Montage Hotels & Resorts Announces Winners Of Fourth Annual Montage Memory Makers Contest

ORANGE COUNTY, Calif., Jan. 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Montage Hotels & Resorts announces the winners of its fourth annual Montage Memory Makers contest, awarding five young humanitarians from across the nation with a $10,000 scholarship. Celebrating leadership, ingenuity and service, the Montage Memory Makers contest recognizes teens between the ages of 13 – 17 years old who are impacting their communities, inspiring their peers and making the world a better place.   

During the two month submission round, Montage Hotels & Resorts received entries from young community leaders across the country. The five humanitarians selected for their commitment to service are:

- Corinne Hindes, San Diego, CALIF. – Six years ago, Corinne realized that unclaimed lost-and-found items at ski resorts and surrounding areas can help provide today's homeless population with warm clothing, resulting in the creation of Warm Winters. A frequent ski racer, Corinne quickly secured four ski resort partners for Warm Winters, eventually taking her mission nation-wide with 32 ski resort partners to-date. Warm Winters has donated over 32,500 items of warm clothing and toiletries to over 22,000 members of the homeless population, resulting in a total community impact of over $900,000 and growing. Corinne projects that by 2020, Warm Winters will train 3,000 youth to help 50,000 homeless across America.

- Will Lourcey, Fort Worth, TX.– Since creating FROGs (Friends Reaching Our Goals) at age seven, Will Lourcey has inspired his peers to join together to make a positive impact on their community while having fun at the same time. FROGs is a non-profit organization committed to ending hunger. Will has engaged his community through charitable initiatives including Score on Hunger where young athletes recruit sponsors to pledge donations of at least $1 or a food item for every goal, run, or point scored during a game, as well as FROGs Dinner Club which brings together children from underprivileged neighborhoods for a dinner party followed by a service project. FROGs has provided over 500,000 meals, engaged thousands of volunteers and helped provide over 80,000 food bags to children in need.

- Isabel Janavs, Orange County, CALIF. – Through The Candy Palace, Isabel uses her creativity and passion to feed people in need. Inspired to give back after vising the Second Harvest Food Bank in her hometown, Isabel went on to write and publish a charitable book, Izzy and The Candy Palace, which has raised over $274,000 and provided over 771,000 meals to her community. To further expand upon The Candy Palace's success, Isabel opened Izzy's Corner at the food bank for children volunteers, garnering over 6,000 volunteer hours to-date, raising over $17,000 from selling color boxes in the shape of Candy Castles, and inspiring five more children's books for charity. 

- Olivia D. Wright, Hendersonville, TENN. – At age seven, Olivia discovered her passion for volunteering and by age nine, Olivia began H.U.G.S - Help Us Give Shoes, a charity dedicated to giving shoes to children in need. Since its inception, H.U.G.S has provided over 100,000 pairs of shoes to children all over the world – from Washington D.C. to Africa. Currently Olivia is helping to build an orphanage in India, H.U.G.S FORTHWARD HOME, and she has no plans of slowing down on her mission to "Shoe the World."

- Ariana Luterman, Dallas, TX. – Ariana combined her three passions – triathlons, empowering others and helping homeless children to create Team Ariana. Leveraging her triathlon races to make a positive impact, Team Ariana has helped over 5,000 homeless children and raised over $150,000 for Vogal Alcove, a local early childhood education program dedicated to supporting children from homeless families in Dallas. Team Ariana has also raised over $200,000 for various charities and causes supporting hunger, veterans and animals. Ariana is driven and passionate about giving back to children and those in need, and continues to inspire those around her and change lives.

"Montage Hotels & Resorts is passionate about making a positive impact on our local, national and international communities," said Montage Hotels & Resorts' Founder and CEO Alan J. Fuerstman. "These five winners have all displayed their drive for humanitarianism, and are great examples of what can be accomplished through hard work and determination. Through the Montage Memory Makers scholarship, we are proud to have awarded $200,000 over the last four years to young humanitarians across the country."

Individuals were judged on the following criteria: 1) Ongoing community service or volunteering efforts, 2) Achievements that have made a meaningful impact in their community or beyond, and 3) How their community service inspires others. In order to be considered, young humanitarians from across the country uploaded a three-hundred (300) word essay, and submitted additional material detailing how they inspire and provide service to their communities.  

The judging panel was comprised of diverse and accomplished individuals including Alan J. Fuerstman, Founder & CEO of Montage Hotels & Resorts; Brad Meltzer, #1 New York Times bestselling author & Montage Hotels & Resorts Literary Ambassador; Kelly Sawyer Patricof and Norah Weinstein, Co-Presidents, Baby2Baby; and Sid Espinosa, Director of Philanthropy + Civic Engagement, Microsoft.

Each of the five winners will receive a $10,000 scholarship towards an accredited college or university and a two-night stay at one of the Montage properties in the Continental U.S., including Montage Beverly Hills, Montage Laguna Beach, Montage Deer Valley and Montage Palmetto Bluff. Lastly, all winners will be featured in the spring issue of Montage Magazine.

For more information, please visit www.montagehotels.com.

About Montage Hotels & Resorts                                                                                        
Montage Hotels & Resorts is a hotel and resort management company founded by Alan J. Fuerstman. Designed to serve the luxury traveler and homeowner, the company features an artistic collection of distinctive hotels, resorts and residences in stunning settings that offer comfortable elegance, a unique sense of place and spirit, impeccable hospitality and memorable culinary, spa and lifestyle experiences. The portfolio of hotels, resorts and residences includes Montage Laguna Beach, Montage Beverly Hills, Montage Deer Valley, Montage Kapalua Bay, Montage Palmetto Bluff, and opening in 2018, Montage Los Cabos. In 2014, the company launched Pendry Hotels, a new luxury brand that will be each destination's most inspired guest house. Pendry San Diego and Sagamore Pendry Baltimore will open early 2017. In addition, the company also operates some of the country's premiere golf courses, including Spanish Peaks Mountain Club in Big Sky, Montana and The May River Golf Club in Bluffton, South Carolina. For more information, please visit www.montagehotels.com.

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SOURCE Montage Hotels & Resorts