Page 10 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • November 10, 2010 Area For the eleventh year, the Creative Living Counseling Center will honor local teens with the Annual Humanity Awards. Honorees include David Engle of Glen Rock, Adam Milano of Allendale, Caroline Elizabeth Perry of Ridgewood, Emma Rainoff of Tuxedo (New York), Alexandra Russell of Allendale, and Rachel Walsh of Waldwick. This year will mark the 200th student honored. The award honors students who have made significant contributions to their communities through actions demonstrating caring, compassion, justice, peace making, and community building. Students are nominated by their faith congregations, schools, or other youth organizations. The recipients will be recognized at a gala reception on Sunday, Nov. 14 at 4:30 p.m. at the Cedar Hill Church, 422 Cedar Hill Avenue in Wyckoff. The celebration will include musical entertainment with Broadway star Julie Hanson and talented teens. Rainoff was nominated for recognition by the Presbyterian Church at Franklin Lakes for her contributions within the church and community, especially through the Presbyterian Church at Franklin Lakes’ school and music programs, where she is an assistant to the teacher. As a violinist, she has performs during worship service and was a key musician in the “Old, New, Borrowed, and Blues” concert presented at the church in May. She has assisted at the Center for Food Action Thanksgiving Collection and prepared materials for distribution at the church. Rainoff has also been a volunteer at the PCFL Heavenly Treasures annual sale. An active member and current treasurer of her school’s chapter of Amnesty International, she helps organize events throughout the year, including benefit concerts, dances, and bake sales. She also participates in a popular school-wide volleyball tournament that raises funds to benefit charitable organizations such as Save Darfur, Habitat for Humanity, Feed America, and the Valentino Achack Deng Foundation for the children of Sudan. She initiated the cleanup of her school’s grounds and has recruited others to assist in this endeavor, collecting Local teens to receive Humanity Award from CLCC refuse and recyclables and removing graffiti. The group currently cleans and cares for most of the area around the high school and the neighboring middle and elementary schools. Rainoff is a mentor and assistant coach to the Middle School Science Olympiad Team. She also mentors students in English and French during her lunch period and after school. She plays violin in the Orange County Youth Symphony, which traveled to China in the spring to perform with a Chinese school orchestra. As a leader in SPARK, a student leadership organization at Bergen County Academies, Milano is responsible for mentoring incoming freshman and leading or supporting multiple big events throughout the year. After participating in Lead for Diversity, Milano became passionate about recognizing the rights of others. He worked with his school’s administration, faculty, and student body to plan and implement a multi-pronged program, including starting a Gay-Straight Alliance Club and holding a “Day of Silence” in which over 1,000 students participated. Milano enjoyed the challenge of working with students as a teacher in a small village in Peru on a summer trip with Rustic Pathways, where he also refurbished buildings. He continues to contribute to his faith community, Trinity Episcopal Church, by teaching the junior high church school class; training, organizing, and supervising acolytes; singing in the adult choir; and serving as a mentor to the 2010 confirmation class. Russell is a member of Highlands Presbyterian Church, where she was ordained to the office of deacon and served a year on the board of deacons. Recently, she organized the church’s youth to lead the younger children in watching a film about bullying. The children were encouraged to share their experiences of being bullied and think about creative responses to bullying behavior. A senior at Northern Highlands Regional High School, Russell was a mentor in the Big Brother/Big Sister program, served as a student ambassador in the Transition Project, and this year will take part in the Highlands Heroes project, where seniors who were student ambassadors travel to the middle schools and perform skits about bullying and other situations. For the past two years, Walsh has volunteered at Camp Acorn, a recreational and social program for children and adults with special needs. She volunteered there in the summer and every Saturday during the school year. During the past year, she has been working at Shooting Stars Gymnastics, where she assistant teaches a gymnastics class for children with special needs. She has volunteered at the Alpine Learning Center, and helps provide respite care for families with children with special needs, specifically autism and cerebral palsy. At the Bergen County Academies, Walsh gives Open House tours to prospective students every November. She is a member of Aid 4 Aids: Awareness through Music and was involved in a student-written production that was performed for the school to raise awareness of AIDS. She was a member of Earthknights, the environmental club at BCA and did a voiceover for Nickelodeon’s “Nick News: Our Thirsty World” episode to raise awareness of the global water crisis. Walsh has been elected academy representative for the Class Council at BCA. At Saint Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church in Ridgewood, Walsh has served in the choir and the church’s Teen Outreach group, assisting children and families at the church’s social events. A member of the Adult Outreach Committee, she has discussed and evaluated grant applications, awarding grants to numerous local charities that have asked for funding. This past summer, she attended Saint Elizabeth’s service trip to Maine. She served at a food pantry and helped refinish the basement of a church. She is a regular blood donor. The Humanity Awards is the major fundraiser to support the work of CLCC in counseling individuals, couples and families both individually and with outreach programs. For tickets, call (201) 327-2424, extension four. Admission is $25 for adults and $15 for students and seniors in advance; $30 and $20, respectively, at the door. Children under age 10 will be admitted free of charge. Break the Highway Trend! ...not your community’s back. Library board (continued from page 4) they’ll go over budget very easily,” Goetting cautioned. Library board members said $75,000 of the proposed $4.4 million was for future architect’s fees and estimated that approximately $250,000 had already been paid. J.R. Frank, a resident who is also an architect, said the library board seemed to have arrived at the joint meeting lacking a number of essential facts, that the plans appeared to be outmoded, and that it probably would have been easier for the township committee and the general public to come to individual decisions on the project if more information had been forthcoming. Township committee members and library board members invited members of the public to donate money or specific items to the project. “A circulation desk, believe it or not, costs $20,000,” Helen Mader said. “We need a new one. It’s worn out. If someone wants to donate one, we’ll put a big plaque on it.” Library board members also suggested that, in a “green” town like Wyckoff, one of the local landscapers might like to donate the landscaping. All sides agreed that reaching out to the general public for more donations would be a good idea. “There are many people in the community who simply do not know about this library,” De Phillips said. “I think that’s regrettable. Maybe there’s a way we could right that.” Mayor Boonstra said a lot of questions need to be answered before the township committee could approve the plans. In particular, he said the issues of possible solar panels and climate control that could be more efficient in the long run should be addressed. Local businesses are the backbone of your community and the trend to shop the big guys on the highway hurts us all.Your local businesses have what you want... at the right price... and close to home. So, why hassle with the highways? Save Time! Save Gas! Save Money! SAVE YOUR COMMUNITY! We Need You SHOP LOCALLY. IT’S SMART. ...and besides, it’s so convenient!