“Some superheroes wear capes. Some superheroes can fly.
But my type of superheroes are dressed in scrubs
and wear white jackets …” — Mekinley Elrod
Youth Power and Hope Awards winner Mekinley Elrod says it best: Not all “superheroes wear capes ….”
Superheroes, however, have one thing in common — a desire and drive to help others.
Meet five “real-life” superheroes: the “Fantastic Five” 2015 Youth Power and Hope Awards winners. They are undoubtedly crusaders and “stars of wonder” in their communities. Winners Allison Baker, Mekinley Elrod, Elayna Hasty, Austin Sandel and Christopher Verissimo have no magical powers or mighty weapons. But each has given selflessly to serve others — all while still in elementary or middle school.
Electric Consumer and Indiana’s electric cooperatives established the Youth Power and Hope Awards in 2009 to recognize those from the state’s younger generation who are stewards of their community. This fall, the publication issued a call for entries from Indiana fifth through eighth graders who actively serve their communities. The entrants had to list their community involvement, describe what community service means to them and provide a letter of reference from someone in the community.
Winners will attend a private reception Dec. 8 with Luke Zeller, Indiana basketball standout. Luke, the eldest of the three renowned basketball-playing Zeller brothers, now runs DistinXion, a program that teaches not only basketball fundamentals, but life fundamentals. Like our Youth Power and Hope Awards winners, Zeller has a passion for giving back to others.
In addition, the five winners will be honored during a presentation at the Indiana Electric Cooperatives’ Annual Meeting on Dec. 8 in Indianapolis; and will receive a night’s stay in the capital city, among other highlights.
Indiana’s electric cooperatives have long been dedicated to the communities they serve. We hope you’ll find inspiration in these “stars of wonders’” commitment to others as you read on.
Congratulations to our 2015 winners!
Allison Baker delivers boxes of coloring books and crayons to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis last February.
“Hope Happens Here” is written on banners hanging on the walls at Riley Children’s Hospital. And Allison Baker delivered Riley red wagons of hope in her own colorful way to patients last February — making it only appropriate that Allison should be a 2015 Youth Power & Hope Awards recipient.
Allison organized a fundraiser to collect and donate coloring books and crayons for patients at Riley in Indianapolis. She collected about 750 coloring books and crayons.
Other community service projects she’s been involved in include raising money for St. Jude’s Hospital, playing piano for the residents at the Avalon Village Nursing Home, helping serve dessert and playing piano for the “Widow’s Banquet” at her church and, with a friend, baking cookies for Indiana Department of Transportation workers clearing the roads during the winter season.
Allison is a seventh grader at West Noble Middle School. Her family’s home is served electrically by Noble REMC.
Allison Baker delivers boxes of coloring books and crayons to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis last February.
“Community service is not something you do for a prize, not something you do for the approval of others, and not something you do for anything in return.… My passion to serve others and my desire to help others is a blessing that God has put upon my heart.” — Allison Baker
Mekinley Elrod may not be able to leap the Ohio River or the tall buildings of Louisville behind her in a single bound, but the Corydon sixth grader is a caped crusader just the same for the Kosair Children’s Hospital in Louisville. Mekinley donned the Wonder Woman costume on a Media Day last year at Kosair for a fund drive. Despite her own health challenges, she works hard to put smiles on the faces of other children who are patients at Kosair.
Photo by Sharon Sparks
Mekinley Elrod’s journey in life has been through a revolving door at Kosair Children’s Hospital in Louisville, says her mother, Danielle Barley.
But revolving around in that door at the speed of light, just like Clark Kent in the 1970’s Superman movie, Mekinley miraculously changes from a sixth-grade girl facing serious health issues of her own into an outgoing caped crusader working to give back to other children.
Born without a pituitary gland, Mekinley’s first months of life were spent fighting for it. She coded when she was just days old. But through many tears and prayers from family and friends, and research and analysis by doctors in Louisville, just across the Ohio River from her Harrison County home, Mekinley survived. And though she is hospitalized frequently for her condition, she seemingly draws strength by giving back to others.
Kinley, as she’s called, openly shares her story and poems about her hospitalizations during radiothons to raise money for Kosair. That led to her appearing as a caped Wonder Woman during a September 2014 Media Day at the hospital where she read her superhero poem that began: “Some superheroes wear capes. Some superheroes can fly. But my type of superheroes wear scrubs and white jackets.”
To give back, she started her own campaigns for Kosair. Last Christmas, she started making pillows for the littlest patients; 72 were delivered. Then, says Mom, the wheels really started rolling.
Kinley came up with the idea of holding a carnival to raise money for toys and other comforts of home for hospitalized children. That became “Kinley’s Helping Hands Toy Drive Carnival.” Held June 20, the carnival, which included superheroes, princesses, face painting, games and more, collected over 100 toys. Through the carnival, she’s been able to raise awareness for her fundraising efforts in other media stories and has even thrown out the first pitch at a Louisville Bats baseball game.
“Kinley Elrod is an amazing little girl who breaks through barriers most of us wouldn’t know how to do,” wrote Kathryn von Heimburg, a family friend, in recommending Kinley. “Kinley has taught me a lot in the past three years. One: It could always be worse. Two: No matter how sick she has been, she wears a smile on her beautiful face. Three: She is teaching not only her family and friends, but an entire community, how important it is to ‘pay it forward.’”
