MS. WRESINSKI’S 2ND GRADE ESOL CLASS

Ms. Wresinski teaches a class of exceptional second graders at Helen A. Davis Elementary School in Tampa, Florida. Each Friday, without fail, five of her students leave her classroom in the afternoon to join the special class of children with Autism. Here they spend an hour and a half helping out the teachers with their special students. Often, the interactions come in the form of music, and Autistic children are often drawn out of their shells through song.

A new curriculum has been developed using music to teach concepts such as colors and numbers. The second graders are quick to join in song, leading the class and inspiring the more withdrawn students to participate when they are slow to. During recent weeks, the Autistic students were learning about animals through the song “Old MacDonald.” Through practice they have learned that when the song pauses and they are selected they should name an animal. The teachers were quite surprised with the outcome; even children that they expected to stay quiet joined in! They credit much of this progress to the work that Wresinski’s students have done. Having other children present, positive, and active makes the environment much friendlier.

Beyond their musical skills, these second graders also share their time passing out snacks and doing scheduled activities with the other students. Some of the favorites are arts and crafts and outdoor games. The second graders also share stories that they have written and illustrated with the other students. When the experiment first began, the second graders were uncomfortable during periodic outbursts from the Autistic students, but by now they have learned that such actions are a natural part of their new friends.

A new kindness has developed in Wresinski’s students, as well as a great sense of social acceptance. Interacting normally with those typically considered “different” is a learning experience for everyone, as well as a self-esteem booster. Their teacher hopes that this experience will stay with them, not only by fostering tolerance but also by teaching them at an early age to give some of their time to helping others.

YOUTH VOLUNTEER CORPS

Youth Volunteers Corp of Prescott Valley, Arizona is a group of young people who are enthusiastic and energetic in their services. Their director, Cindy Craig, helps them correlate their programs and successes by her example, guidance and help.

When the United Way Volunteer Center started in 1991, there were few opportunities for the youth to volunteer. However, in 1992 the Youth Volunteer Corp (YVC) was created through Youth Count for the purpose of providing opportunities for the youth in the area. Since that time the agencies have worked together closely to fill community needs and at the same time provide a positive opportunity for youth.

The YVC has helped the Volunteer Center greatly n assisting the senior population in our area that are lonely or have physical limitations. They help to fill volunteer gaps and services. They have created the YVC Grand Friend program which connects generations at nursing homes with youth volunteers. The youth started a Second Wind Dream program, the purpose of which grants wishes to seniors. A 97 year old man received his high school diploma; several women became teachers for a day; four seniors were transported to a Hawaiian luau and hula show.

Youth Volunteers help in various areas. They work with environmental projects. They also volunteer at the visually impaired and hard of hearing center & have learned sign language to assist in their communication with those impaired. Some of our youth have the privilege of youth board members, served on mayor’s councils, governor’s task forces as America’s Promise Ambassadors.

While many of the agencies struggle to sustain their programs, the Youth Volunteer Corps is teaching the students to write mini grants. The Community Foundation has awarded grants to the Youth in Philanthropy program. They have also awarded a research grant to study youth run businesses.

The Youth Volunteer Corps is an invaluable resource to the community. Because of their dedication, they have received the Governor’s Youth Group award the past two years, Generations United Outstanding Youth award for intergenerational programs, President’s Volunteer Service Award for groups and individuals, and Channel 13 Best new series for TraX TV.

EULA STATON

Grandma Eula has volunteered as a Foster Grandparent at Mary Tsukamoto Elementary School for the past 10 years. That is about 10,000 hours of volunteer activity for Grandma Staton since starting the Foster Grandparent Program in 1995. Grandma Staton logs over 20 hours a week as a Foster Grandparent Volunteer. Last year Staton also received the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award for accumulating over 4,000 hours over her lifetime.

Staton contributes 4 hours a day, five days a week at Mary Tsukamoto Elementary School in Mrs. Essex and Mrs. Pierces’ first and second grade classes. Mrs. Essex states that Staton is an excellent role model as a senior citizen who has the energy of one of her little ones. The students have improved in reading, spelling and math skills. Without the Foster Grandparent the students would not reap the benefits of the one on one attention or the small group experience.

The other teacher, Mrs. Pierce advises that Grandma Staton is a dependable and reliable volunteer as well as kind and loving to all the students. She is willing to accept responsibility with minimal instruction given; she is a great addition to her class. Grandma Staton’s work with struggling students in readiness skills and reading provides them the extra one on one attention they desperately need. Her patience is evident with the response from the students she works with. The students she works with have shown tremendous growth in their reading skills and would not have progressed as far without Grandma Staton.

