National Youth Involvement of the Year Award

NARC&DC National President Sharon Ruggi presents the National Youth Involvement of the Year award to Gary Smith, Susan Hajec, Kelley Steed, and Lauren Nelson

The Delaware Bay Workcamp received the National Association of Resource Conservation & Development Councils’ 2005 Youth Involvement of the Year award. The award was presented at the NARC&DC Leadership Forum in Arlington, VA.

The Delaware Bay Workcamp brought 366 young people and their adult chaperones from around the country to central Delaware for an intensive week of community service. This weeklong experience offered the teenage campers an opportunity to perform hands-on home repair projects for needy families. The Delaware Bay Workcamp was the result of a local partnership of the RC&D Emergency Home Repair Project, local churches, community groups, individuals, and St. Thomas More Academy.

The campers and adult chaperones completed repairs on 53 homes and logged 15,600 hours. Members of the Delaware Bay Workcamp support staff logged 1,760 hours. Local volunteers, including students from St. Thomas More Academy, donated 1,040 hours supporting the Workcamp. In preparation for the week, worksite estimators donated 456 hours. Volunteer hours for the effort totaled 18,856.

Photo credit: Delaware Professional Photographers