LAURA BRADDOCK

Laura Braddock graduated from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY, and moved to New York City in the 1980’s. In stead of pursuing the more traditional corporate career path, Ms. Braddock decided to enter the volunteer sector and use the skills she acquired at Vassar to help maintain open green spaces in New York City. She has volunteered to help various groups, including the Green Guerillas, and has won an award for her work from the Manhattan Borough President.

In 2001, Ms. Braddock worked to mediate a Uniform Land Use Review Process conflict between a developer and the oldest community garden in New York City. Her participation in this process helped preserve the garden.

Ms. Braddock has been an active volunteer at the Liz Christy Bowery Houston Garden for more than 12 years. She spends an average of 20 hours per week tending the plots in the garden and is responsible for the turtle and fish pond, which is the most visited site in the garden. She shows visitors and school groups the pond and teaches them about the ecology of this freshwater oasis in the heart of the east village. She developed a guide to the turtles containing photographs of the nine turtles currently in residence. She has learned a great deal about turtle medical problems and even assisted one of the female turtles in laying her eggs.

Ms. Braddock is also a volunteer “Citizen Street Tree Pruner,” helping to keep local trees healthy. To help other gardeners and other gardens, she is a member of the “trust for Public Lands” Garden Leadership Group providing technical assistance to others.

In addition, Ms. Braddock has been active in other aspects of community gardening on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, which has a large immigrant population. She worked to design a web page that tells about community gardening and worked to ensure that the paths in the garden are wide enough to allow people in wheelchairs access through the garden. She also did the research and installed solar powered lights in a community garden to save energy costs and allow the garden to stay open at night. These lights were installed in early August 2003 and providing the only lights to be seen in the area during the Blackout of 2003.

RAYMOND UNGER

The Mid-East Area Agency On Aging (MEAAA) South County Senior Center works to serve the elderly of St. Louis and the surrounding area. Raymond Unger has been a volunteer at the Senior Center for the past 15 years.

Mr. Unger was a volunteer at the center prior to leaving the work force and has dedicated even more time to the clients since his retirement. He has not missed a day to volunteer at the center. The only times he is not there is the few days each year he takes of to visit his daughter in Connecticut.

Mr. Unger’s responsibilities include anything that is need at the Senior Center. Every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday he goes out at 5:00am to pick up donated bread and pastry from three area bakeries. He then arrives at the Senior Center by 7:30am everyday to fix coffee and set up trays to serve pastry. Mr. Unger is also available daily to deliver hot meals to the homebound senior citizens served by the Senior Center, and he even serves on Thanksgiving and Christmas day.

Mr. Unger also runs center errands, carries lunch trays for those who are unable to stand in the lunch line and carry their own tray and he helps with clean up after lunch. He also serves on the Senior Center’s Site Council and assists with fundraising. Mr. Unger provides transportation to the Senior Center as well as the bank, grocery store and other places for clients of the Senior Center.

In addition to his work with the Senior Center, Mr. Unger works at charity dinners, completes home repair and yard work for those who cannot afford to hire someone and he assists or helps people with car maintenance that they otherwise would not be able to pay for. He also makes regular clothing and toy donations to the area needy and financially helps those who are less fortunate than him.

Mr. Unger is an inspiration to those who know him and especially to the clients at the Senior Center. No matter how he feels or what is going on in his life, Unger has a smile on his face and a cheerful disposition. He works to always find the silver lining in clouds and helps others do the same. Mr. Unger is a selfless volunteer and an invaluable asset to the Senior Center and the community of St. Louis.

MUTUAL ASSISTANCE NETWORK OF DEL PASO HEIGHTS

In 1994, Del Paso Heights was showing all the signs of distress that come with isolation from the economic mainstream. The Mutual Assistance Network (MAN) came into being to support families in helping each other build back their community and their lives. Such collaboration meant bridging cultural divides among the African American families who had lived there for many, many years and Hispanic, Pacific Islander and Asian immigrants, primarily Hmong from Laos.

Jose Gutierrez might have become one more statistic contributing to a historically low graduation rate of 48 percent in the local high school during the mide-1990s. He was in ninth grade in 1997 and on the school’s list of troubled teens. MAN linked Gutierrez with one of the very first peer mentors in Operation Graduation, a program that hires junior and senior high school students to mentor younger youth. The concerns of neighborhood families watching so many of their young people drop out, prompted MAN to develop the programs. Within a year, he had improved his grades and decided to become a mentor himself. Gutierrez, whose career goal is to work with youth, is now an assistant coordinator of Operation Graduation. And at the local high school, the graduation rate has climbed to 73 percent.

