Heather Dalton
Jeanine Aversa
As a lead in to this Monday, July 4th, Independence Day, we celebrate our nation and the American people who make up our nation. We thank those military members and families who serve our country. Today’s Daily Point of Light is a person who gives back to those who serve our country….
“We need to facilitate an atmosphere where service members can process what they have been through. If I can help military families learn what to expect when members come home from war and how to cope better, then I have made a difference.”
Four years ago, medical doctor, Jeanine Aversa began actively researching ways to give back. She came across Give an Hour, a non-profit organization that offers free mental health services for military personnel and their families, and immediately signed up. Today, Jeanine sees more military family members than ever. About 90% of her military patients have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
“Right now I’m seeing the spouse of a military service member who has PTSD,” she says, “What people don’t realize is that PTSD impacts the entire family yet at the same time mental health care providers, like myself, have to be careful not to allow patients to use the diagnosis as an excuse for bad behavior.”
Jeanine believes that the sooner a person affected by combat stress processes and integrates their experiences, the better off they are. It’s been less than a year since Jeanine started a new group practice in Downington, Pennsylvania. Already, she is instituting a free group therapy session on Sundays for military service members and their families that will focus on Post Traumatic Stress in its many forms.
“I believe in giving back to the community,” Jeanine says, “and for me that means one out of every ten clients should be seen pro bono.”
Jeanine continues to hold the same sense of duty and patriotism she has regarded since childhood.
Anna Kunkle
Getting tweens and teens excited about being of service to others can be quite a task. Anna Kunkle, Community Service Coordinator at Fairmont Preparatory Academy has done just that and more. In her role, she is not only responsible for promoting the community service program to students, faculty, and parents and providing service opportunities for students, but also promoting the program to the non-profit community. It is her duty to collect, review, and track student service hours. She is able to hold her students accountable and ensure they become more aware of needs within the community.
Every month, Anna offers group service projects and students strive to help those less fortunate in any way they can. The kids have fun while performing beach clean-ups, serving meals to the homeless, fundraising walks and runs, tutoring younger children, packing and sorting donations. Her dedication to make sure her students understand how rewarding service can be is demonstrated year round as Anna makes sure there are ample opportunities for student involvement.
Annually, students participate in events of a larger scale in California, such as Anaheim Childrens Art Festival and the Kristie’s Foundation Family Festival, to name a few. Monthly drives include donations of canned food, toys for the holidays, blankets for senior citizens, Halloween and Easter candy for local Boys and Girls Clubs, clothing for homeless teenagers, and Dr. Seuss books and toys for terminally ill children in local hospitals. Anna continues to strive to instill rewarding values and a sense of character in participants, fulfilling the purpose of the program: “helping students become exemplary citizens of the world.”
Ryleigh Katstra
8-year old Virginia native, Ryleigh Katstra was inspired by a food drive project founded by a 16-year old in her hometown of Charlottesville. After Ryleigh’s mother read Ryleigh a newspaper article about Nicole Muller’s national food drive, Neighbors-4-Neighbors, and this teen’s quest to raise 5 tons of food for her hungry neighbors, Ryliegh told her mother that she was going to help Ms. Muller get that food and feed people less fortunate than she is. Ryleigh wrote up her own flyers and distributed nearly 4000 with the help of her two older brothers and her mother, asking people to donate canned goods to Neighbors-4-Neighbors and she would pick them up at their driveways at the end of the week. She was relentless in reaching almost every house in the multiple areas of her sub-division.
Because of this little girl’s unrelenting commitment to help another youth’s fight against hunger, the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, serving multiple counties in Central Virginia has benefited greatly. In the 18 months since she became involved in the Neighbors-4-Neighbors national food drive initiative, Ryleigh personally has collected over 3,300 pounds of food and fed over 2,500 of her neighbors-in-need. She continues to be an integral part of Neighbors-4-Neighbors with more food drives planned this upcoming year.
