Swampscott student honored for volunteerism

SWAMPSCOTT – A sixth-grade student at Swampscott Middle School was named today as one of the state’s top two youth volunteers.Moira Landry will be officially presented with an engraved silver medallion to signify her selection by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program for 2009 when the School Committee convenes this evening.The awards presentation will be held during the meeting in the school library at 7 p.m.As a state honoree, Landry, 12, the daughter of Brian Landry and Mindy Hanlon, will also receive $1,000 and an all-expense-paid trip in early May to Washington, D.C., where she will join more than 100 top honorees from across the country for several days of national recognition events.Prudential Financial spokesman Harold Banks said 10 of those honorees will be named America’s top youth volunteers for 2009.Landry is being honored for celebrating her birthday last year by conducting a two-week drive at her school to collect essential items for homeless and otherwise disadvantaged children and then throwing a volunteering party at a local non-profit agency that serves the needy.”After meeting a homeless person for the first time, Moira couldn’t forget the experience and felt a deep desire to help the less fortunate in some way,” said Banks. “She began volunteering every week at the Boston warehouse of Cradles to Crayons, an organization that supplies clothing, books, toys and other items to underprivileged children. She also organized craft sales, collected bottles and cans to raise money for the agency and conducted a winter coat drive.”Landry said these initiatives were barely enough. “I wanted to give the people around me a chance to understand how important it is to help someone less fortunate,” she said.The middle school principal gave Landry permission to hold a collection drive and over the following two weeks classmates were asked to bring in donations. The service-oriented girl also hosted a birthday party at the Cradles to Crayons warehouse, inviting her guests to bring presents for needy kids rather than for her.”My family and friends have always asked me what I did at Cradles to Crayons every Saturday. I thought this would be a good opportunity to show them,” she said, noting she arranged a warehouse tour for her friends and a chance for them to spend the afternoon volunteering.All middle and high schools in the U.S., along with Girl Scout councils, Red Cross chapters, YMCAs and 4-H county organizations were eligible to select a student or member for a local Prudential Spirit of Community Award last November. More than 5,000 were selected nationwide at the local level and reviewed by judges in their respective states. Each state chose two honorees – one in middle school, the other in high school.The awards program, sponsored in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals, is part of a broad initiative created by Prudential Financial to encourage youth to become involved in community service, according to Banks.