Grandma Staton assists with reading, spelling and writing and any other task the teachers may ask. The fact that she is always there when she is scheduled to means a great deal to the children. They love the consistency and look forward to their time with her. She not only helps them academically, but she also helps to build their self-esteem, teaches them the value of effort and hard work and prepares them for better futures. Because of Grandma Staton’s volunteer work, Mrs. Pierce’s class has higher scores on reading fluency compared to other first grade classes. She believes those scores are a result of Grandma Staton listening to them reading everyday.

FRED LOGAN

Johnson County, Kansas residents boast of good schools, a thriving business sector, strong civic leaders, friendly people and a great quality of life. The quality of this community is not defined by the size of the houses or the newness of the cars but by how the members of this community look out for each other. Fred Logan has helped to define this community with his heart, his thoughts and his actions for many years.

Logan, through his civic participation, has provided leadership for and supported many of the issues that have allowed the citizens of this community to enjoy the quality of life that we have today. He has been a true statesman speaking out for quality education in the community. He served on the Johnson County Community College Board of Trustees 1992-1997. He serves as co-chair of the Committee for Excellence, a citizens group devoted to maintaining high quality education in the Shawnee Mission School District. This year the Shawnee Mission Education Foundation has selected him as the 2005 recipient of its annual Patron Award. This award honors his support of the Shawnee Mission School District, the foundation and public education.

Logan is building social capital with other organizations as well. He has served as President of United Community Services, a human service planning agency. He has served as president, of the Friends of the Johnson County Library. Currently, he serves as a vice chair of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce.

In his words, deeds and actions it is evident that Logan seeks the truth in what he does and about issues in the community. He is fair to all concerned and strives with wisdom to build goodwill in the community, and across the state of Kansas. He builds better friendships with his integrity and hard work. He has a proven track record of being involved with people and with issues and causes that build connections and are beneficial to all concerned.

Logan received his Bachelors of Arts degree with distinction from Indiana University in 1974 and Juris Doctor degree, cum laude, from Indiana University in 1977. As an attorney, Logan has advised corporate and public clients extensively on business, employment, real estate and contract matters. He received the distinction of Master of the Bench, Kansas Inn of Court.

Logan also serves as a mentor just by his actions. He takes the time to listen, advise and help direct the youth he coaches or the elected leaders that he engages. Logan makes you believe that while doing the right thing might not always be the easiest way to do something — it is in fact the only way to do anything. As a community leader, Logan has woven his community together with extraordinary passion and skill.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA KINDERGARTEN CONFERENCE, INC.

The Southern California Kindergarten Conference, Inc. (SCKC) is a volunteer organization dedicated to providing quality Staff Development activities for those involved in the education of children in Preschool, Kindergarten, and First Grade. SCKC sponsors an annual conference in Burbank, California (Los Angeles area) which enables educators, child care providers, and parents to acquire valuable pertinent information from prominent speakers, workshops, networking opportunities, and vendors. As many as 1100 people have attended these successful conferences. Staff Development enables adults to enhance their own skills working with young children. The SCKC conference, which takes place on a Friday afternoon and all day on Saturday, is planned and organized by volunteers. SCKC is celebrating its 20th year of providing quality staff development and is currently planning their 20th annual conference in February 2006.

The volunteer organization is composed of teachers and administrators from both public and private schools. Regular planning meetings are held after school, with many members driving over one hour to attend. Most planning activities take place outside of the regular meetings, but again after school, evenings, or on weekends. From May 2004 to April 2005, planning committee members accumulated more than 800 hours of volunteer time while planning and organizing the 19th annual conference that was held in February 2005. While some of the members are retired, most are currently working in the Early Childhood field. They are exemplary models of professionalism in the field of Education.

SCKC is not affiliated with any organization and receives no monetary support other than annual conference registrations. They do ask school districts and other educational organizations to serve as “co-sponsors” for our conference. In exchange for distributing registration booklets to its teachers, a co-sponsor is awarded a scholarship registration to enable a new teacher to attend.

Additionally, SCKC sponsors its own Teacher Award program. Teachers are encouraged to submit projects for a grant of $1000 to be awarded during the General Session at each conference. A volunteer committee and local Early Childhood Education professors review the projects based on established criteria. The awardees present their projects during the workshop portion of the conference, thus giving them the opportunity to present Staff Development. SCKC has a paid administrative assistant to process registration materials and conduct office business.

