BRIAN ORLOFF

A senior at Palm Harbor University High School, Brian M. Orloff began his volunteer service with The Hospice of the Florida Sun Coast when he was 13 years old. Working with patients and families, he has been a teen mentor for Hospice’s sibling support groups. He is founder, writer and editor-in-chief of Inside HTV, an in-house student publication for the Hospice Teen Volunteer program. As such, he is responsible for the success of the articles and graphics in the publication, ensuring that they are timely and meaningful. Under his direction, an online version of the publication has been developed and distributed to teens in the program. The newsletter, featured on the Hospice Web site, allows readers across the country to become familiar with the efforts and contributions of teens.

Brian’s work has been published in The St. Petersburg Times and he has attended a variety of outreach programs focusing on teens’ work with The Hospice. His work with the Lifetime Legacies program involves recording patients’ memories on video, in photo journals or on audiotapes. These special projects provide the opportunity for patients to discover new meaning and purpose in their lives and represent enduring gifts of a lifetime for surviving friends and family members.

Through Brian’s leadership, teen volunteers have had the opportunity to meet hospice patients and families and to gain understanding of the importance of living each day to the fullest. The stories the hospice patients tell provide Brian the foundation for the articles he contributes to the newsletter.

Enrolled in the International Baccalaureate high school program, Brian maintains a grade point average in the honors range, while devoting his free time to hospice patients and their families.