Iowa's Talia Leman of Waukee Named One of America's Top Ten Youth Volunteers

State's Sam Wagner Also Honored During Four-Day Celebration, with
Tribute from Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York
WASHINGTON--(Business Wire)--
Talia Leman, 13, of Waukee was named one of America's top ten
youth volunteers for 2008 in a ceremony today at the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce, receiving a national Prudential Spirit of Community Award
for her outstanding volunteer community service. Selected from a field
of close to 20,000 applicants across the country, she received a
personal award of $5,000, an engraved gold medallion, a crystal trophy
for her school, and a $5,000 grant from The Prudential Foundation for
a nonprofit charitable organization of her choice.

Also honored in Washington was Sam Wagner, 18, of Davenport. He
and Talia were named Iowa's top youth volunteers in February, and were
recognized last night at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural
History, along with the top two youth volunteers of every other state
and the District of Columbia. At that event, the Prudential Spirit of
Community State Honorees for 2008 were presented with $1,000 awards,
and congratulated by Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York. The honorees
also received engraved silver medallions and an all-expense-paid trip
with their parents to Washington, D.C., for this week's recognition
events.

Conducted in partnership with the National Association of
Secondary School Principals (NASSP), The Prudential Spirit of
Community Awards were created 13 years ago by Prudential Financial,
Inc. to encourage youth volunteerism and to identify and reward young
role models. Since then, the program has honored more than 80,000
young volunteers at the local, state and national level.

"Talia and Sam are inspiring examples of young Americans who care
deeply about the needs of others and who have taken the initiative to
help meet those needs," said Prudential Chairman Arthur F. Ryan. "By
honoring them, we hope not only to give them the recognition they so
richly deserve, but also to inspire others to follow their example."

Talia, a seventh-grader at The Academy in Des Moines, started an
organization called "RandomKid" that seeks to educate, motivate and
unify young people around the world to work on a broad spectrum of
pressing needs. She began two years ago by encouraging kids in her
area to trick-or-treat for coins instead of candy on Halloween, and
donate the money to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. After her cause
was publicized by a Midwest grocery chain, Iowa's governor and NBC's
"The Today Show," kids across the country reportedly raised millions
of dollars for Katrina victims.

With the help of an adult adviser, Talia then established a
nonprofit organization and created a Web site (www.randomkid.org) that
solicits support from young people everywhere for projects such as
selling kid-designed and -manufactured key chains to help rebuild the
Gulf Coast, raising money to build a school in Cambodia, finding homes
for stray pets, and collecting DVDs for soldiers overseas. One of
Talia's biggest current projects involves encouraging schools across
the country to make and sell their own private-labeled bottled-water
products to help fund clean-water technologies in distressed areas of
the world. She's also working on setting up a "mini-United Nations"
made up of young delegates from around the world who work together to
address global children's issues. "If we want a better world, we need
to know that the world does belong to us, and that we have the power
to make it better," said Talia.

Sam, a senior at Assumption High School, organized a daylong car
wash and then sought donation pledges for each washed car, bringing in
more than $18,000 to help Habitat for Humanity build a house for a
low-income family. Sam was moved to action when he witnessed a
homeless man asking for money on a subway train in Atlanta. "It was
quite disturbing to see him walk past row after row of people and
receive nothing," said Sam, who had nothing but a quarter in his
pocket to give. "After this experience, I wanted to make sure that
this would never happen again - I wanted to fight poverty," he said.

One of the best ways to do that, Sam decided, would be to provide
a home for a needy family. He rallied the support of his church's
youth group, contacted Habitat for Humanity, publicized his "Car Wash
for Humanity" project through the news media, and began visiting
Catholic churches in the Davenport area every Sunday morning to ask
parishioners to pledge 5 cents for each car washed. On June 9 last
year, nearly 50 volunteers washed 506 cars free of charge at two
locations, and after all the donation pledges were collected, Sam
presented a check for $18,000 to Habitat for Humanity at the
groundbreaking of a home for a single mother and her daughter. "I will
always remember the smiles on their faces and the true happiness they
exhibited," said Sam.

Applications for the 2008 awards program were submitted last fall
through schools, Girl Scout councils, county 4-H organizations,
American Red Cross chapters, YMCAs and Volunteer Centers affiliated
with the Points of Light & Hands On Network. The top middle level and
high school applicants in each state and the District of Columbia were
announced in February. These 102 State Honorees are in Washington this
week with their parents for four days of special recognition events.

Ten of the 102 were named America's top ten youth volunteers for
2008 at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce headquarters today. These
National Honorees received additional $5,000 awards, gold medallions,
crystal trophies for the schools that nominated them, and $5,000
grants from The Prudential Foundation for charities of their choice.
(The ceremony can be viewed at www.prudential.com/spirit.)

The other nine National Honorees are:

Kristen Allcorn, 18, of Sedalia, Mo., who founded a soup kitchen
that provides a hot evening meal five days a week, serving needy
residents at tables as if they were eating in a restaurant. Called The
Community Cafe, Kristen's kitchen has served more than 12,000 meals
since December 2006.

Kristin Brandt, 17, of Lock Haven, Pa., who rallied her school and
community to help her build a two-bedroom modular home on her school
grounds. After 16 months of fund-raising and construction, the house
was hauled 1,200 miles to Mississippi, where it was presented to an
80-year-old woman who had lost everything to Hurricane Katrina.

