Brian Tolkin

Five years ago, Brian and his brother, ages 12 and 13, co-founded their non-profit, Beams and Dreams. Its mission is to provide complimentary boat outings for cancer patients, survivors and their families as respites from grueling medical challenges. To date, Brian has hosted 15 events for over 1,000 guests using $82,000 worth of donated services! As a young teen, Brian recognized the enormous burdens faced by families dealing with cancer and wanted to help ease some of their pains. Lacking history, funding and know-how, Brian’s passion was nevertheless relentless as he sought resources from the community. Spending endless hours calling vendors and writing letters in an effort to procure items, Brian refused to be hindered by rejection. Brian sealed each letter with the wish: “Please believe in me and take a chance!” After months of planning, Brian finally hosted his first two events in 2003. Since then, the events have grown both in magnitude and in number. Wishing to constantly improve, Brian’s events now include magicians, musicians, commemorative t-shirts, custom boat cookies, treats, decorations, barbeques, prizes, and more in addition to the main attraction: boat rides on the gorgeous waters of Lake Washington and Puget Sound.

Brian works with 11 local and national cancer-support agencies to promote his events to the greater Seattle area. After five years, Beams and Dreams has earned an excellent reputation in the community, both with vendors and participants. For the past two summers, Brian has unfortunately had a waitlist for some of his events. Since one of his goals is to be able to accommodate everyone who wishes to participate, he continues to work relentlessly, seeking additional capacity. Some of the trips have taken guests on an exquisite corporate yacht, an historical sailing vessel, wooden schooners, and brand-new, luxurious motor yachts.

Brian’s sole motivation is the pleasure he derives from knowing that he is bringing much needed joy to others when they most need it. His greatest reward is conversing with the guests at the events and watching them smile as the wind blows their hair, they bounce on the waves or the magician asks them to yell, “Abracadabra.” In fact, he received the tremendous honor of earning a complimentary trip for four to Disneyland from a local television station for his efforts and he promptly donated that trip to a family in the throes of treatment. When the family returned from Disneyland and shared their excitement, Brian gained immense pleasure and only wished he had more trips to donate.

Now that Beams and Dreams is well-established, it serves as an inspiration for others. Many of Brian’s friends have been inspired to either donate their time to other non-profits or to even start their own. Brian’s dream is to continue growing Beams and Dreams and to carry its torch nationwide.

Pine Mountain Enrichment Program

The Pine Mountain Enrichment Program has met the needs of children in a rural town for the last eight years. Every town or city has need for summer program for children. This is a real community need that benefits the children and parents. A summer program can provide enriching field trips and prevention programs that would increase children’s awareness of crime, drug, tobacco use, gang awareness and juvenile crime.

In November of 1999, the Pine Mountain Enrichment Program was organized by Minister Bernard Johnson, a newcomer to Pine Mountain, GA. Johnson is former pastor of a church in Hilton Head Island, SC and Savannah, GA. He is also a former College Head Coach, former counselor for troubled children, former Program Coordinator for an After-School Program for At-Risk Middle School students. He has served in many other positions helping to build future leaders.

Johnson saw the need to organize a program for children ages 5-13 years old that would help the children continue to grow and develop socially, physically and culturally during the summer. Before 1999, there were no known program in operation in Pine Mountain to meet the needs of the children.

One of the goals of this non-profit program is to provide positive and enriching activities and field trips. The blending of educational activities and enriching field trips has made the program fun for the children. The program has provided services to children in other nearby towns. Since 2000, 151 children has participated in the summer day camp activities. About 80% percent of them came to Summer Day Camp free thanks to the strong support received from sponsors in Charleston, SC and Hilton Head Island, SC. The program also received strong support from sponsors in Savannah, GA. A church in Hamilton, GA also gave support to the program.

The program expanded its services in 2000, to meet the needs of the children and the parents. In 2005, The Summer Day Camp provided a week of summer employment readiness. The children attending camp this week learned how to find resource to find summer jobs. They also visited several employers that hire summer help to gain knowledge of what skills they need for the jobs.