MAN has established trust by taking its direction from community members acting together to their common interests. For an outreach program making home visits to families, MAN hires and trains local residents, who gain steady income for their own families as they help their neighbors. When neighborhood residents identified a lack of services for seniors, especially those rearing grandchildren, MAN developed support groups for these families to share resources and strengthen each other.

In an unusual public-private partnership, MAN works closely with Sacramento County to give families a wide array of supports. Neighborhood residents can get help finding jobs and developing careers to increase their families’ incomes. Through MAN, they can access childcare, youth programs and extensive services that help families become self-sufficient.

A non-profit community development corporation, MAN also brings jobs and services into the community. In April 2004, MAN will break ground on Neighborhood Central, a $2.6 million center for families that will house retail shops at street level and MAN and county social services above.

MAN’s approach to community building ¾ bottom-up and integrative ¾ began with its first project: a community garden created by residents in 1994. Nine years later, the garden not only provides healthy food to neighborhood families, but also has given rise to a youth garden. Community teenagers grow flowers and vegetables that they sell to Sacramento businesses. MAN has grown into one of the community’s largest private employers with an operating budget of almost $2 million.

STEPHANIE EASTER

Stephanie Easter is a Valedictorian honors student that graduated Rank One with the highest grade point average in her senior class. She is a true scholar and a youth who is genuinely interested in life and loves to learn. She sets herself apart from other students by always doing more than is required of her. Her academic achievements have earned her membership in Who’s Who Among American High School Students, Outstanding Students of America, and National Honor Society. In addition to her academic excellence, Stephanie received the prestigious Princeton University Book Award showing the highest of character, leadership, and academically proven to achieve great success in her career.

Stephanie has been volunteering since she has been in elementary school. She has served as Ambassador for Bixby’s Student Council and History Club, the President of Tri-M Music Honor Society, and President of Future Medical Careers. Stephanie is also an Oklahoma AlI-State Winner and served in the AlI-State Honor Band. She performed at the National Peach Bowl with the Bixby High School Marching Band State Champions and volunteered to play her flute in high school musicals and for those in her community in military service serving our country .

In addition, Stephanie has been a mentor/tutor and teacher’s helper. She has helped many students that would have fallen through the cracks, and instead of them giving up they now look to succeed in education. Stephanie has not only helped as a mentor and tutor, but she has also helped bring culture to her classmates. Stephanie sang and acted on stage with Tulsa Opera’ s LaBoheme at the Chapman Music Theater Performing Arts Center and in Brundibar with Tulsa Youth Opera. . Brundibar was a way of educating the community and performances were at Holland Hall Theater . Stephanie has also served as a mentor for ” Annie” a broadway musical performed at Tulsa Community College Performing Arts Center for Education.

Throughout her high school career, Stephanie has been an active tutor in math, science, and other classes. She has also been Editor of the Band Yearbook, and served as Public Relations/ Ambassador for the German Club with the German Society of Tulsa in addition to other extra-curricular activities. Due to Stephanie’s dedication to her classmates and community, Tulsa is a better place. She has received the RED CROSS EVERYDAY HERO award from the Tulsa Area Chapter for her acts of courage, kindness and noble character .

Stephanie uses her knowledge, talents, and abilities to help others grow. She has been innovative in thinking up new ways to help others learn and exposing students to new cultures. Stephanie sees the need to help students learn and understand the global world we live in today. As a result of her service, she has also been honored with the highest leadership award that only one senior can receive, The Principal’s Leadership Award. She was also awarded the President’s Education Award for Outstanding Academic Excellence signed by President George Bush.

WOBURN YOUTH COUNCIL

The Woburn Youth Council has been a driving force for promoting service in Woburn, Massachusetts. Working with adult advisors and community partners, this group of middle and high school students has made tremendous contributions to Social Capital Inc.’s (SCI) efforts to increase youth civic engagement in Woburn.

SCI was created in response to evidence that civic engagement and social capital have declined precipitously over the past 30 years. In 2002, SCI facilitated a series of community meetings attended by more than 100 residents and organizations that led to the establishment of the initial SCI priorities. The need to provide young people with hands-on opportunities to develop civic leadership skills was considered by many to be a real community need, and the Youth Council is an important strategy for achieving that goal.

