George Saidah

George Saidah has used a pastime of his and has invented a program where children with special needs, specifically those with the conditions of autism and Down’s Syndrome, can learn the power of sailing the open waters. Hearts of Sailing offers free sailing trips to those children affected by such disorders like autism and Down’s Syndrome.

George discovered that children with autism and other special needs have constructive responses to water, team work, and sailing. As a result, Hearts of Sailing has provided a safe and creative haven for those with special needs by allowing them to participate in activities which they wouldn’t normally do. These children get chances to participate in sailing a boat and doing other things thought impossible by others for children with special needs.

Through Hearts of Sailing, George has gathered 48 volunteer captains to donate their boats and time to families with children of special needs. Hearts of Sailing has sailed over 700 families. George does such by devoting all of his time and even traveling (with his sail boat in rout) to locations that do not yet have sailors willing to donate their boats. He has 48 locations in the US with international locations in France, Puerto Rico, Canada and other nations.

At the end of each sail, each child receives a certificate and medal of accomplishment leaving the experience feeling peaceful, empowered, and a part of a team. Through George Saidah’s innovation and desire for sailing, Hearts of Sailing has become a perfected representation of community involvement.

Kristen McDonalds

In 2004, three youth, all under 9 years old, decided that they were going to help the United Nations meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). They founded the non-profit Lil’ MDGs and began working to educate, engage, inspire, and empower other youth to help meet the Goals and rallying together to make the world a better place by 2015.

By leveraging the power of the Internet, digital, and social media, Lil’ MDGs has grown from a group of three friends to a network of over 20,000 children in 40 countries worldwide. Youth volunteers range in age from 4 – 19 and they all play an active role in service activities. To date, the organization has rallied youth from around the world to raise more than $780,000 for tsunami relief and over $10 million for hurricane relief. In addition, Lil’ MDGs has mobilized youth to raise funds and resources to build schools, dorms, libraries, playgrounds, community gardens, and more in several countries.

Lil' MDGs hold awareness, educational, and service events throughout the world to educate and engage children in helping meet the MDGs. Together, they have made a tangible difference in the lives of over 1 million individuals worldwide! What began as a project for a group of friends has become the mission of a generation.

Founded by youth, managed by youth and run by youth, Lil’ MDGs has overcome the stigmata that youth cannot have an impact and is being noticed. The United Nations utilizes Lil’ MDGs as the best practice by youth for engaging youth to meet the MDGs. Lil’ MDGs is an exemplary example for the collective power and potential of youth when they work together for social good.

Linda Prout

Linda Prout’s full-fledged devotion of her time, energy and inspiring work ethic directly resulted in thousands of children across the Gulf Coast having something they didn’t before: a great place to play.

In the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the devastation left hundreds of thousands of people without the necessities of life. As support from across the country made its way to the Gulf Coast, one critical aspect was neglected: providing safe places to play for children.

To rectify the dire situation, in 2005 Linda partnered with the national non-profit KaBOOM! on Operation Playground, an initiative to build 100 playgrounds in areas affected by the hurricanes.

Linda has volunteered on 28 playground builds throughout the Gulf Coast providing laughter and fun for more than 14,000 children every year. The playground builds she has worked at will eventually serve more than 200,000 kids throughout the lifetime of the playgrounds. Linda has served as an unbelievable champion for providing children with a great place to play. Since 2005, Linda has spent more than 200 hours building playgrounds for children.

In 2008, Linda took her volunteerism to an entirely different level. After having volunteered at so many playground builds, Linda and her husband, decided to fundraise and build a playground. For months, Linda and Lee tirelessly recruited individuals to donate toward their effort to raise more than $50,000 for the cost of a new playground.

Ultimately, Linda chose to build a playground at Geraldine Boudreaux Elementary School in Terrytown, Louisiana – one of the hardest hit areas of Hurricane Katrina. More than 600 children attended Boudreaux Elementary, yet they had no full-scale playground.

The project kicked off with a Design Day on April 23, 2009 when children from Boudreaux spent time drawing their dream playgrounds. With Linda’s help, those drawings were incorporated into the final design of the new playground. Eight weeks of detailed planning followed with Linda providing inspiration throughout the process. The hard work came to fruition on June 13, when hundreds of volunteers from the community joined with Linda to build the playground at Boudreaux Elementary. Linda was single handedly responsible for immediately providing 600 children with a great place to play. Eventually, the playground will serve nearly 10,000 children.

Linda continues to help build playgrounds. Her service demonstrates that passion overcomes obstacles, which inspires and motivates legions of volunteers throughout the Gulf Coast.

Dayna Hilton

Dayna Hilton is an amazing fire safety advocate.

