LAURA E. GRAY

Laura was first exposed to volunteerism through Brownies, filling Easter Eggs for a local nursing home. She has continued to contribute to our community for a variety of organizations. Laura is very involved in Girl Scouts and for every activity, there is a service project. Laura has volunteered at our county humane shelter, made toy bags for children in hospitals, made and donated stuffed animals and quilts to nursing homes and women’s shelters.

Our school corporation is making a memorial butterfly garden for students and staff that have passed away. Laura made and donated a butterfly quilt to be auctioned off to raise money for the project. She has eagerly participated in selling concessions and other moneymaking projects for her school. The wide range of her consistent volunteerism continues as she has worked benefit bake sales, piano recitals, and the Rotary Follies. Whenever there is a good cause and Laura is able to help out, she does without even thinking about it.

Through the People to People Student Ambassador Program, Laura did service projects in California including digging and clearing out fire trenches in Yosemite National Park. She also learned about Operation Iraqi Children, a program that sent school kits to children in Iraq. Laura collected supplies and sent 6 kits, which several weeks later she saw on the CNN Network being delivered by U.S. Soldiers. What a joy it was for her to see such a positive outcome!

Laura’s commitment extends to church involvement. This past summer Laura put on puppet shows for VBS for five nights based on Bible stories. At the end of the week, she put on one long show combining all five stories. Laura wrote all her scripts and did all the performing herself. It was a huge amount of work, but the children loved them and her pastor was very grateful for Laura’s time and effort.

To conclude, I must say that although Laura has not devoted all of her time to one cause, she has helped so many more people and animals by making herself available to anyone who has a need that she feels she can meet. Laura has accomplished so much in her 13 years that it gives me hope that she along with others like her will try their best to ensure a better and brighter future for our community, country and world.