ERIN ROSEN-WATSON

Erin Rosen-Watson is the director of her own nonprofit organization, Erin’s Helping Hands. With more than 500 volunteers, she has impacted thousands of needy children in Massachusetts. She has two ongoing projects and many one-time projects.

Her ongoing projects, Erin’s Afghans and The Essential Care Packet Project, have impacted more than 9,000 people. The afghan program has supplied 5,390 Afghans to children in need, and the care packet project has given more than 4,961 emergency placement bags to foster children and others in transition. Some of the one-time projects include: Winter Warmth – gave hundreds of hats and mittens to children in New Bedford, Spring Treasures – donated 30 gift baskets to teen moms for Mother’s Day, Backpacks are Cool for School – supplies 200 fully stocked backpacks to needy area school children, and the 3B;s-Blankets, Bears and Books – saw 1,618 handmade blankets, books and stuffed animals delivered to 51 emergency shelters.

As the director and creator of these projects, Erin has been involved in every aspect of their success. She has made blankets, gathered supplies, solicited donations, delivered the finished products, picked up and delivered materials for the projects. She has also written a newsletter, sent thank you notes and maintains her own website, www.massyouthincaction.com, to keep the public informed about every aspect of her project. Erin is personally responsible for both the quantity and quality of the donations and has never taken a salary or material compensation for her thousands of hours of community service.

Since the state of her project in October 2000, Erin has made a difference in the lives of thousands of children and volunteers. In many cases, through no fault of their own, these vulnerable children have found themselves in difficult situations and they need to know that they have not been forgotten. Directing this multi-generational project has created a community of people to help care for these children. Erin has spent hours with the elderly and learned the value of meaningful work in the elder years. She has mentored other youths as they helped with her projects or assisted them in setting goals for their won projects. Erin has lectured to church, school and other volunteer groups spreading the mission and message of Erin’s Helping Hands.

As a result of her volunteer service, Erin has been the recipient of the National Georgia Pacific Angel in Action Award, the Guardian Life Girls Going Places Scholarship, the Boston Celtic’s Heroes Among Us Award, the Prudential Spirit of Community Award, Paul Newman’s Cookin’ Up a Better World and citations from the Massachusetts Governor Jane Swift, the Massachusetts Senate and House of Representatives and the Department of Social Services.

DR. MICHAEL LITOW

Dr. Michael Litow has been helping save young lives for more than 30 years. He has helped children and teens that are disconnected from the larger community face their challenges head on and find solutions and success that will make them productive. His work leads to a positive long-term solution for each of the youth and parents as well. The children he serves acknowledge Dr. Litow as being the one person that took the time and interest to make their situation matter.

As a child, Dr. Litow had a learning disability. His difficulty in processing information made him frustrated and more than a handful in school. However, the adults in his life stuck by him and encouraged him. With the help of his parents and teachers, Dr. Litow, was able to overcome his disability and as an adult, has been nominated for the Walt Disney American Teacher Award, which honors creativity in teaching. Dr. Litow has been a leader of the cooperative inclusion program between Sullivan and Buckingham Special Education Center, a school for students with severe emotional and behavioral disorders. Buckingham students who improve significantly can be transferred to mainstream classes at Sullivan. Though he is part of Buckingham’s staff, he works closely with the students and Sullivan’s teachers to help the transitioning special education students into a mainstream school.

Dr. Litow teaches and counsels special education students at Sullivan Elementary on Chicago’s southeast side. He is also the founder of a 20-year old nonprofit counseling center, The Education Center, for children and young adults. What he endured as a child drives what he does now. He realizes all children can learn, but they all learn in different ways. He also advises before you can teach a child, you must reach that child. He states you should be accessible and spend time with the youth; listen to them, and do not be so easy to judge or condemn them.

The Education Center is an organization that has helped turn thousands of children’s lives around since its inception more than two decades ago. Established out of a profound sense that all children have the ability to succeed, Dr. Litow has created a unique life-coaching program at the Center. It includes tutoring, mentoring and vocational training. The vision of the Center is to help children discover their dreams and pursue them against all odds. Dr. Litow has received recognition for his lifelong work of advocacy on behalf of children that include honors from the Illinois House of Representatives, the United States Department of Justice, Phi Delta Kappa, the Chicago Jaycees, the American Bar Association, the American Medical Association and the National Junior Women’s League.