A partnership was established between the Youth Council and the Boys & Girls Club of Woburn in 2002 to provide Council members an opportunity to directly engage youth in the community in service-learning activities. In bridging the gap between youth and service, the Youth Council has teamed up with youth from a local church to plan a Martin Luther King Day Project. This captures the adults’ recollections about Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement. They also brought together some 60 youth and adults to discuss community issues and strategies in the Youth Adult Connections (YAC). The Youth Council also partnered with a local environmental group and the Woburn Senior Center in organizing a community-wide beautification project that drew in excess of 50 volunteers for National Youth Service Day.

Since the Youth Council’s inception in 2002, Council members have devoted more than 3,000 volunteer hours in community service projects. Now in its second year of programming, the Council has grown to 22 members. They expect a strong membership interest expected for the 2004-2005 year also.

The Woburn Youth Council has reached more than 1,000 community residents in its first two years of programming. Additional Council-led projects include a Mayoral Debate and Mini – grants. Council members coordinated a very successful debate between the two Mayoral candidates and more than 400 high school students attended it. Students in civics classes generated the questions from the debate. The Council also funded nine youth-initiated projects for a total grant amount of $10,000. The projects funded are expected to engage more than 500 youth in about 2,000 hours of service-learning and social capital building activities.

CIERRA JOHNSON

Cierra Johnson was born and raised in Sylacauga, Alabama. She is a twenty-three year old senior at Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Alabama and for the past several years she has been an outstanding role model, volunteer and citizen. She competes in the Miss America Scholarship program and is the reigning Miss Sylacauga. Her platform is entitled “Dare to Be Different,” and Cierra has made a dramatic difference not only in Sylacauga but also for the entire state of Alabama.

Cierra’s choice to commit herself to a rather touchy subject has made an impact in her home state. She has implemented the Teaching Tolerance program in more than 2,000 schools throughout Alabama. She has traveled to endless arenas informing and training educators on the importance of having a tolerance based environment in the classroom. Each week, she travels to Sylacauga to teach diversity to the children that participate in an after school program called BRIDGES. In addition, Cierra has been given a $2,000 grant for the program to use towards the purchase of materials for a multicultural library. She has donated in excess of 500 books and has started a multicultural video library at the B.B. Comer Memorial Library.

Her love for children and her community can be seen in so many places across the state. In Montgomery, Cierra teaches a diversity class at Maxwell Air Force Base to the community and the incoming chaplains. Cierra is the founder, director and coordinator of “Diversity Week” at Huntingdon College. During this week, students, faculty and the community come together for a weeklong celebration of diversity, life and freedom. Due to her tireless efforts to promote diversity, Cierra’s name will appear on the “Wall of Tolerance” in 2005 at the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Civil Rights Memorial Center. She is presently working as an intern for the Teaching Tolerance program and hopes to one day become the Director at the Center.

Cierra’s recent capture of the Miss Sylacauga title was exciting for her town. It is the longest running preliminary in the state of Alabama, and in its 68th year, Johnson is the first African-American to hold the title. Her win is an inspiration to many young girls in Sylacauga and has inspired both the young and old to never give up. Cierra will continue to be dedicated to her platform of tolerance for life and far beyond her crown. She says,” I promoted tolerance yesterday, I promote tolerance today and I will promote tolerance tomorrow and forever.”

GUARANTEED INVOLVEMENT FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS, INC.

Karen DeVane is Orange City’s “2004 Volunteer of the Year”. During her community service time, Mrs. DeVane realized there was a great need for children to have the opportunity to build a strong foundation for their future and being able to read is a major cornerstone. She and her family wanted to find a way to encourage children to read and provide children with their own personal books to read at home.

Mrs. DeVane and her family created a solution by starting Guarnteed Involvement For Teachers & Students, Inc. (GIFTS), a registered Charity with the State of Florida. Only two years old (and all volunteers), GIFTS was selected in April 2004 as United Way & Bright House Network’s “2003 Education Volunteer of the Year”. GIFTS is successful at meeting the need because it brings together a diverse group of volunteers to achieve what most would never attempt, GIFTS currently have 12 elementary schools in their classroom supply program located in Deltona, DeLand, Enterprise & Orange City, FL.

Mrs. DeVane and her family have met every challenge, devoted extraordinary amounts of time and initiative to accomplish their goal. They hold the fervent belief that a successful public school education insures the continuation of vibrant, informed and democratic society. This is possible when children are able to read.

