Two students from the Trenton area — Jordyn Cascone of Hamilton Square and Renita Zaparde of Plainsboro — won the 2017 Prudential Spirit of Community Awards for their volunteer work. The students were recently recognized by the New Jersey General Assembly for their achievements.
Cascone, 15, is a sophomore at Health Science Academy and a member of Girl Scouts of Central & Southern New Jersey. Cascone has collected more than 27,000 pounds of pet food for Meals on Wheels of Mercer County through “Jordyn’s Cause 4 Paws,” a nonprofit she started in 2014 after learning that many homebound people fed some or all of their meals to their pets.
Zaparde, 18, is a junior at Princeton Day School who founded “Pedal2Prosperity,” a nonprofit that has provided 510 bicycles to orphaned girls in Africa and India to help them stay in school.
The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards represent the United States’ largest youth recognition program based exclusively on volunteer community service. For more information on the rest of this year’s Prudential Spirit of Community Awards State Honorees, visit spirit.prudential.com.
