Teenager’s volunteer work is centered on helping fellow students focus on education

By Andrea Domanick

Sunday, March 1, 2015 | 2 a.m.

While most teens strap on backpacks and hit the hallways begrudgingly each September, back-to-school season always has been a favorite time of year for Landrey Fulmer.

Every year since seventh grade, the UNLV freshman has busied herself helping HopeLink, a housing and family support nonprofit, gather and prepare back-to-school care packages for local children in need.

“I like knowing they’ll go back to school focusing on their education, rather than what they might lack compared to the student next to them,” Fulmer said. “It feels good to send them back with what I would want to be able to go back to school with.”

Fulmer’s work with HopeLink is part of the more than 1,000 hours of local charity work she has done over the past five years. Community outreach has been a part of her life since she was 12 years old, when she began volunteering with her mother, Betsy, through the Green Valley chapter of the National Charity League, an organization that encourages mothers and daughters to volunteer together.

But what started as a mother-daughter activity became a critical anchor in Fulmer’s life.

In 2011, a cheerleading accident led to three traumatic head injuries that forced her to give up activities she loved — cheer, track, dance and piano. With damage to her concentration and memory, schoolwork became a daunting dask.

“I was the person who needed four more hours in a day to complete my schedule,” Fulmer said.

As her skills returned over a nearly two-year recovery process, the first activity Fulmer was able to return to was volunteer work. The transition wasn’t easy, and Fulmer said she initially was preoccupied with what she was unable to do compared with people around her. But the work quickly helped center her and restore her motivation to recover.

“It was a long chunk of high school, but in that time, I was able to turn to other people who had bigger problems than me,” Fulmer said. “So it really helped me find focus.”

Others took notice of her commitment. Last March, Fulmer was flown to Washington, D.C., as one of two Nevada teens to be recognized with a national Prudential Spirit of Community Award. She received $1,000 and networked with like-minded teen volunteers from across the country.

Fulmer described the experience as “transformative.” Now, she’s working to help her fellow award-winners bring their projects for special needs children to Nevada.

At UNLV, she plans to pursue a psychology degree and hopes to become a child psychologist.

“I’m ready to work more than I ever have before,” Fulmer said. “Since fifth grade, this has been my goal. However I need to get there, I will work to get there.”​