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SCHENECTADY COUNTY
Five win awards from rights panel Recipients commended for selflessness

BY MICHAEL LAMENDOLA Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Michael Lamendola at 395-3114 or lamend@dailygazette.com

    Volunteerism comes easy to Julian Burnet, this year’s winner of the Individual Award given by the Human Rights Commission of Schenectady County during its 25th annual awards breakfast.
    Burnet was one of five people recognized by the commission in four categories: Individual, Group, Youth and Justice.
    Burnet, 38, has spent the last 26 years helping the poor, working to promote awareness of HIV and AIDS and helping teach tolerance of people with alternate sexual orientations.
    The county Humans Rights Commission said “Julian has selflessly given his time, energy, ideas and money to causes that he is passionate about. He is truly a model of compassion and inclusion of all people.”
    Burnet is a second-year student at Schenectady County Community College, majoring in humanities and social sciences. He plans to transfer to UAlbany to obtain a degree in teaching.
    Burnet is president of SCCC’s Pride Alliance Club, which he helped restart in 2006. The inclusive club seeks to raise awareness of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community both on campus and elsewhere.
    “We have students who are members of the community. Our goal is to make the community a safe place for all students regardless of sexual preference or gender and to provide information on safe sex, HIV testing and on tolerance,” Burnet said.
    He also works with organizations to assist the people of Haiti, one of the world’s poorest countries. “We bring knowledge about conditions in the country and what people can do to assist people in Haiti,” he said.
    He has visited Haiti several times. On his most recent trip he and others donated money and personal care items to an orphanage.
    As a 12-year-old, Burnet got his start as a volunteer, helping at a local community soup kitchen in his hometown in New Hampshire. “It is something that has always been inside of me. I have always enjoyed meeting new people and I just get a great deal of joy in helping others,” he said.
    When he came to Albany in 2000 from New Hampshire, he volunteered at the Treasure Chest Thrift Store, a drop-in resource center for people with HIV and AIDS and their friends and loved ones. He volunteered six years.
    About winning the award, Burnet said “it has inspired me to do all that I can do.”
MANY HELP
    Zachary Palombo and Jonathan Lajas received the Youth Award. Palombo was recognized for his work with the Hamilton Hill Arts Center’s Juneteenth Committee, which planned a celebration to commemorate the end of slavery in this country, and for his work with Voices of Promise, a local public access cable show for teens. He also helped coordinate two youth missions to New Orleans to work with Habitat for Humanity.
    Lajas is co-founder of Young Voters. The non-partisan group promotes political awareness among youth and encourages voter registration in the Capital Region, especially among low-income groups and minorities. He has given presentations at SCCC and served last year as president of the Black and Latino Student Alliance.
    The Group Award went to Father Time. The service provides support to fathers and their families, and it also helps them find housing and employment, obtain education and with legal assistance. It organized a fathers’ march following the death of a young man at Jerry Burrell Park, a Fathers Time Summit and the annual Father’s Day picnic.
    Family Court Judge Jo Anne Assini received the Justice Award. She was recognized for presiding over the highly specialized Family Treatment and Juvenile Treatment courts, and helping hundreds of adults and teens better their lives.