NEIGHBORS ASSISTING NEIGHBORS

Neighbors Assisting Neighbors (NAN) is the next generation of existing Neighborhood Watch programs. It is a community-building model that works in any community. It was developed by a group of citizens who participated in The Neighborhood Watch Program sponsored by the St. Louis County Police Department in St. Louis, Missouri. These volunteers wanted to take Neighborhood Watch to a level where neighbors not only watched out for one another, but they also interacted with each other through community service. No one at NAN is salaried or receives a stipend.

In July 2000, volunteers started working on service projects in their neighborhoods; thus NAN was born. The very first project was taking a swimming pool apart and then having a scrap hauler pick up the metal pieces. This was done in one day.

NAN recruits volunteers from all walks of life. Volunteers are all ages and include senior citizens, church groups, high school and college students, and other caring people. Debbie Kricensky is the President of NAN. She has been the backbone of the organization since the beginning. She coordinates all projects, getting the volunteers, tools and making the phone calls that are necessary to perform the project. She also keeps lists of all these resources because similar projects arise and they are needed again. Ms. Kricensky has a caring and “wanting to help” attitude that comes across to all the people she meets on every project.

NAN offers help to organize and perform work projects for individuals and communities. NAN emphasizes work projects in low to median income areas of St. Louis County. Many NAN projects target neighborhood cleanups. The entry of the mosquito-borne West Nile Virus into St. Louis County in 2002 created a natural focus for NAN to eliminate mosquito-breeding sites through cleanup projects. In September 2002, NAN began discussions about waste tire and bulk cleanups with Mid-County Partners for Progress (MCPP), a nonprofit that represents the interests of the Mid-St. Louis area.

NAN worked cooperatively with MCPP. Funding for this project was available from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources Waste Tire Cleanup Program (DNR). Surveys of some of the communities represented by MCPP revealed illegal waste tire dumps sited with 25 to 1,600 tires. NAN submitted and was approved by DNR to receive reimbursement grants to cover the cost of waste tire removal in the 24 communities represented by MCPP. Coverage of the NAN Waste Tire Project by the news media has attracted the interest of other St. Louis County communities and additional DNR grants have been approved and projects scheduled.

HANNAH KOOTZ

Hannah Kootz is a sixteen-year-old girl who lives in Warwick, Massachusetts. This area, knows as the North Quabbin, has one of the highest assault rates for any place of comparable size in the state. Hannah is deeply concerned about violence and prejudice, which is what brought her to join Talking on the Edge, a program under the care of Quabbin Mediation. In this program, teens learn conflict resolution skills. They identify behaviors that escalate and those which de-escalate conflict. Then they create workshops to teach these skills to others. Workshops have been presented to adults, teens, and elementary school children.

Hannah has been a member of Talking on the Edge for three years. Not only has she taken a leadership role, she has been an active recruiter, and has created many activities to include in the workshops.

Committed to peace, Hannah was disappointed when the United States went to war in Iraq. She wanted to help the community express its desire for peace. Inspired by the book, Sadako and the 1000 Paper Cranes, she invited citizens in the surrounding towns to come to a Paper Crane Making Party. She read to them the story of the Japanese girl who was made ill by radiation from the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in the Second World War. It was this young child’s desire to create 1,000 paper cranes so that her wish to regain health would be granted, as the Japanese legend promised. Ever since the story has been known, people have created paper cranes as symbols of peace.

More than 40 children, adults, and seniors came to Hannah’s Paper Crane Making Party. A woman from Japan was a surprise guest. She presented the group with several hundred paper cranes made by the Japanese survivors. She also gave the group a garland made by American children. At the end of the party, 430 cranes had been made. Hannah reached her goal of 1,000 when boxes filled with paper cranes began arriving from neighboring towns. Finally, 1,000 paper cranes and a note expressing a wish for peace were sent to her Senator who saw that they were hand delivered to the White House. The beautiful Japanese cranes were not included in the box sent to Washington. Hannah wanted them saved to hang in the Quabbin Mediation office to remind people that conflict resolution and mediation are paths to peace.

