August 9, 2007 - 6:02pm — Freeze
Servenet Award
EVERYDAY YOUNG HERO
By Daniel Hatcher
A recent Prudential Spirit of Community honoree, Kyle Freas, 18, of Plano Texas, a senior at Plano West Senior High School, founded a nonprofit organization called “Youth Together” that encourages students at elementary and middle schools to participate in a variety of projects to help homeless, abused, and critically ill children. Since launching Youth Together six years ago, he has developed eight community service projects and offered students in more than 100 schools the opportunity to take part in them. In addition to teaching students about community service, Kyle’s program has provided backpacks and school supplies to abused children, movies, and games to pediatric patients, and holiday costumes and gifts to homeless kids. He also has projects that support homeless and zoo animals. To accomplish all of this, Kyle has recruited hundreds of high school volunteers over the years, and raised more than $70,000 to support the projects. “There is no better feeling than sharing with others,” said Kyle. “We need to realize that we are helping ourselves and our communities when we help others.”