Dr. Litow has affected young people from all walks of life. He has been a mentor and a coach that helped give youth a second change in school and in life.

RUDY HAZEN

Rudy Hazen is a very empathetic and compassionate child. About four years ago,she became very concerned for other people who did not have the kind of life she had. She realized some people went withouth shelter, food, a safe home and other things that many people take for granted. Sometimes Rudy would get so moved by the plight of others that she would literally cry. Her parents told her if she felt so strongly about something that she should think of a way to change the situation and help to make it better.

One Sunday in church there was a message in the bulletin about the Women’s Shelter in the area. They needed some assistance, and Rudy believed this was a sign her there to serve. Rudy thought of creative ways to help the shelter and decided to have a party for her friends. The “Have a Heart Benefit for the Women’s Shelter of Pittsburgh” was soon scheduled. When Rudy’s dance teacher heard about it, she loved the idea and volunteered to host to party at her studio, Dance Workshop by Shari. Rudy scheduled the party and asked each of her 24 friends to bring an item for the shelter. Instead of the participants bringing one item, they brought in boxes and bags. They filled the entire dance studio the first year the party was held.

The first party was such a success, Rudy planned to continue it annually. During the second year, the particpants from all classes at the dance studio were invited. Approximately 60 children came and brought an enormous amouont of donations for the shelter. By the third year, the community college in the area got involved. Rudy decided to make the party a performance and 75 dancers, several singers and some speakers came and performed during the Valentine’s Day weekend. The benefit performance was held at the Community College of Allegheny County, South Campus Auditorium. Friends, family and the community joined Rudy and her friends at the dance studio in an inspiring show. The “party” was a message of hope, love and caring and raised $1,900 and collected another extraordinary amount of donations for the shelter.

Rudy is working to hold the event each year now, and she plans for it to continue to grow so their support of the shelter can grow also.

AMY SOLOWAY

Recordings For Recovery is a community service project that Amy Soloway, a junior at Harvard-Westlake School, started two years ago. This program provides age-appropriate stories and poems on taped cassettes to children recovering from surgeries in local hospitals. These children are often compelled to recover alone, without friends or parents to entertain them. So Amy’s project was created to fill the void left by the absence of these familiar voices.

Amy has been actively involved in volunteering since elementary school. She has participated in walk-a-thons for children’s charities and worked at food banks along with other service projects. A couple of years ago, she decided she wanted to start her own program and went to a local hospital. She spoke to the administrators there and inquired what was most needed for the young children recovering from surgeries. The staff advised her there was a need to comfort children in the recovery room. Shortly thereafter, Amy began recording her favorite bedtime stories on cassettes. She knew the children at the hospital deserved the opportunity to fall asleep with a comforting voice, and Recordings For Recovery was born.

She was excited and wanted to get the word out about her new program. Amy began recording stories and poems, created and distributed fliers to solicit donations from others and contacted local hospitals offering the services of Recordings For Recovery. She also delivered the cassettes to the recovering children.

Amy’s intent was to make less overwhelming the often-traumatic experiences of young children who were recovering from surgery. Recordings For Recover, however, did even more than that. One parent at Cedars Hospital reported that it made them feel good as a mother to know there their child could be entertained and comforted even when they were unable to be in the room.

Amy even took the time to assess her project to see what could be done differently or better. She realizes she needed a bilingual component and began to record in Spanish also. She then took another step and contacted elementary school and encouraged them to adopt her program as a pet project. Her previous elementary school did just that, and they have helped Amy by recording tapes of their favorite stories. This partnership makes it possible for children who request to keep a tape they are particularly fond of when they leave the hospital.

ROBERT BECKETT

Robert Beckett is an amazing and dedicated Foster Grandparent volunteer whose love for knowledge and community giving has evolved to a very high level of volunteering. He currently volunteers five hours a day each week as an English language and math tutor at Whitney Avenue Elementary School in Carmichael, California.

