2017 Person of the Year

Thomas Gansel

Finalist

Thomas lived in New Jersey for most of his life with his dad, mom and brother. Thomas also has extended family in Texas and Virginia. 

He was made aware of service from the Red Cross, Salvation Army and Catholic Charities when their house was flooded in 1999 by Hurricane Floyd. They were there right away to help them when they lost everything.  

He spent most of his school years in parochial school. He went to a private Catholic High School called Immaculata in Somerville, NJ where he graduated in 2010. His love for community service started there. Throughout his high school years he volunteered at spaghetti dinners with an organization called SHIP and he food shopped for the elderly.  He got involved with the Rotary Club of Dunellen-Green Brook, NJ, through his mother, who was very involved with the club and she even served as president one year. 

During this period, he learned and embraced the motto, “Service Above Self.” He attended many meetings, helped with many fundraisers and attended four Rotary District 7510 Conferences where he met many Rotarians  and was exposed to the needs of people not just from New Jersey and the United States, but from all over the world. 

He moved to Pennsylvania in 2010, two years after his father died. He started school at Marywood University in the fall of 2010 and got involved with Campus Ministry right away. He helped with many projects that helped younger kids such as Fall Fest and Kidstuff. He helped at the St Francis of Assisi Soup Kitchen and helped with cleaning out homes that were flooded by hurricanes. He walked dogs with the Griffin Pond Animal Shelter. The biggest project that he did in Marywood was his service trip to Biloxi, Mississippi, in 2013, where he went with a team and we helped paint and put down flooring for new homes they were still rebuilding from Katrina.

Fast forwarding to 2017, he started to get involved with the Monroe County Young Democrats and joined their Civic Action Committee to which he was later appointed Chair. One of the projects he researched was the Bushkill Reformed Church’s Community Dinner on Thursdays  from 5-7pm. When he first arrived, the other volunteers made me feel very welcomed he knew he wanted to keep doing this on a weekly basis. He did whatever they need him to do and they are a great group of volunteers. He never realized the amount of people who need a hot meal in Middle Smithfield and other neighboring townships. One of the things he is trying to accomplish is leading by example so that others, mainly young people, will do the same. Hopefully the future will hold more ways for him to serve.