2 Utah teens given voluntarism awards

A Park City high school student who collects clothes and food for people in need and a Utah County eighth-grader who helps veterans in his community have been honored at the 2008 Prudential Spirit of Community Awards in Washington, D.C.

Robert Malcolm, a junior at Park City High School, and Russell Babb, an eighth-grader at Mountain Ridge Junior High in Highland, were among 102 youths from across the country who received $1,000 awards for their voluntarism.

Malcolm was honored for the thousands of winter clothes and more than 300 pounds of food he has collected for the organization he created, Community Donations, Inc. An internationally competitive fencer, he also organized a "Will Fence for Food" tournament for the past three years, and distributed the food to nonprofits serving disadvantaged populations in Park City, Salt Lake City and a nearby American Indian reservation.

Russell, a member of the Utah County 4-H in Provo, organized a volunteer effort to repair and paint the water-damaged walls of the Veteran's Memorial Hall in American Fork, then embarked on a project to interview veterans and record their oral histories. He plans to continue his interviews and send the tapes to the Library of Congress.

Conducted in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards was created 13 years ago by Prudential Financial Inc.