Nashua teen named NH state youth of the year by Boys & Girls Clubs

DanelisYOTYNH

Nashua Teen, Danelis Alejo, selected as the New Hampshire State Youth of the Year, by Boys & Girls Clubs in New Hampshire

Danelis Alejo, a senior at Nashua High School South and a six-year member of the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Nashua was named 2009 Youth of the Year for New Hampshire by Boys & Girls Clubs in New Hampshire at an awards banquet held on May 27th at the Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord. 

Meeting the rigorous requirements of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America Youth of the Year program, Danelis represented her Club and competed against the Club Youth of the Year representatives from each of the six other Clubs in New Hampshire.  She was selected by a distinguished panel of judges who interviewed each of the seven candidates individually for approximately 30 minutes.  

In accepting this honor, Alejo said “I hope that I am able to have an impact on the younger members of the Club the way the staff have had an impact on me.”  

Being named Youth of the Year is the highest honor a Boys & Girls Club member can receive.  It recognizes sound character, leadership skills, outstanding contributions to family, school, community and to the Boys & Girls Club.  This program, founded over 60 years ago, and maintained in large part through the continued generosity of the Reader’s Digest Foundation, also recognizes personal challenges and obstacles overcome.   

As an active member of the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Nashua, Alejo has held leadership positions, as secretary and president of the Keystone Club, a teen service program of Boys & Girls Clubs of America.  She represented the Nashua Club on the steering committee of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America National Keystone Conference in 2008.   Her dedication to the community stretches beyond Club walls, as she volunteers weekly with the Big Brothers Big Sisters program.   Alejo also excels in honors classes and is ranked in the top fifth of her high school class. 

In addition to winning this prestigious title, Alejo will receive a $1,000 scholarship from the Reader’s Digest Foundation.  She will represent New Hampshire this summer at the Boys & Girls Clubs of America northeast regional competition.  The winner of that competition will go on to the national finals in Washington, DC in September.

As part of Comcast’s strong support of the New Hampshire Boys & Girls Club since 2003, the company has been the leading sponsor of the Youth of the Year program in New Hampshire for several years.   This year, in addition to generous financial support, Comcast will also produce a highlights package on the youth of the year celebration that will be available on its “Get Local” On Demand service soon after the event.  Earlier this year, Comcast also furthered its commitment to the organization with a $60,000 grant to enhance the ability of all seven clubs statewide to deliver innovative programs in the crucial areas of Internet Safety and computer literacy.   

Joining Comcast this year as sponsors were:  The Common Man Family of Restaurants, Lincoln Financial Group, and PR Restaurants, LLC (Panera Bread). 

During the morning before the judging and awards banquet, the seven Club Youths of the Year were honored at the State House.  They met with Governor Lynch, Senate President Sylvia Larsen, Speaker of the House Terie Norelli, and were honored in the Senate with proclamations from each of their Senators.

Serving as judges this year were:  Eddie Edwards, chief, Bureau of Enforcement, NH Liquor Commission; John Fouhy, vice president, Government & Community Relations, Comcast; Alex Ray, chief executive officer The Common Man Family of Restaurants, Linda Robinson, educator and community leader, Graham Theodore, district manager, PR Restaurants, LLC.   

The Boys & Girls Club of Greater Nashua annually serves 4,200 boys and girls ages 5-18 in Nashua, Merrimack and Litchfield. It reaches another 10,000 youngsters in the community. Offering a variety of programs and wholesome activities to build attitudes, skills, values and behaviors that enable youth to succeed in adulthood, the Club’s vision is for all children to have a safe place to go after school to develop the best within themselves and experience the joys of childhood. The club is staffed with professional, caring adults and is open to all children. Members is $15 per year and no child is turned away for inability to pay.

Support your local animal shelter by voting daily at TheAnimalRescueSite.com

Help support your local animal rescue shelter by voting for them at TheAnimalRescueSite.com daily between now and July 26, 2009.

