'Passion for making a difference' - young volunteer honored with Wheeling award

The Daily Herald featured an article about Maya S., who upkeeps a little free pantry outside the Indian Trails Library, and recently won the 2025 George Hieber Citizenship Award.

Wheeling resident Maya Schaab fills up the small pantry she and her dad built for the Indian Trails Library in 2023.

A 10-year-old Wheeling girl with a penchant for community service projects is the village’s newest citizen of the year.

Maya Schaab, a fifth-grader at Tarkington Elementary School, received the 2025 George Hieber Citizenship Award during Monday’s village board meeting. She’s the youngest person to receive the award.

“Maya Schaab shows great compassion towards others and makes Wheeling a better, safer, and kinder place to live,” the village proclamation recognizing Maya reads.

Starting when she was 5, Maya has celebrated her birthday each year with a different community project. That’s included collecting school supplies for kids in Wheeling Township; creating birthday boxes containing cake mix, candles and sprinkles for local senior citizens; and, with her father, building a small, free pantry outside the Indian Trails Public Library in Wheeling for people who are struggling and need food or personal care products.

That pantry has been an ongoing concern for Maya since it was installed near the library’s drive-through lane in 2023. Maya regularly visits the pantry — which resembles many of the house-shaped Little Free Library book exchanges that can be found across the suburbs — to keep it stocked with canned goods and other items.

Last year, Maya organized a board game drive for Advocate Children’s Hospital in Park Ridge and delivered 130 games, including Sorry!, Uno, Candyland, Monopoly.

“Being in the hospital is not a fun thing,” Maya told the Daily Herald in a telephone interview Tuesday. “Playing a game can take your mind off it for a little bit.”

Maya said she hasn’t yet decided what to do for her 2025 project.

Maya’s parents, Olivia and Matt Schaab, were in the boardroom for Monday’s award presentation, as were her teachers. Her parents joined Maya and Village President Pat Horcher for photos at the dais.

“This award is such an honor,” Olivia Schaab said Tuesday. “We are very proud of Maya and her genuine passion for making a difference in the lives of others.”

Created in 2016, the annual Hieber Award bears the name of its first recipient. Last year’s winner was longtime community volunteer Vivian Smith.

Maya received a plaque Monday, and her name will be added to a plaque at village hall.