George Houtchens

George Houtchens joined the Senior Center in August of 2001. He became a life member in December of 2003. In 4 short years, George has become an invaluable member of their essential group of regular volunteers.

Houtchens began his involvement with the Senior Center by donating jams, jellies and home canned fruits to our annual Homecoming fundraiser. Next he started coming to the Center to visit, share an occasional lunch and play pinochle and bridge. Then he agreed to begin working on the Wednesday Kitchen Crew and make the “from scratch” vegetable beef soup served on that day. The final step was when Houtchens agreed to substitute for the volunteer who coordinated and purchased all of the food supplies for the kitchen. This is an enormous job. The kitchen serves at least 60-80 people each lunchtime and is staffed by 5 different crews of 4-5 volunteers each. All of whom have varying opinions about almost everything. This position requires diplomacy, organization, attention to detail – and a crystal ball. The vacationing volunteer decided he would not return to the purchasing position and Houtchens graciously said he would “give it a try”. Since that time his involvement has grown and grown – as has his importance to the Senior Center.

Houtchens has become one of their most active members. He is the Vice President of their Board of Directors, a member of the Finance, Program and the Homecoming Fund Raising committees, is a member of the Wednesday kitchen crew, an ad hoc member of several other day’s kitchen crews and he is still the chief coordination and purchasing agent for their lunch program. During the last year he has volunteered an average of 90 hours each month –not including his coming in before dawn to put the roast on because the meat needs to be cooked slowly to be tender by 11:30 a.m.; or the time he spends making the strawberry syrup and the fresh applesauce for the pancake supper night or the hours spent selling raffle tickets at local stores. These are just three examples of the many “extras” Houtchens routinely performs.

Houtchens willingly shares his time, his energy, and his humor. He is unfailingly supportive and devoted to the Center, its goals and its members. Without him they would be diminished because he has added so much in so many ways to the Center.

Nick Hoover

Solari Hospice Care helps people and their loved ones, during a special time of caring, to live with dignity and comfort through professional hospice care. Nick Hoover has been an incredibly selfless volunteer for hospice since he presented to the Solari Hospice Care in February of 2002.

As a hospice, their mission is to provide end-of-life care to patients who have a life-limiting disease process. Medicare requires that hospice match 5% of paid staff patient care hours with volunteer hours, so even though they are a for-profit agency, their volunteer staff is vital so they can meet Medicare’s requirements for participation.

Hoover has been a consistent volunteer with Solari Hospice Care since he began serving. In the last four years, Hoover has given more than 500 hours of his time caring for the patients and their family members. Hoover is a massage therapy volunteer while currently working at Northwest Health Institute. He holds a job with an erratic schedule where he may not know his work schedule form one week to the next. What makes Hoover so special is that he is legally blind and relies mostly on public transportation to get around. He will often go into facilities and homes that his is unfamiliar with, and relies on others to help him navigate his way around. He does so with good humor and a purposeful stride. About six months ago, Hoover took a sabbatical for about eight weeks while he underwent surgery for kidney cancer. As soon as he was released by his doctor, he was back to providing that special touch to patients who so enjoy his visits. Hoover’s ability to keep upbeat and provide service to others remains a top priority no matter what he has to personally work through.

Hoover is assigned to see several patients on a regular schedule; he is there to provide a wonderful massage to help ease pain and offer relaxation. He socializes with patients who are no longer able to leave their homes; he listens to their life stories, shares their dreams and helps to alleviate their discomfort. Hoover provides a special skill to make sure their lives are made easier during this extraordinarily stressful time.

Hoover has a caring personality and every patient assigned to him is passionate in their praise about how much they love him and how much they look forward to his next visit. He is always in high demand as a volunteer. His capacity to care, to soothe, to listen and to help has been called upon many times in the course of his time with Solari Hospice Care. Hoover is always ready to lend a hand, and he truly loves the relationships he develops with his patients and families. The staff is very proud of Hoover and honored to call him a member of the Solari Hospice Care Team.

Henderson Justice Court Volunteer Mediators

The Neighborhood Justice Center (NJC) offers a no-cost, confidential alternative dispute resolution method to Clark County residents. The NJC has fifteen staff members and approximately 150 volunteer mediators who have gone through extensive training. They believe in mediation over litigation and make continuous efforts to avail their services to the community and the justice courts.