The program also has provided educational enhancement by taking the children to tour 7 colleges in Georgia and 2 in Alabama. The program has survived many barriers to provide these activities for the children.

Warren Bagby

Warren Bagby was born in Richmond, VA and raised in the Washington Metropolitan area. He became a resident of Prince Georges County in 1977 when his family moved into the Berkshire community. Warren graduated from Suitland High School and continued his education at Prince George’s Community College and later attended TESST College.

As a dedicated single parent, Mr. Bagby is an activist in the Berkshire area. He has coached the youth basketball team for Young’s Memorial Church. In 2001, he confronted B. F. Saul, the owners of Greater Eastern Shopping Center, and demanded that they comply with the Prince Georges County code by erecting a private fence separating their center from the community. Mr. Bagby was also part of the committee that stopped the installation of a Federal Prison Building in the Forestville/ Upper Marlboro area. As a result of his community involvement, Mr. Bagby was elected President of the Berkshire Civic Association in 2002, which he single-handedly revised after 10 years of dormancy.

During his tenure as President of the Civic Association, Mr. Bagby has established great working relationships with area communities—Forest Run, Penn Crossing and Parkland. He also regularly attends meetings sponsored by the Department of Environmental Resources, Department of Public Works and Transportation, Council 7 District, Prince Georges Police Department, County Executive, Senate District 25 and other organizations. In addition, Mr. Bagby regularly requests the presence of Prince Georges County officials at Berkshire Community monthly meetings.

Mr. Bagby has spearheaded/participated in many successful community projects. He was a part of the Berkshire Community Street light upgrade installation that resulted in a $56,950 approved project as well as the Neighborhood Park Renovation. Mr. Bagby is also a part of the Pennsylvania Avenue Sound Barrier Project and worked to get the installation of barriers at dead end streets in the Berkshire Community to prevent trespassers and appointed block captains and neighborhood watch throughout the community. He also works with the Berkshire Community Newsletter, leads the monthly neighborhood clean-up, plants trees and shrubs in the community for beautification, and is working to get sidewalks repaired and installed in the community.

In addition to the above, Mr. Bagby utilizes his personal funds to serve the community. He purchases trash bags and gloves for community clean up days. He also uses his home office supplies to create promotional materials for community meetings and events. Mr. Bagby also uses his personal vehicle to haul plans and mulch used on beautification days.

Everett Leggett

In 2000, Everett J. Leggett saw a need for a charitable giving vehicle that would serve Doddridge County. Thus, he was instrumental in founding the Doddridge County Community Foundation, an affiliate of the Parkersburg Area community Foundation. The purpose of the Foundation was to build permanent funds (endowments) that would support charitable causes in Doddridge County, WV, forever.

Since that time, the Doddridge County Community Foundation has grown to hold seven different permanent charitable funds with assets totaling approximately $144,000. The Foundation gives funds back to the community through community action grants, scholarships and other distributions to support charitable causes in the county. The growth of the Doddridge county Community Foundation has shown a ray of hope for this small rural county in West Virginia.

The Foundation that Everett helped established in 2000 is a vehicle to build permanent support that will benefit Doddridge County and its citizens in perpetuity. The Doddridge County Community Foundation is helping all citizens of the county in one way or another by funding non-profit organizations to help with community-based projects or by awarding a scholarship to a student to help them achieve their higher educational goals. It not only serves the community leaders of Doddridge County, but also those that are organizations, students and all citizens to achieve a goal on their own.

There is demonstrated impact resulting from the establishment of the Doddridge County Community Foundation and its funds. For example, in 2006 alone, the Board of the Doddridge County Community Foundation awarded $520 in grants in scholarships was awarded to graduating seniors from Doddridge County High School to help them pursue their higher educational goals. Of the $5,000 total awarded in scholarships, $4,000 came from Mr. Leggett’s fund, the Doddridge County Promise Scholarship, to five deserving students. Impact of this important community service is also shown by individuals, other foundations and businesses donating their funds and time to help promote this important charitable vehicle.

