CARROLL KING
Eight years ago, Carroll King became a trained volunteer instructor of the 55 ALIVE Mature Driving class or as he prefers to call it, a Defensive Driving class. His goal is to instill better driving habits into seniors who learned to drive years ago and have not changed their habits according to increased traffic and the fact that age makes updated driving skills necessary.
About 23% of Florida’s population are retired seniors over 60 years of age from different states and countries, yet Florida does not have a regular re-assessment of driver’s skills which make the highways extremely dangerous.
King holds classes four to five days per week, teaching not only the laws of driving but gently chides his students about their bad driving habits. He is the only instructor certified by the Marion County Sheriff’s Office to teach the drivers in the Neighborhood Watch Program before they are allowed to drive official cars. King’s classroom is a display of auto safety items and news clippings about driving accidents.
In 1998 and 1999, King had more classes and students than any instructor in the United States. Each year, the Prudential Insurance Company donated $1,000 to the Florida Center for the Blind in King’s honor.
King is also an active member of the Florida Lions Club. In Marion County, he has collected thousands of used eye glasses for the Lions distribution program to anyone unable to purchase glasses. He received the Lions International President’s Award for his devotion to serving others as a 55 Alive instructor. He is a member of Trinity Lutheran Church where he sings in the choir. For three years he was a trustee and opened the doors at 6:00 a.m. to prepare for an 8:00 a.m. service. King collects items for benefit yard sales and he is the official photographer for the church.
ASSETS, INC.
Assets, Inc. has been serving the city of Anchorage for more than 20 years. The organization was founded by determined parents and friends of individuals with disabilities, and for many years, was known as Alaska Specialized Employment and Training Services.
In 1980, a print shop, bindery and other labor contracts provided employment opportunities for the initial 80 adults served by Assets. Today, the print shop is still in operation, still providing high quality work. However, there is now a reduced workforce of eight individuals with disabilities in the print shop, the remaining employees have found employment in the community!
Assets has embraced change and incorporated cutting edge thinking into its service delivery system. New understandings about how individuals with disabilities are best supported have been the foundation of the service provided. People are no longer fit into programs, but now individually designed supports are created that are provided in community settings based on each person’s needs.
Assets, Inc. is the 78th largest employer in the State of Alaska, with a workforce of more than 350 employees, 65% of whom are individuals with disabilities. Each member contributes to the local economy and plays a valued role in the community.
Four years after Assets opened its doors, a contract was signed providing janitorial services at the Anchorage Airport. This was a pivotal moment in the history of the organization as it was the first of many contractual agreements established between Assets and various entities. These contracts today provide a variety of employment options to more than 200 employees, both disabled and non-disabled, in such environment as the Anchorage Area Commissary, Providence Hospital, and the Alaska State Court House System. Employees of Assets wash every dish at Providence, stock every shelf at the commissary and clean every square inch of the Courthouse!
Supported Living Service began in 1984, followed by Employment Services in 1986. In Supported Living, a combination of skill building, coaching, and resource coordination take place, assisting individuals to live in their own homes. Supported Employment assists individuals to live in their own homes. Supported Employment assists individuals to obtain and retain employment within local businesses. Assets assists each employer in hiring the right person, helping with training and working to ensure job satisfaction for both employer and employee.
Supported Living Services for Children was the last to be added in 1988. These services support children who experience severe emotional disturbances. Assets provides skill training, service coordination, and crisis response services, always striving to bring out the best in each child. The main goal is to keep children and families together, and to keep them in the State of Alaska.
ROBERT BLANKENSHIP
Robert “Bobby” Blankenship has spent his entire childhood and adulthood in Columbia, South Carolina. He worked his way to success at what is now Wachovia Bank and retired as senior vice-president almost 10 years ago. Early retirement was strange and quick for Blankenship and he soon was called to the Salvation Army to join their ranks and help with the Families Helping Families Christmas program, which was founded in Columbia in 1991.
The Families Helping Families Christmas program is a collaborative effort between its partners, volunteers, community organizations and private citizens to raise money to purchase food, gifts, and clothing for needy families at Christmastime. Since its inception in 1991, the program has increased and expanded from a program that served 200 families, to the program that today serves more than 4,000 families and elderly individuals in four counties in South Carolina.
