August 31, 2020 – 4 Macon County Teens have been awarded the Summer of Service Award by Hickory Point Bank.
The Summer of Service gave Macon County teens the opportunity to submit their summer community service projects for a chance to win one of 4 $500 gift cards from Hickory Point Bank.
Winners include:
Nolan Evans – 8th Grade Stephen Decatur – Nolan organized a community cleanup event and inspired his church family to get involved. In addition, Nolan rallied fellow community members in their urban community and made T-shirts for everyone. The group gathered over 600 bags of trash along roadways and public areas throughout inner-city Decatur. They were also highlighted by the City of Decatur for their efforts.
Allie Schelling – Senior Maroa Forsyth – Allie organized “Allie’s Reading Buddies and Book Drive” at the Decatur Boys and Girls Club with the goal of collecting 300 books. The event ended up raising over 2000. The event featured a coloring table, puppet decorating table, a handprint wall, and reading buddies that partnered with the kids. The books were collected for Hope Academy’s classroom Libraries. To make this event successful, Allie challenged her fellow Young Leaders in Action members unavailable to attend the event to donate 5 books.
Eli Crockett -Junior Mt Zion – Upon hearing that dredging lake Decatur changed the lake’s ecosystem, and that there were no reefs for fish to use for laying eggs or hiding from predators, Eli Crockett knew he wanted to help. He had heard of some artificial reefs that the Army core of Engineers with the help of many volunteers had put into lake Shelbyville. He got into contact with them and joined them for a big build (they made 80 on that date). He then used his knowledge to fundraise for the materials to build 10 cubes. ($200 each). He then enlisted the help of people in his community (The fisherman’s Quarters in Mt. Zion gave him space to make and store his reefs), the lake patrol, the IDNR, some of his fellow Boy Scouts, and several adult helpers to build the reefs and to later release them into Lake Decatur. This will help our lake, our fish, and our local fishermen to have a healthy ecosystem.
Erika Flickinger- Junior St Teresa – For her service project, Erika tutored four 7th and 8th graders in Pre-Algebra. For 7 weeks in the summer, she volunteered to tutor two days a week for an hour each. She spent 30 minutes preparing before every session. Her goal was to help the students understand difficult topics covered during quarantine and to prepare them for the future school year. The result of the project was that the students Erika tutored were able to gain confidence in their math skills and were more prepared for the 2020-2021 school year.
Each student received a $500 Gift Card from Hickory Point Bank. The Summer of Service was presented by Hickory Point Bank and Neuhoff Media.