Community foundations offer a unique and innovative way to solving problems for any community. Community foundations offer a charitable giving vehicle for individuals to support the causes they care about the most. Even more importantly, the funds of community foundations are permanent and will support charitable causes in perpetuity. By helping establish the Doddridge County Community Foundation, Mr. Leggett was not just looking for an innovative and unique way to create opportunities for Doddridge County now, but was also looking for an innovative and unique way to support charitable causes in Doddridge County far into the future.

Lori Brown

Volunteerism has been a strong aspect in Ms. Brown’s life but her servant leadership skills blossomed after returning to her hometown to complete her college career. While attending her local community college, Ms. Brown was inducted in to the prestigious Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society and served as the VP of Leadership and Co-President of the Alpha Theta Rho Chapter. Serving in these positions gave her an avenue to help her community in various activities that helped build lasting relationships not only between her and her chapter but her college and community as well. While selecting activities to serve, Ms. Brown focused her sights on health and education, as these were areas in which she felt she could leave the most lasting impact.

Ms. Brown volunteered for the Financial Liaison/ Event Coordinator position for All-American Recycling in their Partnership in Education agreement with J.D. Davis Elementary School. The purpose of the activities by PIE is to assist the adopted school in encouraging, developing and enhancing programs offered to the student body. All projects are intended to expand the thinking and development of the student body for a better educational life. Ms. Brown has assisted in various activities with the partnering school with her favorites being: favorite book character day, advanced reader store, and reading hour.

While working with the students at J.D. Davis Elementary Ms. Brown realized that there was an extreme need to mentor youth, especially at-risk youth. The Tidwell Cancer Foundation was the opportunity that she needed to reach these youth in a fun and interactive level. She volunteered for the Tidwell’s Terrific Kids Program, which is designed to teach elementary school students the impact of making healthy tobacco-free lifestyle choices through innovative games, costumed skits, and lessons on quality character traits. This program empowers high school students to create their own unique skits then they present them to the elementary school students. Ms. Brown was overwhelmed with the student’s enthusiasm for learning that when she was offered a position at Tidwell Cancer Foundation she graciously accepted. During Ms. Brown’s first year test scores showed that over 30.7% of the elementary school students increased their knowledge of tobacco products, second-hand smoke, and ways to say no to peer pressure. During the programs first year the program was able to expand from one high school and one elementary school into eight participating high schools and 39 elementary schools.

While volunteering with the above organizations and others during her lifetime, Ms. Brown has not received any stipends or salaries as she feels that serving others is payment in itself.

Janet Larson

Janet Larson has been a registered volunteer with Arrowhead RSVP since February 2005. Her exceptional volunteer service work goes back over 40 years before this.

Janet Larson is the Volunteer Coordinator for an all-volunteer run community food shelf. The service that the food shelf provides to the community is very important. The food shelf serves the area homeless, helps out in emergency situations, opens its doors to help families that have been victims of natural disasters or home fires, works to provide food to low income individuals and families who might be working but do not have the resources to make their food dollars stretch to the end of the month and it also provides an ongoing source of food to those that fall between the cracks and do not have adequate resources to provide for themselves.

What does Janet do as the coordinator? Janet works in the food shelf herself every week, schedules volunteers, recruits volunteers, trains volunteers, and does all the paper work for recording the hours and turning in volunteer reports. She organizes the food shelf, orders the food and other supplies that are bought so that people of different ethnic origins can be served as well as people with special diets. Janet also does the paper work, which includes regulating access to data files, completing reports according to predetermined standards and submits them according to guidelines, keeps accurate and up-to date files on the client and counsels clients on services in the community that are available to help them with their problems and needs. She also refers people to appropriate services when needed.

The Two Harbors Area Food Shelf also works with other organizations in the community to provide special holiday meals for the area needy or people who are having hardships. Janet has worked with the churches and the Salvation Army to coordinate the Thanksgiving Basket dinner distribution, a Christmas grocery distribution by helping with volunteers and resources and also a spring basket dinner about the time of the Easter holiday.

