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NORTH CAROLINA'S TOP TWO YOUTH VOLUNTEERS SELECTEDlPage Two Sarai, a member of the Girl Scouts Tarheel Triad Council and a sophomore at Westchester Academy in High Point, created a library at a local Hispanic center so the students of its Family Literacy Class could continue to practice their English skills when the class was not in session. While volunteering at the Hispanic Center as a tutor and childcare provider, Sarai saw the need for a library. "Since the Family Literacy Class only met twice a week, I thought it might be beneficial to have additional reading materials available," she said. In addition, most of the students there are unable to frequent the local library because they have to work during the day, and many Hispanic people do not feel comfortable at a public library because most library staff members do not speak Spanish, she said. So Sarai got to work. After appealing to local libraries, a bookstore, and faculty and staff at her school, she received nearly 1,800 donated books. A group of college freshmen helped Sarai catalog the books, a local hardware store donated shelving materials, and a homebuilder helped her build the shelves in a spare room at the center. Now that the library is in place, Sarai hopes it will "assist members ofthe Hispanic community with their transition to a new area and assimilation into a different culture," she said. She plans to update the book collection and card catalogue periodically as needed. Alyssa, a fifth-grader at Cox Mill Elementary School, raised more than $16,000 for the American Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund by organizing a school fund-raiser. "I saw what was happening on the news and I told my parents that I have to do something to help the people hurt by Hurricane Katrina," said Alyssa. She decided to coordinate a project at her school. "I thought everyone would be able to bring in at least one coin a day," Alyssa said, so for one week, Alyssa asked the students to bring in pennies on Monday, nickels on Tuesday, dimes on Wednesday, quarters on Thursday and dollars on Friday. Alyssa hung posters around the school to let everyone know, submitted articles to the school newspaper, and appeared on the school's TV broadcast every morning to promote her project. To keep up the excitement, she updated a goal chart in front of the school each day, and arranged for matching donations if each day's goal was met (a local Lowe's Home Improvement store agreed to match the total amount raised). After the coins were collected, Alyssa counted, sorted and rolled all the coins, and presented the total, $16,646.34 including the matching donations, to the local Red Cross director at a school presentation. "My school raised a lot more than I expected," said Alyssa. "Now the people affected by Katrina have that much more hope to having a better life in the future." - more - C-I