ALBERTA HALL

Time flies when you’re having fun. It has been over five years that Foster Grandparent Volunteer, Alberta Hall (Grandma Alberta) has assisted in Mr. Laird’s 1st grade class. She is amazing and has made a huge impact on these youngsters. Mr. Laird notes: “Alberta really cares for the children and keeps them focused. She creates a positive and caring experience for children who very rarely receive it. She performs guided reading with small groups, conducts assessments of individual children, administers spelling tests to students who were absent when tests were given to class, works one to one with “at risk” students in all subject areas, assists with craft projects, prepares student folders each day and more. The class reading and writing skills have dramatically improved under Grandma Alberta’s tutoring. Her presence has enabled me to give the children who are having a hard time, more intensive help. Grandma Alberta is always cheerful, friendly and reliable”. At 70 years young, while I visited her class in early January, Alberta was assisting a small group with an individual art project. Each student was designing, painting and decorating their own snowman. As they put on the eyes she asked; how many eyes does he have? And so on with each aspect of putting the snowman together. Two eyes, one nose, three buttons on his coat. This was very fun to observe and instructive at the same time. The children were genuinely enjoying their project with Grandma Alberta. Several art projects were displayed around Mr. Laird’s class and I could tell this was soon to be the next.

Alberta was in the first graduating class of Foster Grandparent Volunteers in our Literacy Project in Placer County and the first volunteer placed at Rocklin Elementary School. Since then she has personally recruited several new volunteers, two that are currently placed at Rocklin Elementary School while others volunteer elsewhere. Alberta’s commitment to children is grand. Most foster Grandparents volunteer 3-4 hours a day 5 days a week. Alberta volunteers 6 hours a day, 5 days a week. Over the past five years Alberta has posted nearly 8,000 hours. Last year Alberta received the Presidents Lifetime Achievement Award for accumulating over 4,000 volunteer hours over her lifetime. Well, Alberta deserves recognition for accumulating 8,000 volunteer hours in five years alone.

Alberta is one of 100 Foster Grandparents is Sacramento, California that offer meaningful volunteer opportunities for people 60 and over to provide love and support to children with special or exceptional needs. Thousand of children have been helped by Foster Grandparents in the 30 plus years of the program. Some children are mentally, physically, or emotionally disabled; others are abused, neglected or in the juvenile justice system. Every child is special, but many lack the presence of that special someone who could make all the difference in the world.

SAINT MARY’S HALL RED CROSS CLUB

The Saint Mary’s Hall Red Cross Club exists for the purpose of nurturing servant leaders while serving the greater good of the community. The club is comprised of high school students attending a demanding college preparatory program. All volunteer activities are completed without pay.

The activities of the club include traditional activities of the American Red Cross such as staffing First Aid and water stations, compiling comfort kits for disaster victims, and conducting fundraisers for hurricane victims in Florida. Other events include activities such as the fund raising for the Measles Initiative and providing safety education and training. In addition, the student volunteers of the Saint Mary’s Hall Red Cross Club provide babysitting at the USO in support of families of whose military members are deployed overseas.

Every year, this club organizes the delivery of over one hundred meals for both Thanksgiving and Mothers Day to the needy senior citizens of the community. On these occasions, up to twenty students and half a dozen parents will support the Christian Senior Services of San Antonio for this special occasion delivery. Students in pairs will deliver to each for cards created by the city’s grade school children, flowers, and the traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings. The moments these students provide many senior citizens are the only company these people will receive during the holiday.

On the day after Thanksgiving, the volunteers of the Saint Mary’s Hall Red Cross Club meet on San Antonio’s famed Riverwalk to raise between $15,000 and $20,000 dollars in the annual Holiday River Parade. This event’s funds are used exclusively for the maintenance and improvements to the city’s tourist attraction. For this event, students set-up and number almost 2,000 chairs around the convention center lagoon. As spectators arrive, the students lead them to their seats. During the event, they provide assistance as required and after the event all the chairs are restacked and the area cleaned up from cups, programs, and associated debris.

