Pasadena Foster Care Charity Hosts Annual Children’s Banquet: Youth Volunteers and Mentors Honored for Leadership and Community Service

On May 3, Hillsides hosted its fifth annual Children Stand for Children Banquet, a celebration of excellence in youth leadership and community service. This youth advocacy program is sponsored by Hillsides, a Pasadena charity that creates safe places for children in foster care and prevents the cycle of abuse for children at risk and their families.

Featuring a “Planting Seeds” theme, signifying the seeds of kindness and change the awardees have planted in the community with their volunteer service, guests enjoyed a delicious buffet dinner catered by Chartwells Catering at this Walt Disney Company sponsored event.

Hosted by student volunteers from South Pasadena High School, as their community service project, eight awards were presented. Certificates of recognition from the city of Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard were also presented.

The recipient of the Mentorship Award was Jan Gluskin, the Drama Director of the Professional Actors Workshop at Gabrielino High School in San Gabriel for her “mission of ministry” to the youth of the City of San Gabriel, connecting young people to the magic of theatre and educating over 4,000 youth in theatre and volunteering.

The Leadership Award, presented to a youth, was given to Michael Szeto from Polytechnic School in Pasadena, for his hundreds of hours of volunteer work and his creation of a college counseling event that will bring seniors from local schools to discuss aspects of college selection, the interview process, application process, application essay writing, and financial aid.

Alexandra Keller, a student from Seven Arrows Elementary in Pacific Palisades, was presented with the Justice Award for sponsoring a 12-year-old Cambodian girl named Dara through the charity Cambodian Children’s Fund (CCF) by making and selling jewelry, which provides much needed money for housing, schooling, and food.

The Compassion Award was given to Taylor Rebecca Vaughn, a first grader at Chandler School in Pasadena, who has raised over $2,000 through bake sales for the survivors of the Far Eastern Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina and through her participation with Kids Korps.

Receiving the Youth Group Compassion Award was National Charity League’s San Marino Chapter Ticktockers for volunteering and collecting nearly 10,000 books for the Pasadena Unified School District’s libraries and classrooms.

The Imagination Award was presented to The Club Sandwich, a student group from Agoura High School, that is fighting world hunger one sandwich at a time by selling them to their peers and donating the profits to local food banks and the charity Heifer International

The Special Recognition Awards were presented to the Leo Club of Diamond Bar High School and to Jane Harrington Davidson a member of the Pasadena Area Chapter of National Charity League for their many volunteer efforts and hours of community service.

“Held during foster care awareness month, the Children Stand for Children Banquet honored eight amazing children, youth groups and mentors for their compassion, creativity, volunteerism and countless hours of community service,” said John Hitchcock executive director of Hillsides.