President's Volunteer Award
Delano High senior Adrian Torres, the son of Sandra L. and Armando Torres of Delano, has been awarded teh President's Volunteer Service award for national and community service. President Donald Trump signed the certificate which give recognition and appreciation for the commitment of Torres and other recipients "to strengthen our nation and communities through volunteer service."
The past fall the first local volunteer award was presented to Vivian Han, a Cesar E. Chavez High School senior.
Torres estimates he has done more than 275 hours of service jobs. For two and a half years he has been service club president and the Community Service Commissioner for the Delano High School student body. He led the school's planning for the recent Noche de Gala outdoor dance.
He has helped with the Filipino Cultural night dinner clean-up, at the Soroptimist Club's golf tournament as a server and doing set-up and clean-up, and at the Soroptimist Paint Bash Night in set-up.
He volunteered for the Delano Chamber of Commerce booth during a Halloween event at Cesar Chavez Park and at the Elk's Lodge has been a bingo night waiter and Veterans Day breakfast server. For two years he has aided with the community's Christmas, Cinco de Mayo, and Harvest Holidays parades.
Torres has assisted with the Kiwanis Club pumpkin patch set-up, Morningside School chess tournament, Philippine Weekend street fairs and drink booths, and the Harvest Holidays Street fair booth and set-up. He has made Valentine's crafts and baked goods for the elderly and managed a booth and assisted with the haunted house at the Princeton and Del Vista schools with the Halloween booths.
For Pioneer School's carnival, he was also a volunteer and aided with the Chamber of Commerce fireworks booth. He has packaged food for the homeless on a weekly basis as part of the Homeless Ministry. He is the Teen Advisory Board for the public library and assisted in library craft events.
Torres hosted a Homeless Awareness Week which included a drive for canned foods, water, toiletries, and clothes for three consecutive years and hosted a Teen Dating Violence Week where he and other service club members passed out hotline numbers and positive messages.
His service also includes decoring Heritage Park for Christmas, preparing food at a fundraiser for Haiti, the Dia de La Familia set-up as a volunteer, and set-up for Harvest Holidays' steak dinner.
For three straight years on Wednesdays he has helped Princeton School students with homework and reads books to youngsters. He worked the cotton cnady, popcorn, and shaved ice booth at Cecil Avenue Park for the Christian Family Concert event and for Philippine Weekend he clean up at the park for a two-day period.
For the Chamber of Commerce crab feed he helped with serving and clean-up. For San Joaquin Christian School he packed school books to be sent to the Philippines, and he wrapped Christmas presents for the Toys for Tots event.
From the Chamber of Commerce he is a past recipient of the Youth Leadership Award.
At Delano High he has achieved a 3.8 grade average and passed with an A the dual enrollment United States History class and Expository Composition class.
He would like to attend a University of California or Cal State University branch in the Los Angeles area. He would like to work in politics to promote better rights for immigrants and assist in other humanitarian projects.
Torres would like to own and operate a non-profit organization and become a published author and make films.