Three years ago, after receiving a three-way bypass and recuperating, Mr. Beckett needed an activity to stimulate his mind and boy. His wife of 69 years, Julia, heard about the Foster Grandparent Program and suggested he check into it. Mr. Becket checked into it and he has been hooked on volunteering ever since.

At the age of 94, Mr. Beckett volunteers in a Dale King sixth grade class with about 35 youth in a Title I school. There are many refugees from Mexico, China, Vietnam and the former Soviet Union. One of Mr. Beckett’s most significant contributions is working with the youth to teach them English as a second language (ESOL). With the direction of the teacher, Mr. Beckett utilizes a method called Total Physical Response. He put together a box of about 75 – 100 common items, words and phrases such as pencils, erasers, paper, cups, combs, candy, the days of the week, month, colors and numbers that we use in language. He quietly sits in the back of the room with a small group of 5 – 6 children. Mr. Beckett picks an item from the box and each student must pronounce the name of the item, write it down and try to use it in a sentence. He then repeats the process for a couple hours. In his desire to help them succeed, he allows them to help each other with the spelling until they learn it from memory.

One of the 6th grader teachers at Whitney Avenue Elementary School advises that Mr. Beckett is very kind with the students; he is patient, and he helps the students utilize their learning much better. He said, “I couldn’t do it without him.”

Mr. Beckett is one of 100 Foster Grandparents in Sacramento that offer meaningful volunteer opportunities for low-income seniors age 60 and older to provide love and support to children with special or exceptional needs. All Foster Grandparents receive an hourly stipend of $2.65 to reimburse some of the costs incurred while serving at least 15 hours per week. Thousands of children have been helped by Foster Grandparents in the 30 years of the program. Some of the children are mentally, physically or emotionally disabled. Others are abused, neglected or in the juvenile justice system. Each child is special, but many lack the presence of that special someone who could make all the difference in the world. Robert Beckett is one of the special people in Sacramento.

MICHELLE MORAND & KELSEY GRAHAM

Michelle and Kelsey Graham are members of Future, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA). They used their connections in FCCLLA to help out their community. The girls decided to focus their efforts on the needy in their community. They did research to find out what was most needed that they would be able to raise or get donations for. The Grahams decided to hold aclothing and blanket drive. They were able to advertise at Three Rivers Middle School where they attend so other students could also bring in clothes and blankets. This endeavor resulted in more than 500 items contributed to the needy. Mrs. Smith, the FCCLA leader, took the items down to the drop-in center so they could be distributed.

The girls’ next endeavor was Tricycle Races. Children in their school had collections jars in each of their homerooms. The top 12 homerooms that had the most money got to see their respective teachers ride tricycles. The proceeds from this fundraiser went to the Leukemia Foundation. A student at the schooll has leukemia, and some of the money collected went towards her treatment and needs. The money from the other race went to purchase animals for poor families in Afghanistan. In the second race, approximately $15,000 was raised. They were able to buy two dairy cows, four rabbits, two camels and four goats.

The girls also went carolling to three local nursing homes: Riverview, Miami Newhaven and Three Rivers Nursing Homes. They split up into groups and went into the rooms where they were allowed to and sang to the seniors. The residents looked forward to the visits and some of them even sang along with the girls.

Michelle and Kelsey also participated in Crosstown Help Out. They reported to serve at 7am on a Saturday and worked for one of several participating locations in town. They chose Our Daily Bread, which is a walk-in center in downtown Cincinnati. They painted and cleaned the floors and walls until 2:30 in the afternoon.

Michelle and Kelsey have done this for the past two years and plan on continuing this as an ongoing project. The girls have also participated in Rally, where they go before judges and tell them about certain things you did in FCCLA. They have participated in Rally for two years and are planning to again next year. Their group made it to Nationals for the last Rally and flew to Philadelphia on July 4th. They scored a 99.3 at regional rally and at state they received a 100.

