He’s 16, but the $36,000 won’t go for a car
Summer vacation is off to a crazy start for Gabe Ferrick.
Just since the end of school the Montgomery High junior has turned 16, earned his drivers license and spent almost two
Gabe Ferrick (PD FILE, 2010)
weeks with children in genocide-scarred Rwanda, tutoring them and giving them essential school supplies.
Now comes word Gabe’s good works for humanity have won him a $36,000 no-strings-attached award from a foundation created by Bay Area philanthropist Helen Diller.
The Diller families’ Teen Tikkun Olam Award (jewishfed.org/teenawards) acknowledges five California students who saw suffering, injustice or need and took action. Gabe’s work raises money and awareness to help refugees from genocide and provide school supplies to students in African villages.
The new driver won’t be buying a car with the $36,000.
“Most of it’s going toward college,” Gabe said. He’ll share, too, with Shomrei Torah and with Jewish World Watch, a partner in his annual walks against genocide.
Gabe said his trip to the schools in Rwanda was astounding.
“Quite a few of the kids called me their brother and my mother (Nancy) their mother,” he said. He was honored and touched ever more deeply when he realized some of those young people had lost their entire families to the harrowing wave of genocide in Rwanda in 1994.
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Congratulations again, Gabe! What a great example you are to others and a special friend to those who have lost so much in their lives. It was an honor to travel to Rwanda with you and your mom!
Congratulations & many to thanks Gabe. He, and others of his age, confirm my faith in this next generation. It will take an awareness of others to solve the issues facing them.
Congratulations Gabe! Way to go for you and what a great thing you have done for the kids of Rwanda! Your Mom/Dad must be so proud of you. We are! Congratulations!
Gabe, not only have you made your family and community proud, you are an inspiration to all of us that you’re never too young OR old to make a difference. You are doing God’s work and we are all grateful. CONGRATULATIONS!