MADAWASKA, Maine — On Saturday morning, as temperatures in the St. John Valley hovered near the zero mark, 14-year-old Kevin Ayotte was at Four Seasons Trail Association Lodge in Madawaska doing what he does best — helping out.
A regular volunteer at the Lodge, Ayotte was recognized as one of two Maine recipients of the Prudential Spirit of Community Award, honoring outstanding middle and high school students around the country.
Sharing in the award is Meghan Charest, 16, a junior at Falmouth High School, who provides people in need in her community with fresh, organic produce through her community garden, which yields about 500 pounds of food per year for the Falmouth Food Pantry.
Ayotte seemed to be everywhere at once on Saturday during Four Seasons’ annual “Rally in the Valley,” sponsored by Northern Maine Medical Center, which provides a morning of ski-related activities for area youth. He helped rent skis, guided youngsters through various activities and generally pitched in where needed.
“Kevin is always ready to jump in and help out,” Dawn Bragdon. “He’s really great to have around.”
Ayotte first became involved with Four Seasons when he enrolled in Bragdon’s youth ski program as a third-grader.
“Then he started coming to hang out every weekend,” Bragdon said. “Pretty soon he was here during the summer months, too.”
A few years ago Ayotte saw an older man struggling to carry firewood up the stairs from the basement to the fireplace at the association’s lodge.
Soon after, he began volunteering his time to stack and load firewood at the lodge in the winter, keep the pellet stove hopper full, shovel the porch and deck, clean and organize the ski closet and wax skis for the association’s youth ski program.
When the snow melts and things warm up, Ayotte volunteers mowing the lawns around Four Seasons, cutting brush, building trails and painting buildings.
“The work I do makes it easier for people to enjoy the outdoors and do things they like to do,” he said. “I often tell other young people like me that volunteering can make a big difference to the community [and] I feel it is important to help out other people when they need help with something.”
It’s a commitment to service shared by Charest.
Back when she was in the seventh grade, Charest began volunteering with the Falmouth Food Pantry, and as time went on, she noticed a lack of fresh produce available to those in need.
“I wanted to find a way to provide it,” she said Saturday. “I thought a garden would be a good idea.”
Charest started off working with friends and family and secured grants from Healthy Maine Partnerships and is working with a Master Gardener.
“I used social media and email to coordinate volunteers,” she said. “Now I have a really good base of volunteers, but of course could always use more.”
Today, her garden is the primary source of fresh produce for the food pantry, which serves about 900 people in her community.
“Through organizing, coordinating and working in the garden, I have been fortunate to realize the power, strength and grace that come with helping others,” Charest said.
Dorothy Blanchette of the Falmouth Food Pantry said last week that as far as she is concerned, Charest can’t get enough awards.
“Meghan organizes the work crews, picks the produce and arranges for delivery,” Blanchette said. “She is so modest, a hard worker and very motivated.”
The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards represents the United States’ largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer service.
The program also recognized Maine runners-up Emma Cloyd, 18, a senior at Camden Hills Regional High School, and Parker Montano, 17, a senior at Cheverus High School.
Cloyd co-founded her school’s chapter of the Liberian Education Fund, which has raised $6,000 to provide an education for 11 girls in Liberia.
Montano created the website LandedME.blogspot.com as a guide for pilots flying into any of the 50 public airstrips throughout Maine, providing information about each airport and local services such as food, lodging and car rental at each location.
All public and private middle-level and high schools in the country, all Girl Scout councils, county 4-H organizations, American Red Cross chapters, YMCAs and HandsOn Network affiliates are eligible to select a student or member for a local Prudential Spirit of Community Award.
As state honorees, Ayotte and Charest each will receive $1,000, an engraved silver medallion and an all-expense-paid trip in early May to Washington, D.C., where they will join the top two honorees from each of the other states and the District of Columbia for four days of national recognition events.
During the trip, 10 students will be named America’s top youth volunteers of 2015.
