Leon Liu - Gold Award

School: Catlin Gabel
Category: Young Adults (16-25)
Hours: 270

Leon is a Senior in high school attending Catlin Gabel. In the past year, he has been focusing his volunteering efforts in two main ways. The first of which is his organization that he founded with 5 other friends, called Youth for Gun Safety (YFGS). In YFGS, Leon and his friends go around town and teach a curriculum they developed, aimed to raise awareness to other high school students about the prevalence of gun violence in the country we live in. This year, they have taught at high schools such as OES and Sunset high school, and have also led workshops at the Northwest Teaching for Social Justice conference (NWTSJ), twice. They are also currently developing a monthly newsletter to keep readers informed about current events.

The other main facet of Leons volunteer work in the past year has been his work co-leading a project called Taste from Home. With his co-leaders, Katie and Sophia, they regularly organize lunch-packing sessions with elementary schoolers from Findley Elementary school. The lunches consist of snacks, hand warmers, and encouraging notes written by the kids. These sack-lunches, combined with main entrees made later, are distributed to the houseless across Portland. Along with positively impacting their community, their goal is to show the next generation how simple and easy community service can be.

Outside of school, Leon has been super invested with soccer having won a state championship with his school! He has also spent a lot of time on college apps recently, which he wishes to be over ASAP. As always, Leon enjoys the company of his family and pets, and aims to get better at ping pong so that he can finally beat his friends.

Oregon Chinese Coalition is proud to join the President of the United States in recognizing the volunteers who consistently take the time to make a difference in the lives of others. Therefore, it is a great honor to present the President’s Volunteer Service Award (PVSA) to Leon Liu.