Alpharetta Teen Recognized With Daily Point of Light Award

Atlanta, GA, Aug. 22, 2023 – Katherine Kringelis was named Daily Point of Light Award No. 7,623 by Points of Light, a nonpartisan, global nonprofit organization that inspires, equips and mobilizes millions of people to take action that changes the world. Katherine received this recognition for her ongoing commitment to reducing food insecurity with The Sandwich Project.

Katherine was inspired to take action at age 12 after learning that 1 in 10 people experience food insecurity. It can be challenging, though, for service-minded youth to find volunteer opportunities for that age. Fortunately, she found The Sandwich Project through Pebble Tossers, an organization that connects youth to service opportunities in metro Atlanta.

Each week, volunteers like Katherine make sandwiches and deliver them to local hosts, and from there the sandwiches are aggregated for various charities who then distribute them throughout metro Atlanta. Since April of 2022, Katherine has made 1,442 sandwiches in 62 weekly deliveries. In total, The Sandwich Project has supplied over 1,000,000 sandwiches since 2020.

“Pebble Tossers loves being the stepping stones to help youth along their service journey. We partner with over 60 organizations in greater Atlanta to curate and provide age-appropriate projects for kids and families. We love how Katherine was able to connect with The Sandwich Project through Pebble Tossers. She has consistently been one of the top sandwich producers since we first were introduced to The Sandwich Project. Katherine takes special consideration when she’s making the sandwiches and shares these reflections in her Pebble Tossers account. She’s noticed when the price of lunch meat and cheese increases and is concerned about those she was making sandwiches for,” noted Jennifer Guynn, Executive Director of Pebble Tossers. “We are proud of Katherine being recognized as a Daily Point of Light. She has certainly brought light to the Atlanta community with her unfailing service.”

The Daily Point of Light Award uplifts individuals who lead, lend support and take action for causes they care about on their path to leading a fully engaged civic life. The award is given five days a week as Points of Light honors individuals creating meaningful change to meet community needs, efforts that often lead to long-term solutions and impact social problems in their local communities.

President George H.W. Bush was the first president in American history to institute a daily presidential recognition program from the White House, conferring 1,020 Daily Point of Light Awards on citizens and organizations making a difference in other people’s lives and solving community problems. Points of Light continues this recognition and now has more than 7,000 honorees to date.

“The Daily Point of Light Award recognizes those who saw something they wanted to improve in the world, then through their time, talent and efforts, began making those improvements,” said Beth Pann, Senior Vice President, External Affairs at Points of Light. “We’re pleased to honor Katherine for her amazing work.”

Katherine continues to inspire others with her work and hopes to show others they can make a difference in their communities too.

"I am so grateful for everyone who makes The Sandwich Project possible each week, including my local hosts, Ellyn Dinnerstein and Karen Cohen. Making just two loaves a week is the equivalent of sharing a sandwich with a neighbor at every meal. To learn how easy it is to pitch in, just visit thesandwichproject.org or your local food bank. Together, we can create a world where no one goes hungry or feels abandoned."

To learn more about Katherine’s work, read her story on the Points of Light website at https://www.pointsoflight.org/....