JACQUI HOSMAN

The Pinellas Habitat for Humanity was struggling before Jacqui Hosman came to its rescue. Though teaching at Ozona Elementary School is certainly a full-time job, Hosman has been in leadership positions for Habitat for Humanity for nine years. She dedicated a great amount of time to the Family Selection and Support Committee, interviewing and organizing prospective volunteer families. Hosman educates, informs, and analyzes the family’s criteria to find an appropriate service match. This is extremely important work, as the wrong project for the right volunteer can end up in disaster. Hosman’s insight into people and families made her work on this committee successful, and she has personally recruited more than 30 families into the organization.

The Strategic Planning Committee also took up much of her time, as she worked to create a long-term plan for Pinellas Habitat for Humanity’s expanding capacities and more efficient leadership. Hosman’s most successful project is the one with which she is still involved, as Board Chair during a tense 18 months during which the program lacked leadership. The organization had no Executive Director, leaving a large hole in the structure of the program. In this situation, Hosman rose to the occasion and recreated the Board as a policy-making entity. When an Executive Director was hired, Hosman led the way in organization-wide support. She aided the Director in hiring new staff and creating networks of people that take care of daily tasks that were being left behind.

In addition, Hosman’s work lent an air of professionalism in an environment that spent a few months lacking it. Since the reorganization, revenues for Pinellas Habitat for Humanity have risen 57 percent, and overhead has decreased from 27 to 14 percent. These are real-world numbers that show how valuable her work really is. Not only the financial sector was improved; however, service capabilities were extended greatly, as well. During the year prior to Hosman’s position of leadership, two homes were constructed. The following year, ten were completed, and this year, plans show twelve homes being erected. This is direct proof of her impact in the organization and in the community.

Hosman’s continuing service to Pinellas Habitat for Humanity is invaluable, and her results incomparable for this program. Her approach of taking control when the company was directed by chaos was innovative and inspiring. Most importantly, more people have homes due to the tireless efforts of Hosman.

BARBARA MARKER

Barbara Marker is a very active woman at Northwood Presbyterian Church and in her community of Silver Spring, Maryland. In spite of such a busy schedule, she still allotted time to tutor a student at Northwood Pathways School from October 2004 through June 2005, for one hour per week. She had no prior experience teaching or tutoring, but pulled upon the experiences of mothering and nurturing her own children.

The Principal, Laurie Mical, assigned Marker to tutor an at risk student one-on-one in reading. Though this student may have difficulties stringing enough words together in order to form a sentence, Marker believed she could reach this student anyhow. Marker believes you should bloom where you are planted, which means to make the best of a situation. Her mothering skills and sense of presence connected with the student, who in turn felt cared for. As a result, the student shared feelings of hurt and frustrations with Marker. The tutoring sessions almost developed into counseling sessions and formed a relationship of trust. The student’s self-esteem and self-worth grew.

Marker worked one-on-one with a student unable to read. She developed a trusting rapport with the student and got a good understanding of the complexity that special education can bring. Marker was willing to try a variety of approaches and techniques in order to best reach the student and meet her needs. In addition, Marker consulted with the speech therapist for suggestions and materials. This was extremely valuable and supplemented the speech goals well. Marker interacted professionally with all other staff and students that were in the building.

An opportunity for the relationship between Marker and the student grew out of a vision many years ago, and her interface with the student lived out that vision. In 1982, through relationship with a small school for children with emotional disabilities housed in their building, members of Northwood Presbyterian Church responded to a need and sought to develop a school that would meet not only the academic goals of these children, but would also provide a therapeutic environment in which they would grow and learn. Thus was born the Pathways Center, which later became The Pathways Schools as more and diverse needs were identified which required the varied programming that characterizes Pathways today.

The Pathways Schools, a nonpublic, nonprofit institution, is sponsored by Northwood Presbyterian Church and is supported by Luther Rice Memorial Baptist Church. Students with emotional disabilities, regardless of gender, race or religious affiliation, may attend The Pathways Schools. Having grown from 80 to 150 students, Pathways now operates six school programs in Maryland’s Prince George’s, Montgomery, and Anne Arundel Counties. The programs are tailored to meet the specific needs of each child, whether those are challenging academics, vocational preparation, life skills instruction, or support facilitating a transition into public school. The schools are small, success-oriented settings staffed by an array of highly qualified professionals.

NATALIE JOLLY

Natalie Jolly has been exceptionally successful in paring University students with local community organizations through her multiple service learning educational endeavors. Over the course of the past year, she has worked tirelessly to see that the numerous resources attached to the University meet local community needs. In the past, there had been little transfer between the University and the community, particularly in the nonprofit sector. Jolly has done quite a bit to address this gap and inspire other faculty to follow her lead.