SOUTH SEVIER YOUTH COURT COMMITTEE

The South Sevier Youth Court was created in February 2001. Approximately 850 hours of service, including court sessions and training, are annually donated through this program. There are 14 Youth Court Members. Each of them have eight hours of required training each year, spend one to two hours each month in court and three to four days each year are spent at a regional conference.

Each member is dedicated to the Youth Court. They spend countless hours, in addition to those above, to make the court work. The Youth Court provides positive peer pressure for punishment to youth offenders. Court members have to judge and find appropriate punishments for their peers and friends, which is difficult. Although the members are teens, they are professional in their court dealings and use good judgment. They also have to face their peers and agree to any judgment they receive by going to Youth Court, the offender has no permanent juvenile record.

Youth Court members see their peers and friends come into the court. Yet they have to put personal feelings aside and give an unbiased opinion when they give judgments. They may see a difficult case where the offender does not want to cooperate with what the committee decides on. When that happens, they have to be stern and show authority; this is difficult in some cases. The skills the youth members are learning help them now and will continue to help in making decisions for years to come.

The Youth Court members do not receive compensation for what they do. They have made a great impact on the community through their dedication to helping their peers. In addition, some of the clients of the court have been given a “second chance” because of the existence of the Youth Court. Without the service of the individuals within the Youth Court system, it would be impossible to provide a positive alternative to Juvenile Court.

MICHAEL B. WILLIAMS

Michael Williams has dedicated his life’s work to helping individuals to heal and lead healthy lives. For 16 years, Mr. Williams has worked in the corrections field with incarcerated men and women.

Since 1998, Mr. Williams has been helping individuals at the Kenosha County Detention Center develop the skills necessary to live healthy lifestyles and have healthy relationships through the Living Free Program. Often the men in the Detention Center must heal from the wounds inflicted upon them as children.

In 2002, Mr. Williams learned that WoMen and Children’s Horizons, the local advocacy center and emergency shelter for victims of domestic abuse, began to offer programming to stop men from abusive behavior. He contacted the agency and was trained to work with abusive individuals. Since then, he has volunteered as one of the group facilitators in the program that is known as Circle of Change. He is one of five facilitators who meet with a group of men weekly, many completing the program as a part of the conditions of their parole.

Through the 26-week Circle of Change Group, men who have been controlling and abusive in their relationships learn to: ·Identify the issues surrounding domestic abuse in their lives; ·Become accountable for the things they say and do; ·Get in touch with their own issues of child abuse or witnessing violence as children; ·Begin to heal and express themselves emotionally; ·Face the consequences of past abusive behavior; ·Choose nonviolence each day.

Mr. Williams is a crucial element of the Circle of Change group. He presents a positive image of what it means to be a man that the program participants can use in the development of their new violence-free lifestyles. Many men, both inside and outside of the Detention Center, have benefited by the work that Michael Williams does in the community.

ANDREA WEBER

Andrea Weber is the dedicated mother of five children. Her third child, Madeline, has a genetic disorder called Angelman Syndrome. This syndrome is characterized by severe/profound mental retardation, developmental delay, seizure disorder and lack of speech. Madeline, who is now six years old, was diagnosed at one year of age.

While caring for all of her children and home schooling using a Christian-based curriculum, Mrs. Weber created the “Love An Angel Foundation.” Since residential housing for children like Madeline did not exist in her area, Mrs.Weber created this foundation to raise money to build “Halo Farms.” By holding a major fundraiser each year, she has raised more than $100,000. Over the past five years, Mrs. Weber has used the money to sponsor a lecture at a local children’s hospital to raise awareness of this rare genetic disorder, to help support a national Angelman foundation, and to contribute money towards special needs horseback riding. In addition, she has been able to set aside more than $75,000 to begin the building of “Halo Farms.” It is her vision that this property will offer safe/supervised housing for children/adolescents with special needs, as well as offer special needs horseback riding to residents and non-residents alike.