Janet Larson has also worked on fund raising for the food shelf, since it is run on the donations that are received from the public. This last spring, she had an area craft sale, where the venders’ table payments were donated to the food shelf. People also brought in food or cash donations and were given a goody bag of surprises from donations that she had gotten from area businesses. Janet also coordinates all of the other fund raising activities that are done and does public relations letters, articles for newspapers and public speaking.

The MAC and NAPS programs are and extra extension of the local food shelf and she works on these and submits paper work. The MAC program gives food to families that are income eligible and have children less than six years of age. The NAPS program serves our seniors with a box of food each month.

Janet also works with the area Extension Food program to promote healthy eating. Clients are given recipes, menus and food preparation instructions and the ingredients for recipes on a food shelf day. An Extension worker often prepares a sample dish of a recipe and is available to talk to people about food related topics. This is also always done at the holiday basket giveaways.

Janet is very innovative. If she isn’t working at the food shelf, you can find her out in the community as “Rosy the Clown: volunteering for special events at Head Start, a Senior citizens event, or a community event like an ice cream social. Janet has the gift of making people happy, taking the stress out of situations and making people feel valued and comfortable.

Rebecca Nix

Rebecca Nix contributes her service in the Henry County, KY community. Becky’s service to our county was prompted by the dire problem created by a hazardous stretch of Highway 146. That highway had been the site of literally hundreds of accidents in previous years including several fatalities. Becky’s contribution of service through research, leadership, and collaboration with political leaders resulted in the reconstruction of a stretch of that highway.

Becky led a group of students to research the scope of the problem created by that highway. Students secured data from the Kentucky State Police that showed the extent of the problem by listing every accident that had occurred in the previous eight years. They analyzed the data to determine exact locations of these accidents and found that the majority of them occurred within a three-fourths mile stretch. With that information as their primary tool, they created a visual which literally pin-pointed the locations on a map and presented that to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Secretary. Working with the assistance of the Henry County Judge Executive and the State Representative, Becky and her teammates presented their case and convinced that body to delegate a portion of Hazard Elimination and Safety funds to cover reconstruction costs. This represented a major victory, as local leaders had been attempting to do this for over thirty years! In the first year of this two-year project, funding was allocated at $750,000. The second year of continued efforts brought that allocation up to $1,500,000. The reconstruction of that highway was completed in August 2006.

In the four years since the initial project was begun, there has been a dramatic reduction in the number of highway accidents occurring on that highway. There is no doubt that lives have been saved and life-altering accidents have been prevented. Becky’s work in researching and compiling data, preparing visuals, writing speeches, and leading her problem-solving team not only resulted in the benefits already listed, but also secured for her team international honors at the Future Problem Solving International Conference in 2003 and 2004.

Sandeep Singh

Sandeep is a student who has excelled in school and works hard to make his community and world a better place. What sets Sandeep apart from other students is that Sandeep moved to the United States from India just prior to his ninth grade year. He dealt with a tremendous language barrier which caused his grades to fall to “E” status in the beginning. This was an enormous discouragement to both Sandeep and his family. However, due to his family’s support and the goals he had for himself, Sandeep found a way to rise above. He decided to use this challenge to better himself. For example, he started collaborating with other people, attending English classes at Sylvan Learning Center, attending online classes at the YMCA, and coming to school every day to get the best education he could. Sandeep also managed to get involved at school, joining teams and clubs such as the French Club, the Spanish Club, the Soccer Club, SADD, Science Olympiad, and Asset Committee. Sandeep credits his involvement with these activities and his volunteer experience to the improvement we saw in his English abilities. He has learned about language and cultural differences, his own personal time management, and excels in the traits of teamwork, cooperation, responsibility, care, and courage. Because of his hard work and dedication to his goals, he has raised his grades to above a 3.0 grade point average!

Sandeep has been doing volunteer work for over five years and has accumulated more than 2,000 hours. Sandeep volunteers every single day of his summer vacation at such places as the American Red Cross, S.A.F.E. place, V.A. Medical Center, and the Sikh Temple. Most recently, in the summer of 2006, he helped to fundraise $2,500 which was sent to India to help educate the homeless population. He has recycled 22,000 pounds of paper, newspaper, e-waste such as metals, and cardboard to help protect our environment, drainage system, and groundwater. Sandeep has helped to raise funds for the disaster victims of Hurricane Katrina and the Tsunami. Sandeep is currently helping with another project to raise funds for HIV/AIDS orphans in Africa.