The Families Helping Families program operates almost entirely through the generosity of volunteers. Blankenship is responsible for the recruitment of approximately 99% of the volunteers who work with the program. He is not afraid to call up old friends and remind them of their civic duty to “come down and work about 20 hours next week, to help the neediest families in Columbia.” These friends include past presidents of organizations, bank officials, retired Marine Corps members, and business people. It makes no difference from where they come; they all know and love Blankenship. During any given day there are 60-70 volunteers working for the program.
Blankenship’s volunteer position is as the volunteer coordinator and also the manager of the “toy shop.” The Toy Shop is a point of distribution that will require full-time management starting in November, when Families Helping Families will move its operation to a two-building warehouse donated by the South Carolina State Fair.
Aside from his commitment to the program, Blankenship is also committed to the families that are helping through this program. He has a notebook full of names and telephone number of people that he contacts throughout the year, “just to see if they are all right.” He has arranged for housing for people who are in need, he provides transportation, he acts as financial advisor and counselor. He does not admit to it, but it is suspected that he digs deep into his own pockets to help some of these families financially.
Blankenship has announced that after nine years with the Families Helping Families Christmas program, his family obligations have changed such that he will no longer be able to continue on the same level.
GUSSIE HAMMOCK
Gussie Hammock is a retired factory worker who has dedicated her services to the Prosecutor’s Volunteers for Victims Program since 1996. Service to the community is not just volunteer work to her; it is something she enjoys. Serving victims of crime at various levels of the criminal justice system is a passion that Hammock takes to heart.
One of her main roles is to make personal contact with crime victims in both misdemeanor and felony court cases. This initial contact makes victims aware of the resources available to them. She coordinates closely with the Arkansas Attorney General’s Office to ensure victims are reimbursed for medical bills accrued as a result of the offense. She also informs victims about community support organizations that provide protection through domestic violence shelters, local grief supoprt systems, and Rape Crisis Intervention groups just to name a few.
The most meaningful aspect of volunteering for victims is to let them know that someone cares about their welfare during this most traumatic time of their life. Hammock’s selfless efforts impact the staff as well. The courtroom can be very busy while trying to expeditiously handle every care. She has assisted the attorneys by informing them about the victims’ concerns regarding their trial. This better prepares the prosecutor to make a recommendation that includes the victim. Issues involving bond amounts, No Contact Orders, or plea bargains are all important to the victim’s perspective of the effectiveness of the criminal justice system.
Gussie Hammock is also an active advocate in Parents of Murdered Children (POMC), a nonprofit national support organization that offers support to others during the grief process of their loved one. Her involvement as a victims advocate commenced shortly after her husband of 20+ years was murdered in 1992. “Ms. Gussie,” as her friends and colleagues call her, energetically commits herself to each homicide victim’s family by attending trials, bond hearings, and parole and clemency hearings.
The Remembrance Program is a component of POMC in which survivors receive letters of support from advocates. Hammock writes “thinking of you” notes coinciding with the anniversary date of the passing of person’s loved one. She also assists in coordinating a candlelight vigil on the National Day of Remembrance. This day memorializes the life of the murdered family member. Hammock actively participates in the Department of Community Punishment’s Victim/Offender Program. She shares her personal experiences caused by crimes such as thefts and burglaries to non-violent offenders. The goal is to give the offender the victim’s viewpoint and to reduce the recidivism rate.
During the trial process, the defendant’s rights are heavily protected while the victim often feels defenseless against the justice system. It is at this most vulnerable time that the assistance of a concerned citizen becomes a valuable component in the process of healing. Hammock’s unwavering service to the community affects everyone. It is a comfort to know that when crime strikes, a person like Gussie Hammock is in the victim’s corner.
MARY ELLEN STANEK
Since 1887, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee has served children from disadvantaged circumstances with quality after-school programs. 1999 was a turning point for the organization. Although they were already reaching 10,000 kids annually, they were only skimming the surface of need in the community. There were still numerous children at-risk for succumbing to the streets.
