A 17-year-old Pleasant Unity Volunteer Fire Department member is the latest Distinguished Youth Award recipient.

Todd Frye Jr. applied to serve as a junior firefighter two years ago, and received the award and accompanying gift certificate at a recent Unity supervisors meeting.

Frye, who said he was inspired by his dad to become a member of the department, has been involved in multiple programs and training opportunities since joining and has amassed about 93 hours of experience.

Frye also works on the family farm, Pleasant Lane Farm & Creamery, and is an active responder when not in class at Greater Latrobe Senior High School. He is a member of the National Honor Society at the high school and at the Eastern Westmoreland Career and Technology Center.

Frye plans to enlist in the Marine Corps after graduation and is enrolled in a prerequisite program, which he will complete in his senior year.

“It is so tremendous to hear about the youth of today,” said board of supervisors Chairman Mike O’Barto. “When people say, ‘They don’t make kids the way they used to,’ I always say that they make them better.”

Supervisors previously honored the two additional recipients, Paisley Vrable, 6, and Allison Thunberg, 12.

A local Girl Scout, Vrable set up a stand at her family’s restaurant, Falbo’s Rainbow Inn, to collect nonperishable food to be distributed to those in need.

She also collected personal care items for children who are in foster care through Latrobe’s Adelphoi organization.

Working with her church, the Free Methodist Church of Greensburg, Thunberg spearheaded a food drive that collected 378 pounds of nonperishable items to benefit the homeless and others in need in Westmoreland and Allegheny counties.

Building on that initiative, she created a checklist of items that interested participants could shop for and donate during several weeks beginning last fall and continuing into January.

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