The Amazing Isabella

It’s not every day that a special needs student in Connecticut receives recognition from the President of the United States.

More unlikely still: a presidential award-winner who lives above a Vernon soup kitchen – a place where she volunteers every day, and where she’s likely to work when she turns 18.

Isabella Kirchmeier, 17, a sophomore at EASTCONN’s Educational and Vocational Center (EVC) in Columbia, amassed enough volunteer hours last year – roughly 252 – to receive the President’s Gold Volunteer Service Award and a letter from President Biden.

“Izzy is a student who brings a smile and life to the building,” said EVC Principal Gregory Biggs. “She is always looking to connect with others and share her positive outlook. She is quick to share her art, poetry, or exciting news with students and staff alike.”

Jennifer adopted Izzy when she was three years old, then quickly became a single mother. As a young child, Isabella went without a lot of things other kids take for granted.

Izzy’s volunteer service mostly took place at the Cornerstone Foundation, a faith-based, non-profit organization based in Rockville, Connecticut that employs her mother.

“[Izzy] helped me start the diaper bank, and once we got it up and running, she took over,” said Jennifer Kirchmeier, Isabella’s mother and a case worker and shelter coordinator at Cornerstone. “Every single Friday she is there to hand out diapers when she gets home from school.”

Handing out diapers, wipes and occasionally food to needy families, handling truck deliveries and stocking shelves with needed items is a pretty big production. But Izzy greets all the families with a smile and helps them however she can.

It’s also a far cry from what Jennifer thought was possible for Izzy; early on, a psychologist predicted she would “be one of the kids that ended up in a mental hospital wearing a white coat, that she wouldn't amount to anything,” Jennifer said. “For a long time, I believed that: this poor kid is never going to get anywhere in life. And now, she's been recognized by a presidential award.”

“That’s how we knew about Cornerstone, because we came to their clothing bank and we came to the soup kitchen,” Jennifer said. “I told her how when I was younger, I stayed in the homeless shelter because I didn't have somewhere to live. So, she knows the system and how it works. She knows how homeless people have to get into the shelters.”

This isn’t Izzy’s first trip to the awards podium. Last year, she participated in the CT Miss Amazing Pageant for young girls with special needs, won the junior teen division and made the trip to nationals, where she won the National Impact Award for her volunteerism.

While other contestants prepared a song or dance routine or showed their artwork, Izzy’s 90-second speech was a presentation on her work at the diaper bank and giving back in her community.

“Izzy will give back anytime,” Jennifer said. “Even when she’s having a bad day, it’ll turn her right around to help them, to carry a bag for them from the clothing bank to their car, or help somebody get food from the pantry or the soup kitchen, whether it's a kid, an adult, an old person, somebody who’s intoxicated: she doesn’t care. It’s really inspiring to me that, even with everything she's been through, she still wants to help other people.”