The Clark County Neighborhood Justice Center court program for performing outstanding service in the community respects the Henderson Justice Court volunteer mediators. Team members include Fran Evans, Jack Terry, and Chuck Gates. They are both efficient and proficient in their service and especially because of their knowledge, their skills, and their dependability. Fran began her service with the Neighborhood Justice Center in 1994, Jack in 1999, and Chuck in 2002. They have a combined total of 23 years of volunteer service. The majority of that service has been at Henderson Justice Court, where they mediate small claims cases for Judge Burr and Judge George.

Henderson Justice Court meets twice weekly. The NJC team has averaged 185 mediations yearly over the last four years, and their agreement rate is around 90%. Fran, Jack and Chuck exemplify “pride of ownership” as they provide outstanding, consistent, mediation services at “their” court.

Both Judge Burr and Judge George have expressed their gratitude for these top-notch mediators on numerous occasions. There is clearly a need for their expertise and their commitment. Their expertise and their initiative in consistently covering court calendars significantly impacts the system by reducing the number of cases going forward in court. It also gives parties the option of keeping the decision-making power in their own hands and gives them the ability to avoid judgments as long as agreements are kept.

The staff members deem it a privilege to work with Fran, Jack and Chuck, who are true professionals in every sense of the word. Not only do they mediate, but also they maintain continuing education in the field and mentor new mediators. They are exemplary mediators and a true credit to the Neighborhood Justice Center.

Kimberly Coats

Kim Coats began volunteering as a CASA in Kansas City, MO in 1993, after hearing about the murder of a child in Kansas City at the hands of her abuser. The Division of Family Services had returned the child back to the home knowing the dangers and risks. She wanted to be a part of an organization that could protect children from events such as that. In Missouri she went on to advocate for 17 children, and was also the President of the statewide CASA organization.

Coats moved to Las Vegas in 2003, and immediately volunteered her time to the CASA Program there. She was assigned to a high profile case that involved a young girl whose sister had been killed as a result of a “drug deal gone wrong.” As part of her advocacy for that child, Coats also acted as a guardian ad litem in a related civil lawsuit, protecting the girl’s financial interests from the avarice of those around her. She continues to advocate for that child, in situations that tax her professional communication skills. She has participated in supervised visitations between the parent, relatives and child. She often has to negotiate in adversarial situations. She is a respected member of the child-and-family team, and tries to remain the neutral voice advocating for the best interest of that child. This case has been time-consuming at times, and has required many court hearings. Coats has had to juggle many balls in the air, and to balance her priorities between work and her commitment to her CASA child. There have been discouraging times for Coats in her CASA work, but she is persevering and continues to honor her commitment to her CASA child. Coats has recently taken on a second case. She has volunteered for the CASA Foundation and is also working on the committee that will give Southern Nevada siblings separated in foster care a “Camp To Belong” during summer 2006.

Sometimes a child can remain adrift in foster care for months, even years. That’s where the CASA comes in. CASAs are Court Appointed Special Advocates—trained community volunteers. They are appointed by a judge to speak up for abused and neglected children. As an independent voice outside of any system, and without any personal agenda, the CASA’s unique position fulfills a need not met elsewhere. Additionally, CASAs improve the quality of life the children experience by ensuring that day-to-day needs are also met, such as the need for relationships with siblings. Children in foster care are assigned to social workers with caseloads too large to do anything but fight fires. Resources for counseling and other basic needs of children in trauma are few and far between. Children in large sibling groups are usually separated due to lack of placements available. Law reviews the permanency plan for foster children reviewed every six months in court. Six months is a long time in a young child’s life. CASAs fill in the many gaps that occur in a foster child’s life, and push the system to meet their needs and find permanency as quickly as is feasible.

Coats is extremely efficient, responsible and tenacious. When she gets a case, she gets to know all the parties involved and develops working relationships with them. She has a clear understanding of her role and becomes a key player in negotiations outside the courtroom. She relates well to children, builds relationships with her CASA children, and becomes a consistent presence in their lives that they can depend upon.

Coats is a creative problem-solver; she is quick to call looking for resources when any problem occurs. She is a successful businesswoman and a good decision-maker. She does not shy away from confronting difficult issues, yet she is professional and a team builder. Her work as a guardian ad litem for her CASA child led her to a conference room full of attorneys with divergent interests, from which she emerged with a joint decision in her child’s favor. In Missouri, and now Nevada, Coats has persevered for 13 years as a CASA in work that has a high potential for burnout: the kids are victims of horrendous actions; the system is a cumbersome, impersonal, frustrating vehicle; and resources and support systems are few and far between. Coats is still serving, exhibiting a positive energy and can-do attitude.

