From staff reports:

Megan Johnson of Federal Way, a senior at Highline CHOICE Academy in Burien, will be officially presented with an engraved silver medallion to signify her selection as one of Washington’s top two youth volunteers for 2010 in The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program. The presentation will take place at 6 p.m. April 14 during a school board meeting at Highline School District Office in Burien. Megan also will receive $1,000 and an all-expense-paid trip in early May to Washington, D.C., where she will join more than 100 other top honorees from across the country for several days of national recognition events. Ten of them will be named America’s top youth volunteers for 2010 at that time. Megan is being honored for initiating several programs over the past eight years that raise money to provide homeless people, hospitalized children, and drug-addicted babies with things that make their lives a little easier.

She also has raised money to help four families get off the streets and into their own homes, and to make a large contribution to Shriners Hospitals, which asked her to become a national patient ambassador. To support her projects, Megan sells hot cider at Christmastime; writes and illustrates children’s books; sends letters to corporations; and sells homemade necklaces, ink pens and silicone wristbands. In addition, her projects have received support from schools, churches, community organizations, a network of 50 individual volunteers, and inmates at a local prison (who knit caps for her to give to the homeless).

“My dream is for others to see that even if you are different, you can make a huge difference,” Megan said in a news release.

To learn more about Megan’s Mission, visit www.megansmission.freeservers.com/index.html