The singularly distinguished actions of the Saint Mary’s Hall Red Cross Club are reflected in the success of their members to assume greater responsibilities. The club president is also the president of the Youth Council for the entire city of San Antonio. She also sits on the San Antonio Chapter of the American Red Cross Board of Directors that represents the 21 counties and seven million people of South Texas. Finally, the club president was awarded an opportunity to represent the chapter at the 2004 national convention of the American Red Cross in Saint Louis, Missouri.

TOBYETTE SIMMONS

Without volunteers, the Boys & Girls Clubs would not be able to touch as many youth as they do in the many program areas that they offer. Four years ago the U.S. Olympic Committee offered the metro Atlanta region the opportunity to create a “Community Olympic Development Program” in Track & Field. Tobyette Simmons, a Boys and Girls Club volunteer, stepped forward and embraced the challenge of trying to implement and develop a sport that the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta had never attempted to run. Over the past four years, Tobyette committed her time from January through August to educate youth, train volunteers and staff, raise funding, and plan all the travel and competition logistics. She dedicates eight months a year, and a minimum of 20 hours a week as a volunteer for the metropolitan Atlanta track program. In four short years, Tobyette has engaged over 2,500 boys and girls to run in this track program. With the hope of success, a byproduct of providing this opportunity, under Tobyette’s leadership, six of her kids have gone on to receive college scholarships. Twenty-two of these athletes have become All-Americans and over 100 have qualified for the National Championships. She has helped to not only change lives, but save lives.

Tobyette has also engaged parents in keeping the kids in the program active, as well as solicited support from local vendors surrounding participating Boys and Girls Clubs. This program is truly a community effort being driven by Tobyette’s passion.

In general when people give back to the community, it is usually through financial contributions or volunteering for a single event. Tobyette’s commitment however, goes above and beyond the call of duty expected by an average volunteer. In January of each year, she plans the trainings, event competitions, and logistics tied to each meet. Every Saturday during the months of March and April, she hosts “all-comer’s” meets which allow all Boys & Girls Clubs members in the area to participate. In addition to this, she dedicates two nights a week to organize practice with the teams. In May of each year, she coordinates and runs the Metro Atlanta Boys & Girls Clubs Championship Meet. After that meet, she hosts the Boys & Girls Clubs Invitational. This has grown to be the largest invitational meet in Georgia under Tobyette. Tobyette still finds time to be the Head Track Coach for the Boys & Girls Clubs Elite Track Team that participates in the local, state, region, and national U.S. Track & Field Championships. While having a full time job, getting married, and having a child this past year, her dedication has only grown. She is strongly committed and the results are indicative of her leadership and guidance to inspire and enable others.

“It is not easy to work with youth from disadvantaged circumstances. When you add to it a program that has never been tried and has little or no support, why would anyone want to take on such a challenge; especially as a volunteer,” asks Matt Ryan, Director of Programming for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta. “Well, Tobyette is about overcoming obstacles and providing optimism to others. The results from this program speak to that strength. She knows all the kids that have come through the program by name and she is affectionately called ‘Coach T’ by the many people in the community whose lives she has touched. She gives of herself with no expectation of something in return, just the smiles on her kids faces is the reward.

Tobyette Simmons is deserving of this award on her time commitment alone. But she is more deserving of the award because of the results she gets. I always worry she is doing too much, but she simply says, ‘If not me, then who? I love these kids.’ And we at the Boys & Girls Clubs and the community love her.”

DARICE GARDNER

The idea for delivering flowers to nursing homes through the month of May in honor of Mother’s Day was initiated by her church; however, she was inspired to take part in this experience by her passion to make a difference. Sure it took a lot of time out of her day, but once she saw how happy and cheerful it made all the people, and how it touched their lives, all the time invested was more than worth it.

Every Saturday, throughout the month of May, some people from her church and Darice visit nursing homes for about seven hours each time to give some flowers to the mothers. She purchased flowers for everyone that they had talked to at the nursing homes. She recruited for people support and assistance for buying and giving out the flowers.

She was able to touch the lives of the residents and improve them to the point where they would look forward to Saturdays in the month of May each year. There are about twenty people involved in delivering flowers to the elderly. While there was not any direct fundraising to purchase the flowers, the church and the community came together to make sure their was enough funding to give out the flowers yearly.

There was a great feeling of satisfaction for Darice as well as others that were involved. Spearheading, the project was every rewarding to Darice because she was not only able to learn communication skills but it felt rewarding to touch someone’s life in a simple but strong way. As one resident said, “Saturdays keep me going” will remain with Darice for the rest of her life.

Darice wants to continue to make a difference at her church and in her community and to lead by example for those young people in her community.

KATIE EPSTEIN

Two years ago, as a freshman in high school, Katie Epstein took action on her desire to make an impact in the Las Vegas Community through helping others. Because the only volunteer programs offered through her school were available to those students that could drive themselves to and from the activity, Katie decided to begin a program for those students who, like herself, wanted to volunteer but was not able to drive. That’s when she created a program in conjunction with Seville Terrace, an assisted living center for the elderly that is located across the street from her school. With this program, people confined to the limits of a retirement home were able to interact with high school students on a variety of levels from simple conversation to assistance with their chores. And while this program was started two years ago, a number of students continue to participate, building lasting relationships with the elderly.

This past year, Katie took leadership of the nationally recognized Meadows Mentors program, where as many as 30 students from her high school (The Meadows School) go to a local public school and tutor either individual students in need of literacy training or entire classrooms. Teaching these children, Katie realized that her passion in life is in helping children to realize their potential. Her true compassion for children and here genuine interesting their success is why she has decided to pursue a career in special education. This past summer, Katie traveled to Vanderbilt University in Nashville so that she could participate in a three-week program there for Autistic children. There, she was able to teach social skills to those children whose disease prevents them from adapting to societal customs. And while her resume is certainly impressive enough to merit a Daily Point of Light Award, it is Katie’s simple humanity that makes her an extraordinary young woman.

GARDEN ANGELS

I have had the opportunity of knowing Shawn Henry (founder of Garden Angels) through my work at Youth Venture. Youth Venture is a national non-profit organization that engages young people (Youth Ventures) to think about as well as address the problems in their communities. We provide our Youth Ventures with the tools necessary to create civic-minded organizations, clubs, or businesses. Youth Venture is a resource for young people like Shawn when they have project ideas that they want to launch. We provide our young people with the support needed to start them on their way.

Shawn launched his organization, Garden Angels, in December 2002 with a $1000 grant from Youth Venture. The Garden Angels has expanded to a following 50 core members and almost 200 young supporters in his Brooklyn neighborhood. It all started when Shawn had the idea of transforming an empty lot into a beautiful community garden. Shawn and the Garden Angels have since continued to pursue more community projects focused on engaging young people, such as tutoring, peer mentoring, poetry slams and chess tournaments.

Youth Venture supports young people throughout the beginning stages of their ventures because we believe strongly in the fact that young people are capable of being leaders in the community.

This past September, Shawn Henry was a recipient of $2000 for the Gloria Barrron Prize for Young Heroes in September 2004. He exemplifies this success as he manages to balance college life, work and being the leader of the Garden Angels. Shawn is a member of the Youth Advisory Council at Youth Venture and helps organize professional events for other young people to attend in the New York City area.

Shawn Henry’s continual involvement in the movement of young people who are making change in the world today is impressive and he deserves recognition because of the inspiration that he has brought to so many young minds in his community.

PROJECT OUTREACH

Project Outreach epitomizes the definition of a community service and family supportive organization. By engaging the residents of the Washington Park neighborhood, it is a respected and life-sustaining resource for families served.

Project Outreach, a non-profit organization, has been serving the communities of Providence and Cranston, RI for 20 years. The area it serves has one of the lowest per capita incomes of Rhode Island and is among the most need-oriented neighborhoods in the country.

They provide food, clothing, rental and utility assistance, life skills training and counseling. Over 150 families helped weekly; 100,000 meals served annually. Project Outreach provides programs to facilitate improvements in skill sets and opportunities to better the lives of clients. They specifically focus on helping young parents and children receive the proper education, nutrition and support they need to thrive.