Eligible organizations with the most votes could receive a weekly prize and/or other grants. More than 60 grants will be awarded for a total of $100,000.

It is easy to vote.  Click this link…> Then, in the pink search box, type the animal shelter of your choice or do a search for shelters in NH.  Then just click vote and confirm by typing in the name of the animal pictured. Then you are done, until tomorrow.   It only takes a moment and your help makes a world of difference. 

Don’t forget to vote everyday and tell all your friends and family to do the same!

Local Massage Therapist Offers Thanks to Volunteers

Beginning 3/1 and running through National Volunteer Week on 4/25, those who help others will get a helping hand in return. Volunteers can earn money towards stress-relieving massage with the good deeds they already do through Helping Our Helpers.

Sarah Cohen, a local massage therapist in Amherst, New Hampshire, and graduate of McIntosh College in Dover New Hampshire has taken President Obama’s call for more volunteerism and put her own twist on it. Starting a program she calls Helping Our Helpers, she’s rewarding members of the community who donate their valuable time, effort and talent to a need or cause without profiting monetarily.

The program started March 1 and runs through April 25, 2009. During these weeks, volunteers and employees of local nonprofit organizations will be able to earn money off of a massage with the work that they already are doing. The program was designed not only to inspire people to volunteer in the community, but to reward the thousands who already volunteer on a regular basis with no expectations of reward or recognition.

“I watched President Obama when he kicked off his ‘Renew America Together’ initiative in January,” said Cohen. “His message is that every individual can make a difference and that we have a responsibility to make a difference. And that’s something that rang very true for me.”

Cohen has a family tradition of community involvement and volunteerism. With both parents involved in New Hampshire nonprofit organizations designed to help their communities, she grew up understanding that community service is a responsibility as well as a privilege. As a licensed massage therapist, Cohen has been involving herself in many different charity events for years. She’s donated to Bridges NH, the Boys’ & Girls’ Club, NHPTV and Autism Speaks, among others.

“Normally, I’ll donate chair massage services at an event, or gift certificates for a fund-raising auction,” said Cohen, “but those donations go to help raise funds for the organization. While I’m not going to stop doing that, I really wanted to come up with a way to thank the volunteers and nonprofit employees directly.”

And so, Helping Our Helpers was born. After speaking with different friends and community workers, Cohen came up with an incentive program for massage therapy. Every 10 hours volunteered (or 15 hours of paid work) would earn the worker 10 dollars off of a one-hour massage. To give potential volunteers even more incentive to help their community, Cohen has made these benefits cumulative, up to $30 off per hour.

For additional information about Helping Our Helpers, contact Sarah Cohen or visit www.scohenLMT.com.

Comcast Foundation Grant Funds Statewide Internet Safety and Computer Literacy Programs

Comcast, the nation’s leading provider of entertainment, information and communications, today announced a $60,000 grant benefitting the Boys & Girls Clubs in New Hampshire.  The donation will be used to enhance the ability of all seven clubs statewide to deliver innovative programs in the crucial areas of Internet Safety and computer literacy.

“We are very pleased that Comcast has chosen to support our Internet safety initiatives for our members and their families,” said Mary Ann Oppenheimer, statewide director of advancement for the Boys & Girls Clubs in New Hampshire.  “Children today are surrounded by technology, so it is vital that they learn the safe, effective use of these tools that are part of their daily lives.” 

The Clubs will use the majority of the funds to acquire online and off-line materials developed by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children that teach children about cyber-bullying and harassment and provide guidance for adults as well as children.  Club members will learn to safely communicate, play games and conduct research online, using a common-sense approach to safety.  The Clubs will require children to participate in this program before receiving computer-lab privileges.

“We are excited about deepening our partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs in New Hampshire as Clubs across the state empower children, parents, teachers and caregivers to safely take advantage of the resources that exist online,” said Sue Wante, Area Vice President of Comcast in New Hampshire.   ”We know that Internet safety is an important issue, which is why we are supporting this important program along with our many other Internet safety initiatives in New Hampshire.”

