Lewes mayor selects Jefferson Award winners
Lewes Mayor Ted Becker had six community service projects to choose from this year when making his top selection for Multiplying Good’s LEAD360 program.
When all was said and done, he chose the Hollymount 4-H Club, made up of children ages 5 to 19. The group planted beach grass, cleaned cemeteries and adopted a stretch of beach as part of an environmental focus. They also volunteered with the local food bank, Milton Meals on Wheels, and carved pumpkins for Cape Henlopen State Park’s Children’s Fantasy Trail. Club members volunteered more than 650 hours.
The 4-H Club’s project was one of 175 submitted statewide this year. Five projects in Lewes engaged more than 1,000 volunteers, generated 861 volunteer hours and impacted 545 lives. The financial value is estimated at nearly $22,000.
Lewes is one of seven communities participating in LEAD360 – Georgetown, Milford, Dover, Seaford, Newark and Wilmington are the others.
Since launching in 2010, the LEAD360 program has recognized more than 7,000 Delaware youth in 785 service projects, totaling more than 1 million volunteer hours. The financial impact is estimated at $25 million.
The top projects in all seven communities are invited to Delaware Salute to Service in April. The winning project will be implemented statewide.
Last year’s winner, Buckets of Love, fills buckets with age-appropriate toys, stuffed animals, dolls, electronics and other items and gives them to children receiving medical care, residing in homeless shelters or facing a difficult situation. The initiative was picked up by 30 Delaware groups, resulting in 3,376 buckets assembled and donated in 2018. The organization has a goal to donate 10,000 buckets in 2019.
Also honored this year were:
• All Saints’ Church Youth Group for participating in Buckets of Love initiative and for its ditty box project. The group collected and filled shoeboxes with donated items needed by seafaring men and women who protect the Delaware Bay.
• Girl Scout Darby Klopp for organizing and supervising construction of a roof-like cover for the scorers’ table on Champions Field at Cape Henlopen High School.
• Girl Scout Mickayla Austin for her Hope Bags project. Mickayla created bags for individuals going through chemotherapy treatment at the Tunnell Cancer Center. Inside the bags were items to make the person feel comfortable at their appointment, such as hand lotions, crackers, hard candies, a word-search book and socks.
• Isabella Leishear for DelaCare, a club at her school aimed at compassion for animals and protecting the environment. The club is working to remove plastic utensils from high schools in Delaware.
Editor’s note: Multiplying Good’s LEAD360 program was previously known as the Jefferson Awards LEAD 360 program. The name was changed to better reflect the organization’s goals to enable youth and give them tools to make an impact in their community. Multiplying Good still gives out Jefferson Awards.