In response to Colin Powell’s America’s Promise – a challenge to serve more children – the organization set a goal of doubling membership to 20,000 by the end of 2000. To accomplish this strategic plan, known as Vision 2020, they were charged with raising a record $14 million. Without hesitation, Mary Ellen Stanek was asked to chair the campaign.
A member of the Board of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee since 1997, Stanek wanted to deepen her involvement with the Clubs. Vision 2020 presented a perfect opportunity, so she signed on.
Stanek devoted herself to the cause, attending meetings, interpreting financial reports, and lending advice. She shared a gift for motivating others to get involved with Vision 2020. With her engaging personality, she helped secure some sizable contributions crucial to the success of the campaign. In addition, she served as a resource for her colleagues on the Board, offering help and insight in regard to their own fundraising efforts for the Clubs.
Stanek impresses everyone with her unwavering dedication to children. She never forgets that the Clubs are not about fundraising – they are about serving kids. She often visits the central-city facilities and is eager to talk to members, getting right down on the floor with them.
Through this gentle approach, Stanek calls attention to serious social problems (i.e., violence and poverty in children’s lives) in a unique, refreshing way. She humanizes what the Clubs are all about. She does not rattle off statistics or preach; instead, she shows people, through her actions and words, that children are worthy of attention. Again and again, Stanek turns heads and raises awareness with her straightforward and loving way of supporting Club members.
Without Stanek, Vision 2020 would still be a dream. In December 2000, the organization met its goal of 20,000 and also surpassed the financial goal, arriving at $18.2 million! They are now extending their services to serve neighborhoods where children have been in need. Moreover, the organization is financially secure, able to sustain its growth. These successes are due to Mary Ellen Stanek.
In addition to the Clubs, Stanek serves on the boards for Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin Foundation, Safe & Sound, Junior Achievement and Marquette University. She is a past president and board member of Betty Brinn Children’s Museum. Last year, she won the Marquette University Person for Others Award and the Milwaukee Business Journal’s Women of Influence Award for her community involvement.
CENTER FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND COMMUNITY
Established in 1994 through a W. K. Kellogg Foundation grant, the Center for Social Responsibility and Community (CSRC) emphasizes an opportunity-oriented approach to social issues. The center helps students develop a strong sense of social responsibility and the necessary skills to continue throughout their lives as leaders in business, government, education, and the social sector.
The Center supports the development and implementation of new solutions to existing social needs by engaging students in hands-on experiences in our community. Faculty and community members play an active role in supporting creative thinking, enhancing student leadership, and building capacity in the community for the college’s students.
Student values, attitudes and behavior have changed as a result of their involvement in the Center. In addition, students develop empathy with the clients they serve in their volunteer, internship or service-learning placements. Some continue with their initial agency after their voluntary involvement. Additionally, students’ self-concepts expand when they are seen and utilized as valuable resources.
The Center uses several strategies to promote opportunities-oriented social enterprises:
- Offering quality volunteering, service-learning and internship opportunities
- Providing a student-led and run information and referral office
- Collaborating and partnering among administration, faculty, students, community agencies and campus clubs and organizations
- Administering an AmeriCorps/Rural School Empowerment Program
- Offering American Humanics training and professional certification
- Offering consulting to nonprofit organizations and counseling to students to promote social entrepreneurship
Currently, CSRC serves more than 90 nonprofit organizations and is an active part of Nonprofit Leadership Forum operating in Oneonta. More than 20% (1,000 students) of SUNY College at Oneonta students are involved with the Center and 15 students are working towards an American Humanics Professional Certificate in nonprofit leadership. The Center’s AmeriCorps program has nearly 100 members serving Otsego County’s elementary schools. The CSRC program has been replicated in eight different universities and dissemination is currently taking place as far as in Helsinki, Finland, in the form of open lectures on social responsibility. Thirty percent of CSRC’s graduates work in international workplaces, thus impacting global communities. Other programs that CSRC is involved include CNS Service-Learning Initiative, SCALE Literacy Training, VISTA, Boy Scouts’ Pop-Corn Sale and many other projects.
As an example of various projects, this year CSRC received a $5,000 grant to promote service-learning in 21st Century schools in the Oneonta area from CNS/Binghamton School District as well as a $7,000 grant from SCALE to provide monthly workshops in literacy education.