Ryleigh Katstra is outstanding in her endless desire to aid those around her that are less fortunate than she is and she does this at such a young age. She truly is a point of light in a world that sometimes can seem quite dark.
Ross Baldari
JPMorgan’s technology team came together to volunteer their time and expertise at Bushwick Leaders High School in Brooklyn, NY. Ross Baldari, an Engineer Lead at JPMorgan Chase, lead the team in building a library and research center over 18 months, overseeing it from concept to execution. Ross and his team transformed a space with dilapidated walls and floors that were deemed unfit for students into a full fledged functioning library and media center.
The project, which began in October 2009, is now a vibrant learning center benefiting approximately 300 students. The library, which includes a scanner pad to check in/out books, a smart gate, computer workstations and bookshelves replete with literature donated from a local nonprofit organization has an adjoining interactive multimedia room features a SMART board, a DVD player and a plasma TV built with theater seating for added cinematic experience for students.
Not only did Ross see an opportunity to give back to the community using his expertise, he connected with the student body to inspire them to learn how interesting and fun technology can be. He has kept these students interested in technology and encouraged them to ask questions, pushing the student body to get involved by picking out the colors for the library, weighing in on the architectural design and helping with the finishing touches of the room.
Ross has used innovative solutions to fill an education need while building a strong rapport with the students and staff of Bushwick Leaders H.S. With information more accessible to students, Ross’ hope is that students will be able to broaden their minds and continuously engage in lively, informed discussions.
Rebecca Ackerman
Autism is a neurological disorder that affects 1 in every 110 children and families, characterized by significant deficits in communication, play, and social interaction. Having a twin brother with severe autism, 15 year-old Rebecca understands the huge personal, educational, and financial challenges that families face on a daily basis.
In 2005, when Rebecca began asking serious questions about her brother, the future, and autism, she wanted to know about research, causes, treatments, and a cure. She learned that the causes are unknown and that public and private research funding is significantly less than the funding for many less prevalent conditions.
Rebecca loves her brother with a fierce loyalty, and she was deeply disturbed by the lack of attention to autism research and the isolation of children with autism. Rebecca formed a team, Doing It for Dave, and recruited fellow students to join her effort. The team ran a series of bake sales and lemonade stands, wrote letters to families and friends, and raised $4500 for autism research. Since 2005, Rebecca has organized a team each year, raising increasing sumsfor a current fundraising total of over $55,000. In addition to direct fund raising for research and services, Rebecca raises community awareness about autism and promotes an inclusive community. She contacts businesses in the community to promote autism awareness and autism research and even started a small business, Cakes for a Cause, which provides custom cakes and bake goods while donating all proceeds to Autism Speaks and spreading awareness about the disorder. She is certainly a teen with a mission.
Farmington Police Department Auxilairy
Commitment is an understatement when describing the loyalty of the proud members of the Farmington Police Department Auxiliary of Illinois. Sound police presence can undoubtedly add to the community’s sense of security, support, and well-being, but often times the initiatives of their affiliates may be forgotten in their shadows. While they assist on duty officers with any special needs or request for assistance, the continued community engaged efforts of Farmington’s Auxiliary unit has earned them the recognition of the Daily Point of Light Award.
Their assistance during major events or crises that arise in the city and surrounding communities, have not only produced large savings on man hours, but their fundraisers have also cut extraneous police departmental costs. With an awe-inspiring average of 7.5 years of service, the auxiliary department’s active support of the Farmington Police has become a tradition in the proud state. Whether it is administering the Neighborhood Watch, or patroling during basketball and football games, this inspiring group has an established presence in Farmington.
Leading by example, the auxilary’s efforts to mobilize volunteerism at home in Farmington has generated thousands of volunteer offerings to the department and its community. The auxuliary’s involvement in such outreach programs and projects are often described as tiresome, thankless jobs, yet the selfless dedication of this unit to the mission of the Farmington PD continues with diligence and pride of service. The members of the Farmington PD Auxiliary wear their uniforms proudly and their eagerness to go above and beyond the call of duty is a shining image to the students, families, and community groups of Farmington.