Coats is committed to children and knows they are the key to the future of this community. Her work with each individual child helps to improve the quality of life for all children—and thus for the community. The more positive experiences we provide for troubled children, the more likely they are to become productive citizens. Coats values the children she serves. They sense their importance to her and thereby understand their own value; they are not throwaways.

Robert Santos

Robert “Bob” Santos is the most publicly recognized spokesperson and leader of the movement that began in the 1970s to preserve Seattle’s Chinatown/International District (ID).

Santos is the son of Filipino immigrant Sammy Santos and in Indipino (Native American/Filipino) mother, Virginia Nicol. He was born in Seattle in 1934 and grew up in the city’s Chinatown. He served in the US Marines after high school in the early 1950s, and returned to Seattle in 1955 to work for Boeing. In the 1960s, Santos became involved in civil rights struggles through his involvement with the Catholic Church and the encouragement of Catholic Interracial Council co-founder Walt Hubbard. While working at the Catholic-run St. Peter Claver Center in the late 1960s, Santos was able to provide free meeting space to some of the most radical civil rights groups in the city, thereby helping facilitate a multiracial civil rights sensibility among Seattle activists by making the Center what he called “the Heart of the Struggle.” In 1969, he was elected President of Seattle’s Catholic Interracial Council.

From 1972 to 1989, Santos served as Executive Director of Inter*Im (the International District Improvement Community Development Association). In this position, he was a pivotal liaison between community activists, private businesses, and government agencies in developing and overseeing ID preservation plans. The group’s agenda included increasing the ID’s affordable housing stock; preserving its culturally distinct small businesses; and providing the neighborhood a range of culturally appropriate social services, particularly for its Asian elderly. Through Santos’s leadership in the ID, he helped mentor a generation of young Asian activists in Seattle, earning him the nickname “Uncle Bob.”

Our ability to get the property owners and businesses to accept low-income housing was probably the greatest thing we could have done…Together we could bring vacant buildings back to life.

In 1982—along with leaders representing other communities of color Bernie Whitebear (Native American), Larry Gossett African-American), and Roberto Maestas (Latino)—Bob Santos co-founded the Minority Executive Director’s Coalition (MEDC). MEDC is a coalition of people of color dedicated to achieving equity and social justice in partnership with communities of color through advocacy, education and membership development. It is a rare organization that unifies people of color rather than divides them.

Santos also helped start many other community-based organizations such as the Denise Louie child Care Center, the Danny Woo Community Garden, and the International District Community Health Center. From 1989 to 1993, he oversaw the Seattle Chinatown/ International District Preservation Authority.

On April 14, 1994, US President Bill Clinton appointed Santos as the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) secretary’s representative for the Northwest-Alaska area, Region X. His sense of the power of “we” determined his decision to accept the position. When an outdoor encampment was closed down by the city, Santos created the Federal Building Shelter.

As he tells the story, he called the regional administrator for GSA. “Jay,” I said, “could we, uh, house some homeless people in the Federal Building?” Jay Pearson said what any sensible administrator would say, “Bob, you know all the security issues and Oklahoma, and…” Bob replied, “Yeah, I know all that stuff. But Jay, could you come down to the Federal Building? Let’s look at it.”

Jay came, and together they found a space that could meet the security issues. Bob set about selling the plan to the other building tenants. “I decided to do that first, before I tried to get an okay from headquarters. And it was a little tough. But finally they said, “Let’s try it.”

All that was left was to get federal approval. Bob told Secretary Cisneros: “We have a chance to do a very innovative program, to shelter some folks in our federal building. Who do I work with?”

There was a long pause. “Well, Uncle Bob, why don’t you work with Marilyn Davis?” I knew I had it. He didn’t say no, and he didn’t say we had to [jump through the Appropriations hoop]. Twenty spots. That isn’t much. But more important we’ve set a precedent for other federal office buildings to shelter homeless people.

In 2002, Santos published an autobiography—Humbows, not Hotdogs!: Memoirs of a Savvy Asian American Activist—which is also an important source of information about the multiracial coalitions that comprised Seattle’s civil rights movements in the late 1960s and 1970s. Soon after the book’s publication, he returned to his position as Executive Director of Inter*Im. In spring 2006 he will step down from the nonprofit group that he led to revitalize the International District.

Barb O’Neil

For the past 35 years on both the day before Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve, Barb O’Neill has been preparing meals for the poor, homeless and lonely in Olympia, Washington. This effort started in the kitchen of her home in 1970 with 60 people showing up the first year. O’Neill continued serving dinners at her home for ten years, but when the crowd grew to more than 400 she was forced to move to a new location.

