2017 Gift Of The Heart – Pitman High School

Woodbury, NJ, April 19, 2017
For Immediate Release

The law firm of Hoffman DiMuzio has allocated close to half a million dollars to its “Gift of the Heart” Community Scholarship Foundation. Forty-one graduating seniors from Gloucester and Salem County High Schools have been selected to receive a one thousand dollar scholarship for embodying the service ideals of the program. This week, the 2017 “Gift of the Heart” Hoffman DiMuzio Community Service Foundation recipients are from Pitman High School: Grace Koller and Nicholas Franchi.

Grace Koller

Community service has been an important part of Grace Koller’s high school experience. Her interest in service has led her to work with several organizations, both in school and her greater community.

At Pitman high school, Grace is a member of student council; through her position, she helped create a fundraising project to raise money for the Children’s Miracle Network. The Children’s Miracle Network is an organization that seeks to build support for local Children’s hospitals. To collect funds, Grace helped to plan and run a pie-a-teacher stand at her school’s pep rally. Additionally Grace has fundraised for the Kid’s Caring Foundation by selling Youth Voice bracelets.

As Miss Pitman, Grace organized an event for the Pitman food pantry at Fairy Godmothers, a business in Pitman. Young girls visited to meet Princess Aurora, color, and play in the store, for the price of a canned good or monetary donation. As a result, over 129 canned goods were collected. With her competitive dance team, Grace has visited multiple nursing homes to provide free performances, and participated in an annual MAPS fundraiser to aid residents living with multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Great work Grace!

Nicholas Franchi

The opportunities he’s had to volunteer have left Nicholas Franchi with a sense of satisfaction, knowing that he has the capacity to both help and continue to improve his community.

Nicholas provides support to youth football, soccer, and basketball teams. This can entail running a scout team, helping a player to learn better form or teaching a new drill. Nicholas emphasizes that improvement is always a goal rather than supporting solely the most gifted athletes. By volunteering with youth teams, he can impart to younger players his own passion for athletics.

In addition to coaching, Nicholas also volunteers as an altar server with his local church. This commitment has involved helping whenever needed on Sundays; he has done this for the past eight years.

Additionally, at Pitman high school Nicholas has spent all four of his years as class president. This position has allowed him to play a large role in planning school events. His other leadership positions have included being National Honor Society president, Soccer team captain and Golf team captain. Additionally he is a member of key club, an organization responsible for completing various volunteer projects for the community. Good job Nicholas!

Congratulations are extended to Grace Koller and Nicholas Franchi as well as their proud family and friends! Their community service embodies a Gift of the Heart.

Next week’s featured recipients will be from Salem High School.

Click here to read more about the Hoffman DiMuzio Gift Of The Heart Scholarship Foundation.

If you’d like to see the rest of the 2017 scholarship winners, click here.