ERCA is proud to announce the recipients of its 2000-2001 Community Contribution Scholarships. ERCA scholarships are awarded to students who have made a difference in their communities. The winners created and carried out volunteer projects that helped to bring their community together, making their school or neighborhood safer, more welcoming places. ERCA invites you to read more about these Community Contribution Scholarship awardees whose leadership and depth of commitment has already made an impact on their world. The following 25 students have been chosen as the 2000-2001 School Year Winners. Each recipient will received a grant of $1000 to use for college-related expenses.

Benjamin Beall from Steamboat Springs High School, Steamboat Springs, CO

Ben saw a need to bridge the gap between the youths and adults in the community of Steamboat Springs, CO. After learning how to develop his speaking and leadership skills, he applied his new skills to an existing, but faltering organization, Assets for Routt County Youth. He created opportunities for Assets to connect to the community and helped a local grade school secure a grant for a drug prevention program. He also helped Assets gain funding for the formation and implementation of a teen recreation center so that local teens have a safe, affordable destination for weekend nights. Ben designed the floor plan for the center, called Emerald City, which now serves an average of 60 middle school students every Friday night and upwards of 200 high school teens at a Saturday night dance. Ben now attends the University of Colorado in Boulder, CO.

Krista Byers from Lassen High School, Susanville, CA

Krista designed a project to encourage literacy among children in her community. She created and published a newsletter for children and distributed the newsletter at places in town such as the pool, the library, and the museum as well as by direct mail. She raised money from her Girl Scout troop to pay for direct mail to 150 grade school students. Krista created three issues of the newsletter so that students would have a new issue for each month of summer vacation. Kristin also organized a book drive and collected books for the WIC (Women, Infants and Children) Program to distribute to low income families.

Krista will attend Lassen Community College in the fall of 2001.

Christine Finkbeiner from Belgrade High School, Belgrade, Montana

"Big Enough to Serve, Small Enough to Care" is the project Christine initiated to procure toiletry items for child-abuse centers, women's shelters, food banks and the Red Cross in her community. In the first year, her project distributed 50 complete kits. This year, Chris expanded the project throughout the state of Montana and was very successful in distributing over 1,200 care kits. Christine will graduate from high school in 2003.

Lexi J. Jones from Lockney High School, Lockney, Texas

Lexi designed a mentoring program called "Kids Helping Kids" for which she recruited high school students to help elementary level children who appeared to be having difficulty with their schoolwork. Working together with elementary school staff and student volunteers, she scheduled high school students to work one day a week with identified grade school students.

Lexi will attend Southwestern of Oklahoma University in the fall of 2001.

Don Kaupelis from Broadalbin-Perth High School, Broadalbin, New York

Don has been a "youth" member of his local Volunteer Ambulance Corps for over three years. He joined to learn how to respond to emergency situations, but has assumed a leadership position, recruiting new members, scheduling CPR and first aid training, coordinating fundraisers, ensuring that all programs met state requirements and building the organization. Now that he has graduated from high school, he is working on receiving EMT certification so that he can continue his volunteer ambulance work.

Don will attend SUNY Plattsburgh in the fall of 2001.