Exciting news – our youngest volunteer, Eli Hanechak, age 13, recently earned a Presidential Service Award for her work with JFS! In the past year, Eli has volunteered 100 hours with her 12 year old peer mentee and her 6 year old sister, originally from the Congo. Eli also helped substantially this summer with basement organization and Camp in the Box assembly, including making step by step pictures of each activity so that all children could follow the instructions, including those who do not speak English.
Eli shared, “Working with my mentee and her sister over this past year has been an eye opening experience. Simple things, like the lights at Forest Park, seeing a movie, going swimming, and even getting a ride somewhere they need to go excites them. These are things that I usually take for granted, and seeing two friends thrilled when we go out for ice cream really helps put things in perspective and helps me realize how fortunate I am. My mentee was years behind other kids in her class and was also struggling with the language barrier when she started here in 6th grade. That was difficult for me to understand and I was worried about her at first. After only one year, she speaks such good English that we can carry out an entire conversation, and I feel hopeful for her now.“
Eli will be receiving a certificate and medallion this coming month, and thanked during our October staff meeting. Congratulations and thank you Eli!
Our youngest JFS volunteer earned a Presidential Service Award!
