Patch Whiz Kid of the Week: Zoe Tseng

Name:  Zoe Tseng

School:  Langley High School

Accomplishment (s):

• Spends her weekends doing food & clothing drives for the homeless and low income families.
• Serves the homeless one weekend a month at the Baltimore Salvation Army Booth House.
• Volunteers with Evergreen Senior Care to show the elderly some love.
• Creates back to school backpacks for low income families.
• Organizes an annual winter clothing drive and delivers them to West Virginia.
• Does a monthly drive for canned food & basic living necessities that are distributed by several organizations.
• Translates in Mandarin and Spanish for patients at Lombardi Cancer Center.

Key to Awesomeness:  

• Exemplifies public service with integrity, caring and empathy.
• Winner of 2011 McLean's Rotary Club's Youth Service Award.
• Immediately donated her $400 from the Rotary Club Youth Awards back to them to help the people of Japan.
• Plans on becoming a nurse in order to help people.
• Dropped out of tennis team in favor of her volunteer work when she was having a hard time juggling all her activities.
• Says her Mom & Dad are her heroes.

Zoe comes by her charitable nature honestly.  Her family is warm and generous in helping many organisations throughout the community.

Her mom says she often comes home to find her living room taken over by one of Zoe's helping projects, but they don't mind.  Public service is a natural part of their giving nature. ( Her parents are Ada & Kevin Tseng).

They are happy that Zoe is old enough to drive now.  She has actively participated in many charitable functions since the 10th grade, with her parents chauffering her through ever single one.  Their younger daughter Ashley is now involved in many of the same charities, so it seems their chauffering days are not quite finished yet!

Motivation:   Zoe's Grandfather was once in dire straits and helped by a complete stranger.  That act of kindness changed him and his circumstances.  Since then he has opened a Free Clinic in Taiwan where Zoe and her entire extended family still volunteer, and raise money for every year.

Wisdom Earned:  Zoe says helping these charities is her hobby and she enjoys it just as much as any social activity, and doing good works simply makes her feel good.