New Jersey's Top Two Youth Volunteers Selected in 15th Annual National Awards Program

Shannon McNamara, 16, of Basking Ridge and Francesca Lanfranchi, 13, of Egg Harbor Township today were named New Jersey's top two youth volunteers for 2010 by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, a nationwide program honoring young people for outstanding acts of volunteerism. The awards program, now in its 15th year, is conducted by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP).

Shannon was nominated by Ridge High School in Basking Ridge, and Francesca was nominated by the United Way of Atlantic County's Volunteer Center in Galloway. 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 2010 at that time.

Shannon, a junior at Ridge High School, founded a nonprofit organization that has created libraries with a total of 21,000 books for three schools in rural Tanzania, and introduced an after-school reading program for Tanzanian girls who otherwise would have little opportunity for education. While preparing for a family service trip to Tanzania in 2008, Shannon learned about the scarcity of books there and the cultural bias that discourages literacy among girls. “While boys are encouraged to study or play, girls are expected to perform household tasks,” she said. “I think this is unfair. Without an education, a girl’s only option is to marry early, have babies, and this bleak life continues.”

Shannon arrived in Africa with 500 pounds of children’s books, school supplies, and used laptop computers that she had collected from friends and neighbors back home. With help from her family’s volunteer group, she repaired and painted an unused, dilapidated room offered by a primary school for a library, and hired local carpenters to build bookshelves and install windows and a secure door. She then began using the room and her books to teach English and reading to 23 Tanzanian girls.

Shannon returned home more committed than ever to educating young Tanzanians. By organizing fund-raising events, conducting book and school-supply drives, and speaking about her mission at schools, scout meetings, churches and community organizations, she has been able to create three libraries in Tanzania so far, serving more than 2,500 students. And her after-school program now has four teachers helping 150 girls learn to read.

Francesca, an eighth-grader at Saint Joseph Regional School in Somers Point, has been volunteering for a no-kill animal shelter since she was 8 years old, and over the past four years has raised more than $20,000 for the facility by organizing an annual dog parade at a local park. “I have always had a passion for animals and wanted to help the homeless animals in my area,” Francesca said.

After volunteering at Beacon Animal Rescue for a year, Francesca wanted to do more to help the homeless dogs and cats who end up there. Her idea: the “Strut for Mutts” dog parade. Now, every year, she posts event fliers all over her community, visits local businesses and writes letters to companies to solicit auction and raffle items, sells raffle tickets and T-shirts, recruits local celebrity judges, and seeks publicity from newspapers and radio stations. Despite the threat of rain, 150 people attended last year’s strut, and 60 dogs competed for prizes and trophies. Francesca donates all of the money raised to pay medical expenses for the animals at Beacon. “Animals cannot defend themselves and so they depend on us to help them,” said Francesca. “I will continue to do anything I can to help homeless animals. I am their voice!”

In addition, the program judges recognized six other New Jersey students as Distinguished Finalists for their impressive community service activities. Each will receive an engraved bronze medallion:

Jordan Coleman, 14, of Hackensack, a freshman at Hackensack High School, wrote and produced “Say It Loud,” a docudrama film about the importance of education for African-American boys. Jordan researched and wrote a script, hired a film crew, persuaded celebrities to grant interviews, and then filmed and helped edit his movie, which has been shown more than 150 times in seven cities to encourage African-American teens to stay in school.

Matthew Erickson, 17, of Red Bank, a senior at Mater Dei High School in New Monmouth, co-founded “HelpLight NJ,” a volunteer effort that has raised money to replace 82,000 incandescent light bulbs with energy-saving compact fluorescent bulbs for 13,000 families. Students at 19 high schools now participate in Matthew’s program.

Jake Fine, 12, of West Windsor, a seventh-grader at Community Middle School in Plainsboro, co-founded a youth-run fund-raising campaign that has collected more than $60,000 to find a cure for juvenile diabetes, a disease he suffers from. Jake also created a buddy program for recently diagnosed diabetes patients, and devised a simple acronym to help others understand what diabetics need when experiencing low blood sugar.

