On March 9, at the Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast annual meeting, Girl Scout Ambassador Orion Dunbar was recognized as a distinguished finalist for the 2013 Prudential Spirit of Community Awards and was presented with a bronze medallion by a Prudential representative.
The Prudential awards program represents the United States’ largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer service. All public and private middle level and high schools in the country, as well as all Girl Scout councils, county 4-H organizations, American Red Cross chapters, YMCAs and Hands-on Network affiliates, are eligible to select a student or member for a local Prudential Spirit of Community Award. Nearly 5,000 teen applicants were reviewed by an independent judging panel, which selected 102 state honorees and another 234 distinguished finalists based on criteria including personal initiative, effort, impact and personal growth.
Orion Dunbar has been dedicated to environmental stewardship for almost her entire life. Her efforts to promote recycling started in 2004 when she founded her own recycling company called R.O.C.K.—Recycle Our Clothes for Kids. When she was nine years old, her mother turned some jeans into cutoff shorts, and Orion discovered that the leg of the pants fit perfectly on her head. She added some feathers and jewels for decoration and had her very own hat.
Orion began setting up booths at festivals for children to make their own recycled jean hats and while doing so, set up a jar to collect money for the Children’s Hospital of the Kings Daughters. Through R.O.C.K., she partnered with Wrangler Jeans, CHKD Thrift Store and Norfolk Festevents to help raise money for CHKD, which she chose to raise money for because she wanted to help fund the educational programs the hospital provides.
As part of her Girl Scout Gold Award, this past year Orion expanded R.O.C.K. to include Teens for Jeans. This project engages high school students to host jean drives at their school in order to collect jeans to donate to homeless shelters. 1.7 million teenagers are homeless and jeans are the number one item requested by them in homeless shelters.
Orion currently leads the Teens for Jeans project at Western Branch High School, where she is a senior and leading the efforts to collect jeans for the local FORKIDS shelter.
Congratulations to an outstanding Girl Scout – Orion Dunbar!