Her students have come to the project initially hesitant to engage issues of poverty, HIV/AIDS and women health, but become inspired to make changes in there community and build a better world. Moreover, her work has inspired a number of reticent students to take up the mantle of service work even after their assignment has concluded. In fact, several students have joined the ranks of volunteer staff after enjoying their service assignment. Jolly’s desire to facilitate this bridge between youth and community sets a foundation for future service work that is invaluable.

In addition to bringing new students into the community, Jolly’s commitment to service learning and community activism has created a network of various local agencies that do work on women’s issues in the community. In organizing a variety of projects for her classes, Jolly has stayed attentive to the surprising lack of connection between local groups doing similar work, and encourages others to become more connected. These new relationships have become an important community resource and have provided new opportunities for outreach and general support. This community network has become quite valuable, and is a wonderful byproduct of the service projects that grew out of Jolly’s vision for bridging the gap between University and community.

BECKI FORSELL

Disability has never been a stumbling block for Becki Forsell, despite the fact that she lost her sight some years ago. In fact, she makes a point of stating exactly the opposite. Forsell believes people with disabilities are not a problem to be fixed but that they want to be part of the solution. Forsell embodies this as founder and Executive Director of YES! of America United, Inc. She spends her days encouraging volunteer service and community outreach to those with disabilities . Her work also promotes mentoring, tutoring, peer supports and activities, in which she takes great pleasure.

In addition to this, Forsell served as the Chair of Grassroots of Hillsborough County. In this capacity, Forsell networked citizens for volunteer opportunities, among other things. As a member of the real Choice Partnership, a program in the Governor’s Americans with Disability Act Working Group, she follows her passion and dedication all the way to the state legislature. There, she impacts decisions made for those living with disabilities statewide. The Tampa Mayor’s Alliance , the Hillsborough county Alliance for Citizens with Disabilities and the Task Force for the Church and Disability all claim Forsell as an active member that continues to give back not only with her time at conferences, lectures, and volunteer projects, but also with her positive attitude, her leadership capability, and her unrivalled example of survival. She is effective as a volunteer and comes to serve with a smile and an infectious laugh.

Forsell’s work helps to fill a large gap in her community. Before Forsell and YES! there were limited opportunities for those with disabilities to help give back to their communities. This not only shut off an extremely valuable recourse, but it kept those who were disabled as victims and beneficiaries of other’s charity. Forsell helps everyone realize that this is not the way to look at things. She strongly advocates independence and empowerment for those who have had rare opportunities to cultivate these characteristics. Those involved in YES! and other projects with Becki are also united by a common bond and become a part of a large network of people all communicating and working together thanks to Forsell. Her methods are unique, her time commitment enormous and the outreach beneficial for everyone involved. This past year she is honored to have been recognized by her community and now the federal government for her volunteering, but she cherishes her award of the Alan P. Wesley Award, during her graduation from the Developmental Disability Partner’s in Policy Making program. This award is presented to the class member exemplifying leadership and partnership, which is award to her by her peers.

UNITED WAY OF PALM BEACH COUNTY

The United Way of Palm Beach County is an integral part of the Boynton Beach, Florida community. In collaboration with numerous organizations the United Way developed the Prosperity Campaign of Palm Beach County in June of 2003 to help low-income working residents move toward greater economic stability. The first initiative was to educate the public on the Earned Income Tax Credit (EIC) and open over 30 Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA) sites in the county. The response was incredible, and they recruited in excess of 100 volunteers and prepared more than 4,000 returns. This was a definite increase in the 660 returns that had been prepared the year prior. In 2005, 40 VITA sites were operational with more than 240 volunteers and 6,500 returns prepared. This effort in 2005 has entitled low-income workers to 11 million in tax refunds with approximately 5 million from the EIC.

In January 2005, the Prosperity Campaign expanded their services and opened three year round Prosperity Center to offer residents one-stop services. These services include a matched-savings program for homeownership called the Individual Development Accounts (IDA), help in resolving credit problems, money management assistance, benefits assistance and access, and education and job assistance. Each of the three Prosperity Centers offer year round free tax preparation.

Since the Prosperity Center opened in January 2005, 96 households have opened IDA savings accounts for homeownership, 211 have received credit counseling services, 185 have attended money management workshops and 428 have been counseled on an educational/vocational plan, and received assistance with financial aid forms. The first IDA home has already gone to closing for the Prosperity Center.

The dedication and commitment to low-income families in Palm Beach County and the hundreds of volunteers who have made the Prosperity Campaign a huge success is because of the United Way of Palm Beach County and their collaborative approach they adopted. The United Way is actively aiding families so they can achieve greater economic stability, higher earnings and home ownership.