Bria Brown, 13, of Miami Gardens, Fla., a five-year cancer
survivor who recruited friends, classmates and her Girl Scout troop to
help her conduct a drive in her community to collect teddy bears,
which she personalizes and delivers to other young cancer patients to
bring them hope and encouragement.

Shanna Decker, 17, of Plainview, Minn., who has made more than 600
visits to young cancer patients over the past nine years to give them
hope and inspire them with her own cancer experience, which resulted
in a leg amputation. She also is a frequent speaker at events across
the country, and has participated in activities that have raised more
than $120,000 for sick and disadvantaged kids.

Jenna Machado, 17, of Boulder, Colo., who founded a nonprofit
organization to increase awareness about depression and suicide
prevention, after a cousin took her own life. Jenna has delivered
community presentations on the warning signs of depression and
suicide, conducted an education program in middle and high schools,
and raised money to provide treatment sessions for at-risk teens.

Riley Miller, 14, of Bowling Green, Ky., who has organized an
annual citywide day of lemonade sales for the past three years to
raise money for childhood cancer research, after losing two little
brothers to leukemia. Last year, Riley managed 200 volunteers and 29
lemonade stands, collecting more than $19,000 and bringing her
three-year total to $50,000.

Kaylee Marie Radzyminski, 16, of Cleveland, Tenn., who collects
CDs and DVDs and sends them out every week to American soldiers
serving in combat zones. More than 200 organizations across the
country have joined her "Tunes 4 the Troops" campaign, and over
170,000 discs have been shipped to boost the morale of U.S. troops
overseas.

Mark Rinkel, 12, of Aurora, Colo., who raised more than $16,000 to
provide medical service dogs for his little brother and other children
suffering from type I diabetes. To raise the money, he operated a
lemonade stand at community events last summer, and built a Web site
to solicit donations.

Joey Rizzolo, 13, of Paramus, N.J., who organized a "Freedom Walk"
last September that drew more than 450 local residents to join in
remembering the lives lost on 9/11, including many in his own town.
Joey's event also was dedicated to thanking first responders, U.S.
service members and veterans for saving lives and protecting our
freedom.

The national selection committee that chose the ten National
Honorees was co-chaired by U.S. Senators John Kerry of Massachusetts
and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, and Arthur Ryan of Prudential. Also
serving on the committee were actor Richard Dreyfuss; Alma Powell,
chair of the America's Promise Alliance; Michelle Nunn, president and
CEO of the Points of Light & Hands On Network; Amy B. Cohen, director
of Learn and Serve America at the Corporation for National and
Community Service; Kathy Cloninger, CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA;
Donald T. Floyd Jr., president and CEO of National 4-H Council;
Kathryn Forbes, national chair of volunteers, American Red Cross; Neil
Nicoll, president and CEO of YMCA of the USA; Michael Cohen, president
and CEO of Achieve, Inc.; Barry Stark, president of NASSP; and two
2007 Prudential Spirit of Community National Honorees: Kelly Davis of
West Bath, Me., and Kelydra Welcker of Parkersburg, W.Va.

NASSP President Barry Stark said: "The young people in this
country are capable of doing some extraordinary things given the time
and the opportunity. The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards is one
of the great showcases of their amazing acts of kindness and
selflessness. We are pleased to once again join Prudential in honoring
them for their accomplishments."

In addition to the organizations above, The Prudential Spirit of
Community Awards are supported by the American Association of School
Administrators, the National Middle School Association, the National
School Boards Association, the Council of the Great City Schools, the
National School Public Relations Association and many other national
youth and service organizations.

More information about The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards
and this year's honorees can be found at www.prudential.com/spirit or
www.principals.org/prudential.

The National Association of Secondary School Principals - the
preeminent organization and the national voice for middle level and
high school principals, assistant principals and aspiring school
leaders - provides its members with the professional resources to
serve as visionary leaders. NASSP promotes the intellectual growth,
academic achievement, character development, leadership development,
and physical well-being of youth through its programs and student
leadership services. NASSP sponsors the National Honor Society(TM),
the National Junior Honor Society(TM), the National Elementary Honor
Society(TM), and the National Association of Student Councils(TM). For
more information on NASSP, NHS, NJHS, NEHS or NASC, visit
www.principals.org.

Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services
leader with approximately $631 billion of assets under management as
of March 31, 2008, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe,
and Latin America. Leveraging its heritage of life insurance and asset
management expertise, Prudential is focused on helping more than 50
million individual and institutional customers grow and protect their
wealth. The company's well-known Rock symbol is an icon of strength,
stability, expertise and innovation that has stood the test of time.
Prudential's businesses offer a variety of products and services,
including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services,
mutual funds, investment management, and real estate services. For
more information, please visit www.prudential.com.

(Editors: full-color pictures of the Spirit of Community Awards
program logo and medallions are available at
www.prudential.com/spirit.)

Prudential
Harold Banks, 973-802-8974 or 973-216-4833
or
NASSP
Shana Kemp, 703-860-7344
or
On May 5, 8:30 am - 4 pm EDT: 202-955-1155 & -1166

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