Allred receives Prudential Spirit of Community Award

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Wasilla’s Sam Allred, 13, was one of two youths from Alaska honored during the 18th annual presentation of the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards May 5.

Allred and Shaylee Rizzo, 18, of Kenai were two of 100 other youths honored for their outstanding volunteer service during an awards ceremony and gala dinner reception at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. Winners also received $1,000 and personal congratulations from Academy Award-winning actor Kevin Spacey and Olympic gold medalist Allyson Felix.

The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program, sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals, honored Allred and Rizzo in February, and in addition to a cash award, they received engraved silver medallions and four-day, all-expenses-paid trips with a parent to Washington, D.C., for the ceremony.

Allred, an eighth-grader at Raven Correspondence School, makes travel-size pillows and distributes them to children’s hospitals across the country. Samuel knows firsthand what it’s like to need some comfort. As a toddler, he was diagnosed with a rare kidney disease that resulted in hospitalizations and the need to take medications that altered his appearance. In 2008, a video of Samuel lip-synching went viral on YouTube and garnered millions of views — along with comments that were mostly good, but sometimes judged his appearance.

“I realized then that there needs to be more compassion and kindness in the world,” Allred said.

So he decided to start a nonprofit organization with the goal of changing lives through compassion. He recalled that, during one of his hospitalizations, some Girl Scouts gave him a small pillow. It meant a lot to Allred and in 2009, with help from his friends and family members, Project Comfort made 300 pillows out of bright, cheerful fabric and donated them to a local children’s hospital.

To get the community involved, Allred began visiting local schools to talk about kindness and compassion and teach students to make the pillows. Elementary students stuffed the pillows, senior citizens stitched them closed and middle school students sewed sleeves for more than 1,700 pillows. Today, many groups in Alaska are creating pillows. Project Comfort ships pillows to children’s hospitals throughout the United States, supported by Federal Express (his father is a FedEx contractor).

“I am committed to changing lives through compassion,” he said.