MARGARET PIPER

Having always lived in Brock, Nebraska, Margaret Piper has strong roots and great care for the people. Brock, a town of less than 200, does not offer many constructive things for children to do, leaving a gap of activities between school and the arrival of parents home from work. Seven years ago, Ms. Piper saw this deficit and took action. She developed an outstanding youth diversion Kid’s Club for kids ages 5 through 14 to help build assets and character in the children. Blending these age groups together regularly is demanding, but she and her helpers have given these youth something challenging, creative and worthwhile to do with their time and energy.

Ms. Piper and her Kid’s Club developed a community garden from a weedy village lot and everyone diligently works their own space throughout the spring with vegetables to eat and sell. Ms. Piper has written several grants to support the project and has support from community members who have seen their community transformed.

As well as gardening with the Kid’s Club, Ms. Piper can be found leading meetings of her local 4-H Club, the Brock 4-H Huskers. She has been a 4-H club leader for the past 52 years. After September 11th, members of the 4-H Club voiced their concern for victims of the terrorist attacks and wanted to do their part in supporting their country. Ms. Piper and the club organized a bike-a-thon to raise money to send to the American Red Cross Salvation Army. The tireless members made pledge sheets, appointed committees and went door-to-door to find supporters. Two weeks later, 30 kids met and rode for a total of 450 miles to raise more than $1,000 to send to the two charities. These numbers are even greater considering the size of the town.

Change has been noted in the youth as Ms. Piper tirelessly uses Character Counts! To give them a feeling of being responsible, trustworthy, fair, caring, respectful and good citizens learning right from wrong. Kid’s Club is also impacting parents who are becoming more involved in their children’s lives by attending plays, programs, and meals.

Ms. Piper continuously works with youth to help them finish their 4-H records so they can gain pride in finishing what they began while also being rewarded for their hard work at the 4-H Achievement Night Celebration with scholarships to camps and other educational events. She has earned a place in the hearts of all she serves by instilling a positive vision for the future.

MARGIT SZVOBODA

Margit Szvoboda lives and volunteers her time and efforts at the Lake Wales Care Center in Lake Wales, Florida. After the death of her husband, Ms. Szvoboda sought to find meaningful work as a way to make use of her time and give back to her community. Through a friend, she learned of the Lake Wales Care Center. It is a private nonprofit Christian social service agency that seeks to provide meaningful solutions to life problems while empowering individuals and families practically, spiritually, emotionally and relationally.

The Lake Wales community has a significant need for basic needs services to be provided to individuals or families experiencing emergency situations. Ms. Szvoboda has a direct hand in distributing food, clothing, furniture, lodging, gas, prescriptions, medical equipment and rent/ utility payments by maintaining financial and demographic records for the casework staff. Her specific areas of responsibility include compilations of weekly, monthly and annual service reports, computer data entry of all client services, file maintenance and bookkeeping for a service related funding source. Without the proper maintenance of these records, services could not be provided in a timely manner, if at all. Ms. Szvoboda’s 12 to 15 hours of volunteer service each week save the agency a least $575 monthly in salaries. As a result of her work, those dollars can be put to direct client service expenditures, impacting families significantly.

Ms. Szvoboda’s work serves many. She works with fringe-income families or the “working poor,” individuals with drug or alcohol addictions, unwed pregnant teenagers, those without the typical informal resources of family and friends and those generally disenfranchised for one reason or the other. Ms. Szvoboda’s efforts ensure accountability to donors with accurate reports and maintenance of confidentiality.

Ms. Szvoboda also has an ongoing relationship and involvement with Care Center and its clients. She worked there 12 years as a non-paid staff member and then continued with 7,200 hours of volunteer service of the next 3 ½ years. She continued to work weekly during her regular office hours, and the impact that this time has on clients is felt, again, because they can direct those dollars they saved from paying her towards client services. In addition, Ms. Szvoboda’s record keeping and networking with the United Way reduces duplication of services in the area and helps to leverage dollars in an effort to provide more services for client groups.

Ms. Szvoboda is dedicated to help others in her community. This is evident through her volunteer work with various agencies. She is consistent, compassionate and is always looking to help someone in need.

