By Jim Newell
Review Editor
Some may seem routine, others monumental, but each act of caring, whether a stone or a boulder, helps build a mountain of good will in the community.
The Orion Area Youth Assistance (OAYA) hosted its 2019 Youth Recognition Awards on May 16, recognizing the selfless acts of 30 area middle and high school students who have made a difference in the world through volunteering.
“Various people nominate the students. It could be community members, teachers, counselors, church clergy,” said Dawn Ames, president of the OAYA board. “They’re being honored for various types of service. For example, we have some individuals who work at a camp throughout the year, we have some who are doing service for their church, so it’s a variety of different things.”
The awards pay special tribute to outstanding youth in the community who have volunteered their time in the past year and could include personal acts of heroism, mentoring/tutoring, assisting senior citizens, working with Special Olympics, mission trips or helping local service organizations such as FISH.
“I hope that they feel like they’re special and that they will continue to do the service that they are doing,” Ames said.
A key component of the awards is that the students couldn’t be paid for their efforts, nor to fulfill school community service requirements.
Orion Oaks Elementary Principal Drew Towlerton, an OAYA board member, praised the students for their commitment to volunteering.
“You have done this not because you want to receive an award or you want to put something on your resume, you have done it because in your heart you have committed to serving others and making your community and your world a better place,” Towlerton said.
Delaney Rogers, a junior at Lake Orion High School, has devoted more than 400 hours to volunteering in just three years. She also has volunteered for SOS (Students Offering Support) at Scripps and Oakview middle schools, K Kids at Kensington Church, at SpringHill camp, LOHS, Bully Busters at Oakview, FISH Food Drive and four mission trips. Every year she participates in the annual Children’s Tumor Foundation walk-a-thon that raises money for a cure.
“I believe that everyone deserves to have a voice and that everyone is worthy regardless of who they are,” Delaney said. “People should be loved and have a friend to lean on. Even if I can be that person for someone who doesn’t even know me, I think that would be really powerful.”
Delaney encourages others to volunteer because through those experiences, both positive and negative, people will develop an “eye” for seeing how what others are going through and how to help them.
“And through these experiences you can help others with advice, or help other people get through their own struggles…and that’s really rewarding,” she said.
Carrie Ciarelli, a senior at Lake Orion, said for a while she spent “almost every night” at the library using the computers and talking to the librarians.
“I got close with the community and I just wanted to give back to the place that had helped me out so much during a rough time,” she said. “I get to talk to the librarians that I’ve gotten close to and I get to help set up some of the crafts and meet a lot of young children and work with little kids. It’s really fun.”
“I like being able to help the older people who work as Friends of the Lake Orion Public Library because I know without us they wouldn’t be able to participate in the book sales or run them,” said Sophomore Ryan Henry. “I find it very rewarding. It’s actually really fun to work at the library.”
The OAYA is an organization of volunteers in the Lake Orion area, working with the Oakland County Probate Court, local schools, police, parents, youth and other community resources to help families and young people find solutions to their individual and collective problems.
“We provide casework services for at-risk youth. The original concept for Youth Assistance was to keep kids out of the legal system, we also do that, too, but we have migrated more toward the prevention area now,” Ames said. “We provide camp scholarships for students who can’t afford camp; skill-building scholarships, which could include anything from tutoring to drama camp; and then we do casework services for children who need it.”
The mission of the OAYA is to strengthen youth and families and reduce the incidence of delinquency, abuse and neglect through community involvement. The OAYA provides caseworker/counseling services for youth and families.
OAYA sponsors include Orion Township, the Village of Lake Orion, Lake Orion Community Schools and the Oakland County Circuit Court – Family Division.
The Youth Assistance program has been around since 1953 after it was created in Hazel Park by citizens and court officials. It’s now a unit within the Oakland County Circuit Court’s Family Division and has 26 offices in Oakland County.
For more information on OAYA programs and support, call 248-693-6878 or email oaya@lok12.org. On the web: lakeorionyouthassistance.com.

2019 OAYA Youth Award recipients:

Community Service Awards (individual):
Gabrielle Abdelmessih, nominated by Michelle Cureton.
Allison Cole, nominated by Lynne Rothe.
Sicoya Howard, nominated by Melissa McSweeney.
Delaney Rogers, nominated by Marguerite Wood.
Ben Tarkanyi, nominated by Wendy Shepherd.
Sophia Wyborski, nominated by Julie Barnes.

Community Service Awards (groups):
Joshua McCaffrey, Jake Mullins, Elijah Fallon, Andrew Nolan, Zachary Hammarlund, Adam Tisch, Joseph Baran, John Normand, Ethan Cleveland, nominated by Carl Zoolkoski.
Monique Roever, Meredith Foss, Jonah Taylor, Emma Heimler, Abigeal Knepp and Paige Weid, nominated by Jesse Hayes and Aaron Whatley.
Carrie Ciarelli, Alex Gaylord, Ryan Henry, Stephanie Knitter, Mia Pestano and Leah Simakas, nominated by Lori Morris.

Personal Achievement Awards:
Preston Gosik, nominated by Nicole Gaberdiel.
Ashley Hafeli, nominated by Kathy Galbraith.
Erin McGraw, nominated by Taylor Ernst.