Comcast is a long-time supporter of the Boys & Girls Clubs in New Hampshire.  Among other initiatives, the company offers free Internet service to the Clubs as well as New Hampshire schools and libraries. 

Comcast also has supported several Internet literacy and Internet safety initiatives in New Hampshire, including public summits, workshops and training sessions for teachers.  Comcast also offers Internet safety tutorials On Demand that teach viewers about the different tools and techniques available to them.  The programs are available to all of Comcast’s digital cable customers for no additional charge in the “Get Local” category of On Demand, under the title “Internet Safety.”  Comcast also provides complimentary security software from McAfee to all of its high-speed Internet customers and shares updated alerts and other relevant information with the public at www.comcast.net/security.

About Boys & Girls Club in New Hampshire
Last year the seven Boys & Girls Clubs in New Hampshire served over 19,000 members ages 6-18, from 82 communities, through programs and activities run at 28 program sites and 16 school-based sites.   Clubs are headquartered in Concord, Derry, Lakes Region (Laconia), Manchester, Nashua, Salem, Souhegan Valley (Milford).  Boys & Girls Clubs in New Hampshire is proud to be part of Boys & Girls Clubs of America.  For more information about New Hampshire Clubs, go to www.nhbgc.com.  

About The Comcast Foundation
The Comcast Foundation was established by Comcast Corporation in 1999 to provide charitable support to Section 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations.  The Foundation primarily invests in programs intended to have a positive, sustainable impact in the areas of volunteerism, literacy, and youth leadership development.  Since its inception, the Comcast Foundation has donated more than $43 million to organizations in the communities that Comcast serves nationwide.  More information about the Foundation and its programs is available at www.comcast.com/neighborhood.

Teaching kids to give back

humane-society-donationLast year my husband and I created a new savings plan for our kids ages 4 and 8.  They receive a weekly allowance for chores they do around the house. Fifty percent of what they earn must go into savings, 40% can be spent and 10% is saved for a charity of their choice.

Every six months, they decide what charity they would like to support. The bank of Mom and Dad offers a match to the 10% they have each accumulated.

Recently, we talked about a few local charities with the kids and allowed them to decide which they wanted to support.

Two weeks ago, we went shopping at WalMart with a total of $41.00 and humane-society-donation2purchased food for cats, dogs and rabbits, pet toys, kitty litter boxes, paper towels, leashes and other supplies that the Cocheco Valley Humane Society (CVHS) needed.

They felt a tremendous sense of pride when we dropped off three bags of supplies and visited with the furry residents of the shelter.

Today they received a personalized letter from the shelter thanking them for their “very generous actions”. This was a nice gesture by the humane society. It helped our kids to understand that they had the ability to make a difference.

They are already busy saving for the next charity they will donate to in another six months.

The needs of the Cocheco Valley Humane Society and other NH shelters are ongoing. Following is a partial list of supplies that the CVHS is in need of:

Wish list for the animals:

  • Canned cat & kitten food
  • Canned dog food
  • Dry cat & dog food
  • Litter boxes
  • Large blankets and comforters
  • Small comfy cat beds
  • Baby blankets
  • TOYS! for cats/kittens and dogs
  • Cat treats
  • KONG toys for dogs – all sizes
  • Peanut butter
  • Milk Bone biscuits
  • 6ft. leashes
  • Rabbit food
  • Hay racks, salt licks and toys for rabbits
  • Bleach
  • Laundry detergent
  • Bounty paper towels

For their operations:

  • Cargo van for transporting animals
  • Copy paper
  • Gas cards

For their fund-raising efforts: 

  • Items suitable for our upcoming silent auction
  • Restaurant gift certificates (for raffles/prizes)
  • Gift cards to Michael’s or AC Moore craft shops
  • Grocery store gift cards