Jennifer Steiner

When Jennifer Steiner’s family moved to a new neighborhood, she was surprised to see no recycling bins in front of houses. Eleven years old at the time, she learned about recycling in elementary school and knew its importance to the environment.

It turned out that recycling service and bins were available through the local garbage disposal company, but residents of the Parker, Colo., community had not been informed. After her own family received a bin, Steiner felt inspired to educate the community and launched her own door-to-door campaign, One Small Step, to encourage people to start recycling.

Steiner offered to order and pick up bins for neighbors. The local garbage company, Waste Management, charged a fee for the bins – $15 for two if the homeowner picked up the bins or an extra $15 to have them delivered. Steiner even got Waste Management’s permission to collect the fees herself and deliver checks to the company. Some neighbors couldn’t afford bins. Steiner told them they could recycle nonetheless and provided them with recycling stickers to affix to other types of containers.

“I tell people that any effort helps,” says Steiner. “Anyone who puts out a bin or even a cardboard box can make a real difference by recycling.”

Steiner, now 18, has personally persuaded hundreds of families to recycle – and she and her mother have delivered more than 100 recycling bins to community members – but her efforts have had a far broader reach. Soon after she began One Small Step, her school principal allowed her to speak to students about the need for recycling. Steiner personally trained 30 students in how to start recycling programs in their own neighborhoods.

In 2009, the county asked Steiner if she’d appear in a public service announcement to promote recycling. The PSA, which ran on Douglas County Television for two years, reached a potential audience of 300,000. (Watch it here.)

“It’s a lot of work,” says Steiner. “Between soccer practice and school, and having family and personal time, it’s been a challenge to also work on One Small Step. But it’s worth it to me because I’m passionate about it.”

Steiner has received several awards for her community service. She has been honored by the mayor and county council. This year, in the state-by-state Prudential Spirit of the Community Awards for volunteerism, Steiner received Colorado’s Bronze Medal.

“Colorado is beautiful no matter what season it is, and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else,” says Steiner. “I’m proud to know I have made a difference and can continue to do so. It gives me peace of mind to take care of a place where I love to live.”

As she looks ahead to college, Steiner says she hopes she will have the chance to start a recycling program on her campus, and hopes the work she has done she has done in Parker will continue.

Chela Moody

Chela Moody of Martinsville, Indiana does a lot for the homeless population as well as anyone else she feels she can help. Moody spends every Thursday serving the homeless at a soup kitchen. Often, she is one of the first volunteers to arrive at the soup kitchen and the last to leave. In addition, she distributes vital survival items including food, blankets and clothing to Indianapolis homeless individuals living on the streets. Each visit, she stays out distributing items until volunteers have passed out every item. She has even given away her own gloves before.

Drew Vanderford

As a WATCH D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students) volunteer, Drew Vanderford helps youth achieve success at Clark Elementary School in Paducah, Kentucky.

Clark Elementary houses a KIDS Company I Family Resource Center, an initiative of the Kentucky Family Resource and Youth Service Centers established to enhance student success in schools. In an effort to increase male role models, the resource center implemented the National Center for Fathering’s WATCH D.O.G.S program at Clark Elementary.

Vanderford started volunteering with the school’s WATCH D.O.G.S. program last year for two days each week although volunteers are only required to serve one day a week. This year, Vanderford happily added another day to his volunteer workload thereby increasing his service to three days a week because so many teachers were asking for his assistance.

Through WATCH D.O.G.S, Vanderford works mainly with kindergartners on academic skills to increase their reading comprehension and become better students. He supports teachers’ efforts and is willing to work one-on-one with any child who needs extra attention.

KIDS Company staff regards Vanderford as a selfless, dependable and dedicated volunteer who excels at working with all children regardless of academic level or age. While volunteering at Clark Elementary, Vanderford has had to undergo major surgeries. However, he has not let health issues impede is involvement at the school and continues to work with students from his wheelchair.

Keshia Knight Pulliam

You might know her as Rudy Huxtable, the adorable, truth-telling youngest sibling on “The Cosby Show,” or as Miranda Payne, a con artist who turned her life around on “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne.”

But to hundreds of girls in Atlanta, actress Keshia Knight Pulliam is simply “Miss Keshia” – their mentor at Kamp Kizzy. 

In 2011, Pulliam took on a new kind of role that she calls her “true passion” when she launched Kamp Kizzy, an annual two-day free summer camp for girls ages 11 to 16. Kamp Kizzy is designed to encourage girls to pursue their dreams by bonding and participating in a diverse curriculum – designed by Pulliam – that includes performing arts, sensitivity and cultural diversity training, team-building exercises, creative writing, and lessons in etiquette and public speaking.

“It’s all about empowerment and self-esteem, about carving out your identity,” says Pulliam. “At this age, girls feel a need for acceptance, and sometimes that leads to bad decisions. We’re trying to help by creating a space of being listened to and a place of love, where you know everyone is there to support you and to let you know you can accomplish anything with your life.”

Each year, about 100 girls take part in Kamp Kizzy. (“Kizzy” is a nickname that was given to Pulliam by her grandfather.) The camp, which has expanded to four days, is held at Atlanta’s Spelman College, Pulliam’s alma mater. Pulliam hopes that through increased fundraising, to which she devotes much of her time, the camp will be able to serve more girls. Pulliam is also expanding Kamp Kizzy to include a boys’ group in 2015.

Pulliam says that the camp has been so popular that many participants return year after year until they reach the age limit, after which they volunteer as counselors.

“That’s one of the greatest things,” says Pulliam. “They’re excited to come back, and it’s wonderful to see them and hear how they’ve been working to accomplish their goals.”

Kamp Kizzy grew out of a lifetime of volunteer service.

“My mother and father taught me the importance of giving back,” says Pulliam, who at age 5 became the youngest person nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Emmy Award. “I’ve been volunteering help or giving money or clothes for as long as I can remember.”

After “The Cosby Show” ended in 1992, Pulliam took a break from acting to pursue her education. While studying at Spelman – where she earned a degree in sociology with a concentration in film – she performed community service as a Bonner Scholar. She was also a volunteer at Atlanta’s Hosea Feed the Hungry.

Pulliam says that at Spelman, and even earlier at Foxcroft School in Virginia, she was privileged to have strong women in her life and that she wants to pass that on to future generations through Kamp Kizzy.

“My experience has been blessed, but that doesn’t buffer me from the rest of society,” Pulliam says. “It inspires me to help others. Working at Kamp Kizzy is something I’ll do for the rest of my life.”