KAREN RYAN

Serving is nothing new for Karene Ryan. She has a long history of using her talents and skills to benefit children in Washington County Nebraska. In June of 2001, Ryan answered yet another call to service when she agreed to provide leadership to a new project being launched in the county.

An incentive program modeled after the March of Dime’s Storks Nests, the purpose of the Building Blocks Boutique is to enhance birth outcomes. To encourage families to adopt lifestyles behaviors which will result in healthy babies, the Boutique stocks baby goods and provides them as tangible rewards to families who earn points by routinely attending pre-natal and well-baby checks, securing immunizations, using car seats or attending classes to enhance their parenting skills and earning capacity.

While the idea for the Boutique came from a group of professionals in the community, it was clear that the program could not succeed without the support of the community. Ms. Ryan stepped up to the plate. She has done the legwork to get the project off the ground, and she has been the backbone that has sustained the effort. Although she is currently employed outside the home, Ms. Ryan devotes her energies to the Boutique as if it were her full-time job. Her innovative management styles has been indispensable in developing a program that is both responsive to clientele needs while being operated entirely by volunteers on a tight budget.

Ms. Ryan began her efforts by manning a booth at local WIC clinics to recruit participants to the program. As volunteer coordinator for the Boutique, she currently recruits and trains volunteers, manages inventory, makes decisions about program administration, follows up on client requests and communicates clientele needs to board members and to the general public. As strong advocate for the Boutique, Ms. Ryan also actively solicits donations needed to sustain the program.

Aside from her management skills, Ms. Ryan’s most important contribution is her role as a liaison linking young families to programs and services in the community. Because of her years of professional experience as a medical assistant in the family practice and OB/GYN clinics as well as her experiences operating a childcare facility, she is intimately familiar with the issues facing young families today. This awareness is complemented by her tremendous knowledge of resources available in the community to meet those needs.

Although Ms. Ryan is an introvert, she makes it her special duty to volunteer and help others. The leadership she has provided to the Building Blocks Boutique is especially exemplary. Her dedicated service has made it possible to provide a positive, life-changing experience that is making a difference to many young families in Washington County. In just 16 short months, she has single-handedly taken the program from conceptual stages to a program that provides reliable service on a regular basis. The program is open twice each month and currently has an excess of 100 families enrolled.

JIM KURLEY

Life does not always turn out the way we plan it. Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) member Jim Kurley found that out in the 1990’s. He had spent a lifetime as a printer in a Polish section of Chicago. In retirement, Mr. Kurley had other plans. Sitting in the New Mexico sunshine was not what he and his wife had expected it to be. They sold their home and chose to move to Champaign, Illinois. After moving, Mrs. Kurley became ill and passed away three months later. Mr. Kurley had been visiting at the hospital and soon after became a full-fledge volunteer.

Mr. Kurley was introduced to RSVP in Champaign, which opened up hundreds of potential opportunities for him. At this point, he was having a difficult time. He had long felt a kinship with those who fought the daily battles of survival in shelters and soup kitchens and began to volunteer to serve them. He was also a dedicated member of his Catholic Church.

Mr. Kurley has been dedicated to the Catholic Worker House, a daily soup kitchen in downtown Champaign. When it closed for the summer a couple of years ago to be remodeled and updated, he was concerned. He continued to pick up contributions of groceries, cooked meals and pastries and took these donations to local shelters. Mr. Kurley spent this time serving the shelter for Women In Transition, the TIMES Center – a men’s homeless shelter, the Crisis Nursery and A Woman’s Place – a domestic violence shelter.

In addition to serving these organizations, Mr. Kurley also continued to work weekly at Provena Covenant. He also contacted his grandson’s elementary school and began to volunteer there in the cafeteria. Though his grandson has been promoted, Mr. Kurley is still volunteering there.

Mr. Kurley uses service as a way to keep himself mentally and physically in shape. This past year, he was honored for contributing more than 13,000 hours of service in just six years. Though he is not a native of Champaign, few will ever demonstrate a greater impact in the area.