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Community Corner

Whiz Kid: Olivia Orr

PMHS Sophomore starts her own community service group.

Whiz Kid: Olivia Orr

Whiz Kid’s Age: 16

Whiz Kid’s School: Pelham Memorial High School

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Whiz Kid’s Accomplishments:

While enjoying a day off from school thanks to some well-timed February snow, Olivia Orr laid the groundwork for Reach Out-- a 10-person group that offers up a variety of services to those in need. The group meets at Olivia’s house once a month on Sunday afternoons.

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Olivia's involvement with the Girl Scouts inspired her to pursue volunteerism that enables a group to band together in pursuit of accomplishing something great.

Starting off small, Reach Out began its mission with a bake sale in front of DeCicco Food Market, to benefit the National Breast Cancer Foundation. The bake sale proved quite successful and Reach Out was able to make a considerable contribution.

Next, Olivia and her crew got involved with Give 2 The Troops. Olivia and Reach Out wrote letters and collected and bought items for care packages to send to United States servicemen and servicewomen deployed abroad. 

In addition, Reach Out has held bake sales to benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s Walk and also participated in the 2010 Relay For Life.

Olivia hopes to have Reach Out become an official PMHS organization soon.

“We’re trying to get it approved through school, maybe make it a school run club. If that doesn’t work, then I will definitely keep this going, because I love helping others,” she said.

Whiz Kid’s Key to Awesomeness:

Olivia, along with Reach Out, is focusing her efforts on fundraising and participating in Relay For Life. This year, Reach Out joined forces with Huguenot Memorial Church to honor recently retired youth fellowship leader Jean Tischler who is currently battling breast cancer. 

Olivia has secured donations from Vineyard Vines, Modells, Nike, and Southern Westchester Lacrosse in the form of gift cards, which will be raffled off. In conjunction with the Relay For Life's 2011 theme--Birthdays--Reach Out will host a cupcake walk sponsored by local bakeries. A professional masseuse will also dole out massages during the event.

In addition to developing and working with Reach Out, Olivia is also involved with Huguenot Memorial Church’s youth mission program, which travels around the country and the world to building houses for those less fortunate. Olivia has been to Maine, and will be volunteering in North Carolina this year and Nicaragua in 2012.

When Olivia is not helping others, you'll likely find her rowing furiously for the Pelham Community Rowing Association. While the sport demands quite a bit of her time, Olivia thrives on the sport, and hopes to be recruited at the collegiate level.

 

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