Alyssia Better Place Award

Alyssia's Afterglow

Alyssia Erin Pinard was a bright, imaginative and happy child with a zest for learning and a passion for her causes. Her life was not without hardship, but she turned difficulty into strength and a genuine compassion for others. She cared about the environment, the elderly, animals, and her family. She loved art, music, theater, reading and whales.

Alyssia's peers remember her as:
- a person who cared deeply about current issues facing our world
- a person who made a difference
- a person unassuming, "out of the limelight"
- a person who brightened the room by her presence

Someone once said that we can ask no more of our lives but that we leave our world a little better than we found it. Alyssa embraced life with a spirit of giving. She brought laugher, love and warmth to all who knew her. She tried to do her part to save the planet and champion the causes of those less fortunate. She was a good friend, a loving daughter, a devoted sister, a dedicated student, and a friend of nature. She was talented and kind and funny and smart and our world is a better place for her having been part of it. Her star will shine brightly, no matter where she is. Her love will live in the hearts of all who knew her.

Alyssia is not only an angel now, but she was an angel sent to earth. I think about her and think she really was not meant for this world and all its hardship and cruelty. I think how blessed we were that God allowed her to live among us for 12 years. I think that, if she had been allowed to stay, she would have been a person to make a difference in this world.

I often think that too many children passed over too soon - children who would have made a difference like my Alyssia. I have been trying to encourage others to create "Better Place Awards" in their schools and communities.

The Alyssia Pinard Better Place Award is presented to the 8th grader who quietly and without pretense has, through the arts, community service, environmental awareness or outstanding devotion to fellow students (or any combination thereof) contributed significantly to making our world a better place.

Can you see how easily this award could be adapted to recognize other young people and in memory of other angels? Want to help me get the word out? Just a thought...you are already doing so much...Let me know what you think.

In Alyssia's Afterglow, we practice random acts of kindness and senseless beauty, we love our children and hug them everyday. Gone, but never forgotten and never far away. WE LOVE HER FOREVER...