As often happens, the work that Mrs. Weber has done has helped her form connections with other families with children like Madeline. She has formed a support group for these families and monthly family get-togethers provide much needed acceptance and support for struggling young couples with special-needs children.

Mrs. Weber identified a community need and a solution and set about raising funds to meet the need. She has facilitated connection building as she continues to bring together families in crisis and offer them hope. The impact of her foundation is clearly the opportunity to provide safe housing for children with special needs. Reaching beyond the children’s safety, the impact of providing such housing extends to immediate and extended families as well as workplace and social circles.

ELIZABETH SIMS

Senator Elizabeth “Betty” Sims has been a member of the Junior League of St. Louis, MO for more than 48 years and has contributed to the St. Louis community as a volunteer, businesswoman, and state legislator. As the longest standing Board member of the Junior League of St. Louis, she has had an enormous impact on the organization. During her presidential term, the St. Louis League celebrated its 60th Anniversary and expanded its impact through initiatives such as the Mobile Hearing and Speech Unit and the Junior Kindergarten, which served as a model for the national Head Start program. Today, she continues to be a vital force in the League working tirelessly to train new members, inspire the League’s Public Affairs Committee and raise funds.

As a State Senator, she has consistently championed initiatives in support of women’s health and well-being, including the Governor’s Women’s Health Initiative, the creation of the Office on Women’s Health, and the MC+ for Kids Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). She is the Assistant Majority Floor Leader and Chairman of the Aging, Families and Mental Health Committee. She also serves as Co-Chairman of the Senate Committee on Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence. She is a member of the Senate Committees on Public Health and Welfare, Transportation and Appropriations. She was appointed Chairman of the Joint Legislative Committee on Health Care in September 2001

Throughout her career, Senator Sims has lent her expertise to numerous organizations, including the nation’s largest Girl Scout Council, the local United Way, the Salvation Army, the Arts and Education Council, the Missouri Botanical Gardens, and the Repertory Theater, among others. She was President and founder of the St. Louis unit of Girls’ Inc., the first woman Vice-President of the local United Way and has been recognized with numerous accolades for her volunteer and public service.

Senator Sims will be honored with the Association of Junior Leagues International Inc.’s prestigious Mary Harriman Community Leadership Award on Friday April 23, 2004 – the highest honor bestowed on an individual Junior League member for continuing the legacy of the Junior League Movement’s founder.

KATHERINE LEE

Katherine began working at ABC Radio Networks in October 2001 and was immediately drawn to the Company-wide Disney VoluntEAR program. She started attending meetings and events to get a sense of where her skills could be put to best use. She soon realized that she wanted to focus her attention on children and learning. Katherine says: “It’s so important to start children with an early education and to inspire and foster their imagination – I couldn’t imagine a life without our hopes and dreams.”

The Disney Reading Together Program – Uptown became the project for her. She has been the catalyst behind the effort to bring this reading program to Uptown Disney and ABC employees. In this program, employees read and deliver books to pre-school age children before work, during lunch and after work at the Bloomingdale Family Center. This program allows more children the opportunity to jumpstart their education and helps level the playing field for poor children in New York City. Katherine coordinates the VoluntEARS and works directly with the directors of the Bloomingdale Family Program and Jumpstart, an organization that gives pre-school children in underserved neighborhoods individualized attention from an AmeriCorps college student. These pre-school children are given the chance to get a head start at entering school with all the necessary skills to succeed in life.

After only the first week of reading to the pre-school children in the program, the impact was vividly evident. “The children’s faces lit up when we entered the room and I immediately knew this is where I could make the most difference. When I see the smiles on the children’s faces that we serve, it makes me feel good to know that I have made a difference in their lives.” Katherine has been the project leader and driving force for this program since its inception which currently services over 200 students at the Bloomingdale Family Center.

Katherine says: “The Disney VoluntEAR program has opened the gates for me and I hope to continue my career of service to the community to make a lasting difference.” She is one of the most gifted, kind and warm human beings you will ever meet. She is Katherine Lee — the Disney VoluntEAR of the Year from the ABC Radio Network Group.