Keith Packard
Megan Rosker
Today’s post is written by Megan Rosker and reposted from her blog Let Children Play. The original post was published on July 21, 2011 called “Many Thanks.”
“Nine months ago I did something every parent does when their child is five years old. I enrolled my son in kindergarten. He was excited. I was bittersweet. For the first few days he was giddy with the newness of school. Then reality set in. The reality was that these kindergarteners were receiving no recess time. In fact no child in the school was receiving recess.
My son came home burdened from school. He complained of sitting still for a long time, feeling rushed all the time and never getting a break. He was five! How could this be right?
I volunteered in the classroom. I saw the hours and hours of sitting, the coaxing of the teachers to manipulate the students into sitting still for lesson after lesson. Not only was it hard on the kids, it was almost impossible for the teachers to keep pushing and pushing at this pace. It was unnatural and unkind for both student and teacher.
How could I let my five year old be introduced so early to such a burden? To me, he was still barely out of toddler hood. He was ripe with creativity and wild with childhood imaginings. Not to have time to play or run around on the playground was not a good education.
I sat in front of my computer one fall evening and wrote Lenore Skenazy of Free Range Kids about my problem. She was the only advocate I knew at that time who voiced concern about the lack of play time kids receive these days. In the email I asked her,
Who can I write, email, talk to? What picket line do I need to stand in? What petition do I need to sign? Where is the place or the organization that I can go to be heard as an infuriated parent?
She responded saying,
I don’t know about a picket line…yet!
and then she went on to introduce me to the playful, dedicated play advocates at KaBoom!. She felt they would be able to guide me towards taking action. She was right.
One email quickly formed into a net of supportive play and education advocates from across the country. I was introduced to moms, dads, teachers, those working in the nonprofit sector and those working in social media, all of whom wanted something better for our nation’s children. We all cared that our children were not only failing in school, they were suffering through childhood.
As was the suggestion from my new friends at KaBoom, I approached the Academic Planning Committee at our school with a smile on my face and research on play in my hand, but instead of being met by a group of open minded educators, I was repeatedly rejected. I was even met with hostility. I even had a parent walk out of the meeting!
Visions of picket lines began to dance in my head. I wanted people to hear the concerns of parents (and many teachers) who believed in play. After all, I wasn’t the only person frustrated with the lack of unstructured free time in school. There were many, many more like me and our concerns needed to be heard.
With this in mind, I went to every television station and newspaper across St. Petersburg. I believed then, as I do now, that all parents need to hear this important message about their children. Kids need to play. It may sound simple, but it is a profound message given the turn we have taken culturally toward standardizing our educational system. In this standardization we have lost track of the fundamental needs of our kids. In the spinning, whirl of concern over the academic success of our children, we have lost track of how to raise them.
My message was met with acceptance every time and on every station. We were featured in the New York Times and I soon founded two successful blogs, Let Children Play and Let Children Achieve.
A month ago I was nominated by Amy Dickinson of KaBoom! for the Daily Point of Light Award and last week I was honored to receive it. This award honors individuals who are creating meaningful change in communities across America. Thank you Amy for thinking of me.
I am incredibly honored to receive this award, but it isn’t just mine.It represents the commitment every parent makes when they desire something better for their child. It represents the struggle to be heard that many parents have and overcome. I started this work because I believed my three children deserved more play, but this is true for all our kids. What was initially a personal battle, has ignited in me a fire for change in our educational system. Without the voice of moms and dads change that benefits our kids will be impossible.
What I write, what I share with others and what I do for my community and country I understand as simply part of my job as a mother, friend and writer. I passionately believe our children deserve what is best for them. Sometimes what is best for them doesn’t mesh with our adult agenda, but in the end the only thing that matters is the well being of our kids.
I look forward to continuing to write, speak, listen and connect with millions of parents and advocates who believe as I do that nothing is more important than our children.
I look forward to seeing you on the picket line.”