Edward Hertko

Dr. Edward Hertko founded Camp Hertko Hollow 39 years ago. It is Iowa’s camp for children with diabetes. He also helped found the Iowa Diabetes Association in the early 1960s, which later became affiliated with the American Diabetes Association in 1975. Dr. Hertko has met a community need and created a solution by tirelessly, endlessly, effortlessly and with great compassion, self-effort and volunteerism to promote, sustain and continue his camp for Iowa’s children afflicted with diabetes. Dr. Hertko, a retired diabetes internist with Iowa Methodist Hospital in Des Moines, still serves actively on many diabetes state agencies and medical advisory boards.

Camp Hertko Hollow was established to help educate Iowa children living with Type 1 diabetes how to better manage and control their disease in order to live healthy, long lives until a cure for their illness can be found. Dr. Hertko’s unselfish and true compassion to teach these youth better diabetes management skills, with the help of many qualified individuals who’ve volunteered their time at camp over the years, to help eliminate the long term devastating effects of diabetes complications is highly commendable. His sincere dedication to help these kids live better lives as they struggle and sufferer with insulin dependent Type 1 diabetes is respectable and honorable.

Camp Hertko Hollow is not affiliated with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) or American Diabetes Association (ADA). The money raised for camper ships/sponsorships for diabetic children to attend the summer camp is done solely by their fundraising efforts. They are a 501©3 designated nonprofit corporation.

This summer 337 children with diabetes from Iowa between the ages of 6 and 18 attended the two one-week long sessions. The camp staff consisted of 10 physicians, 17 nurses, 3 dieticians, 3 pharmacists, 8 pharmacy students, several dietetic interns and nursing students from state universities and colleges across Iowa. All of the staff, many of whom are diabetic themselves, volunteer their time for one to two weeks to be at the camp helping to educate the youth in developing better diabetes management skills; but the kids have fun, too! There are additional camp activities planned for their stays.

Many of the volunteers working for or involved with Camp Hertko Hollow are parents, relatives or concerned individuals of diabetic children. They know firsthand the importance and struggles kids with diabetes and their families go through trying to manage and control the disease. By establishing Camp Hertko Hollow, Dr. Hertko has created an environment and camp that enables all people affected by diabetes an opportunity to learn new behavioral, medical, and environmental advances and skills to combat, control and manage their illness effectively and safely.

Dexter Craigie

Dexter Craigie is an outstanding leader and an exemplary volunteer. He recruited 25 reading mentors for the Teen Trendsetter reading program at Lehigh Senior High School. These mentors would go to a neighboring elementary school and read to third graders every week.

Dexter has proved to be a responsible and mature young man by organizing and training these reading mentors. He went above and beyond his call of duties by performing an array of challenging tasks such as, arranging transportation, organizing fundraisers, and meetings.

These third graders combined received over 250 hours of extra reading time. As a result, the third grade reading scores improved. In addition, these young children had the joy of looking forward to seeing their mentors every week. The younger children were not the only ones who benefited from this partnership. The mentors were impacted also and developed a sense of responsibility and commitment to their mentees.

There are many youth volunteers throughout our nation; however, Dexter stands out and has to be among the best. He is a natural born leader with a heart of gold. He does not allow his age to deter him yet handles his tasks with maturity and dedication. Because he was so passionate about the program, Dexter put in hours of his time to get this program started at his high school.

Dexter always had both his mentors and mentees on his mind. He developed a meaningful relationship with his mentee and is highly respected by his peers and the staff at Lehigh Senior High. In addition, he thinks of ways to reach more children and keep the program fresh and innovative. As a result of his hard work, over 50 students were touched in a positive manner and were given the gift of the importance and joy of reading.

Hillary Hughes

Hillary Hughes, a member of the Girl Scouts Swift Water Council and a fifth-grader at Peter Woodbury School, founded a nonprofit foundation that has collected more than $15,000 worth of personal-care products and other items to send to needy families around the world.

“The motivation for my project began at the age of 6, when I realized many children couldn’t afford art and school supplies,” Hillary said, “Seeing others with nothing makes you want to give everything you can to them.”

Hillary started by making kits of school supplies for needy children in her community, and later collected 50 pounds of quilts to send to families in Chile. She then began assembling “humanitarian kits” for victims of natural disasters.

