Madison Troha
Juniata College
Madison has a passion for others that is rare and brings an enterprising and collaborative approach to community engagement. At 20 years old, Madison officially founded the non-profit community organization “ACT," Achieving Community Together. As founder and president of ACT, she has brought much joy to the youngest citizens of the Huntingdon County community by providing summer camps scholarships to local youth, organizing a summer reading program, and coordinating "Project Joy" to ensure that children receive Christmas gifts, with the motto, “something they want, something they need, and something to read.” Not only does Madison raise the funds and coordinate the camp applications and registration, she also ensures that each recipient has a ride to and from camp, as well as provides any equipment or supplies necessary. Furthermore, she has invested hours of time into wrapping and delivering gifts, and coordinating volunteers. ACT has achieved great success by bringing various elements of the Juniata College and Huntingdon communities together to serve the greater good. This is just one of the many ways that Madison Troha has been a change-maker and problem-solver in the community. Her energy for this philanthropic and direct service work is boundless.
Personal Statement
I began volunteering in my community at a local after-school program in an economically disadvantaged region in 2014 and I immediately found my passion for service. Over the years I’ve engaged in my community in various ways and done extensive research, striving to figure out how best to alleviate poverty in our community. I found that providing opportunities for our youth and helping them with the resources that most people take for granted has been the most effective way to make a difference and to positively impact families. In February of 2019, I started the nonprofit, ACT (Achieving Community Together) which allowed many of our projects to continue to grow. Over the past few years, I have been able to raise over $20,000 in cash and donations which has supported student scholarships for summer camps, a Summer Reading Program, as well as Project Joy, in which ACT has provided food and gifts to 317 local children in an attempt to ease the financial burdens that the holidays often bring. Most of ACT’s projects are intentionally designed to bring diverse volunteers together in hopes of discovering the common passion of philanthropy and community.
