PRIDE honors Destiny Molden, Southwestern High junior
April 2, 2014 by clackey
Destiny Molden accepted the PRIDE Volunteer of the Month Award for championing volunteerism and volunteering at the annual Burnside Spring Cleanup Day, which is scheduled for April 12 this year.
Destiny Molden, a junior at Southwestern High School, has earned the PRIDE Volunteer of the Month Award for April.
Bobby Clue, Executive Director of the Somerset-Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce, surprised Molden with the award during the chamber luncheon today at The Center for Rural Development. He presented the award on behalf of PRIDE.
“For the past three years, Destiny volunteered during the annual Burnside Spring Cleanup Day,” Clue said. “That experience has been so rewarding, she is now hooked on community service.”
“She wrote an essay about her service for a class assignment, and it’s a message everyone should hear,” Clue continued. “Just listen, and you’ll understand why we want to recognize this lady’s volunteerism. Let’s hope other citizens take her message to heart and catch her volunteer spirit.”
He then read highlights from her essay.
“My first experience with community service made me feel as if I was one of the best citizens,” Molden wrote. “I spent six hours cleaning downtown Burnside. I collected a total of 27 trash bags full of nothing but litter! Through this experience, I met a lot of people who cared just as much about their community as I did.”
“I look at it like this,” she explained. “Your community provides so much for each individual person. The least you can do as a citizen is take one or two hours every three months and pick up some trash. If you’re not a trash-picking-up kind of person, you can cook a nice homemade meal for the elderly in your community or run the score board for an elementary game.”
She concluded her essay by writing, “I believe people should give community service a chance, to … be able to receive a blessing from it.”
“It is refreshing when one meets young adults who exhibit the selfless characteristics and positive attitude that Destiny Molden possesses,” said Doug Grider, the SWHS guidance counselor who nominated Molden for the award. “Destiny feels she received as much benefit from the volunteer experience as the Burnside community received from her service.”
“Community service is a plus when applying for scholarships and college, but it goes beyond that,” Grider added. “It gives you life experiences that you wouldn’t otherwise get. It’s good to expose yourself to new people and activities.”
Grider said Molden is active in other school and community activities, such as Green Dot Violence Prevention Awareness, UNITE Club, Teacher Appreciation Day, National Honor Society and SWHS basketball and softball teams. Her achievements include KHSAA All-State Academics and 2013-2014 Pulaski County Female Athlete of the Year.
The PRIDE Volunteer of the Month program recognizes hard work and dedication to the PRIDE initiative, which promotes environmental education and cleanup efforts in a 42-county region. With corporate sponsorship from TECO Coal, WYMT-TV airs commercials about each PRIDE Volunteer of the Month.
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