Under Ms. O’Neill’s leadership this grassroots effort grew into a nonprofit organization—Barb’s Family and Friends. Through the nonprofit, Barb was able to accept donations from community residents and local business to help support this important community need which had grown far beyond her personal financial contributions. “This is no longer my problem; this is the community’s problem,” said O’Neill.

Barb’s Family and Friends not only prepares meals for more than 2,000, but also engages 200 volunteers to serve meals and deliver dinner to those who cannot attend due to illness, infirmity or even lack of transportation. Over the years Barb has added new services to help those less fortunate. In conjunction with the annual Christmas Eve dinner, Barb’s Family and Friends operates Santa’s shop and a kids’ boutique to give low-income families an opportunity to select free gifts and warm clothing.

O’Neill is a dedicated and compassionate volunteer who develops solutions to serious community problems such as hunger, homelessness and loneliness.

Tyrone Thompson

While working full-time as a Program Manager with Clark County Social Services-Ryan White Title I Program, Tyrone Thompson also works tirelessly on behalf of foster children by serving as a CASA Volunteer. Thompson is not only an asset to the CASA Program, but to numerous agencies in the Las Vegas community, which he continuously impacts. Thompson is a Volunteer Mediator with Neighborhood Justice Center and has served as a licensed foster/adoptive parent. While advocating for CASA children, Thompson also assists the CASA Program by participating on panels to share his experiences with newly trained volunteers, and occasionally serving as a “mentor” to new CASA volunteers. Thompson’s primary goal as a CASA is to help achieve permanency for CASA children. He does this by visiting the children regularly and working with social workers, foster parents and other professionals to address the children’s needs. Thompson also submits detailed court reports and appears in Court on behalf of children to make recommendations about what is in their best interest.

Over the past nine years, Thompson has advocated on behalf of seven children . Thompson has not been afraid to take on the challenging cases, which primarily involved African American adolescents and teenage boys, who also had behavior and emotional issues. Even though six of the seven CASA children have achieved permanency and have exited the system, either through Reunification with their parents or Adoption, Thompson has maintained a relationship with some of the children and the adoptive family. Thompson has also agreed to serve informally as a mentor to a 17-year-old young man who continues to remain in the system. This young man needs lots of guidance and support as he gains independent living skills and prepares to exit the foster care system.

Foster children often “slip through the cracks,” due to extremely high caseloads of social workers, which are constantly “putting out fires.” CASAs try to prevent this slippage. CASAs also fill in many gaps that occur in foster children’s lives and help to push the system to meet these children’s needs and find permanency as quickly as possible. CASAs are strong advocates, who strive to ensure that “no child leaves the system without a future plan.”

Thompson is an active child advocate, who serves as a “front line” volunteer in the fight to save foster children from being lost in an ever-changing system. The nature of a CASA Volunteer’s job requires individual who are self-starters and great time managers, especially those with very demanding F/T jobs. Thompson brings a wealth of knowledge and professionalism to the volunteer arena and exhibits a positive, “can do” attitude.

An often-repeated phrase is “children are the keys to our future.” CASA’s work is like building a house, one brick (child) at a time. CASAs make a vast impact on the future lives of children by providing them with support long after they exit the system. CASAs also provide continuity in the lives of children who often have changes in social workers, foster homes and schools.

Stephen Bennett

There are not many places left in America that can boast of being crime-free. Unfortunately, with increased growth in the Moapa Valley, there has been increased crime and drug abuse. It is possible, however, to look ahead with a bright hope for the future as we work to preserve the peaceful environment we have enjoyed for so many years. The best fight against crime is an awareness of how to prevent becoming victims of crime. That does not mean bars on our windows or isolation within our homes. It means taking simple measures to deter potential perpetrators of crime. It is easy to think that if you have not been personally victimized by crime that you are not affected, especially in a rural community. However, everyone is affected by crime. Each time a crime is committed; numerous professionals are required, such as police, detectives, judges, probation officers, and others. Taxpayers pay these salaries and more professionals are needed as crime and drug abuse rise.

Valuable information was given out at the Crime Prevention Fair that Stephen Bennett organized for the entire community in collaboration with the Cappalappa Family Resource Center (CFRC). In addition to the Crime Fair, a dinner and a variety of other fun activities and programs for kids and adults were presented, such as K-9 and self-defense demonstrations. It was Bennett’s desire to create a positive atmosphere where people came together as friends and neighbors to unite in the fight against crime. This fair united the community in a positive, proactive approach to fighting crime.