GIFTS book distribution program has enhanced the reading material in the homes of students in TItle One schools throughout Volunsia County. GIFTS volunteers have unloaded, sorted, stacked, bagged and boxed truckloads of books, received from FIRSTBOOK, a National Book Bank program. Volusia County’s School District ais GIFTS with this project by providing a warehouse and delivery of the boxes of books for the children. To date, GIFTS has distributed over 179,000 books, worth a staggering $1,274,517 to 65,547 students in Kindergarten through 12th grade.

GIFTS volunteers put in over 500 hours to make over 119,300 flashcards (by hand) of the high intensity sight words for kindergarten thru 3rd grade requested by four schools.

Another project to aid students’ ability to read is a “Whisper” phone. To date GIFTS volunteers have assembled 9,812 PVC phones for 36 elementary schools, 1 middle and 1 High school English class (to learn poetry). Bright House Networks was a major contributor to this project, donating $2,500 to help increase reading and fluency and skills.

Mrs. DeVane, her husband, Bill, along with their youngest daughter, Joeele, speak to civic organizations and businesses throughout the county to gain financial support, both monetary and in-kind, needed for the various expenses incurred for GIFTS program, the organization received grants from Progress Energy ($15,000) for classroom supplies, $2,000 twice from the City of Deltona, a $500 mini-grant from FUTURES and $1,000 from Ormond Beach West Rotary for four elementary school in their area.

Mrs. DeVane has stated, “We feel that the community’s support and our volunteers are the backbone and strength of a healthy community and continue to make it possible for our organization to help the children build their reading skills through books, flashcards, and “Whisper” phones. We deeply appreciate their enthusiasm and commitment and together we can ‘Make a Difference’ in the lives of our children.”

COLONELS OF HOPE AT BIRMINGHAM SOUTHERN COLLEGE

Colonels of Hope began in the spring of 2002 when three students Lisa, Webb and Megan, who had worked at Woodlawn High School (WHS) during a January Interim decided to continue building their relationship with people at the school. During the time these Birmingham-Southern College (BSC) students spent time paining murals at the high school in January, they were astonished to discover that WHS students had a 67.8% passing rate for the Alabama High School Graduation Exam. Of the students who were able to pass, few had access to resources to prepare them to take the ACT or SAT or to apply for college. The high school is situated in a neighborhood where few have all of the resources they need to live healthy, comfortable lives. Due to overcrowding and cuts in funding, the school was unable to provide many of the services needed to ensure the success of its students.

As a result of that January term, the three Birmingham-Southern College students developed a plan to put volunteers from BSC in touch with students at the high school who needed help studying for the graduation exam, the Colonels of Hope. They began recruiting students to visit the school once a week and work with small groups of WHS students on math, reading, language and science. By the end of 2002, twenty to thirty BSC students were devoting one to two hours per week to tutoring in excess of 60 students at WHS. Once the tutoring caught on, other programs were implemented to further build the relationship between BSC, WHS and the students of both schools.

In the fall of 2002, BSC students and about 50 members of the high school’s JROTC program build an outdoor/environmental classroom. The classroom provides students the opportunity to learn about plants and life science through hands-on work. The students continue to maintain a basil garden that they will use to harvest and sell at the local farmer’s market. Colonels of Hope also organized a field trip for WHS students to BSC to expose them to the college experience and give them something to aspire to. An admissions counselor spoke to the group about the college admissions process and financial aid as they toured the campus. For many of the WHS students, this was their first time on a college campus and their first opportunity to learn how financial aid works.

BSC students have benefited from their relationship with WHS as well. Many of the students come from middle to upper class backgrounds so this tutoring experience exposes them to children’s lives who are not as privileged as they are. It forces most of the students to think about why there are such disparities between the opportunities they have and the opportunities that have been and are available to the students at WHS.

The Colonels of Hope are continuing to mentor and tutor at WHS. They are also continuing to keep up the garden and are developing a plan to help students prepare for the ACT/SAT and help with the college application process. The impact of this program has been seen in the strong relationships BSC students have developed with WHS students, teachers and administrators and they are confident this relationship will continue to go and be strengthened throughout the years to come.

