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.

Sarah Mathys, 11

Natural Disaster Knitting
Noticing the influx of refugees due to hurricanes in her area, Sarah saw the need not only for food and shelter, but many of them did not have the warm clothes that they needed. Sarah and her friends, along with her school’s knitting club, decided to take action by starting a project to knit sweaters, hats, and scarves for victims of hurricanes, displaced from their homes. By working in collaboration with the local branch of the National Food Bank of America, she found an outlet to distribute these hats and scarves to the people who needed them most. Sarah will use her grant money to purchase more supplies, especially yarn and knitting needles.

Garret Bowman, 23

Home Clean Fire Kits
In 2008, 148 families lost their homes to house fires in Lansing MI; but even when a fire doesn’t destroy a home it can often cause permanent destruction due to smoke and soot damage. Working as an AmeriCorps VISTA member, Garret has developed the Home Clean-up Kits for fire and smoke damage. These kits consist of chemical cleaners necessary directly after a fire, to ensure that the smoke damage does not become permanent. These kits will be distributed on a need-basis as part of their emergency response team, and become part of the normal process of disaster relief. Garret will use his grant money to purchase the supplies for these kits and begin to distribute them.

Grace Li, 14

Book Drives for Earthquake Victims
The earthquake in Sichuan, China in 2008 left more than 90,000 people dead and over 12 million homeless, many of whom are still homeless, over a year later. Following the earthquake, Grace founded “We Care Act” to support families, sending over English books, as most school materials were destroyed in the earthquake. By distributing flyers to raise awareness, and holding book drives in her community, Grace then sorts these books by reading levels so that they can be shipped to schools in Sichuan, and easily distributed. Grace will use her grant money to pay for supplies for book fairs, posters, and brochures with the goal to continue to raise awareness in order to increase book donations.

Moranda Hern, 17

The Sisterhood of the Traveling BDU's
As an Air Force/Air National Guardsman’s daughter, Moranda experienced severe emotional distress when her father deployed to Afghanistan, but more crushing was the lack of a support network for other military teens like her. The mission of the Sisterhood of the Traveling BDUs is to unite military teen girls together, to give them the tools to build self esteem and leadership, and inspire these teens to create positive change in their own communities. The group’s name plays on the popular teen novel, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, but BDU’s refer to the name of military pants: suggesting empowerment because of their military background, not in spite of it. Currently Moranda, and her co-founder, Kaylei Deakin, are planning to host the first annual conference for military girls to come together and empower the daughters of America’s service men and women.