It should be no surprise that on an Island with such high volunteerism, our young people so eagerly take up the call of compassionate action. The service of 100 such local teens and tweens was honored Sunday night, November 23, at the 13th Annual Bainbridge Youth Services’ Compassionate Action Awards Ceremony at Rolling Bay Presbyterian.
The Compassionate Action Award was established by BYS in 2001 to honor local youth who give of themselves. Marina Cofer-Wildsmith, BYS executive director, explained that “BYS believes it is important in our fast-paced, competitive, and conflict-ridden world to recognize excellence of character, particularly acts of generosity, courage, integrity, and stewardship.” At the ceremony, 17 individuals were honored for their humanitarian work:
- Kayla Buchmeier for her volunteer efforts at Bainbridge Youth Services.
- Celia Chaussabel, who volunteers at West Sound Wildlife.
- Chiara D’Angelo for her activisim and environmental awareness campaigns.
- Otis Doxtater, who organized Unity Day at Eagle Harbor High School.
- Charles Fordyce III for his work with BYS.
- Julia Groves, who volunteered for the Compassionate Action Awards.
- Logan Kavanagh for his ability to demontrate true compassion for others.
- Harrison King for his service to BYS.
- Ali Lorenz, who participates in the Circle of Friends program.
- Kate Matthews, who organized a community garden for the Housing Resources Board.
- Tristan Olive, a volunteer for Bainbridge Roller Hockey League.
- Sam Opalski, a Bainbridge Island Youth Soccer volunteer coach.
- Leah Potter, who volunteers at PAWS Cattery.
- Isobel Ruiz, who volunteers at a local preschool and Helpline House.
- Hayden Tutty, a youth camp leader.
- Gabriella Vogt, a tutor at The Island School.
- Anika Vroom, who volunteers on the Library Teen board and mentors younger students.
Eight group awards were given to kids who are part of local organizations:
- Bainbridge Island Boys and Girls Club: Dmitry Chandler, Audrey Clark. Alex Cornwell, Lily Fagerlund, Skylar Hallinan, Sarah Horder, Elizabeth (Le’a) Kobelansky. and Madison Sobeck.
- 2014 Camp Siberia Kitezh Team: Alexina Boudreaux-Allen, Taylor Cozine, Carly d’Amato, Truman Flynn, Elsa Hager, Chase Lehotsky, Sarah Rice, Cade Taylor, and Sophie Wikstrom.
- Go Run!: Sophia Bidinger and Jordan Maria.
- Helpline House: Sean Christean, Ryan Cox, Caroline Devlin, Zeya Korytko, Emily Garfunkel, Greta Huber, Devin Lakich, Isobel Ruiz, Robin Schmit, and Ian Stearns.
- 2014 Island Ambassadors Program: Elizabeth Fawley, Riley Gregoire, Chloe Jones, Emma Loftus, Matthew Midgett, Hannah Myrick, Rachel Perry, Sonnet Pradel, Sarah Rice, and Naomi vonRuden.
- IslandWood: Ashley Alnwick, Sophie Carson, Audrey Holt, Christina Goessman, Julia Goessman, Elora Holt, Raya Deussen, Zachary DeWitt, Hannah Dutt, Allison Snare, Nicole Sanford, Julia Bernard, and Maxwell Brown.
- Kids in Concert and Cape Cares: Phoebe Liebling and Sam Liebling.
- Kitsap County Commission for Children and Health: Elsa Godfredtsen and Grayson Wildsmith.
- MAKE SOME NOISE: Cure Kids Cancer – Northwest: Tally Black-Brown, Maxsena Butler, Anna Cinnamon, Emma Covert, Connor Cunningham, Charlotte Furner, Wesley Houser, Ben La Roche, Maddy Mikami, Dashiell Mortell, Casey Pabst, Ricky Perry, Jake Philby, Paige Philby, Aiden Rain, Miller Shor, Emma Spickard.
- Seattle Martin Luther King Jr. March: Greta Huber, Jordan Giblin, Jon Krugel, Leela Riquelme, and Isobel Ruiz.
- TOPSoccer: Chloe Bononos, Henry Brown, Cole Brundige, Emma Brundige, Skylar Chun, Sara Colley, Nick Dresel, Noelle Lipschutz, Kate Mackin, Cristen McCann, Haley Morris, Spencer Nicholas, Alex Stauffer, and Marshall Whittlesey.
BHS freshmen Alexa Bennett and Olivia Connors kicked off the ceremony with a musical performance. BHS students Tally Black-Brown, Maxsena Butler, and Ben La Roche spoke about their efforts to end pediatric cancer. Kayla Buchmeier, Harrison King, Julia Groves, Ella Harris, Noel Hilst, and Ally Merritt also performed at the event.
Awards were handed out by Dr. Mike Tomberg, a past Board member and ongoing volunteer, BYS Board Secretary Stephanie Dalton, and Dr. Jillian Worth.
BYS Board Member Bob Linz, immediate past Board Chair of Bainbridge Youth Services, who provided the welcome, said, “It never ceases to amaze me to see the generous hearts of our community youth.” He added that BYS is “a good place for teens to find help for themselves or friends. The good news is teens are seeking and finding help. Teens are also giving help. Many of the individuals being honored today stepped up because it looked like someone needed help.”
BYS took the opportunity of the ceremony to continue to celebrate its 53rd year of promoting the social and emotional well being of Island youth through no-fee, confidential counseling service, youth recognition, diverse outreach and education programs, and job referral, including a paid summer internship program for juniors and seniors. The counseling program serves hundreds of young people at BHS, Eagle Harbor HS, Woodward Middle School, and Sakai with more than 1,200 hours of counseling each year.
This year, BYS will be offering 300 more hours of counseling than last year. To keep up with demand, BYS is adding a fifth counselor in the near future.
BYS also offers a web-based educational tool at www.askBYS.org where people can find resources, post a question to a counselor or a medical doctor anonymously, and schedule an appointment.
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Photos by Nick Felkey.
