Making a difference

Moorestown residents Saima Bhutta and Neeka Vojdani were recognized for their outstanding acts of community service and volunteerism at the 2024 New Jersey State Governor’s Volunteerism Awards Ceremony on June 9.

The awards recognize outstanding individuals in New Jersey who complete remarkable service and there are several categories to be recognized in. Many individuals from across the state are nominated and selection is very competitive. The awards are signed by Gov. Phil Murphy and Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way.

Bhutta received the 2024 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Champion for Justice Medallion. Witnessing the need for cultural understanding after 9/11, she founded organizations to bridge gaps between communities, including the Pakistan American Society of South Jersey and the Muslim Federation of South Jersey.

In her role as co-founder and chairperson of the organization United We Serve, she has had a lasting impact on supporting causes like food insecurity and advocating for minorities and women’s rights.

“My only recognition is that if I get things done, as a result of that volunteer effort that I make, that is my reward, to tell you the truth, that is genuinely what I really feel,” Bhutta said. “If somebody sees me and they recognize me, that is, I think, amazing … Part of what I can correlate to my life’s work is that I always try to bring minorities to the forefront and the limelight, which is very important to me … That is basically the goal, to bring everybody together.

“That is my life’s goal, to make sure that we all work to make a difference in the community.”

Vojdani, a rising junior at Moorestown High, earned the 2024 Youth in Service Medallion. She has chaired Soup for the Soul, a nonprofit that fights food insecurity, for two years, and is the publicity chair for Period at Moorestown, which collects menstrual products for people in period poverty and eradicates period sigma.

Vojdani also serves as president of the class of 2026, is an art and tennis coach, and is a member of the town library’s teen advisory board.

“I was really honored to be recognized with this, because serving others is my passion and I love to give back to the community, and that’s just something I like to do during my free time (and) over my summers,” Vojdani noted. “When I was recognized, I definitely felt really honored and really happy, but also I thought it was really kind of the people who work on this council, along with the governor, to have this organization to recognize the large number of people who volunteer throughout the state of New Jersey.

“And it was a huge honor to be picked as the one person representing all of these people.”

The New Jersey State Governor’s Volunteerism Awards has honored hundreds of groups and individuals statewide for exemplary volunteer efforts, according to its website. The awards are a partnership between the Governor’s Office of Volunteerism, NJ Advance Media, The New Jersey Governor’s Advisory Council on Volunteerism and the New Jersey Volunteer Generation Fund.

More than 300 medals were awarded in the state between 2007 and 2022, along with hundreds of certificates. Moorestown resident Brandon Pugh serves as a board member and gubernatorial appointee of the governor’s volunteerism council, which helps administer the awards.

“I think every state is proud of their volunteer activities, but in New Jersey specifically, the amount of volunteers we have and the hours and then the resulting impact they have economically is really unparalleled,” Pugh explained. “Perhaps there’s other states that come close, but New Jersey is really an outlier in my opinion …

“Every year, I’m really just amazed by what people are doing,” he added, “and they have no expectation of getting anything in return, so I think the recognition is just a bonus for them. But that’s not why they went into it, so it’s really just inspiring.”

To view the 2024 ceremony, visit www.nj governor’s awards.com.