SADDLEBROOKE COMMUNITY OUTREACH, INC.

Saddlebrooke Community Outreach, Inc. (SBCO) was founded in the fall of 1996 as a nonprofit organization run solely by 435 volunteer members living in the Saddlebrooke retirement community. The mission of SBCO is to make a positive and lasing impact on the quality of life of schoolchildren in impoverished neighboring communities by helping them gain self-respect, making possible improved attendance at school, helping induce a strong desire for education and changing the cycle of poverty.

SBCO is dedicated to working with poor families, and there is a special emphasis on the children. They have no paid staff and no overhead. Six percent of the 2001 income was used for administrative costs and was paid from fundraising efforts. All grants received from foundation and corporations are used 100 percent for programs with no deductions of any kind. SBCO addresses the community needs of education, literacy and workplace skills, impoverished communities and minorities in and rural community.

Saddlebrooke is a rural community that used to exist around thriving mines. It is now a depressing area full of poverty with little relief in site. The children are not motivated and very disinterested; they see no reason to set goals or to hope for anything for the future. Initial research, coordinated with community service agencies revealed that the need for appropriate clothing in rural, mountain, and poverty-stricken towns is a great need. Many of the children do not have warm jackets or shoes that fit. They do not have underwear or socks. They are either too cold or embarrassed to go to school.

Because of this, one of the first projects for SBCO and a major ongoing program is a clothing bank called Kid’s Closet. Annually SBCO provides new winter and summer clothes for about 1,200 eligible children. A simple thing like a clothing bank has actually improved attendance in the community. To participate in the Kid’s Closet program, children in Head Start through 8th grade must be eligible for federal free or reduced price school lunch program. The San Manuel School District provides a rent-free room in Mammoth Elementary School for the Kid’s Closet. The room is set up as a department store, opens three times a week and gives the children a realistic shopping experience for their new clothes. The volunteers work one-on-one with the children in the absence of parents or teachers. This ensures the children will select the colors and styles they like, and the children get special personal time with an adult.

The impact of the operation is difficult to measure with precision. However, SBCO receives positive feedback from students, teachers, principals and parents supporting their efforts and letting them know they have made tangible improvements in the lives of the children.

KATHY GOWANS

During 1999, the Windsor Stake Public Affairs Council of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was asked to organize a community project focused on improving literacy in a local elementary school. Kathy Gowans, Stake Director of Public Affairs, took on this task. By April, the effort to adopt Windsor Elementary School as a community effort supporting their tutoring needs was initiated.

Gowans has donated more than 100 hours monthly for the past several years to literacy efforts. She utilizes her organizational skills and designed the purpose, scope, consequences, resources, resources, guidelines and potential pitfalls of the before and after school tutoring program. She has mobilized other community volunteers so they can see the vision of WEALTH – Windsor Elementary After-school Literacy Tutoring Help – and donate their time, effort and resources also.

The goal of WEALTH is to create and provide one-on-one tutoring for language delayed and ESL students who were reading below grade level and were not served by other programs. Gowans is the Organization Development Consultant. She provides leadership for the program design. She facilitated the development of the materials, refined the program and program materials, recruited volunteers, delivered tutor training and modeled effective tutoring.

Windsor Elementary provided a clear picture of their unmet needs, and WEALTH provided solutions. The school also provided space, access to materials and ongoing teacher, PTA and volunteer support. The 1999-2000 school year was a pilot year for the WEALTH program. The community learned how to work together toward a common goal while leveraging existing and new resources. Fifteen students were tutored and tutor-training materials were designed supporting the district philosophy and practices. The next year was a year fro refinement to figure our leadership roles key to ongoing program success.

Because of Gowans’ education, young men, women, adults and senior citizens have found ways to contribute to this community project. More than 30 students have increased their reading levels also. There have been bonds of friendship and nurturing also established between children, their families and caring adults as a result of Kathy Gowan.

MOSES E. M. TIMAH

As a 7-year-old barefoot schoolboy in the small African village of Anong, Cameroon, Moses E. M. Timah had never thought much about the world outside of his village. From a backpack made from palm leaves, his journey has brought him to a lifetime of service in South America and the United States. Timah has spent his adult life helping communities that are impoverished. He has been a tireless worker in educating people about health care issues, including teaching nutrition and breast-feeding to pre- and post-natal women in Guyana and instructing people about hypertension and diabetes in Cairo, Illinois.

Timah was born in Cameroon, Africa, where resources were so limited that everyday life was a struggle to survive. As a teenager, a Peace Corps Volunteer who he knew only as “a black woman” from ‘mukala’ or ‘white man’s land’ befriended him. She brought him to the U.S. and made sure that he was educated through his college years. Timah’s sense of obligation to his mother’s early teachings inspired him to join the Peace Corps, this time as an American citizen serving in Guyana, South America.

While a Peace Corps volunteer in Guyana, Timah established a program of rotating health talks aimed at increasing health care knowledge of breast-feeding, HIV/AIDS, STDs awareness, personal hygiene, contraceptives, and good nutrition. Along with others, he identified cases of malnourished babies and antenatal mothers and with the assistance of Food for Peace, identified needy families. He visited homes, stressing the need for good health, hygiene and sanitation.

During Timah’s internship as an AmeriCorps member with the Southernmost Illinois Delta Empowerment Zone near Cairo, Illinois, he attacked the problem of joblessness, drugs, alcohol, STDs and the fact that teens have no late night meeting places by speaking words of encouragement to schools, church youth groups and area health and entrepreneur camps. He tells youngsters about his struggles as a young boy, how he overcame those struggles and encourages them to volunteer.

Besides serving as a resource and mentor for Cairo and area youth, Timah also devoted his time to forming a diabetes support group for low-income minority individuals, and started a walking and exercise program to promote long-term weight loss and control of obesity within the black community. These programs will continue even after Timah leaves Cairo and the surrounding communities.

Timah has committed two years of service in Peace Corps and one in AmeriCorps. He frequently worked many hours over those required. His philosophy is, “In giving, we achieve a greater good for ourselves.”

BRYAN MCCLURE

Having experienced the loss of a close friend and classmate when in the fourth grade and now dealing with another friend suffering from cancer, Bryan McClure decided to do an annual bike ride to help raise funds for this cause. While living in Howell, Michigan, Bryan’s first friend had battled cancer since she was in kindergarten. Now, within the last two years, the second friend, Victoria, age 11, has been diagnosed with cancer and has undergone chemotherapy one week per month at C. S. Mott Children’s Hospital.

Victoria’s family does not have a lot of money and has very little insurance. Knowing that, Bryan wanted know how they would pay their bills. His mother told them that the hospital would continue to treat Victoria, in spite of that fact. Bryan wanted to help out in whatever way he could. He decided to do a bike ride and ask people for pledges. He rode from East Lansing, where he currently lives, to Howell, where Victoria lives and where Bryan previously lived. He spoke to the East Lansing Kiwanis, stood up in front of his congregation at People’s Church and in June of last year, he rode from the East Lansing Public Library to the Howell Public Library, collecting about $2,000 dollars in gifts and pledges. Pat Michaels, a Channel 6 weatherman in Lansing, who also attends People’s Church, rode with Bryan.

Bryan, at age 13, rode again this year on June 15, 2002, from Hannah Tech Center at Michigan State University to First United Methodist Church of Howell, where Victoria met the riders. This 40-mile ride helped to raise thousands of dollars to help with Victoria’s battle of cancer. Pat contacted the Mid-Michigan Mountain Biking Association and the Tri-County Biking Association to ride along. Bryan also had some friends from People’s Church Youth Group join him. Participants either raised money or paid $25 dollars to ride. He has received recent media coverage from WKAR and the ZOOM show, a PBS show for kids nationwide. The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News did articles about last year’s ride, as did the Livingston County Press.

TROTTER’S CAFE BAKERY AND STAFF

The staff of Trotter’s Café and Bakery has been serving children in the St. Paul, Minnesota area for many years. They work hard to make a difference in the lives of children and youth and be a positive influence for years to come.

During the past 11 years, Trotter’s Café and Bakery has partnered with the members of the Merriam Park Preschool. They have welcomed preschoolers into their store to decorate the windows as the school celebrates the “Week of the Young Child.” This engages the children in a specific task while also aiding in the development of their creativity. This event is something the children look forward to each year.

In addition to decorating, the staff also volunteers in other capacities. Many of the employees volunteer at the food shelf, Meals On Wheels and holiday assistance program. Along with serving the community, the Bakery Staff also recruits others in the community to also become volunteers. They post and pass out flyers that list volunteer opportunities. These advertisements reach their customers as well as other neighbors in the community.

Trotter’s Staff also promote volunteering by providing baked treats for various groups who commit to volunteering and sharing the needs of the community. They are so committed to service that the staff donates their tip jar for community outreach projects. These donations are for service in the Merriam Park area and other parts of the world.

Some of the projects Trotter’s Café and Bakery Staff have supported just this year through in kind donations are the 9/11 Fund, toys for Operation Joy and purchasing school supplies for children. They have also given gift certificates at holiday time to provide food for needy families and money for the American Cancer Society, Ronald McDonald House, Minnesota Women’s Advocacy, Community Solutions Fund, St. Paul Conservatory of Music, Minnesota Environmental Fund and St. Paul’s Bike Classic.

TEAM TOBATI OF KINGSWOOD – OXFORD SCHOOL

Team Tobati consists of volunteers from Kingswood-Oxford School, led by teacher Ronald Garcia, that have been focused since 1998 on garnering the resources and providing the manual labor to improve education and health care in Tobati, Paraguay, one of the poorest regions of Latin America.

Team Tobati has tripled the size of the town’s only hospital and secured vital equipment and medicines. As a result of Team Tobati’s work, the first child was born in Tobati via Cesarean section last spring and another walked for the first time thanks to the donation of a prosthetic leg. Team Tobati renovated and helped to furnish Tobati’s elementary school with desks and computers, where K-O students teach English and computer use to Tobati children.

The Team helped to build a housing complex for local artisans and transformed a vacant building into a neighborhood clinic. They funded construction of a new transmitting antenna for Tobati radio to broadcast weekly medical programs. Team Tobati funded weekly visits by a pediatrician, gynecologist and dentist from Asuncion. They also recruited physicians from Bristol Hospital and the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center to provide services and training, respectively.

To date, more than 75 students and five K-O teachers and parents have been on Team Tobati. In the last three years, the students have collected more than $350,000 dollars in medical and educational equipment for the village. Gonzalez Macchi, the president of Paraguay, has publicly lauded Team Tobati’s efforts.

After spending the fall semester raising funds for village needs, Team Tobati travels to Paraguay every Spring Break for two weeks of work and community. More than 5,000 villagers turned out to welcome the 2001 team.

“The students’ presence [in Tobati] is huge,” Garcia says. “The students who have been to Tobati have been struck by how open and welcoming and warm the people are to foreigners. The students have also surprised themselves with the goodness that comes out of them, both toward the people of Tobati and each other. This journey will have a profound impact on the values they will ultimately embrace as adults.”

SHERAL “OSCAR” MERZ

Sheral “Oscar” Merz, also known as “Oscar Greyhair,” volunteers with Adopt-A-Native Elder Program, a humanitarian group that provides food, non-prescription medical supplies, clothing and friendship to Navajo elders on the Navajo Reservation in Utah and Arizona.

The Adopt-A-Native Elder Program provides more than 28 tons of supplies to the Navajo elders twice a year. This includes 700 food boxes, 300 bags each of flour, potatoes, apples, oranges and onions, 500 boxes of medical, children, grandma and grandpa supplies, school supplies and boxes for elders who have no support. In addition, 150 cases of incontinence briefs are also distributed, as well as shovels, axes or brooms, cases of 6-volt batteries, 50 or more bags of clothes and sundry extra boxes that are sent by support people throughout the country. Produce and flour is purchased locally on the reservation and transported to each distribution location. These items are dispersed to the elders at six remote areas throughout the Reservation.

Merz coordinates the purchases, storage, loading, labeling and distribution of this humanitarian aid twice a year. Temperatures can get to the upper nineties or low 100s but Merz keeps his team on the move and gets the job done.

Several years ago, the Navajo Reservation was hit with a series of snowstorms that left many of the elders in the remote areas without food. Merz took supplies in his four-wheel drive pickup to many of these elders. In addition to accompanying the Adopt-A-Native Elders Program convoys, he and his wife, often including one or more of their daughters, visit elders at their remote homes. He and his wife also bring school supplies to the schools in Kayenta, Arizona.

Merz unselfishly gives more than 1,500 hours of his time, and a great deal of money each year to help the Navajo elders through the Adopt-A-Native Elder Program. When the work has slowed down, he can be found with a group of Navajo elders, talking and eating mutton stew.

DAVID SOLEM

In many communities across our country there are special things that distinguish each city and neighborhood. Special donors, best practices, community volunteers and church groups make the various communities who and what they are. Silent Mentors are a special component of Billings, Montana. These are the people who mentor because they have something to give in return for what they have been given in their lives. They do not serve to gain recognition or fame; these are the people you do not hear about but the people who make differences day in and day out.

Many of the Silent Mentors partner with Friendship House. David Solem is one of the mentors there. He initially presented himself to the Friendship House as an intern about three years ago. Solem successfully completed his internship and was prepared to move on; however, he found it hard to forget the children with whom he had formed bonds.

Solem continued to come back to the facility to mentor the children. He comes on time and has a dedicated schedule so the children are not let down. Solem realizes how much a difference a positive adult can make in the life of a troubled child, so he chooses to spend his free time at the center. He is selfless and even made a special goal to learn to love one of the most difficult young men at the House because Solem knew he just needed attention.

Solem is understanding and is aware of the struggles the children go through. This particular client had a very traumatic start in life. His mom gave him away at birth, and his father was and is presently spending time in a correctional facility. Growing up, this young man felt unloved and broken. He thought he was not good enough to have a mother and a father. This young man, like other neglected children, just wanted to be loved. He needed to know that someone knew he existed and cared.

Solem became a beacon of hope in this child’s eyes. He was dedicated to getting to know him and merely listening. Solem learned his needs, fears and dreams. His interaction with this young man went far beyond a mentor; they became friends and Solem was able to share their common thread of a “missing father.” This youth now has a friend, someone who has made a commitment to love him for who he is. Solem’s dedication has provided this young man a new level of trust that was previously non-existent. When he has problems or is misunderstood, he knows he can call on his big brother David.

Solem earned this young man’s respect. The impact his has made in his life has taught him values. The youth has learned to trust others to help him. He also does not lash out in anger as he used to, and he realizes he has a future.

This relationship benefited Solem also. He learned about the young man’s world. He saw through his eyes, daily hurt and pain as a result of the environment he was a part on. Solem learned more about working with youth who had challenges on their level so they would not feel as if they were being patronized or belittled.

PARTNERS IN CARE

Established in 1993 by three Severna Park women – Sandra Jackson, Barbara Huston and Maureen Cavaiola, Partners in Care provides volunteer services to seniors living in their own homes. Volunteers provide transportation, grocery shopping and assistance with home maintenance tasks to the elderly who are in danger of having to leave their homes and move to an institutional setting.

This Harbor Hospital based program gives volunteers the opportunity to earn service credits, which serve as a reminder that what you give does come back to you. Volunteers earn one credit for each hour they volunteer. They can use this credit to obtain assistance themselves, donate credit to a friend or relative who needs assistance or simply donate the credit to the program for use by someone else. For instance, many elderly widows volunteer by driving others to medical appointments or working in one of the two boutiques, which provide income to the program. In return they receive handyman help, which allows them to stay in their homes. Partners in Care attempts to match people who have something to offer each other. For example, a youth aspiring to be a firefighter could spend time helping a retired fire chief.

Since the program’s inception, 2,200 individuals have participated as volunteers or recipients of services and 62,000 hours of service have been exchanged – 18,000 hours in 2001 alone. Many projects have been accomplished by groups, such as Midshipmen’s Action Group (from the neighboring Naval Academy) and the Annapolis Senior High School Honor Society, which has adopted the Glenwood High Rise and sponsors two projects there each year.

HEALTH VOLUNTEERS OVERSEAS

Health Volunteers Overseas (HVO) was founded in 1986 to improve global health through education. Since then, over 3,800 health professionals have donated their time and expertise to provide training and education to health care providers in the lesser developed nations of the world. HVO’s sponsors, ten of the best known professional associations in the health care arena, provide the organization with critical financial support, as well as visibility and credibility within their communities.

Each year a growing number of doctors, dentists, nurses and physical therapists volunteer at program sites around the world. These health care specialists are volunteers in the truest sense of the word — they pay their own travel and living expenses, averaging $2,000 per trip. Many also forgo income while away from their practices. Yet, one third of volunteers return annually. Health Volunteers Overseas has active divisions in anesthesia, dentistry, hand surgery, internal medicine, nursing, oral and maxillofacial surgery, nurse anesthesia, orthopaedics, pediatrics and physical therapy.

HVO volunteers improve the quality and availability of health care in every country where they work. By introducing new surgical techniques, volunteers have improved post-operative outcomes in countries throughout the world, saving thousands of lives and ensuring that countless others live free from disability. Volunteers in Vietnam developed a more modern and effective curriculum for teaching rehabilitation so that trauma victims receive the most comprehensive care available. In over 15 developing countries, volunteers have created medical libraries where, previously, no comparable research facilities existed. Volunteers have also identified, collected and donated over $13 million of needed equipment and education materials to program sites in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe. These are just a few examples of the extraordinary impact HVO volunteers have made in the communities where they serve.

HVO volunteers are, perhaps, the best ambassadors the United States has to offer. They share their expertise with health providers in the world’s poorest countries and, at the same time, gain invaluable knowledge of other cultures. Volunteers typically report returning from trips refreshed and recommitted to their work at home. At Health Volunteers Overseas, this dedicated corps of health professionals is the cornerstone of the organization. Each volunteer makes his or her own small contribution to improved health for the millions of people in the world without access to basic health care. These volunteers are, indeed, making the world a better place; each volunteer a point of light and hope.