From their humble “office” in the basement of the Washington Park United Methodist Church, Project Outreach has persisted in its mission to ‘rebuild and renew life in the neighborhood of Washington Park and surrounding area.” In other words, strengthening the families and strengthening the neighborhood. Under the supervision and motivation of Director, Paula Cartwright, volunteers, many of whom are the very recipients of services, assist in all aspects of programs offered. To sustain these programs, collaborations are made with area churches, high schools, businesses and service agencies within the state.

Specific programs & services offered (all bi-lingual in English, Spanish and/or Portuguese) include Community & Family Advocacy & Services, Community Food Program, Community Gardening Program, Infant Room, and Health & Nutrition Education Programs & ESL and GED Classes.

Community & Family Advocacy & Services advocate for systemic change to end poverty in the neighborhoods. Toys, books, and clothing are sent to over 1,000 children at major holidays and in August when children go back to school. This service also distributes Toys for Tots throughout RI and they fuel assistance for families, and fitness & sewing programs. The Community Food Program’s clients choose enough food for their family bi-weekly, with amounts to sustain them for that period. Food is purchased from RI Community Food Bank and donated by restaurants and stores. Johnson & Wales University culinary students teach meal preparation from food commonly distributed. The students also learn about poverty while clients learn recipes and nutrition.

The Community Gardening Program demonstrates garden with raised beds for elderly and the disabled. This is maintained by residents and the produce is used within other programs. The Health and Nutrition programs address the problem of disparity in minority health. This includes effects of second hand smoke and use of tobacco products, prenatal lead poisoning prevention, cancer, obesity, heart disease and high-risk behavior. The Infant Room is where we distribute supplies including vitamins, folic acid and other supplements to the families. We also have counseling and support for the new parents with referrals to appropriate agencies as needed.

Project Outreach is a safe place where families of all needs come for more than just groceries. Neighbors become willing and able to reach out to neighbors providing physical and emotional support, proving that building strong families creates strong communities!

SUSAN FERRARA

As Artistic Director of the River Region Ballet for ten years Susan Ferrara has been striving to involve young people in the arts in the river parishes. She has produced and performed numerous ballets, both classics and original works. She continues to foster the art of dance and provide opportunities not only to young local dancers but also to entire families, who both participate and attend performances. The entire community benefits from her tireless efforts to help young people learn and grow through dance.

In an effort to provide education in the arts and added inspiration, Ms. Ferrara has engaged professional guest artists to work with our local dancers in order to give our young dancers a sense of professionalism and expertise while enhancing performances with something extra. Hiring professional guest artists from the New Orleans area has been and is a priority, giving both the dancers and their family and friends the opportunity to reap the benefits of their hard work and talents. Presentation of the arts made in partnership between young dancers and our local community has been her livelong mission.

As Artistic Director and Choreographer, Ms. Ferrara spends hundreds of hours each year planning each event. She will hold auditions for the two major productions each year and select the dancers to fill out the corps de ballet and the variations. All who audition are given a part in her productions; she works tirelessly to place everyone who is willing. She will teach the numerous parts to all dancers through hours of rehearsals. In her planning she will also oversee the construction of any costuming as well as new sets or props that need to be built or refurbished. She will supervise the two performances making sure that all is ready for the doors to open and the production to begin. While there is a core of volunteers to help with the productions, Ms. Ferrara is the driving force behind the Company. She works tirelessly to put on the best performance possible.

For 10 years, Ms. Ferrara has served our community without charging for these services. She has given of herself and as a result has an army of volunteers giving of themselves to keep this program alive. She is truly an inspiration to young and old alike.

ANGELA VARNADOE

When a child is given Love Instruction, Guidance Hope and Trust, that child achieves and succeeds; therefore, Angela Varnadoe’s passion as led her to develop a mentoring program entitled “L.I.G.H.T. the Way; Guiding Children to Success.” Angela’s love for children and ability to reach them has led her to promote and focus her mentoring program on cultivating these essential elements among preschool and elementary aged children, as she strongly believes that a child’s life can be enriched to facilitate the development of self-worth, confidence and ambition.

