Cadet Evelio Ruiz receives the Cadet Humanitarian Award from Col. William DeMaso, Moody Air Force Base Vice Wing Commander on May 4, 2010 at Lowndes High School. Ruiz received the award, the third highest a Junior ROTC member can obtain, after collecting items to send to Haiti following the earthquake.

Lowndes High School senior Evelio Ruiz helped provide aid to Haiti following the devastating January earthquake.

On May 4, Ruiz was honored for his work and dedication when he received the Cadet Humanitarian Award through the Air Force Junior ROTC, the third highest honor that can be conveyed to a cadet.

In January, when Ruiz began hearing about the earthquake, he began collecting personal hygiene items, canned food and other necessities that persons would need following a disaster, Ruiz said.

Though he got help from Lowndes High School students, community support and his ROTC commanders, Ruiz said the outreach was more Christian in nature than military support.

“I feel that we are all brothers and sisters under God and I thought it would be like helping my family,” Ruiz said. “They needed help. They still need all the help that they can get.”

The 18 year-old did help by collecting several tons of items that he sorted and loaded onto the trucks. Ruiz and his mother then drove the supplies to Miami, where they were placed on a ship and then a plane before making it to Haiti, Ruiz said.

The third-year cadet did not believe his actions were above and beyond what anyone else would do, so he was surprised on Tuesday evening when  Col. William DeMaso, Moody Air Force Base vice wing commander, presented him with the Cadet Humanitarian Award.

“I didn’t think I had really earned it at the time,” Ruiz said. “If something like that happened to us, we would want some kind of help as well.”

This was Ruiz’s first foray into humanitarian relief, he said.

Major Norene Olsen, Air Force Junior ROTC instructor, helped Ruiz send out emails to drum up support and was also the one who wrote to the national organization about Ruiz’s work.

Master Sgt. Bruce Minnick, Air Force Junior ROTC instructor, said the Cadet Humanitarian Award is the highest honor ever conveyed to a cadet in the history of the unit at Lowndes High School.

After graduating, Ruiz plans to enlist in the United States Air Force, where he hopes to eventually get into the field of air rescue, he said.

Being a part of the ROTC unit at Lowndes High School has changed his life, Ruiz said.

“Before entering ROTC, I was a bad kid. My only goal in life was to get into trouble,” Ruiz said.

At the urging of his sister, who was involved in another ROTC unit, Ruiz decided to join the Air Force Junior ROTC at Lowndes High School.

Through the program, he has learned leadership skills and it has taught him the importance of not getting into trouble just to attract attention, he said.

“It’s taught me to try and do good things instead of doing bad things,” Ruiz said.