Patrick Cary, a junior mechanical engineering student who volunteers as a tutor and a firefighter, was honored Monday as California State University, Fresno Student Volunteer of the Year during the 38th annual Volunteer of the Year luncheon. Cary is pictured at right in the black shirt along with Chris Fiorentino, director of the Office of Civic Engagement and Service-Learning.

Dr. Charles “Skip” Sherwood, a Fresno State professor emeritus in marketing, was presented the Spirit of Caring Award for spearheading a drive that brought in 30,000 children’s books for ReadFresno, which aims to improve reading skills of first- through third-graders.

The luncheon is sponsored by the Volunteer Center of Fresno County.

Announcing Cary as the university’s top student volunteer Fiorentino, director of the Office of Civic Engagement and Service-Learning, said Cary “has responded to various emergencies in our community, always with the spirit of giving from his heart.”

Cary has a 3.7 grade point average as a full-time student majoring in mechanical engineering. He’s a junior and a participant in the Smittcamp Family Honors College program that brings 50 of the top high school students to campus each year then provides an enhanced educational experience, an important component of which is community service.

Cary volunteers about 12 hours a week with Jumpstart Fresno, part of a national program that pairs college students with low-income preschool children to assist with their language and literacy, and social interaction and initiative skills.

He also has spent more than 200 hours as a volunteer firefighter with the Fresno County Fire Department. To help earn money, he works part-time helping a family with four special-needs children.

In her nomination letter for Cary, Amy Lukianov of the Office of Civic Engagement at Fresno State, reflected on what he told her when she asked him why he does so much service work.  Lukianov said he replied, “Because somebody’s got to do it.”

For being the Student Volunteer of the Year, Cary receives a $500 scholarship from the Friends of Civic Engagement.  As a returning student to Fresno State, he also will receive $1,200 scholarship from the Marc and Marjorie Radin Community Service Scholarship fund. 

The other finalists for Fresno State student volunteer honors were:

• Adrianna Garcia, who has volunteered about 2,000 hours this year, including work with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Fresno and with Ground Zero Ministries at People’s Church.

• Deborah Napolean, who has provided an estimated 1,000 volunteer hours for the university, community and her church. She was part of a team of students whose successful grant proposal brought $160,000 to Catholic Charities.

• Melissa Dittmar, who helped coordinate a campaign at Fresno State that raised more than $21,000 for victims of the devastating hurricanes that struck the Gulf Coast.

• Veronica Carrillo, a tutor with the Academy for New Americans, who helped immigrant children learn English so that they can succeed in school and society.

Sherwood, who has been actively involved in community service over the years, inspired teams of Craig School of Business students enrolled in Marketing 100 (S) course to work on numerous marketing strategies to gather new and used books for children. The result was 30,000 books and $2,500 in donations for ReadFresno, part of whose program involves giving books to children who have read them. In some cases, it’s the first book the child ever has owned.