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  Young Adult Leadership Award:Angela Forster Dedicated to Her Branch, Parish & Community When Branch 380, in Thousand Oaks, California initiated Angela Forster's family a few years back, they had no idea how motivated and dedicated Angela would be, or that she would be a perfect candidate for the Italian Catholic Federation's Young Adult Leadership Award. This past January Angela became an independent member of the ICF and thereby qualified as the 2009 recipient of the Young Adult Leadership Award. A recent graduate of Thousand Oaks High School, Angela will be attending college in the fall in pursuit of a degree in biomedical engineering. She is a member of the National Honor Society and participated in the Royal Canadian Army Cadet Program when she and her family lived in Canada. Angela's academic record is exceptional, but it is her extra-curricular activities that are most noteworthy. For Branch 380, Angela has coordinated and provided childcare every month at the general meeting. She sets up craft activities, movies and makes sure the children's area is cleaned up after the meetings. All of the children adore her and they don't want to miss a meeting. "She is a credit to her parents, her faith and her generation," said Della Spinelli, past president of Branch 380. In addition, for the past three years Angela has volunteered at the St. Joseph's Table assisting with set-up, clean-up, bake sale duties, selling dinner, raffle and drink tickets, and any other task she has been asked to do. During St. Paschal Baylon's Annual Parish Festival, Angela also helps work the ICF pizza booth. "Angela is an inspiration to all the adults in our branch for her kindness, patience, and commitment to our precious children but more importantly to the main ideals of the ICF - charity, spirituality, family. Since she is Italian, there is no better way to exemplify our heritage by being such a phenomenal role model. The ICF needs more young adults of this age group to stay involved for they are the future leaders of our organization. Furthermore, she is helping to shape a whole new generation of hopefully very active ICF members." According to the application submitted for Angela. Since joining the ICF, Angela has also assisted the Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child Program at St. Paschal Baylon Church. Angela's duties included double checking the donated boxes, filling empty boxes, and preparing them for delivery. In 2008 more than 700 boxes were donated. "Angela's enthusiastic spirit and admirable work ethic provides the model for other young family members of Branch 380, Thousand Oaks, CA," said Branch President Lou Mages. For her parish, Angela is a Eucharistic Minister at St. Paschal Baylon, serving at the evening Sunday Mass every week. "She is truly a wonderful example of living out her Catholic faith with a smile," said Rhett A. Young, Faith & Family Director at St. Paschal Baylon Catholic Church. In conjunction with her high school, Angela interviewed for a volunteer position at the Westminster Free Clinic. She has volunteered there every other Wednesday for the past two years where her duties as Pharmacy Manager include patient interviews, taking vital signs, presenting cases to the doctor and filling prescriptions. She will next be working on training the incoming student volunteers. "She has been a joy to be around because of her beautiful attitude and always has a smile that radiates to all who come in contact with her. She is reliable, always on time, and presents herself well to the community," according to Verna Dormer, Sacristan and leader of ministries of Holy Communion at St. Paschal Baylon Church. Italian Catholic Federation, 8393 Capwell Drive, Suite 110, Oakland CA 94621 tel: 888/ICF-1924; 510/633-9058; fax: 510/633-9758; Email: info@icf.org Website designed by HYPERSPHERE |