“Kinley is, hands down, the most awesome child I have ever met,” added Amanda Goebel, who met Kinley at Kosair’s Media Day. “It warms my heart to know that even at a young age and after all the hardship she had been through, she is dedicated to making the lives of children like her a little more bearable and less scary.”
Mekinley is a sixth grader at Corydon Intermediate School. Her family’s home is served electrically by Harrison REMC.
“Community service is important to me because I want to make kids at Kosair Children’s Hospital feel like they’re at home and put smiles on their faces. I am also a Kosair Children’s Hospital patient, and I know it feels nice to receive a gift from someone else.” — Mekinley Elrod
Elayna Hasty is the founder of “G.A.B. Girls (Girls Against Bullying Girls) which supports kids who are being bullied and has its own website:
gabgirls.wix.com/gabgirls.
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me” is how the old saying goes. But even at age 9, Elayna Hasty knew that wasn’t right.
“Names do hurt and can leave scars,” she says.
When she arrived at a new school several years ago, she saw the effects. She saw a fifth grader picking on a kindergartner. She had a friend who was being home schooled because of bullying. Elayna, now in eighth grade, was herself bullied.
That’s why she created her own non-profit organization, “Girls Against Bullying Girls” (G.A.B. Girls), with the goal of bringing girls together to help prevent bullying and to support those who are being bullied.
It started with a Facebook page to reach girls nationwide and, with her parents’ support, developed a website. She is now recognized as an anti-bullying advocate and has given workshops that promote self-esteem and leadership. She has put in more than 2,000 hours of community service since 2010, and has received recognition from and spoken at “Kids Are Heroes,” an international organization based in Georgia that encourages kids to become “social entrepreneurs” to make the world better.
“To Elayna, volunteering and leading others comes naturally. She never asks for a reward or needs to be asked twice to lend a helping hand. She just does it,” wrote Gabe O’Neill, co-founder of Kids Are Heroes, who has worked with Elayna since 2012.
Elayna has also volunteered with Kids Against Hunger, an area animal shelter, and many other community service organizations.
She is an eighth grader at Angola Middle School. Her home is served electrically by Steuben County REMC.
“Being involved in community service can spread light by giving others hope.… When people are lost in a void of loneliness and despair, it is the community that helps them find the light.” — Elayna Hasty
Austin Sandel is thumbs up and gung ho about the recycling program he started in his neighborhood where there was none. He made flyers offering to take recyclable items to a recycling center. With the help of his dad who drives the family van, Austin has collected items every Friday evening since January of 2015.
Austin Sandel is “one busy guy” noted Joyce Pedigo in recommending her former student for the Youth Power & Hope Awards.
Pedigo, the sponsor of the Star Power community volunteer program at Otterbein Elementary, said Austin took the school’s community volunteer program to a new level — encouraging and inspiring classmates with his “contagious enthusiasm.”
The program set a new record of 1,862 hours of sixth graders volunteering at the school and in the community last year, she noted.
Austin also initiated a recycling program in his neighborhood, volunteered with the Lafayette Urban League and Natalie’s Second Chance Shelter, made blankets for shelter residents, helped clean church nurseries, tutored younger students, baked cookies for church programs, and more.
“Walking in the woods around our house is my absolute favorite thing to do,” noted Austin. “Recycling is one way to protect the woods and our land everywhere.”
All this helped Austin achieve the Presidential Service Award for Gold Level Service (over 100 hours of community service) that he received from President Barack Obama.
Austin is a seventh grader at Benton Central Jr.-Sr. High School. His family is served electrically by Warren County REMC.
“Sometimes when I ask if I can do some work or help someone for ‘community service,’ they think I am in a ‘juvie’ program and have to do it as part of my punishment. Wow. I always smile when this happens and say I’m just trying to help out a little and make some things better.” — Austin Sandel
When Christopher Verissimo saw a photo on Facebook of a little boy in Uganda pulling an old suitcase behind him on a string because the little boy didn’t have a real toy to play with, he was saddened. He wanted to do something about it.
When Chris asked the family friend who shot the photo, a director of the nonprofit Hands 4 Uganda organization, if he could get toy cars to those children if Christopher collected some, the director told him absolutely. Syd Hair, the director, said he had no idea what he was agreeing to. Christopher collected over 600 Matchbox cars and a cash donation for children at the Rock of Ages School, which serves the poorest of the poor in the village of Mbiiko, Uganda.
“I love to see when youth catch a vision of blessing and serving others, when NOT enticed by their parents to do so,” wrote Hair in a letter recommending Christopher for the Youth Power & Hope Awards. “I was blown away by the energy and passion of this young man. He saw a need and tackled it in a huge way.”
Christopher has been giving back to his community in both small and big ways since 2013.
That year, he first created and then left flyers announcing to neighbors he would be gathering food for the Salvation Army. Two weeks later, he visited 250 homes collecting the food. “My mom and I took my small red wagon around and collected the food people left on their doorstep,” he wrote in his application. “My wagon broke because of so much food.”
He’s also donated time to a non-profit organization in Linden and has plans to raise money to raise American flags along the Veterans Memorial Parkway in Lafayette to display Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day next year.
Christopher is a fifth grader at Wea Ridge Elementary. His family’s home is served electrically by Tipmont REMC.
“Community service means caring about other people and giving of yourself. Community service is about … making the community a better place.” — Christopher Verissimo
