Audio Transcript

Mollie Halpern: The FBI honors community leaders and organizations that make extraordinary contributions to America and those who serve and protect her.

Among the 58 recipients of the annual Director’s Community Leadership Awards is 16-year-old Christopher Suggs of Kinston, North Carolina.

Recognizing the negative impact of violence and other problems in his hometown on young people, Christopher founded a non-profit called Kinston Teens.

The organization empowers youth to take an active role in developing solutions through service projects and civic engagement.

Christopher Suggs: Kinston Teens has proven that despite our age—or because of our age, even—that we can make a real difference in the community, and there’s no stopping us. There’s no limits to what young people can achieve. Young people can and will make a difference.

Halpern: Chef Ginger Passarelli of Washington state is another award winner.

Ginger created The Soup Ladies—a non-profit organization that provides meal to first responders during emergencies.

Ginger Passarelli: I am of the belief that when you walk alongside somebody and help them carry that burden, I think it just doesn’t seem as heavy. The people that we serve—when we pull up, they know we love them.

Halpern: The Director’s Community Leadership Awards were formally created in 1990. With FBI, This Week, I’m Mollie Halpern of the Bureau.