Sandeep is striving to achieve a career in the medical field, exploring options such as dermatology and biomedical engineering. His proven record of setting goals for himself and working hard to achieve them leads me to believe that he will be a success in any chosen field that is lucky enough to obtain such a hard-working and dedicated person.

Elsie Marie Rann

Grandma Marie has been a volunteer with the County of Sacramento Foster Grandparent Program since 1998. Marie is a great addition to the program. She has the ability to speak and understand several languages which really help put the children at ease.

Grandma Marie was raised by her missionary parents in China and speaks fluent Chinese. Grandma worked at a local Headstart Early Learning Center for 15 years and for the past two years has volunteered with the Sacramento Department of Human Assistance Playcare Center where parents can drop off their young children while the parent takes class or has an appointment with their caseworker.

She loves all children and works with the children at their own level, helping them by reading and playing to help them develop early literacy skills. Grandma Marie works with the children with great care and love. She does artwork with them and plays building blocks with them. She comforts the children when they are sad. Grandma also enjoys reading to the children and singing songs with them.

She also works well with staff members and the other volunteers at the center. “I play learning games with the children, read stories to them, help them learn how to count as well as learn their ABC’s. We sing songs, play house, and I help the teacher with individual students. I think my participation is an asset to the center. I like what I do, and I love working with children and the staff. “I try to do whatever is asked of me. I think my participation is an asset. I love working with the children and the teachers. Marie really Lights the way for the center she volunteers at. She always finds something to smile or laugh about and is a shining example of what we want all volunteers to be.

Marie has volunteered over 17,000 Foster Grandparent hours and has received the Presidents Lifetime Achievement Award for exceeding 4,000 hours of volunteer service.

Amanda Fontaine

From Mrs. Fontaine’s initial tour of the facility and meeting residents, she began to come up with activities and events for the residents. The greatest addition to Methodist Specialty Care Center is the General Education Development (GED) Class. Two residents of the facility expressed an interest in getting their high school diploma and Mrs. Fontaine, a former college instructor was quick to respond to the request. Obtaining their GED allows the residents a sense of accomplishment, potential for continuing education, higher self-esteem, and a better quality of life. The GED class is not an activity you would expect to find at a long term care facility. That’s the beauty of the structured volunteer program at Methodist Specialty Care Center.

Education today is considered a critical and necessary part of our lives and Mrs. Fontaine has been the leader in impacting the resident’s lives with the class and the positive approach she uses to keep them encouraged and passionate about obtaining their GED. This has also been a rewarding experience for the staff who have been involved by assisting the “students” with their homework, which provides an additional bonding between the participating staff member and the “student”.

Through the GED Program, we give young individuals with severe disabilities the opportunity to finish school which they were not able to do otherwise. It is the responsibility of the staff to implement each resident’s plan of care. The resident’s participation in the GED class is included in their respective detailed care plans. By teaching the GED class Mrs. Fontaine is providing a tool to assure the staff is able to meet the goals set forth in these care plans. Mrs. Fontaine has involved other volunteers in the facility by educating them and encouraging them to assist the residents with reviewing their class work and helping them with any homework or assignments. The teen volunteers tutor the residents and are able to develop relationships with them on a different level.

Mrs. Fontaine is an extremely extraordinary individual who week after week dedicates her time with the “students” assisting them with the GED class. Because of the difference in reeducation level, Mrs. Fontaine takes extra time to ensure that both “students” assisting them with the GED class. Because of the difference in education level, Mrs. Fontaine takes extra time to ensure that both “students” are able to comprehend the lesson and achieve their goals. Mrs. Fontaine has become a part of the family to these “students”, celebrating their birthdays, holidays and any other special events in their lives. She’s cheerful and inspiring and a great example of what a difference volunteering can make.