Area student sparks greeting card drive
By ERIC SEIVERLING
eseiverling@yourmvi.com
For Carroll Township teen Patrick Weldon, delivering Meals on Wheels to local residents means more than just dropping off hot food.
Patrick, 14, an eighth-grade student at Upper St. Clair’s St. Louise De Marillac Catholic School, decided last summer he wanted to do something special for the residents on his home-delivered meals route, so he began making greeting cards to give them along with their meals.
What started as Patrick handing out homemade cards to 23 residents has now grown into him spearheading a program that hands out cards to more than 3,000 hospital patients, nursing home residents and even church workers throughout the Mon Valley and Pittsburgh.
Patrick’s efforts and selflessness were recognized earlier this month when he was named Pennsylvania’s top youth volunteer of 2021 by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, America’s largest youth recognition program based on volunteer service.
The award comes with a $2,500 scholarship, a silver medallion and an invitation to the program’s virtual national celebration in April.
“We had just finished dinner when we heard a knock on the door,” said Patrick, who lives with his mother, Alexis, and father, Dr. Patrick Weldon, as he recalled being notified of the award. “It was a delivery saying I had won the Prudential Spirit of Community Award. It said I won for the entire state. I was really surprised.”
Despite the award, Patrick has never looked for recognition for his efforts. According to his mother, he’s always shown respect and interest in senior citizens and the elderly.
“Patrick’s an only child,” she said. “He’s always been close with his grandparents. He’s always had high respect for elderly people.
“I would drive him around for his deliveries, and I would be sitting in the car and he would be in the house for 15 or 20 minutes. I wondered if I should go in and check on him. He would come out and say he was just sitting and talking with them inside.”
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