Hedgesville teen selected as recipient of Governor's Service Award | Newspaper

HEDGESVILLE — Hedgesville teen Isabelle Smith-Pounds was honored for her dedication to service on Thursday at the annual Governor's Service Awards Dinner at the Charleston Cultural Center.

According to Smith-Pounds, she was surprised when she learned she had been selected by Volunteer West Virginia, the state's commission for national and community service, to receive the Governor's Service Award for demonstrating the power of service. She was nominated by her mother, Teena Hine, and her nomination was supported by her peer coach, drama teacher and pageant directors.

She said everyone who supported her nomination did a great job keeping it a secret.

“I was very surprised at first, because obviously I had been nominated outside of myself and I didn't even know I was nominated,” she said. “When I found out, I was very grateful. It was a very heartwarming moment because it showed how many lives I was able to touch through my nonprofit.

Since the age of 15, Smith-Pounds has worked to make its mark on the community through its Take Care Bags initiative. As a young person dealing with body image and self-esteem issues, Smith-Pounds said she noticed other students facing similar issues to her were also lacking essential hygiene items.

Smith-Pounds reached out to educators and counselors and found that while many local programs provided food assistance, personal hygiene supplies were often overlooked.

At this point, she launched her Take Care Bags project in local schools. She said the bags were designed to be gender neutral. Bags include soap, shampoo, conditioner, combs, toothbrushes and toothpaste.

His next step was to start recruiting volunteers. She started the Hands Healing Hearts initiative, which engages students in community service. As part of this initiative, Smith-Pounds visited local classrooms, where she was helped by students to assemble and decorate Take Care bags to help students learn more about volunteering.

Since then, Smith-Pounds has coordinated several fundraisers with teen volunteers to purchase supplies, including hygiene drives with prizes and school raffles. She also enlisted the help of her peers to distribute the Take Care bags to nearby primary schools.

In 2023, its initiatives reached another level when Take Care USA became a certified nonprofit. Over the past year, her initiative has provided Take Care bags to hundreds of students across the Eastern Panhandle. She plans to expand her initiative into the surrounding region.

Smith-Pounds also said she would like to install a Take Care shelf in the guidance counselor's office to provide a reliable source of supplies for students.

In addition to running her own nonprofit, Smith-Pounds is the 2024 Miss Jefferson County Teen. She has worked to become a role model for others through her volunteerism and leadership.

A volunteer evaluation committee reads and selects recipients based on their accomplishments, community needs, continued involvement, creativity and impact of service.

Other recipients of the 2024 Governor's Service Awards are as follows, by category: Adult, Daniel Pan, Morgantown; Senior, Kathy Easley, Bluefield; Quentin “Q” Northcraft, Wheeling; Band, Band of Brothers, Buckhannon; Group, Robert and Sharon Selbe, Rupert.

To learn more about Volunteer West Virginia, visit www.volunteer.wv.gov.