When the 2004 tsunami devastated portions of Southeast Asia, Hillary and her volunteers assembled and shipped 900 kits containing toothbrushes, toothpaste, towels, soap, and combs—plus 100 stuffed animals—to victims. More than 250 additional kits went to hurricane victims last year.

200 School Kits were delivered to New Hampshire youth, as well as 85 Hygiene Kits to Indonesian earthquake victims in 2006. To accomplish this, Hillary recruited other teen and adult volunteers, set up donation boxes and centers, and solicited contributions from individuals, businesses, and community groups. She plans on continuing this service because there will always be the need.

Kathleen Cassasa Blouin

Kathleen Casasa Blouin, a senior at Deering High School, helps plan and lead counseling programs to ease the emotional trauma that children typically experience when their parents’ divorce or separate.

“Through experience, I know the emotional toll that divorce or separation can and does have on children,” said Kathleen. They need to realize, she added, “that they are not alone and that divorce or separation is not their fault.”

Kathleen first became involved in this cause as a fund-raiser for the Kids First Center in Portland, which offers divorce support-group sessions for children and adolescents. After raising more than $350 to help children from low-income families attend the program, she began volunteering as a co-facilitator at the center, helping a social worker conduct 1½-hour sessions for children 5 to 14 years old once a week for six weeks.

Kathleen helps plan a theme for each session, leads discussions, organizes activities, and assists in other ways. “Some of the children come into the group shy, reserved, and awkward, but by the end are talkative, confident, and outspoken,” said Kathleen. “Every time, the transformation is amazing and inspiring.”

Victoria LeBlanc

Victoria LeBlanc, a member of Vermilion Parish 4-H and a home-school high school graduate, organized an annual talent show that raised more than $9,000 in its first three years for a local hospital, deployed soldiers and their families, and hurricane victims.

Victoria, an experienced piano player and a strong proponent of community service, was looking for a way to combine these two interests when she hit upon the idea of a fund-raising talent show. “I truly believe in the performing arts and their ability to enhance a person’s life,” said Victoria.

A talent show, she reasoned, “would be a fun way to give 4-H’ers and community members an opportunity to get involved in the performing arts, and raise money for a great cause at the same time.”

For the first “Showcase of Talent Benefit” in 2003, Victoria coordinated every detail, choosing performers, securing a location, promoting the event, selling tickets, encouraging donations, and producing the show. The proceeds of more than $3,600 were donated to St. Jude’s Hospital.

For the second benefit, Victoria asked the Jr. Leader Club to take an active role in the production, and ended up raising an additional $2,600, which was used to make “hero packs” for the children of deployed members of the 256th National Guard Infantry, and to ship needed items to the troops.

Victoria appointed a co-chair for the third annual Showcase of Talent, in hopes that the benefit might continue after she graduated. The benefit was held to raise money for the victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Over $3,000 was raised and the money was used to purchase gifts and throw a party for the children who had lost their homes and many of their possessions to the hurricanes.

Although Victoria has graduated, as she hoped, the Showcase of Talent has become an integral part of the Jr. Leader Club’s service learning projects. This year, it will be held as a benefit for their community service learning project “Coast Savers”.

Ryan Ernstes

Ryan Ernstes, a freshman at The Walker School in Marietta, organized a five-kilometer race called the “Hot Lips Hustle.” Ryan started the race to help pay for a cleft lip and palate surgeries for children around the world who otherwise cannot afford treatment. Ryan was born with a cleft lip and was fortunate enough to have received excellent treatment for her birth deformity. Realizing how lucky she was and how needy the children are, she decided to raise money for cleft children.

After deciding upon a 5K run, Ryan secured a race date and location, recruited sponsors and volunteers, and began promoting the event. She also gathered supplies, printed T-shirts, ordered trophies, and purchased food for the race.

With 225 registered runners, the race was a great success. The 2nd Annual Hot Lips Hustle was held in September of this year and proceeds from the races generated thousands of dollars for The Smile Train, a nonprofit organization that provides training and funding to doctors around the world to perform cleft surgery at no charge for needy children. To date, the Hot Lips Hustle has funded surgery for 34 children!

Ryan has made the race an annual event. “The experience taught me that the most rewarding thing you can do is help others, even those who you do not know,” she said.

Stephanie Abston

Stephanie Abston, a ninth grader at Evergreen High School, has raised more than $6,400 over the past five years by making and selling crafts to benefit the local Ronald McDonald Houses.

Stephanie’s desire to make a difference came after she and her friends participated in a fund-raiser at her school and thought it was fun. “We all then made crafts on our own to raise money to donate to the charity we chose,” said Stephanie, who decided to work on behalf of the Ronald McDonald House where her grandmother volunteered.

After the first year, Stephanie’s friends moved on to other activities, but Stephanie remained steadfast. She gives up many weekends to make her crafts and sell them to friends, co-workers of family members, and to the public at open houses and bazaars. The money she has raised helps pay for families of sick children to stay at the Ronald McDonald House and to buy different supplies for them.

During 2006 she has increased her volunteer time with Ronald McDonald House Charities® of Oregon and Southwest Washington directly, both at fundraising events and at the House. She volunteers regularly to make cookies and crafts at the House with the children and their families. “I realize that children my age are going through life-threatening illnesses and it makes me think if it was me how I would want people to help and be supportive,” said Stephanie.

Jason Tolkin

Jason Tolkin, a junior at Mercer Island High School, formed a nonprofit corporation called “Beams and Dreams” that organizes free boat outings for cancer patients and their families.

After hearing many stories about cancer patients and their grueling battles from his mother, a long-time volunteer with Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Jason decided to share with them his passion for boating.

“It never ceases to amaze me how refreshed and invigorated everyone aboard feels after even a short outing,” said Jason, “It seemed to be a natural fit to somehow combine the boating spirit with Hutch patients.”

Jason incorporated Beams and Dreams, and then with his brother’s help, he persuaded a large boat dealer and a marina to provide vessels for his outings, borrowed life preservers from a local retailer, and began reaching out to cancer patients and survivors. Jason also provided his guests with custom T-shirts and cookies.

Over the past three years, Jason has hosted nine outings for cancer patients and their families, totaling more than 400 guests. Several families told him that it was the first day in a long time that they had spent together outside a hospital setting.

“If I can help provide cancer patients and their families with a short respite from their horrific medical challenges, then I have added joy to the lives of those who need it the most,” said Jason.

Logan Medlin

Logan Medlin, an eighth-grader at Tatum Junior High School, is an active volunteer and fundraiser for a program that provides free meals to senior citizens in his small town.

“I became involved in this activity because seniors play a big part in our community,” said Logan, noting that older citizens often volunteer at his school or serve as substitute teachers. “I think this is extremely important because many seniors do not eat properly.”

Logan’s participation began a year ago when, at the encouragement of a mentor, he helped make and sell Christmas candles to benefit the seniors’ meal program. He then donated ingredients and helped prepare pre-cooked meals to sell to busy families as another way to raise money for the program.

Finally, Logan helped convert a cow pasture into a golf course for a benefit golf tournament. In all, Logan and other students working for the program have raised more than $2,000, which has gone to provide free meals to as many as 12 senior citizens daily.

In addition to providing free meals, Logan’s volunteer group is now offering to help the senior citizens in other ways, such as doing yard work. “People in small communities have to take care of each other,” Logan said.

Zachary Pezzillo

Zachary Pezzillo, currently an eighth-grader at Seabury Hall School in Makawao, has helped raise and train six service dogs over the past five years for disabled people in his community.

When Zachary, who was raised in a strongly volunteer-minded family, first learned about Hawaii Canines for Independence (HCI), “the program seemed like a great opportunity to work with animals and people and to make a difference in the world,” he said.

Each time Zachary gets a puppy from HCI, he takes care of it for a year, teaching it obedience skills, housebreaking habits, and nearly 100 commands. He also spends a lot of time socializing the puppy by taking it to stores, movies, restaurants, and even to school. At the end of the year, Zachary presents the dog in a formal graduation ceremony to its new owner, and helps teach the owner how to handle the dog.

“It is hard to say goodbye when the dogs have been such a big part of my life,” said Zachary. However, when Zachary sees how much the service dogs change the lives of those they are helping, he says he knows what he is doing is important.

Zachary also volunteers at a veterinary clinic, cares for foster puppies and kittens at the Maui Humane Society, and spent several days last summer volunteering at an animal sanctuary in Utah.