The Robinson-Appel Humanitarian Awards recognize and honor undergraduate students who have had significant involvement in community engagement by providing support for their projects, which address a community’s social needs or problems.
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Melody Welles, a human development major in the College of Human Ecology, was motivated by her experience in the child welfare system to found a local support group for foster children and adoptees. Starting this spring, the Ithaca Adoptive and Foster Youth Support Group will provide a safe environment for foster and adoptive youth between the ages of two and seven to play and form lasting connections with each other.

Welles — who has previously guided adopted children through the Cross-Cultural Adoptee Mentorship Program at Cornell — plans to lead the children in group and individual activities intended to support them in working through any trauma they may have experienced. She is also partnering with the Adoptive and Foster Family Coalition of New York, which she hopes will, over time, help her create similar groups across the state and beyond.