Giving From The Heart

Editor's Note: David Brock, senior at Prescott High School is one of four recipients of this year's Times Community Service Scholarships, which contributes $500 to each of the recipients' higher education expenses.

PRESCOTT - For David Brock, making a difference in the lives of others started in childhood.

His late grandmother, Klara Walthew, and his mom Michelle would pick a family to "adopt" every year for Christmas, preparing numerous presents of toys, clothes and food for the household.

Choosing from a list of families in need, Walthew would always pick the largest, Brock recalls. Once it was a household of eight.

What he remembers best is the excitement he felt around his own family's farm house near Clyde when everyone was preparing the anonymous charitable gifts for donation. He cared far less about his own booty under the tree than the anticipation of the recipients' reaction to the gifts, which his own family would hear about through the school district afterwards.

He discovered early on how rewarding it is to give.

"My grandmother always used to tell us to be happy with what you have because there's always someone worse off than you," the Prescott High School senior said. "I'm a firm believer in making things better than you find them."

Brock, one of four winners of the Times Community Service Scholarship this year, certainly has, according to those who recommended him for the scholarship.

" David is a leader on campus, in the classroom, on the athletic field and in our community," Prescott High Superintendent Dr. Bill Jordan wrote about Brock in a letter of recommendation.

Many WP fans know Brock, who was selected to the All Conference Football Team, foremost as a dedicated athlete, contributing to the Cardinals football and basketball teams, and to the Tigers baseball team. Local sports boosters are well aware of his many hours spent helping run the concession stand, raise money for youth sports activities, paint ball fields, resurrect the Tigers' "Fang & Claw" (Lettermen's) Club, and participate in Jump Rope For Heart.

"Over the years, I've had the pleasure of watching David develop into a committed and goal-oriented young man," wrote Ross Hamann, president of the Waitsburg Booster Club.

What area residents may not know about Brock are his many other community activities.

Just a few weeks ago, he received his certification as a volunteer fire fighter for Fire District #2. As a member of the National Honor Society, he initiated a local food drive last year that brought in nearly 750 items distributed just before Christmas the Prescott Lions Club.

"Leadership and integrity are qualities David demonstrates every day," Jordan wrote. "They are an important part of his character and because of the way David conducts himself, he has an important impact in Prescott High School."

For three years, Brock was a DARE program role model, helping local law enforcement officials with anti-drugs classroom presentations. He has been involved with SADD blood drivers for the Red Cross, helped organize a math-a-ton to raise funds for cancer research at St. Jude Hospital, participated in Relay For Life and prepared meals for the homeless in Walla Walla with senior teammates from the Cardinals football team.

"I feel that the most meaningful community service project I participated in this year was Relay For Life," Brock wrote in his application essay. "I lost my grandmother to cancer this year and she was a very important part of my life, so it felt good to be able to help someone else."

Like many teenagers in the Touchet Valley, Brock grew up working harvest on the farm, which his father runs as part of a family partnership. But around the house, the Prescott senior was raised helping out more than the average youngster.

Brock, his older brother and his parents were in their car together when a drunk driver struck their vehicle, leaving his mother disabled and the two older men with lingering back problems. He was only 5 at the time.

Brock himself came away relatively unscathed though for years he had a burn mark from the seatbelt that locked.

"I was pretty young when it happened," he said. "But because of the accident, I like to live life to the fullest."

That life will lead him to Walla Walla Community College for welding classes after summer, then perhaps into the windmill technicians program at the college. In any case, he plans to continue volunteering for community causes.

"I've witnessed a lot of people who needed a lot of things," he said. "I just like doing my part to help them."

We want to wish David our best in his professional and volunteer careers, as we recognize him as a gift to his community who keeps on giving.

The Staff of the Waitsburg Times: Imbert Matthee, Norma Bessey, Bob Nowell and Tracy Daniel.