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Not too young to make a difference
For 5-year-old Gabrielle Levy, it's okay to miss weekend birthday parties because that's often when people need her to volunteer.In her young life the little red-headed Sully District resident has already poured hours into helping others and, in August, she became one of the youngest people to receive the Presidential Service Award.
She said she was excited about her award, but mostly excited that she gets to “help poor people.”
Gabrielle and her family volunteered at Fall for Fairfax – an event organized by nonprofit organization Celebrate Fairfax – on Sept. 29, where she was looking forward to being a top merchandise seller and making scarecrows.
She was able to make her afternoon birthday party that weekend but only because she wasn't needed all day, she said.
“She has no problem missing out on fun things so she can help others, though,” Andrew Levy, her father, said.
The Presidential Service Award was created in 2003 by a council formed by President George W. Bush to honor volunteers.
Children are required to volunteer a minimum of 50 hours a year to be eligible for the award, and Gabrielle has surpassed that, according to her parents.
During her lifetime she has volunteered more than 100 hours, Andrew Levy said. It all started when his daughter was 3 years old and she began asking to volunteer with him, Levy recalled.
Since then, she has participated in cleaning up the Manassas Battlefield, joined several service projects at Volunteer Fairfax and has even spoken to older children about volunteering.
Members of Volunteer Fairfax, a large nonprofit in Fairfax County, nominated Gabrielle for the award when she was 4 because she deserved recognition, Cori Bassett, a spokeswoman for the organization, said.
While her parents, also active volunteers, do encourage their daughter to help others, Gabrielle takes a lot of initiative to serve, her father said.
She and her younger brother, Aiden, are making cards for members of the military, firefighters and people in college who don't have parents.
The cards are “for Valentine's Day and to show love,” she said.
And she was the one who thought to make a poster for the senior citizens her class sang for, according to Paula Slavzky, director of Beth Emeth Early Childhood Center where Levy used to attend.
“She was the only one who thought of doing that and now they have it on their wall,” Slavzky said.
Slavzky said while Levy, who is now a student at Greenbriar West Elementary School, attended Beth Emeth, she consistently inspired others to do good.
People who think he is just babysitting his daughter when he brings her to volunteer, are wrong, Andrew Levy said
“They are the ones who don't realize the impact today's youth can have on society,” he said.
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