Ryan White, 15

Community Emergency Response Cache
In Ryan’s community there was no pre-existing method of emergency preparedness, and so Ryan has created a plan of action in case of an emergency in the Puget Sound area. With the help of his local Boy Scout group Ryan and other volunteers are building an emergency cache in the center of their town that would be accessible to all town-members and local CERT teams, as a method of first response. These supplies will make up for the gap in response time when outside help is unavailable or unable to move-in. The cache will hold emergency communications equipment and medical supplies the first two essential needs after a natural disaster. Ryan will use his grant money to purchase communication equipment and medical supplies such as HAM transceiver, FRS communication handsets and bull horns, as well as rescue first aid kits.

Christina Marciano, 17

Care Packages for Soldiers
After Christina’s cousin joined the Marines she quickly became aware of the needs of so many U.S. troops who are currently deployed overseas. Her cousin told her how much he missed his favorite snacks, and also the needs of basic hygiene items, as well as ways to communicate with their families back home. Christina has begun a donation drive for items like food and snack, recreational and sporting items, as well as extra clothing, communication items and hygiene products, which she has collected and sent to various military bases abroad. By passing out fliers and placing donation bins in strategic locations throughout her community Christina will continue to collect items and ship them to strategic locations for troops who are serving overseas. Christina will use her grant money to help purchase items additional items to the donations and help to cover shipping costs.

Luke Blount, 23

Hurricane Ike Relief
When Hurricane Ike hit Galveston Texas on September 13th, 2008, it flooded 75% of the total area and left $24 billion worth of damage after the 15-foot storm-surge. Due to all of this damage the city is still rebuilding and Luke is working with the Texas Episcopal Disaster Relief Development to continue to rebuild the area. To date 1500 volunteers from TEDRD have donated over 20,000 hours of labor and helped over 125 homeowners to restore their lives. Luke and his co-volunteers focus on reconstructing damaged property and houses, as well as bringing in the resources needed to complete all of this construction. Luke will use his grant money in purchasing rebuilding supplies and construction materials.

Miranda Szcepanski, 20

Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Project

Miranda began working at an Expeditionary Learning High School so to increase the aspects of hands-on learning and service learning she and her students studied historic flu outbreaks and compared them to the H1N1 virus. The students decided that the most important aspect to help prevention of the H1N1 virus, was to help educate the community of how to prepare and protect their families against contracting the virus. The students created their own public service announcement postcards which each feature different ways to prevent contracting the flu, such as washing your hands, and research. The postcards will be distributed at various community centers in the Kenosha area.

James Meehan, 22

Project Eco-Flare
Project ECO-flare promotes traffic and roadway safety for issues of roadway obstructions, vehicle accidents, dangerous downed-wires, a flooded roadway, or an emergency detour. Currently Fire Companies and organizations around the world use traditional roadway flares to detour and slow traffic preventing further accidents, but these flares are expensive and because they burn quickly they are bad for the environment. Instead James will implement new battery-operated Eco-flares that are more reliable in preventing accidents because they last longer, and are also eco-friendly. James will use his grant money to purchase these new flares and distribute them to local fire and police personnel. James hopes that the use of these eco-flares will spread throughout his state.

Mallory Rutherford, 21

The Saturday Brunch Program
Food insecurity for homebound elderly is a critical issue, and according to the Meals on Wheels Association of America over five million seniors in America have experienced food insecurity and over half of those are at risk of hunger. Mallory has created a new program to combat this directly, the Saturday Brunch Program. She and her group of volunteers will use the Meals on Wheels infrastructure to deliver meals to 220 homebound citizens in Larimer County. By delivering a high-calorie meal they are giving nutritious food, while providing a day of human contact which is often difficult as these elderly citizens are unable to leave their own homes.