Local Kids to be Honored for Outstanding Community Service

Twenty-eight area youth who have given outstanding service to others will be honored at the Caring Youth Recognition event Thursday, March 15, at 7 p.m. at the Minnetonka Community Center.

This year’s featured speaker is Joan Summerside and service dog Nala of Helping Paws. Headquartered in Hopkins, Helping Paws is a volunteer-based non-profit organization whose mission is to further the independence of people with physical disabilities (other than blindness or deafness) through the use of service dogs.

The Caring Youth Recognition salutes young people in grades 7-12 who have unselfishly involved themselves in a cause or situation benefiting others. It is designed to honor young people who demonstrate caring by reaching out to others or whose day-to-day lifestyles reflect uncommon concern for others. Caring Youth supports the attitude of giving without expectation of reward or recognition. It encourages an attitude of recognizing the needs of others and responding to those needs in a personal, caring way.

Civic and service organizations, schools and faith community members in the Lake Minnetonka, Minnetonka, Golden Valley and Hopkins communities nominated the youth.

The Caring Youth Recognition event is a collaborative effort among the cities of Golden Valley, Hopkins, and Minnetonka, the Minnetonka and Hopkins school districts, and the Glen Lake Optimists of Minnetonka.

The local 2012 Caring Youth recipients include:

• Alex Aronovich, a Wayzata High School student and a Plymouth resident, has served as the 2011-2012 board chair for The Depot Coffee House in Hopkins.

• Bailey Fagerlee, Minnetonka High School student and Shorewood resident, has volunteered the past four years with the high school’s Youth Development Council.

• Morgan Frye, Chanhassen High School student and Victoria resident, has volunteered at Minnetonka United Methodist Church in a variety of ways, from sleeping outside to raise funds the for ICA foodshelf to serving meals to the homeless to traveling to flood-ravaged areas to help clean up homes.

• Nicholas Jones, a Minnetonka High School student and Shorewood resident, has volunteered the past four years with the Youth Development Council at Minnetonka High School.