MAUREEN NIPAR

Maureen Nipar, Director of Business Development, National Initiatives, Citigroup, serves as a volunteer/coordinator in the Sunday Soup Kitchen at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Ms. Nipar assists with coordinating and serving meals at the soup kitchen that serves hundreds of homeless men, women and children per week. She also assists with the “to go” lunch program which is offered to clients of the homeless outreach center.

Ms. Nipar believes in promoting urban environmental awareness and is currently serving on the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine Guild Board of Directors, which preserves the public spaces and gardens on the Cathedral grounds. The Cathedrals greenhouse provides thousands of vegetables, plants and flowers for local community gardens and schools in the vicinity.

Ms. Nipar has served as a former board member and current volunteer at the West Side Community Garden (WSCG) located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. She serves on the Community Outreach and Development/Fundraising Committees to ensure that all members of the community have access to the garden and that the garden will thrive for years to come.

She coordinates “grass roots” volunteers on the Upper West Side Community as part of Riverside Park’s Partnership for Parks Program. Ms. Nipar adopts a section of Riverside Park and volunteers her time to maintain gardens within the Park. This unique partnership between the Parks Department and grass roots community volunteers such as Maureen Nipar has been very successful in maintaining New York City Parks and open spaces while creating a strong sense of community.

FRANK KNITTEL

Frank Knittel has been working with the Disney VoluntEARS since the program began 12 years ago. He serves on the VoluntEARS Leadership Council and has been for several years. Mr. Knittel is also on the Development Committee for Project Angel Food in Los Angeles which delivers meals to people living with HIV or AIDS and other life threatening diseases.

Mr. Knittel was introduced to Camp Ronald McDonald for Goodtimes around 1991. After working their Christmas party and after making a visit to their Camp for a summer session, he decided to start volunteering on a regular basis. Camp Ronald McDonald for Goodtimes is a camp for children with cancer. Mr. Knittel became a Camp Counselor for several summer and winter sessions and still continues to have a relationship with this non-profit today. He helps at their Christmas Party and Halloween Fund raising events.

Mr. Knittel had no idea that this experience of volunteering would have such a great impact on his life. As a matter of fact, he became so passionate about volunteering that in 1996 he was named “Disney VoluntEARS of the Year” because of his community outreach efforts. In 2003, Mr. Knittel logged in more than 100 volunteer hours, working through the Disney VoluntEARS program and several non-profit agencies on his own.

When you ask him why he volunteers, it’s sometimes hard for him to answer. He replies “because I can! It gets you out of yourself when you realize that you really can make a difference in the lives of people less fortunate then yourself. I have seen the smiles on faces of the elderly when I have the opportunity to deliver their meals through our St. Vincent’s Meals on Wheels program, I might be the only person they see all day. It’s the same with delivering meals for Project Angel Food.”

Mr. Knittel has seen children and their parents being so appreciative to the VoluntEARS for coming out to Red Cross Shelters after the recent fires in California and to see the children at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles during a recent visit after the holidays, light up when they walk in to spend time with the children and bring along some of our favorite characters.

Mr. Knittel has worked many events over the years and has seen how volunteering really does impact other people’s lives, especially around the holidays when you are out there feeding people, it really does make a difference. In 1995 Mr. Knittel worked with Frontline, an organization that delivers meals to the homeless. He and some of the other VoluntEARS would go to Hollywood Blvd. every Sunday with bag lunches they had made for more than 100 homeless people, which was really something special for him.

Mr. Knittel has been a Disney Team Leader for AIDS Walk Los Angeles for several years signing people up to participate in their fundraising program. He’s also been a Revlon Run/Walk for Women Disney Team Leader for several years, too. This event takes place every year in May the day before Mother’s Day. This event raises funds to fight against breast and ovarian cancer. When asked why he participates with the Revlon Run/Walk event, he replies: “I have a mother, aunts, two sisters, nieces and cousins who are all very special to me and each one in their own way have been very influential in my life. So, if any one of them was every stricken with this disease, I would hope there were men and women out there volunteering their time to help with raising funds in order to help beat this disease.”