New Jersey teen up for national volunteer award

A Kinnelon eighth grader has made it to being a finalist for a very prestigious award: the Catholic Charities USA National Volunteer of the Year.

Peyton Triano, who is still in middle school, is one of six finalists for the award, due to her efforts in feeding the hungry.

According to Northjersey.com, it all started because Peyton loves to bake. When her mom started posting pictures of Peyton’s creations on social media, people started ordering from her, even though she had never intended it on being a business. It became one, however, and she named it Eat Sweet.

She told NorthJersey.com that she knew she wanted to do something for the community with the proceeds of her baking business, saying,

“"I always believe that we were put on this Earth to help others . . . and I thought a simple way to do that was for me to use a hobby that I really love and use that for the greater good."

From that idea, Compassionate Kids was born, a charity that collects food for donation at the Father English food pantry in Paterson. She has continued to sell her baked goods, using the money to buy more food for the pantry. She estimates she has handed out over 5,000 bags of food since founding Compassionate Kids NJ.

Her work is being recognized; in addition to the volunteering award, she received a certificate from the US House of Representatives for being a New Jersey hero:

Peyton will find out this week if she is the Volunteer of the Year for CCUSA.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Doyle only.

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