Melissa Monette of Mililani was named one of America's top 10 volunteers Monday in a ceremony at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington.

Monette, a 16-year-old Mililani High School student, was selected from a nationwide field of close to 20,000 to win a Prudential Spirit of Community Award.

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 the nonprofit charitable organization of her choice.

Also honored was 13-year-old Kristyn Wong, an eighth-grader at Kaimuki Middle School.

Monette and Wong were named Hawai'i's top youth volunteers in February, and were officially recognized Monday night at the Smithsonian Institution'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, all Prudential Spirit of Community state honorees for 2009 were presented with $1,000 awards and congratulated by former first lady Laura Bush.

Monette founded a nonprofit organization that has provided more than 13,000 pounds of fresh produce and canned goods to low-income elders and homeless people over the past two years.

She became aware of poverty in her community by participating in church, school and Girl Scout programs to aid the needy. But the problem really hit home when her own grandmother turned to a food pantry for help and was denied assistance because she was not homeless.

"It is very difficult and traumatic for (seniors) when they get turned away from nonprofit agencies distributing food because they are not poor enough to qualify," Monette said.

Wong has been a member of the Junior Optimist Club at her school since 2006, and last year was named junior Optimist of the year for the role she played in the club's community service projects.

Wong has visited and entertained nursing home residents, worked at Thanksgiving dinners for seriously ill children and their families, collected food for the Hawaii Foodbank, cleaned up a local park, mopped the deck of the USS Missouri, entertained kids at the Okinawan Festival, and helped raise money for organizations such as Big Brothers/Big Sisters. She also has recruited other students to join the club, and assists her club's adult adviser in planning club events.

Applications for the 2009 awards program were submitted last fall through schools, Girl Scout councils, county 4-H organizations, American Red Cross chapters, YMCAs and affiliates of the Points of Light Institute's HandsOn Network.

State honorees were flown to Washington with their parents for four days of special recognition events.