent coupons worth $96,000 overseas to help ease the strain on military budgets. “I believe that when these monthly bundles of coupons arrive to be spread out on tables at the base commissary, a gift of thanks to our military members goes with it,” said Bass.

McKenzie Gredler, an eighth-grader at Sawtooth Middle School, is training a service dog to enhance the life of a disabled person. Gredler said she had always enjoyed helping people with disabilities, but her interest intensified when her mother suffered a spinal stroke that required months of rehabilitation. When her parents told her that Canine Companions for Independence needed people to train puppies to be service dogs, she jumped at the chance. “This organization combines two of my passions, animals and helping others,” said Gredler, who wants to be a veterinarian  when she grows up. After being accepted as a trainer, a black lab puppy named “Giga” moved in with Gredler.

As a service dog trainer, Gredler’s day starts at 5:30 a.m. when she takes Giga for a run. Then she feeds her, gets her ready for the day, and spends time training her after school. At the end of the day, she documents her dog’s progress in a journal. To ensure that the puppy is socialized and easily adapts to many situations and environments, Gredler takes Giga everywhere with her – to the movies, the doctor’s office, nursing homes to visit residents, the orthodontist, even to restaurants. Sometimes the two travel to school classrooms where she talks to students about volunteerism. After 15 months, Giga will graduate and move on for advanced training that will qualify her to be a service dog to a disabled person. Although she will be sad, Gredler said it will be one of her proudest moments. “Whenever I get sad about having to give up my new best friend, I remind myself that she was never mine, and I am only a chapter in Giga’s service life.”

Zana Davey, 17, of Hailey, a senior at the Community School in Sun Valley, is an active volunteer with the Hunger Coalition, a local charity that helps to feed and empower the needy.  After volunteering over the summer, Davey was invited to become a student representative on the board and in this position has helped to secure donations and often speaks on the organization’s behalf at public events.

Emily Miller, 19, of Kuna, a senior at Kuna High School, created a student service group called Harambee, a name that means “unity” in Swahili.  Miller organized a number of projects including a bullying prevention program, a greeting card project for the troops, a Christmas gift collection for underprivileged women, and a fund-raiser to help students pay for the ACT college entrance exams.

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