RANDY SUTTON

Sgt. Randy Sutton created the Cops and Kids organization to introduce children to police officers and what they do. Mr. Sutton has introduced Metro officers to the Classroom On Wheels (COW) Pre-K students. He began this service in 2000 after he learned about the COW program. Mr. Sutton then arranged for police officers to visit the COW buses and read to the children. Mr. Sutton’s first experience with the children was a testimony that his Cops and Kids is an important program. The COW preschoolers live in high crime neighborhoods where police officers are not always welcome. The first time Mr. Sutton visited the mobile classrooms, the parents were very concerned and the children were wary of him. Mr. Sutton’s first question to the group was, “Do you know what police officer’s do?” The children advised they arrest bad people, but Sutton advised the arrest GOOD people that sometimes do bad things. Immediately a glass wall dropped and the community welcomed Sutton.

Mr. Sutton introduced police officers into the lives of early childhood development in a very positive way. He recognized that the children the Metro officers serve are the very same children who witness domestic violence and need school readiness. He used the innovative COW program along with his Cops and Kids program to solve a problem of joining police officers and children in a non-threatening way. The officer’s are also privy to the lives the children lead and they can be an encouragement and a positive role model for them.

To date, Mr. Sutton has recruited many officers to the program so they can read to the students. In addition, he has made a contribution of $4,000 to the COW Pre-K for books for the children. Along with recruiting officers, Mr. Sutton is also volunteering with the children. He enjoys the time he takes to purchase books and then read to the children. Mr. Sutton has helped one of the underserved neighborhoods in the Las Vegas area by making books available to children along with providing a positive outlook regarding law enforcement. During the past three years, Mr. Sutton has impacted more than 500 families. Now the community sees the children hugging the officers as opposed to being afraid of them. The experience the officers have had in the community is pleasant. Where they usually have negative outcomes due to 911 calls, they now have relationships with the children and the other neighbors.

It is not an easy job providing law enforcement to any metropolitan area. Many officers are ready for a rest after a hard days work. Mr. Sutton sees such a negative side of life while policing that he chose to make a difference one child and one community at a time. The children now are aware of what police officers are supposed to do and recognize them as public servants.

Mr. Sutton he is consistently working for social change for people in need. In 1998 he raised $18,000 for a family whose one-month old child was shot in the face during a drive by shooting. During 2000, he organized a benefit concert for an injured Nevada Highway Patrolman and raised an excess of $20,000. Mr. Sutton is continuing the Cops and Kids program while also working to compile stories from officers across the country into a book called “TRUE BLUE” with the proceeds going to the New York Police Widows and Orphans Fund.

ASIAN AMERICAN LEAD

Asian American LEAD (Leadership, Empowerment and Development) builds community strength by supporting immigrant families and helping them gain access to services. “In Vietnam, there are no social services. The community provides,” says founder Sandy Dang. “Here, we become nieces and nephews. We come into the home and say, ‘Uncles and Aunts: How are you doing? What do you need?”

Thuan Nguyen expected the American government to make all the choices about her children’s studies. That’s how it worked in Vietnam. With AALEAD’s support, she has learned to navigate a very different educational system in America. “I am lucky that I have children who are studious,” says Thuan Nguyen, who came from Vietnam in 1995, when her children were 13 and 5. “But it’s not enough to be studious. They need someone to guide them academically.” Currently, daughter Lan Anh Phan is a junior at the University of Virginia, and son Minh Phan, a ninth grader, is at AALEAD nearly every day after school for tutoring, sports or community service programs.

Asian American LEAD was founded in 1998, but its origins date back to 1981, the year that executive director Sandy Hoa Dang arrived in the United States at age 13. After fleeing Vietnam and spending three years in a Hong Kong refugee camp, Dang’s family was bewildered by their newly adopted country. In 1995, she joined the Indochinese Community Center in Washington, D.C., and discovered an enclave of 6,000 Vietnamese, many of whom lived in conditions far worse than those she experienced as an immigrant. She founded AALEAD to strengthen immigrant families and reinforce the bonds between parents and their children.

Education becomes the entry for AALEAD to reinforce parents as they work to realize family goals despite language barriers. Staff explain report cards, translate school documents and accompany parents to school conferences. Informal gatherings also bring families together to celebrate their children’s progress, share their stories and renew cultural ties.

After-school tutors give homework help and English language enrichment to young people. A youth leadership program offers service learning and assistance with college applications. AALEAD also reaches beyond the Asian community. When a group of tenants needed help with their slumlord, AALEAD, organized Asian, African American and Latino tenants to fight successfully for their rights. “Our model is strength-based,” says Dang. “Any community can strengthen itself, and then it can transcend its own boundaries, coming together with others to form a richer fabric for this country.”