Ronak Gandhi, 17, of Plainsboro, a senior at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South in Princeton Junction, raises funds for the March of Dimes and promotes public awareness about premature birth, infant mortality, and birth defects. Ronak founded a March of Dimes youth chapter at his school, served in several leadership positions on his county’s March of Dimes youth council, and organized a variety of school and community fund-raisers.

Erika Rech, 18, of Middletown, a senior at High Technology High School in Lincroft, and Michael Ruane, 18, of Belford, a senior at Middletown High School North in Middletown, have raised more than $100,000 to help breast cancer patients undergoing financial hardship pay for wigs, prostheses, medication, doctor visits, groceries, and many other items. The two cousins have sold T-shirts, solicited donations from local businesses, collected coins in front of local supermarkets, and organized a black tie gala and auction to raise their funds.

“People as caring and committed as these young students are critical to the future of our neighborhoods, our cities and our nation,” said John R. Strangfeld, chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial. “By recognizing these honorees, we hope to encourage other young people – our future leaders – and all Americans to think more about the value and importance of volunteering in their communities.”

“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.”

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 HandsOn Network, were eligible to select a student or member for a local Prudential Spirit of Community Award this past November. Nearly 5,000 Local Honorees were then reviewed by an independent judging panel, which selected State Honorees and Distinguished Finalists based on criteria such as personal initiative, creativity, effort, impact and personal growth.

While in Washington, D.C., the 102 State Honorees will tour the capital’s landmarks, attend a gala awards ceremony at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, and visit their congressional representatives on Capitol Hill. In addition, 10 of them – five middle level and five high school students – will be named National Honorees on May 3 by a prestigious national selection committee. These 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.

Serving on the national selection committee will be Strangfeld of Prudential; Steven Pophal, president of NASSP; Michelle Nunn, president and CEO of the Points of Light Institute & Hands On Network; Marguerite Kondracke, president and CEO of the America’s Promise Alliance; Donald T. Floyd Jr., president and CEO of National 4-H Council; Pamela Farr, the American Red Cross’ national chair of volunteers; Elson Nash, associate director for project management at the Corporation for National and Community Service; Michael Cohen, president and CEO of Achieve, Inc.; and two 2009 Prudential Spirit of Community National Honorees: Shardy Camargo of Orlando, Fla., and Colin Leslie of Rye, N.Y.

In addition to granting its own awards, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program will distribute President’s Volunteer Service Awards to more than 2,800 of its Local Honorees this year on behalf of President Obama. The President’s Volunteer Service Award recognizes Americans of all ages who have volunteered significant amounts of their time to serve their communities and their country.

The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards represent the United States’ largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer service. Since the program began in 1995, more than 90,000 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 President Jimmy Carter, Barbara Bush, Magic Johnson, John Glenn, Madeleine Albright, Rudy Giuliani, Whoopi Goldberg, Colin Powell, Peyton Manning, Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson and Laura Bush. The program also is conducted by Prudential subsidiaries in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Ireland.

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

In existence since 1916, the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the preeminent organization of and national voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and aspiring school leaders from across the United States and more than 45 countries around the world. NASSP’s mission is to promote excellence in school leadership. The National Honor Society ®, National Junior Honor Society ®, National Elementary Honor Society™, and National Association of Student Councils ® are all NASSP programs. For more information about NASSP, located in Reston, Va., visit www.principals.org or call 703-860-0200.

Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU) is a financial services leader with operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Leveraging its heritage of life insurance and asset management expertise, Prudential is focused on helping approximately 50 million individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth. In the United States, the company’s Rock symbol is an icon of strength, stability, expertise and innovation that has stood the test of time. Prudential's businesses offer a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds, investment management, and real estate services. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com.

Editors: Graphics depicting the award program’s logo and medallions may be downloaded from spirit.prudential.com.