Crime prevention can be defined as trying to address crime problems at their source, rather than waiting for offenders to reach the criminal justice system. It is an attempt to stop crime or anti-social behavior before it occurs. The causes of crime are complex, involving a wide range of immediate and longer-term social factors. Some of these relate to family violence and neglect, difficulties in school, poor housing, peer pressure and blocked social opportunities. All of which are prevalent in a rural community. Bennett decided to take on this responsibility after his brothers were part of a youthful prank (peer pressure) that damaged a neighbor’s pool. After witnessing the entire process his brothers went through, Bennett felt strongly about laying the foundation for a safer community. Community crime prevention has emerged as a major alternative and supplement to the criminal justice system.

The emphasis of crime prevention is on maximizing the health and well being of all members of a community, and enhancing their opportunities to partake in community life as fully as possible. Bennett encourages citizen participation, as well as the role of the community as a whole in crime prevention efforts by Preserving Peace in Moapa Valley.

Amy Rosenthal

Amy Rosenthal started Club READ at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in September 2005. The club currently has 15 active student members whose mission is to bring the pleasures and enrichment of reading to children in underserved populations. Members present reading programs to children in public libraries and homeless shelters. They also collect and donate good-quality, appropriate children’s books in both English and Spanish to the nonprofit group, Reach Out and Read, which places the books in the waiting rooms of public health centers in low-income areas of Washington, DC. The children who visit the doctors at these centers can then select a book to take home.

There is a profound need for literacy-building activities among lower income and underserved children in the Washington, DC area. Literacy is essential to success in school and in the job market. Children from the populations served by Club READ are vulnerable to the problems of under- and unemployment created by low literacy. The Washington, DC area has literacy levels that are substantially lower than those in the nation overall (DC State of the Workforce Report, 2003). According to the 2003 Mayor’s Literacy Initiative, literacy programs in the district are serving only 10% of the target population. Club READ both supports an existing network of literacy initiatives and contributes unique literacy-building activities for at-risk children.

Club READ’s 15 members meet on a regular basis, and since September 2005 have collected and donated approximately 2,000 books by gathering unsold books from used-book sales, conducting neighborhood book drives, and collecting donations from Montgomery County public libraries. In addition to the reading programs they present, members bring related craft projects for the children to create and take home. Club READ has established collaborative working relationships with Reach Out and Read, public libraries, and the Green Tree homeless shelter.

Each of the 2,000 books donated by Club READ will become the property of a child in the population most vulnerable to low literacy. In addition, the club’s programs at libraries and the Green Tree shelter bring the social, cognitive, and emotional benefits of literacy activities to numerous children. The working relationships that Ms. Rosenthal and her team have established with these organizations are the basis for the club’s productive first year and its expansion in coming years. Because Club READ is school-based, it has a ready supply of volunteers and can continue to build its book supply sources, its donations to and bonds with community groups, and its repertoire of instructional activities for children.

Baby Find Resource Mothers

In 1993, Fran Courtney, then Chief of Nursing for the Clark County Health District, noted the startling rate of low infant birth weight and the lack of nutritional education for pregnant mothers in parts of Las Vegas. She recruited clients in need of this vital information, as well as volunteer Mentors: Resource Mothers (RM), capable of providing the guidance that could directly help to change this situation. Her efforts resulted in the creation of the Baby Find Program and Smart $hop Program, which in turn empowered the clients with the knowledge that enabled them to give birth to normal-weight babies and establish improved lifelong nutritional habits.

Since 2001, the Baby Find Program, under the new umbrella of Courtney Children’s Foundation, a United Way-accredited and funded 501 (c) 3 organization, has mentored over 500 at-risk pregnant teens and women in the North and old West part of Las Vegas. Each Resource Mother (RM) has donated her time to make sure that her client “daughter” receives the health care she needs during pregnancy, mother-to-mother support before, during and after the birth of her baby, advice on nutritional and health-related issues, encouragement in completion or pursuit of educational goals, help in developing parenting skills and a hand when times get tough.

Each Resource Mother contacts her client at least once a week by phone to check on the above, or just to see if there is anything she needs, how she is doing, etc. In turn, her client is able to contact her RM any time of the day or night just to talk about anything or receive additional community resource referrals.

Each RM makes at least one home visit per month, depending on her client’s needs. As you see, each RM volunteers anywhere from one to four hours a week depending on her client’s situation. The RMs are known to take their clients to doctor’s visits, grocery shopping, even the hospital when the time arrives. All of these 25 women are absolutely amazing in their ability to understand, relate and show compassion to all with whom they come in contact. Some have even become their clients’ Godparents as well as a lifelong friend. Because of this effort, they now have more than 500 healthy babies and their mommies living in the community.