Faces

After noticing that nursing home residents respond best to stimuli that activate the five senses, 16-year-old Louisiana student Andrew Dunckelman founded "Sense"ible Service-a charity that relies on 60 student volunteers to help some 700 elderly patients. The students enlist high-school bands to host "Musical Melody" days and bring animals for residents to touch. They also have distributed 1,000 donated eyeglasses to five nursing homes. In memory of his deceased brother Kyle, who suffered from cerebral palsy, 13-year-old Michael Kay of Illinois founded the "Share a Friend Foundation"-a program that provides companions for handicapped children. Michael began the program two years ago after recruiting 84 companions. The volunteers visit 61 handicapped residents at 10 Illinois group homes: They deliver balloons and plan monthly outings, including picnics and bowling nights. After watching high-school cafeteria workers throw away tons of unused food each week, 18-year-old Peter Hastings asked administrators at the Hampden Academy in Maine if he could donate the surplus to a local homeless shelter. He then organized a delivery schedule and recruited neighborhood drivers who deliver boxes of food to the shelter each Friday.