It is an honor to introduce to you our Cape Kid of the month, Ilana Druskin, a 15 –year-old high school Sophomore at Gill St. Bernards School in Gladstone, NJ and an inspiration to children and adults.
This wonderful young lady has been volunteering since sixth grade. She had always helped others, but decided that she wanted to assist in a greater way, in preparation for her Mitzvah project. Her desire to help children led to her work with Blessings in A Backpack, with the Greater Brunswick Charter School, where she helped to raise enough money to fill backpacks with food for over 170 less fortunate students, for them to bring home on the weekends to ensure that they had food to eat when not in school.
Ilana became so passionate about this project that she chose to continue her work with Blessings in a Backpack and the Greater Brunswick Charter School. Once, when in middle school, she noticed that the school’s pantry was near empty. In response, she organized a canned food drive to ensure that the pantry had plenty of food for the students. She also has lead several bake sales and coat drives to help the students at the school over the course of the four years that she has been volunteering.
Along with her family, Ilana provides Thanksgiving meals to families in November, so that they have a warm meal to eat on the holiday. In December, she purchases Christmas gifts for the students at Greater Brunswick Charter School, as she knows their families cannot financially provide them with the gifts they hope to receive.
When asked what serving these children means to her, Ilana replied, “It makes me more humble and not take anything for granted. These kids will take anything over nothing. “
Ilana even turned a family vacation in Guatemala into a service project. She noticed that impoverished children were running to cars to receive Christmas gifts, a custom in this country. She and her family wanted to help. They found a local store and purchased toys, then pulled to the side of the road and handed them out to the dozens of children who ran up to the car. “It made me feel good to do something for them,” she recalls.
In an effort to do even more for others, Ilana became certified as a pet therapist with her dog, Chloe, through Bright and Beautiful, Ltd. She hopes to begin her own business tutoring children in reading by having them practice read to Chloe. She has already started reading with kids and her dog at a her local library, and claims “…the kids absolutely love it. They don’t want to stop reading. It’s a great way to encourage the love of reading.”
As an aspiring doctor, Ilana will volunteer in the Emergency Room at Ocean County Medical Center in Point Pleasant, New Jersey.
When asked how she finds the time to fit in all of her volunteering with an already full sports and school schedule, she says that she lives by her motto: You can only go up! If you keep trying hard, you can only get better. Don’t stop, if you put in the dedication and effort, you will get results. She encourages others to volunteer as well by stating, “Saying that you don’t have the time is not a good excuse. I have practice every day, and I find the time. Start small and find something that you are passionate in.”
Well done, Ilana. Thank you for being a terrific Cape Kid and for inspiring others to want to help, as well.