Angela became involved in mentoring because she had a deep desire to serve her community and make a difference in the lives of others. Her dance and acrobatic skills along with her school and civic involvement have had her in the public’s eye and allowed her to be in the position of a role model and community leader. Our county offered no gymnastics training, and Angela desperately wanted to give in return for the love and support that her community has bestowed upon her. She established and leads a gymnastics-mentoring program for children, which she began in 2001. In her senior year of high school, she mentored daily to kindergarten students, mentored as the assistant librarian, and volunteered her service as the assistant physical education instructor, donating approximately 10 hours a week into her projects. Angela also volunteered with an “Art in Youth” program offering performing arts instruction to underprivileged youth. For her efforts, Angela was named a Georgia Distinguished finalist for Prudential’s 2003 Spirit of Community Award.

Angela has worked alongside numerous school officials and community leaders to solicit their support for establishing mentoring programs in our schools and communities. As a committee member and spokesperson for Tattnall County’s Improving Youth Development Organization, she promotes mentoring at civic clubs, organizations, children centers, and schools across the state. Angela also submits mentoring articles to newspapers. To enhance her efforts, Angela published a personalized brochure designed to inform everyone about her program and provide reference materials for mentoring. It is Angela’s intent that her initiative serve as a catalyst for creating new programs and partnerships by increasing public awareness and involvement so that children may benefit from a variety of resources offered by businesses, government agencies, churches, religious groups, and individuals. By allying her efforts with President Bush’s faith-based initiatives, Angela hopes to inspire more programs fro children and secure funding for rural communities. Aside of mentoring, Angela also serves as a volunteer and public relations representative for Glennville’s Welcome Center. In recognition, Angela was presented with Senate Resolution #401 and House Resolution #328. Angela was also a recipient of the Buddy Roberts Leadership Award for extraordinary service.

Angela exhibits high morals and ideals, and is an industrious and ambitious young lady who endeavors to make a difference. Due to Angela’s fervor for her dream and her tenacity, she has peaked the interest of, and has drastically improved our county’s knowledge of mentoring while making tremendous strides in bettering our youth. We are blessed to have Angela Varnadoe in our community. She defines what volunteer service is all about.

EMMANUEL VAZQUEZ

Emmanuel Vasquez is a caring young man that loves to provide joy to people, which he has been doing since June of 2003 by volunteering for the Assistant Living Facilities for the elderly; Surrey Place, Hawthorne Inn, and Life Care Center of Ocala. Whether Emmanuel sings, play games or shakes hands to each resident he is guaranteed to bring a smile and companionship to those he visits at the Assistant Living Facilities. Emmanuel started by volunteering for a small period of time and then he was able to volunteer at each assistant living facility for approximately one-hour. The elderly are the people created our present life and they deserve to be recognized. Emmanuel continues to volunteer at he Surrey Place; Assistant Facility, bringing joy to the elderly and learning to care about other people.

Emmanuel helped with the Salvation Army during the Winter Season by fundraising as a Bell Ringer and singing. Fundraising showed him how to address the problems in the community and fundraising serves as a solution to make our community better. Emmanuel helped with the Hospice of Marion County, which is a non-profit organization that has been serving the needs of patients in their last phases of life and their families. Emmanuel got the community retailers involved and created a pizza day combined with the Children’s Bereavement Camp. It was a great success for the children who are terminally ill or have a family member that is terminally ill.

During Florida’s four Hurricanes; (Charley, Frances, Jeanne, and Ivan) Emmanuel was able to get involved and get the community together. The community responded by making donations with gallons of water, and perishable food items. The community responded by making great mounts of donations, which were distributed, to the Interfaith Emergency Services and First Step Food Bank, Inc. Emmanuel and family saw the need in the immediate affected area of the two Hurricane’s eye in Brevard County along the Florida’s coast. Emmanuel got the community involve to donate gallons of water and perishable food items, which were delivered to the Brevard County Fire Rescue for its citizens, our neighbors. Brevard County is approximately two-hours away from our Marion County, which shows how lucky we were to not be seriously hit by the three Hurricanes.

Since the tender age of four-years-old Emmanuel has been involved in the community service. Emmanuel’s community service is from the heart since we are thankful that he doesn’t have any disease and his family, including Great-Grandparents, is active adults living in their homes and healthy with minor controllable health issues like diabetes. Now at five-years-old Emmanuel has set the standard for caring, selflessness and public service that will last a lifetime for the people he has help and the community.