Glennita
Williams is starting high school this school year as a nationally recognized
leader, a distinction bestowed upon her for her big heart and generous spirit.
Williams,
now a 14-year old Thornton High School incoming freshman, was named one of
America's Top 10 Youth Volunteers in the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards
for work she has been doing since fifth grade. Since her days at McKinley Elementary and Junior High School
in her hometown of suburban South Holland, she has been sending care packages
to U.S. troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and to veterans at the local
Hines and Jesse Brown Veterans Administration hospitals.
Williams
was selected for the youth volunteer award from a pool of 29,000 nationwide.
The program honors middle and high school students for their volunteerism.
Her
volunteerism started when she found out that a friend's father had been
stationed in Iraq and she e-mailed him and asked him what he needed. She
quickly found out that the troops' meals didn't include an iconic treat:
Twinkies.
But her
big heart wouldn't let her send the sweets to him only. She figured if he
wanted them so did other soldiers.
Williams
told the Defender that within 10 days she had collected 1,000 of the golden
snack cakes. The donations came from people at her dad's job, students and
staff at her school, neighbors and others in the community, she explained. Then
she shipped them to the soldier and a few of his comrades. She found out some
of the soldiers' additional needs and sent not only Twinkies, but also personal
care and other items as well.
Some of
the troops responded to her benevolence with thank you cards, an American flag,
signed paraphernalia and other gifts. That had Williams beaming.
“I love
when they send than you cards,” she said. “I get to hear about them (the
troops).”
A year or
so after the youngster had done her first mailing to the troops she continued
to see news reports about the war. She would not sit idly by.
“I have
to help them out some more,” Williams said she told her mother.
Her
packages to the troops went from a one-time happening to now being an annual
event for her and her small suburban town.
Williams
places bins in strategic places throughout South Holland, including at a
municipal recreation center and at the police department, that have a list of
needed items affixed to them. She gets the word out that she's collecting
items, tells people where they can go to donate and then when the collection
period ends, she gathers the goods and prepares them for shipping.
After
asking the mayor, personally, she was granted use of the town's recreation
center to place the filled bins, sort the items and package them.
Her
mother, one of her biggest supporters and helpers, called her daughter's work a
labor of love – an infectious one. Anita Williams points out that her daughter
is “bold” in her volunteerism and managed to garner support from the mayor,
police department and “the entire community” to help fulfill her desire to
acknowledge military service men and women.
Glennita
Williams' efforts have been acknowledged by former Ill. Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn,
members of the Illinois House, and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., in addition
to the national award. Her school principal nominated her for the Prudential
honor.
“I was so
overwhelmed because now with the national title I can do more and help the
soldiers more,” the teen said of her volunteerism honor.
Since she
began, Williams has done four shipments overseas to the troops and two outreach
efforts to local veterans. She gets troops' addresses through “referrals” from
family and friends with loved ones in the wars, through e-mail solicitations
and from her own Internet research.
“She has
always had such an amazing heart to help people,” Anita Williams said about her
daughter. And she prays for her daughter to be able to continue to pour out her
heart and time. She and her husband help their daughter to collect the filled
bins, bring them to the staging site for packaging, transport the packages to
the local post office and ship them off.
“‘God you
know this child's heart. You just have to help her,’” the mother said she
prays.
The
volunteerism not only exposed Glennita's generosity, but also her
entrepreneurialism.
She
started a non-profit company called America's Guardian Angels that is dedicated
to being a support for military personnel.
“We just
support the veterans and troops. And I came up with the name … because I feel
that they are our guardian angels,” she said
“She just
wants to be a leader and a role model, and help,” her mother said. “It's a lot
but … I rather for her to do this than to be out there all wild. I'm just glad
she has a heart to help people and want to be a leader.”
Glennita
said that age is not a factor in wanting to reach out to people, especially the
women and men of the armed forces. Since she started, the teen said she has
collected over 600 pounds of Twinkies. She explained that she reached out to
Hostess, makers of the snack cakes, but has not gotten a response from the
company. But she vows to continue her efforts, nevertheless.
“Please
support our American troops. They sacrifice a lot for us and their families
sacrifice,” she said. “Please support our veterans as well.”
Copyright
2011 Chicago Defender
