Our Impact

Since its inception in 2002, the Maverick Foundation has positively impacted the community through providing educational scholarships to young people who commit to volunteer work with various local organizations. Their public service work is tied in with the Congressional Award program, which recognizes them for setting and achieving goals. These three major components come together to define the essence of what we do.

Scholarships Granted

Since 2002, The Maverick Foundation has awarded $619,840 in scholarships to ninety-three recipients and have committed $147,250 for the next four years. We awarded $23,000 in 2024 and $33,000 in 2025. We currently have twenty-eight active scholarship recipients including six new rising stars who recently joined our team. Scholarships are incentive based with each having a maximum value of $7,000. Recipients are required to achieve the Congressional Award Bronze Medal by December of their Sophomore Year ($1,000), the Silver Medal by December of their Junior Year ($1,000), and the Gold Medal by December of their Senior Year ($2,000). An annual $750 scholarship is awarded for the four years based on consistent progress towards each medal level.

To help us continue this growth, consider making a donation to the foundation.

The Maverick Foundation - Venn Diagram

Scholarship recipients Sophia Desantis, Gabriella Peragine, Annie Falcone, Alexis Vautrinot, Nicole Falanga, and Jason Anderson.

Scholarship recipients Mackenzie Schaming, Erin Schaming, and Lily Ahlborn.

Community Service Commitments

Just as we have grown our scholarship program, our youth participants—including a few who are not scholarship recipients—have increased their community impact through volunteer hours completed. In a single year, our volunteers collectively give up to approximately 2,000 hours of their time to support local organizations. So far they have logged 11,700 hours in community service work, and this number continues to rise.

Our program strengthens cooperation in the community as well, as our scholarship recipients have worked with a diverse array of community groups and activities over the years. Organizations our scholarship recipients have volunteered with include:

  • Autism Walks
  • Beach Clean-ups
  • Bread of Life
  • Breast Cancer Walks
  • Brotherhood for the Fallen
  • Clove Lakes Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center
  • DKMS
  • Friends of Staten Island
  • Grace Foundation
  • Great Kills Little League
  • Hearing Our Heroes
  • Knights of Columbus
  • Ladies for Charity
  • Little Free Library
  • Meals on Wheels
  • Michael J. Vesci Foundation
  • Mid-Hudson Valley Association for People with Disabilities
  • Moore Cares for toiletry drives & food drives, collecting school supplies, and turkey packing
  • New York City Fire Museum
  • Polar Bear Plunges
  • Project Hospitality
  • Society of St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry
  • South Shore Community Pantry
  • Staten Island Giving Circle
  • Staten Island Community Gardens
  • Staten Island Moravian Cemetery
  • Sunrise Assisted Living Facility
  • Tunnel to Towers Foundation
  • Westerleigh Little League
  • Where to Turn
  • Staten Island Monuments
  • Staten Island Zoo
  • Blackburn Family Cancer Foundation
  • Operation Gratitude
  • American Cancer Society
  • Michael J. Vesci Foundation
  • Holy Family Basketball Club
  • Emergency Children’s Help Organization (ECHO)
  • Achilles International

Congressional Awards Earned

All of our youth participants’ hard work has not gone unrecognized. They participate in the Congressional Award program, offered by the U.S. Congress, in which young people set their own goals and earn medals for realizing them.

So far, our rising stars have been awarded 48 gold medals, 58 silver medals, and 69 bronze medals through the Congressional Award Foundation. Each medal level involves creating goals in four major areas: public service work, personal development, physical activity, and exploration. For more details about our participation in the Congressional Award program, see this article.

Medal Presentation 2024

Congressional Award recipients with Rep. Nicole Malliotakis in 2024.

The Maverick Foundation congratulates the following medal earners on their latest accomplishments:

  • Danielle McLaughlin – Gold 2006
  • Mary-Kate Rose – Gold 2009
  • Christina Borovilas – Gold 2009
  • Kathleen Brim – Gold 2010
  • Joseph Plescia – Gold 2011
  • Michelle DeTomaso – Gold 2012
  • Victoria Vega – Gold 2014
  • Jessica Halter – Gold 2014
  • Jordan Marino – Gold 2015
  • Ryan Buraus – Gold 2015
  • Sarah Primiano – Gold 2016
  • Thomas Walsh – Gold 2016
  • James Borovilas – Gold 2016
  • Genevieve Bruen – Gold 2017
  • Santo Tiralosi – Gold 2017
  • Kristen Blanchard – Gold 2018
  • Frank Pizzella – Gold 2018
  • Peter Rotondo – Gold 2018
  • Madison Gorman – Gold 2019
  • Hannah Nyquist – Gold 2019
  • Kristen Brennan – Gold 2019
  • Jacqueline Sutera – Gold 2019
  • Kaitlyn Gullickson – Silver 2009
  • Vincent McLaughlin – Silver 2009
  • John Borovilas – Silver 2014
  • Christopher Clancy – Silver 2018
  • Emilie Lauria – Silver 2018
  • Jenna Carrera – Bronze 2017
  • Julia Calvo – Bronze 2018
  • Alana Genovese – Bronze 2018
  • Nicholas Wilson – Bronze 2018
  • Sophia Baldassarre – Bronze 2019
  • Amanda Fede – Bronze 2019
  • Patrick Golding – Bronze 2019
  • Sean Keag – Bronze 2019
  • Hailey Nyquist – Bronze 2019
  • Jason Mora – Bronze 2019
  • Francesca Pascale – Bronze 2019
  • Grace Schaaff – Bronze 2019
  • Sydney Xhunga – Bronze 2019
  • Meghan Leonard – Bronze 2019
Lily Ahlborn & Talia Lioce

Lily Ahlborn, Erin Schaming, and Talia Lioce with their envelopes at the Annual Maverick Foundation Picnic 2024

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Thank you for everything you do with The Maverick Foundation and for being such an amazing mentor for Talia. You have pushed her to be her best and to always think of ways to help others.”

– The Lioce Family

Click here to learn more about our rising stars and how they feel about the program.