The duo — along with 100 other youth volunteers from across the country — received $1,000 awards as well as personal congratulations from Indianapolis Colts quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning at the 12th annual award ceremony and gala dinner reception, held at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

Kendra and Jordan were named the top high school and middle level youth volunteers in Hawai'i last February. In addition to their cash awards, they received engraved silver medallions and an all-expense-paid trip with their parents to Washington, D.C., for this week's recognition events.

Conducted in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards were created 12 years ago by Prudential Financial, Inc. to encourage youth volunteerism and to identify and reward young role models. Since then, the program has honored more than 75,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level.

"Kendra and Jordan have demonstrated a level of compassion, dedication and achievement that is truly exceptional," said Arthur F. Ryan, Chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial, Inc. "We are proud to give them the recognition they so richly deserve, and hope that their example will inspire other young people to become actively involved in their own communities."

KENDRA LIFTS SPIRITS AT LOCAL SOUP KITCHEN

Kendra, a member of the University of Hawaii 4-H and a junior at Kauai High School, developed a program that recruits youth groups to decorate the dining hall of a local soup kitchen with a different holiday theme each month, to lift the spirits of the impoverished people who eat there. After attending a 4-H conference, Kendra received a small grant to start a service project in her area and approached her island's new Salvation Army Soup Kitchen with an offer to help. "While talking with the manager of the dining room, I noticed the room looked dark, colorless and gloomy," said Kendra. "It felt like an unhappy place."

The manager loved Kendra's proposal to dress up the dining room with a holiday theme each month. Kendra drew up a blueprint of the room, made a list of needed supplies, and began inviting school and church youth groups to bring their decorating touches to the soup kitchen. This approach accomplished two goals: it provided a steady stream of young volunteers to work on the project, and it significantly increased awareness of the hardships faced by the less fortunate. To keep her recruitment efforts going, Kendra helped develop a promotional brochure and a Power-Point presentation to share with community groups, and then worked on a training manual to prepare volunteers for the project. Kendra says the faces of soup kitchen diners now light up when they walk into the decorated room. "Even though people are homeless or hungry, they have pride and want to be treated with dignity like anyone else," she said.

JORDAN SPREADS LOVE THROUGHOUT COMMUNITY

Jordan, an eighth-grader at Ho'ala School, has participated in numerous service projects to benefit his community over the past five years. His desire to serve his community began when he attended Camp Kokua, a summer service-learning camp sponsored by his school. "This two-week camp made me realize that I could make a difference in our community, even at my age," said Jordan, who was only 8 years old at the time. At the camp, Jordan and his fellow campers learned about many different needs in his community, and discussed ways they could be helpful. Since then, Jordan has spent more than 100 hours a year volunteering. He has read stories to preschool children, picked up trash around his community, collected clothing for a local shelter, and helped educate tourists and local residents about green sea turtles. "By volunteering, I became a better person," said Jordan.

Applications for the 2007 awards program were submitted last fall through schools, Girl Scout councils, county 4-H organizations, American Red Cross chapters, YMCAs and Volunteer Centers affiliated with the Points of Light Foundation. The top middle level and high school applicants in each state and the District of Columbia were announced in February. These 102 State Honorees are in Washington this week with their parents for four days of special recognition events.

Ten of the 102 were named America's top ten youth volunteers for 2007 at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce headquarters today. These National Honorees received additional $5,000 awards, gold medallions, crystal trophies for the schools or organizations that nominated them, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for charities of their choice.

The 10 National Honorees are: