PAT MORGAN
When Pat Morgan retired from Eastern Illinois University, where she had worked in the Print Center for more than 15 years, she knew that she would need to keep busy. Having been a member of her local VFW Auxiliary for more than 40 years, she began to volunteer her services almost immediately. Over the course of the next few years, Morgan devoted her seemingly tireless energies to making a difference – not only for veterans – but also in the lives of anyone who needed help. Her spirit of volunteerism and selfless dedication to her community certainly deserves to be recognized.
Morgan’s own home has become a “drop-off” center for the needy. Almost every day, she visits local groceries and stores, collecting donated items for the homeless, and then delivering the items to the shelter. She holds fund-raisers to help The Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and has coordinated fund drives to help many needy individuals in her community.
She volunteers monthly in veterans’ hospitals to assist with bingo and other activities that serve to make these veterans’ lives a little brighter. As Chairman of the VFW Auxiliary “Make a Difference Day” projects held over the past few years, Morgan has managed to raise thousands of dollars to provide hospital beds in nursing homes, as well as raising the money for a new girls’ softball field in her community. She even finds time to go into the schools and teach the children about patriotism and respect for America’s veterans and its flag. It is unimaginable how anyone could think of Pat Morgan as being “retired!”
Pat Morgan has touched the lives of so many people in need that it is impossible to mention all of her efforts. Certainly, her motivation is not monetary, because she receives no compensation for the kind acts she renders. Rather, she derives a sense of personal satisfaction from knowing that she has helped another. How wonderful it would be if everyone in this world held the same values!
Many people think that they must be famous, or have a fancy title behind their name in order to make a difference. Pat has shown the world, by her own example, that it is simply care and compassion for others, coupled with a willingness to serve, that really does make a difference.
ANN ARBOR YMCA YOUTH VOLUNTEER CORPS
The Ann Arbor YMCA’s Youth Volunteer Corps (YVC) began through a competitive grant process from the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation in 1994. YVC is a youth driven organization dedicated to providing opportunities for middle and high school aged youth to engage in meaningful service learning activities that meet real community needs, foster leadership development and teamwork while promoting a lifelong ethic of volunteerism and a commitment to social justice.
Programming is year around and has four major components. The Alternative Projects are one-time service projects that provide constructive “alternatives” for youth after school and on weekends. The Youth Advisory Council (YAC) is a youth leadership program and YVC’s governing body. The Chain of Plenty is a unique four partner collaborative to engage special needs students in service learning while simultaneously feeding the homeless each week. Expanding Horizons is YVC’s intensive summer program that engages youth in weeklong blocks of service activities throughout Washtenaw County in teams often youth and one adult Team Leader.
With all program components combined in 1999, YVC engaged almost 300 youth in contributing over 8,500 hours of direct service to 26 agencies in the Washtenaw County community. Some of the projects included: staffing the playroom at SAFEHouse Domestic Violence Shelter for the summer, serving meals with the Ann Arbor Hunger Coalition, sorting food at Food Gatherers, painting a house with Habitat for Humanity, assisting residents at Glacier Hills Nursing Home and Baker Commons Residential Facility, gardening and weeding at Leslie Science Center, Dawn Farms, and Cobblestone Farms, and assisting the Red Cross with their annual Swim-A-Thon. Youth volunteers need to have constructive and productive programs where they can feel that they are a valuable asset to their community and can see the benefits of engaging in positive behavior.
Each YVC project consists of an agency orientation so that the youth volunteers are educated about community agencies and about how their volunteering benefits the work of that agency. Additionally, in the process of service learning, youth volunteers participate in a reflection activity at the completion of the project. During reflection, volunteers are able to ask any questions they have and discuss things they have learned. But most significantly, reflection gives the youth volunteers the opportunity to process the day’s events and to realize the benefit of their work for the community. In this manner, YVC helps the community with direct service, but also by providing youth with many of the Search Institute’s Forty Developmental Assets necessary to make good choices about their lives.
YVC is a completely free program for youth in grades six through twelve. All activities are open to any interested youth in this age range regardless of class, race, gender, ethnicity or economic status. All projects are available to all participants and their families, therefore providing opportunities for mobilizing everyone to volunteer. YVC and all of its components are ongoing throughout both the academic year and the summer months. There is no limit on the number of projects in which a volunteer can participate.
PATTI NEAL
Patti Neal was speaking to a dear friend of hers and found that her friend’s son had been diagnosed with Leukemia. Neal realized this teenage youth needed a bone marrow transplant to live. The procedure is quite expensive and all of the expense is not covered by insurance. Neal realized her friend needed help at that hour, and she set out on a campaign to raise money, awareness and find a suitable bone marrow donor.
Neal was soon referred to a newly formed organization, My Friends Care, which consisted of two women who were both in need of bone marrow transplants. Neal joined with the ladies, and they planned fundraisers and learned about the national donor list registry. The team then organized and sponsored blood drives where people could register as donors, be type tested and be put on the list as potential donors.
As a result of Neal’s ingenuity and dedication and the help of other volunteers, My Friends Care was able to grow as an organization. However, the teenager and one of the two founders passed away before a suitable donor could be found. Neal continued their efforts and raised more money and donor drives in memory of her lost friends. My Friends Care is a stronger, viable partner in the education of the public about bone marrow transplants and the support of those in need of the same.
Neal has been a part of My Friends Care since 1990. She has served as 2nd Vice Chair, Development Committee Chairperson and is currently Chairperson of the organization. Neal has raised thousands of dollars for the organization and the group puts on a Silent Auction Dinner annually to continue to raise money for the organization. The donations help others who need bone marrow transplants. Neal has also personally recruited several thousand donors to the National Marrow Program Donor Registry. After making several phone calls to the NASCAR Racing circuit, she has been able to organize donor drives at the Michigan Speedway races. There, 4,000 people have been tested in four years time. Neal organizes the drives, recruits nurses to come to take the necessary samples and encourages the race fans to become donors. My Friends Care has added 75,000 donors to the National Marrow Donor Registry.
Neal has also volunteered her time serving women through the Haven Crisis Line. In addition, she is involved in her Union’s community service activities including but not limited to the Special Olympics, St. John’s Transplant Support Group and blood drive for the American Red Cross. Neal not only gives of her time, but she also supports these causes financially and with ideas to help them function at their peak.
STATEN ISLAND SCHOOL READING VOLUNTEERS
A Staten Island School Reading Volunteer serves the children of Staten Island so they can open the mind of a child, give a child encouragement, affirmation, and self-confidence, help a child overcome disadvantages, and light a child’s way to a literate and productive future. During the past 41 years, the dedicated members of this extraordinary volunteer corps have helped thousands of youngsters improve their reading skills, abate their anxiety about reading, and discover both the substance and the joy of reading.
The 41-year-old volunteer program is operated by the Staten Island Mental Health Society (SIMHS), through an arrangement with District 31 of the New York City Board of Education. Unique on Staten Island, it was launched in 1960 by philanthropist Elizabeth w. Pouch, an SIMHS founder and benefactor. In the ensuing years, the program has grown from a handful of tutors to more than 200 volunteers assisting hundreds of children in 35 public elementary schools. The program receives no government funding, and the volunteers are neither paid nor reimbursed for any of their expenses.
School Reading Volunteers must be high school graduates in good health, and must possess patience and concern for the welfare of children. All volunteers receive four hours of training from a Board of Education reading specialist, who instructs them in innovative tutoring techniques using age-appropriate books, learning games, puzzles, story-telling, and poetry, to motivate and engage the children. After training, volunteers are assigned to the schools of their choice. The children who need tutoring, selected by teachers and principals, are excused from class twice a week for 45-minute reading sessions in another room.
Reading volunteers face the challenges of tutoring children who may have emotional or behavioral problems, short attention spans, dysfunctional home lives, or limited English proficiency (an increasing problem on Staten Island, where the immigrant population is growing). The reading instruction is just as vital as the connection that volunteers build with their students. The tutors have been encouraged to develop close, kind, respectful relationships with the children, many of whom do not have other concerned adults in whom to confide.
Reading volunteers consistently work above and beyond what is required, putting in more hours than their weekly commitment, spending their own money on books and supplies to enhance learning, traveling to schools via public transportation, and braving winter weather so they do not miss a lesson with the children who depend on them.
The program’s major impacts are the positive outcomes for the children. Youngsters whose futures were once devoid of promise have not only advanced academically, but they have received the mental health advantages of bolstered self-esteem. Teachers and parents report that as the child progresses in reading, his/her confidence grows, leading to a longer attention span, a more positive attitude, and improved behavior in class, at home, and in the community.
HELPING OUR PUPILS EXCEL (HOPE) TUTORING CENTER, INC.
Helping Our Pupils Excel (HOPE) Tutoring Center was established in 1996 as a neighborhood outreach program of Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Arlington, Texas. Local church members, neighborhood school personnel and members of the East Arlington Renewal Association (community advocates for neighborhood renewal) met together and identified the need for free tutoring services. This group was motivated because they wanted to help the children in the neighborhood. HOPE was organized and it soon became a 501(c)(3) agency. The initial steering committee consisted of members from the groups listed above and also representatives from local civic organizations, clubs, ethnic groups, churches and youth centers.
Aldersgate UMC now provides facilities with a branch at Good Shepherd UMC. A third branch has recently opened at Epworth UMC. These churches have adopted HOPE as a mission project because they also want to help the children. There is no religious education occurring during the tutoring sessions and volunteers come from across the city of Arlington.
HOPE provides free tutoring for students in the fourth through the eighth grades. After undergoing orientation, training and a criminal background check, the volunteers tutor at these sites on Tuesday and Thursday from 3:30-4:30pm and from 6:30-7:30pm. The volunteers of HOPE Tutoring Center provide one-to one or one-to-two tutoring for four hours per week at each of the centers. Many students can walk to these sites from their schools and from their homes. The centers are closed on the days that Arlington schools are closed.
HOPE is now in its fifth year of operation. The accomplishments for the 1999-2000 school year showed that 110 volunteers assisted 77 students, who received an average of 30.89 hours of tutoring for the year. Parents reported that students’ self-esteem increased, interest in school was enhanced, and grades improved because of their children’s involvement in the HOPE Tutoring Center.
According to the latest IRS information, the HOPE tutoring volunteers are worth $14.30 an hour. These volunteers gave 2,379 hours of free tutoring which is worth $34,019.70. Major funds have come from the Community Initiative Fund Grant (United Way of Metropolitan Tarrant County), the Community Development Block Grant (City of Arlington), and The United Methodist Church.
STONEHILL COLLEGE INTO THE STREETS PROGRAM
Since its inception at Stonehill in 1992, Into the Streets (ITS) has been committed to engaging members of the Stonehill Community in meaningful service experiences that challenge and teach them to be agents of social change, committed to the creation of a just and compassionate society. Stonehill’s Into the Streets program is a part of the national Campus Outreach Opportunity League’s (COOL) Into the Streets program. However, Stonehill adapted COOL’s concept of day of service for first-year students at their fall orientation, and developed it into a yearlong service program for freshmen through seniors.
The mission of the program embodies the Foundation’s mission “to engage more people more effectively in volunteer community service to help solve serious social problems.” The Into the Streets program provides many opportunities for students to serve. At the core of ITS is student leadership and community partnerships. The ITS Leadership Team has 2 Student Directors and 16 Student Site Coordinators. This team is responsible for the site-related programs’ success as well as the overall operations of ITS. In addition, the program has a Summer Intern who is responsible for organizing and executing ITS Day during Fall Orientation.
ITS consists of over 350 students who participate in over 30 different service agencies on a regular basis. Into the Streets also publishes a directory of over 80 local non-profit, human services agencies, which the students can use to organize their own service experiences. Besides the annual ITS Day, ITS’ programming has numerous additional aspects. Eight daily volunteer opportunities in which groups of students teach English as a Second Language, work with children in a homeless shelter, deliver food and furniture to those in need, tutor junior high students, assist at an adult day health program and do childcare for a family in crisis. Ten weekly volunteer opportunities in which students serve at two nursing homes, a mentoring program, an animal shelter, two transitional housing shelters, a community agency which advocates for the Hong people, a high school and two group homes.
Monthly volunteer opportunities at a children’s museum, a food bank, two inner-city parishes and a senior center are also recipients of ITS’s service. ITS is involved in annual community service opportunities like the Aids Walk, Cancer Walk, Walk for Hunger, Make a Difference Day, Up With People Service Day, trips with residents of a state hospital, phone-a-thons and food drives. ITS also has weekly reflection suppers where students gather to dine and reflect on their personal service experiences. The community agencies provide guest speakers on various topics of social injustice or public policy and how it affects the people they serve. ITS also promotes a life-long commitment to service by publicizing post-graduate volunteer opportunities through individual student resource counseling, Alumni panels and an annual Recruiter Nigh in which different volunteer organizations gather to interact with interested students.
Stonehill students involved in ITS completed over 4,600 hours of service during the 2000–2001 academic year. Since the inception of ITS, the amount of service hours completed through ITS has increased 450% and the number of student participants has increased 100%.
KEITH WALLS
Keith Walls exemplifies the victory of the human spirit and has dedicated his own life to the benefit of others. Walls is best described as a “Christian Patriot,” as evidenced by his lifelong commitment to children and veterans. Because of a lonely and challenging upbringing in foster care, Walls filled the void of having no family life by serving others even less fortunate than himself- children, in particular. He has been able to rise far above a childhood of abandonment and abuse as well as ongoing battle with posttraumatic stress disorder to distinguish himself as a stellar citizen with an enormous heart.
Throughout his youth, Walls was active with charitable organizations and volunteered extensively with West Virginia MDA. But it was through joining the US Marine Corps that Walls finally found his home and a “family,” as well as a way to fulfill his unwavering need to serve God, Country and his fellow man. After a distinguished military career, Walls became increasingly concerned with assisting and serving veterans and became involved with the Marine Corps League.
As Commandant of the DHL Detachment #981 from 1999-2001, Walls has been able to combine his commitment to children and to veterans, utilizing the position to encourage others to do the same. He has coordinated and led funding drives for Genesis Youth Center for troubled children, holiday toy collections, educational projects and others, and has developed and implemented scholarship and recognition programs for youth, directly impacting the lives of countless young West Virginians.
Walls was instrumental in the establishment of an in-patient post-traumatic stress disorder treatment program at the VA Medical Center in Clarksburg and works diligently to raise funds for other efforts that benefit area veterans. Through his leadership, the League assisted with the purchase and display of American flags in downtown Clarksburg, and the group frequently Participates in Patriotic activities and flag education programs in local schools. Above the monetary support, Walls recruits volunteers to provide manpower services.
On a more personal level, he has also worked with Meals on Wheels, Habitat for Humanity and the American Red Cross and remains active with his Church and their humanitarian efforts. He is also well known among his friends and family for his enthusiasm and willingness to help anyone with anything at any time, expecting nothing in return. He is a dedicated husband and father of two.
He routinely spends at least 30 hours a week on various volunteer activities, raising and disbursing thousands of dollars each year. Walls is a master at building community support for various charities by maintaining high visibility and personal networking. He is a familiar face around the Clarksburg area incessantly “pitching in,” and recognizing others for their community service work. He has been named a Distinguished West Virginian and was a finalist in the “Citizen of the Year” program of the Clarksburg Exponent- Telegram, in addition to numerous other acknowledgments from charitable organizations.
CARLOS SOUSA JR.
Carlos Sousa, Jr. has become one of the Milford Exploring Law Enforcement Post’s adult leaders after spending nearly five years involved in the project. He has taken a proactive position to improve the life of young people not only in his post, but also in the entire community. Because of his service to his own community, Sousa was featured in an article in the Community Links, a community-policing magazine published in Washington, DC.
During the last few years, Sousa has volunteered hundreds of hours to community service and improving the lives of others. He assists in the planning and coordinating of the KidCare Project. The Polaroid Corporation and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children developed this project, which provides parents of small children with a recent photograph and a set of fingerprints of their child so that in the event the child is missing, the parents will have this to provide to law enforcement. The Milford Post has fingerprinted thousands of young children in the Milford area since starting this project. For its efforts with this project, Post 29 received the International Crime Prevention Practitioners’ 1998 Community Crime Prevention Award.
In May 1999, Sousa began to supervise the programming at Milford Youth Center (MYC). He has been a mentor and positive role model to many young people between the ages of 10-17 who attend the MYC. Because of the dedication and service of Leaders like Sousa, the MYC has truly made an impact on the lives of young people. One amazing statistic that can be attributed to his leadership at the center is the decline in the number of juvenile arrests in Milford. In 1996 there were 83,1997-76,1998-44 and in 1999-28. This marks nearly a 60% decline in juvenile arrests.
Sousa was promoted to the position of Educational Program Coordinator at the center. He has worked tirelessly to implement programs at the MYC, including the Computer Literacy Project, which required hours of correspondence with a local Internet Provider to get the access for the center, free of charge. Many who use the center are young people who may not otherwise have access to a computer. The Computer Literacy project works to help young people build skills that will help them compete in today’s technologically based society. Another notable project undertaken by Carlos was the GunLock Safety Project. He worked with the Police Department to obtain funds from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to institute a GunLock Safety Project. The project gives trigger locks to gun owners who may have children in the homes, free of charge.
Sousa has also volunteered with the Violence Intervention Project of Southern Worcester County (VIP), an 11-town consortium of agencies and organizations that works to assist domestic violence victims. The group produces a tri fold business card, which contain emergency numbers and resources for victims of domestic violence. Sousa translated the card in Portuguese, allowing the VIP to offer these resources to victims in the community who may not speak English.
“Carlos is a valuable asset to the commnunity. He has worked tirelessly serving others and helping those less fortunate. His ability to speak three languages has been a great addition to the department,” stated Officer John D. Tiernan, Sr.
VAQUEROS DEL OIDO
As a board-certified audioprosthologist, Blaine Smith understands the challenges facing individuals with hearing-impairments. It was still painful for him to learn, however, that many children in Mexico and Central America who suffer from hearing loss go untreated because their families cannot afford rehabilitation services. Plagued with diseases such as rubella and scarlet fever, youngsters living in poverty go to the hospital only when their problems are life threatening. At that critical point, the children receive high doses of antibiotics that in many cases destroy hair cells, damage the middle ear, and cause hearing loss.
When Smith first learned about special education students who needed hearing aids at a school in Saltillo, Mexico, he set out to bring his services to the children free of charge. On that first trip in 1988, Smith used all of the 50 hearing aids he took with him, and wished he had brought more, because the number of children in need was larger than he had anticipated. Through subsequent visits to the region, Smith learned that hearing loss among children in Mexico and Central and South America is widespread, and, in some areas, reaches epidemic proportions.
In his research, Smith found studies that showed 60% of children in elementary schools living in border towns of Mexico failed a hearing test. This number, however, does not include the children who live in smaller towns or villages where they have no access to education, and therefore are never tested. Smith estimates the problem may be even more prevalent than research indicates. After that first trip to Saltillo, Smith formed “Vaqueros del Oido” (“The Hearing Cowboys”), a group of audiologists and other professionals volunteers committed to bringing hearing aids and hearing health care to indigent populations.
Over the last 13 years, Smith and his volunteers have cared for more than 2,000 children and adults during their journeys to Mexico and Central and South America. On average, the group makes two trips per year, bringing hearing aids to as many as 200 children per visit. All the services are provided free of charge-the group does not receive any compensation for their work. But they do rely on the generosity of their own patients in the United States, who donate their old hearing aids. Charitable and civic organizations have helped out by paying for airline tickets and donating hearing aids.
Smith hopes he will someday have the means to expand the project and is already planning a trip to Chile. The contribution Smith has made in children’s lives crosses borders of the United States, Mexico and countries in Central and South American. In San Antonio, Smith founded Advanced Hearing & Communications, Inc., a service-oriented practice he has run for 15 years. On many occasions, Smith also donates reconditioned hearing aids to indigent patients. For the past six years, Smith has also served on the Board of Directors of Sunshine Cottage School for Deaf Children in San Antonio. At the school, he is well known for sponsoring an annual “Cowboy Breakfast” for the l00 deaf children enrolled at the school.
EAGLE VOLUNTEER F.D.
Eagle, Colorado is the county seat of Eagle County. This small rural town has a population of approximately 3,000 and is located in the Eagle River Valley. In the fall of 1998, Eagle County Health & Human Services entered into a partnership with the Eagle Volunteer Fire Department, the effects of which would make a major impact on services to and livelihood of seniors in the community of Eagle. It is one of eleven communities, which lie along the I- 70 Corridor, a principal highway that connects eastern with western United States. The region is most noted for famous ski resorts located in Vail and Beaver Creek.
The ski resort industry employs a significant number of Eagle County’s workers directly and indirectly and contributes a significant percentage to the county’ s economy. While only two communities offer ski opportunities the industry has a tremendous impact on the cost of living index throughout the entire valley. Over the last 10 years, cost of living, housing, and health- and home-related services have increased so greatly that many seniors must struggle to retain their independent living status. In particular, services to remove snow provide minimal yard care or home upkeep, and appliance repair are no longer affordable to most seniors on limited incomes.
The goa1 of Health & Human Services’ volunteer program, Homemaker & Chore Services, is to respond primarily to needs of low-income seniors and disabled adults. In 1998 many clients seeking yard clean up and home winterization had approached the program. At that time, the program lacked the volunteer capability to fulfill those requests. Program supervisor, Nettie Reynolds, was aware of the Eagle Volunteer Fire Department’s regular use of Work Release Program trustees to complete various community service projects. Ms. Reynolds approached the fire chief with a proposal to join forces with the county to solve this community need.
Chief Jon Asper and his staff were immediately excited about the offer. The department had endeavored in the past to offer their services to seniors in the community but did not have the resources to identify those needing the services. Ms. Reynolds was that missing link, and the partnership has blossomed into one that is admired by other communities in the Eagle River Valley.
Seniors and disabled alike are so grateful for walkways shoveled and de-iced, autumn leaves raked, windows covered against the winter cold and uncovered to let in the spring warmth, and on and on. These little things bring peace of mind to people who would otherwise have to figure out how to get them done on their limited incomes. Since October 1998, 112 volunteers have contributed $1,018 worth of service. The plan is to continue offering services to seniors and disabled persons. The department is a model nonprofit organization that has captured the respect and admiration of the entire Eagle County community.