Hilton, a certified Fire and Life Safety Educator II and Firefighter II, volunteers with Johnson County RFD #1 in Clarksville, Arkansas, on the Arkansas Fire Prevention Commission, is a deputy fire marshal for the State of Arkansas and serves on several national fire service committees. She volunteers as the state educator contact for the National Fire Protection Association for the state of Arkansas and is a member of the Home Safety Council's Expert.

Arkansas is ranked seventh in fire related deaths and injuries. Nationally, the very young have a much greater risk of fire-related deaths than other children. Troubled by these statistics, Dayna set out to help “make a difference” in the state of Arkansas and in the nation. Dayna has worked as a volunteer firefighter since August 2000 and has donated over 3,000 hours each year to help keep children and their caregivers fire safe.

She also established numerous fire safety programs to educate her community and nation. Dayna hosts several fire safety websites, blogs and radio programs geared toward the education of firefighters, children and their caregivers. She serves on committees on the local and national levels, conducts countless fire safety presentations as well as helping share her programming efforts with other fire departments.

Firefighter Dayna is also the author of a children’s fire safety book entitled Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog. To date, the book has been been credited with saving the lives of two adults and seven children. A portion of the book’s proceeds support the Keep Kids Fire Safe Foundation. Dayna’s four-legged companion, Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog, travels with her, taking their fire safety messages all across the United States. Together, the duo has reached millions of children and their caregivers.

Dayna’s efforts have brought about greater awareness of fire safety around the nation. Through innovative fire safety programming, Dayna and her canine companion, Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog, have reached millions of children and their caregivers.

Carole Moore-Biggio

Carole Moore-Biggio of New Hampshire exemplifies the power of ordinary people accomplishing extraordinary things. When her brother, Brian Moore, was deployed to Iraq with his National Guard Unit, Carole started a non-profit organization with a mission to send care packages to troops in the Middle East. Carole and her “army of volunteers” sent supplies to Brian’s unit, and to any member of the military who requested a care package. The service members benefiting from Carole’s packages were so impressed by her ability to provide needed supplies that they named her organization “Mooremart”, because she had “moore” supplies than a national department store!

So far, Carole has sent care packages to more than 11,000 members of the Armed Services for a total 21,000 care packages.

Over the last three years, Carole has also organized a Christmas Stocking Drive, shipping almost 8,000 Christmas stockings to troops recuperating at international military hospitals, to members of the Armed Services stationed around the world, and to the processing center in Kuwait for military members arriving in the Middle East during Christmas week.

Today, MooreMart’s mission has expanded to include children in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mooremart has supplied two schools in rural Afghanistan and three schools in Baghdad. Orphanages and schools throughout the Middle East have benefited from new school supplies, toys and outerwear provided by Mooremart. Carole also organized soccer ball drives, distributing over 3,200 soccer balls to local villages throughout the Middle East.

Carole’s service is a strong reminder that people drive change, that passion overcomes obstacles and that service brings people together. Through Mooremart, Carole has mobilized her community and created a support network that now reaches thousands of miles to the Middle East and Asia.

Tyler McGee

As if Tyler McGee’s senior year in high school wasn’t busy enough, he has added visiting the sick and elderly, teaching reading to first graders, and working with the local Apple Valley Sheriff’s station.

However, Tyler may be best known for his work with dogs, training them in agility and obedience so they can serve alongside him. When Tyler was 6 years old, he began showing his Welsh Corgi, Shadow, who ran timed obstacle courses at the fair. So far, he has trained three dogs in agility and therapy work. Tyler and his dogs have visited senior citizens and the sick, to brighten their days. For the last three years, he has organized an annual Salute to Veterans Senior Citizen Fun Day with a barbeque lunch, hayrides, gifts, and dog agility exhibitions.

For the last six years Tyler has tutored first-graders in reading and organized Agility Fun Runs for Books, collecting almost 1,000 books and more than $1,000 to purchase books. His fundraising has provided books to 55 first- grade classes in the Apple Valley Unified School District.

At the Apple Valley Sheriff’s station, Tyler volunteers more than 120 hours a month. When one of the deputies was diagnosed with a brain tumor, Tyler organized two pancake breakfasts that earned more than $15,000 for the young deputy and his family.

Tyler’s volunteer work at the Sheriff’s station has made him a strong advocate for gun safety. He teaches the Eddie Eagle GunSafe Program to over 1,000 first-graders in his community. This program instructs students to stop, don’t touch, leave the area and tell an adult if they see or find a gun.

Tyler shows the power of an individual to change his community significantly for the better. He is an inspiration to the senior citizens, students and deputies of Apple Valley.

Paul S. Cianciolo

Carl Nance

Laura Wolf

John Rochester