Spirit of Community shines in Kootenai County girls

The selflessness displayed by two Kootenai County youngsters has earned each of them recognition from the national Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program.

Emily Kladar, 12, was named one of Idaho's top youth volunteers for 2012 by the program honoring young people for outstanding acts of volunteerism.

The Hayden Lake resident was selected for this year's honor along with Ariane Drake, 18, of Pocatello.

Emily Carroll, 16, of Coeur d'Alene was selected as a Distinguished Finalist by the organization.

The Prudential Spirit of Community group described the girls' accomplishments in an announcement released this morning: 

Emily Kladar, a sixth-grader at Canfield Middle School, created a nonprofit charity with her sister that has raised more than $60,000 to benefit the families of children needing heart surgery.

While visiting a rural medical clinic in Mexico in 2008, Emily and her sister saw pictures of kids who would die without heart operations.

"We felt if we didn't help them, no one else would," said Emily.

She suggested selling dish towels and designed a logo to print on them: "Kids Helping Kids Fix Broken Hearts."

In six months, the Kladar sisters raised $15,000 from their towel sales, which provided 13 children at the clinic in Mexico with life-saving cardiac surgeries.

Then, "we realized that there are many people in the U.S. that could use our help, as well," said Emily.

They recruited students and teachers at their school to help fold dishtowels and attach cards, and got additional assistance from community groups and employees of a local Kohl's store.

They sell their towels and make presentations at civic clubs, churches, hospital fundraisers and other community events around the country. Hospitals in Washington, Texas and Missouri are now working with Emily and her sister to identify financially-burdened families who have children needing heart operations away from their hometowns. Funds are then provided to pay for transportation, lodging, food and medical expenses not covered by insurance.

To date, Emily's charity has sold more than 6,000 dish towels, yielding over $60,000 to help fix broken hearts.

As a state honoree, Emily will receive $1,000, an engraved silver medallion, and an all-expense-paid trip in early May to Washington, D.C., where she and Ariane will join the top two honorees from each of the other states and the District of Columbia for several days of national recognition events. Ten of them will be named America's top youth volunteers for 2012 at that time.

Emily Carroll, 16, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, a junior at Post Falls High School, opened the North Idaho Clothing Exchange (NICE) in 2009 to provide new and gently used clothing to children who are needy, homeless, or in foster care. Emily solicited donations from the community, secured more than $30,000 of new clothing, worked with local organizations to secure a storefront and manages the entire process.

The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, now in its 17th year, is conducted by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP).