Celebrating People in Action: Volunteer of the Month for June is Andrea Lask

ACTION: What has your nominee done or is currently doing?

Andrea has spent over 600 hours volunteering throughout high school toward earning the Student Service Award from the Michigan Community Service Commission.

The Michigan Student Service Award, is a premier statewide program recognizing high school graduates who volunteer a significant number of hours to benefit their communities. Students involved in the Michigan Student Service program over four years will complete and document 400 hours of non-paid community service that meet a recognized community need, under the auspices of a nonprofit organization, government program, community group or school. The following types of activities qualify for certification by the Volunteer Center:

· Direct Service, such as river clean up, tutoring, spending time with a nursing home resident;

· Indirect Service, such as computer data entry, fundraising, food collection, board or committee work for a nonprofit;

· Civic Engagement, advocacy or community organizing, such as beautification, mural painting, community surveys;

Students receive:

· An Honor Medallion,

· A Certificate of Distinction for Commitment to Service from the community Volunteer Center

· Community-wide recognition by the Volunteer Center during National Volunteer Week

NEED: What community need(s) does your nominee address?

Andrea began volunteering in the 6th Grade with Ionia Kids Club when weekly meetings were at the Ionia Theatre under the management of Dave Cook. In the early years, Kids Club Members searched out ways to get involved in community projects by providing service such as face painting, assisting with event set up/tear down, or serving refreshments. As Andrea and other youth developed leadership skils, they began organizing their own community service projects including the "Sweep the Streets" for Global Youth Service Day and the Holiday Hope Chest project providing stocking stuffers to low income families. After several years of working on these projects as a group, Kids Club now provides service project ideas and support to other community groups.

IMPACT: What is different as a result of your nominee’s service?

By working with CERT/Medical Reserve Corps Andrea enjoys using fake injury make-up to stage accidents and disaster scenarios that assist first responders and service providers with valuable training exercises.

Andrea not only spends hours volunteering at the Washington St Garden each summer, but she also volunteers with other Kids Club Members who travel to other gardens throughout Montcalm and Ionia Counties assisting with special work days such as planting days, taking photos for the website, and assisting with writing blogs and garden plans that are available at the Community Food Network website.

Also as part of the Community Food Network, Andrea has assisted with the WION/County-wide Food Drive each year. When WION first started this food drive nearly 5 years ago, Andrea was one of the volunteers who were "On-Call" to unload food at a moment's notice. Last year, as the Community Food Network took over the management of the drive, Andrea was part of the Planning Committee where she helped organize nearly 300 volunteers who collected, sorted, and tracked over 8000 food items that were shared among local pantries.

Kids Club Leaders and Mentors have had the privilege of watching Andrea grow up throughout Middle and High School as she developed excellent leadership skills and a heart of gold toward giving back to the community. Andrea is registered to go to Eastern Michigan University in the fall where she will begin a new adventures at college where she will no doubt be a leader at anything she attempts!