Dominick Nowakowski receives Mayor's Medal of Honor

We are happy to share that FSR volunteer Dominick Nowakowski was selected to receive the 2021 Mayor's Medal of Honor for Youth Serving Community. The medal is awarded to youth under age 21 who show "significant involvement, initiative, and support of our community."

Jennell Loeffler, FSR Volunteer Recruitment and Retention Specialist submitted this nomination for Dominick.

"Dominick reached out to me fall 2020 looking for ways to volunteer and get involved with our organization and the Rochester community. Dominick is an outstanding young individual who has shown dedication to the older adults and the community we serve and continues to participate and assist with various needs. He has recommended and implemented projects that directly impact our senior consumers, such as a snow shoveling campaign he directed the entire winter this past year.

Something as simple as snow shoveling has had a significant impact on our older adult consumer’s safety and well-being. He also led and organized a holiday gift exchange for a group of our older adults. This project brought so much joy to those we were able to help. I received a call from one woman who said it was the first Christmas in 12 years since her daughter's passing that she felt joy.

This past spring he applied for and was awarded a grant for a project he created and coordinated where 25 other students either planted flowers in the yards of community seniors or provided a potted plant arrangement. This fall he helped coordinate fall yard-cleanup for several seniors and also recruited seven high school students to help with grocery shopping for some of FSR’s senior consumers.

Dominick is an extraordinary young man and volunteer and is an asset to our team. It is my understanding that Dominick intends to pursue a career in the medical field, and I believe the ambition, intellectual abilities, and compassion for others Dominick displays foreshadows his undoubted success in both his professional and personal goals."

Congratulations, Dominick! And thank you for your service to our senior consumers.