ANNA PANAYIOTOU
Anna Panayiotou is the founder and chairwoman of Bayonne 2000: Cleaner and Greener, the City of Bayonne’s voluntary community forestry and clean-up group. Panayiotou, a teacher at Washington School in Bayonne, founded Cleaner and Greener five years ago with the goal of making Bayonne “a model urban forest, cleaner and greener, by the year 2000.” Like-minded teachers, students, public officials and business people joined in because they wanted to improve the environment in the community.
Thanks to Panayiotou, Cleaner and Greener brings together children and teachers from the public and private schools, forestry workers from the Bayonne Department of Public Works, Parks and Recreation, and business supporters. Cleaner and Greener sponsors clean-up campaigns, tree-planting programs, gardening classes and guest speakers who promote cleaner and greener communities. The group also presents non-competitive awards to students for cleaning, painting and composting.
Under Panayiotou’s leadership, Bayonne 2000: Cleaner and Greener holds planning meetings involving students, teachers and public officials. They reach out to parent-teacher associations and organizations to help plan school-based activities. Cleaner and Greener activists work with the City of Bayonne on tree order forms for the general public. Ordinary residents are empowered by getting a choice of trees, flower barrels and other plant life.
Working with the City of Bayonne, Cleaner and Greener has sparked the planting of nearly 4,000 trees during the last five years, at schools and on residential and business properties. Other trees have been planted around municipal buildings and in parks. Thousands of students have learned about the environment. Hundreds of students have been involved in tree-plantings, clean-ups and other activities. Dozens of adults have taken gardening courses. The Cleaner and Greener activities have made Bayonne residents more aware of forestry and the importance of trees and the environment.
Cleaner and Greener has staged successful visits to Bayonne by Senator Gaylord Nelson, the founder of Earth Day, and Tim Womick, founder of the National Trail of Trees. Municipal policy has become more tree-friendly and there is now a municipal tree ordinance. Tree-planting ceremonies have become a part of public life. The City of Bayonne has an agreement with the Bayonne Housing Authority to take care of trees at public housing projects. Panayiotou and Cleaner and Greener have earned recognition from the National Arbor Day Foundation, which recognizes Bayonne as a Tree City USA.
Anna Panayiotou has brought together volunteers with public and private sector organizations. The Bayonne 2000: Cleaner and Greener Committee is the key force for tree-planting, clean-ups and environmental consciousness-raising. The Bayonne Department of Public Works, Parks and Recreation provides the manpower for a major portion of tree-planting and tree maintenance in the community. The Bayonne Board of Education encourages public school teachers and students to become involved in Cleaner and Greener activities. The McDonald’s Restaurant of 25th Street provides financial support for Cleaner and Greener programs.
THOMAS CASH
Public high schools in northern New Jersey’s inner cities are in a state of disarray. Some of them are graduating as few as 25% of their students. On the other hand, the private (mostly Catholic) high schools which serve the same demographic populations and geographic areas, graduate between 85 to 95% of their students and virtually all of them go on to institutions of higher learning. There are thousands of minority youth who desire, and would benefit from, a private high school education because of the higher academic standards and better learning environment. Unfortunately, with tuitions ranging from $2,500 to $4,500 per year, most of them simply lack the financial means to do so.
About 15 years ago, Thomas Cash began fulfilling his sense of public responsibility by underwriting the private school tuition for some very needy youth in Jersey City, and he spent time mentoring them as well. Within a few years, he began recruiting friends and colleagues to participate in a similar way. In 1993, Cash secured a 501(c)(3) nonprofit status and called the new organization the Student Partner Alliance (SPA). “Partners” give both personal time as well as money to ensure a better chance for a young boy or girl. Since the early 1990’s, SPA has put nearly 200 boys and girls through private high schools. In the current school year, there are 171 students attending eight different private schools in Jersey City, Newark and the Oranges.
The SPA, as currently organized, has several unique features. Financial need takes priority over academic achievement. There are a number of scholarship funds that exist to help the “best and brightest.” SPA students tend to be more average academically – individuals who would probably “fall through the cracks” if left in a public school. With private education, most will become productive members of society rather than a “statistic.” Also, as SPA has been able to secure foundation gifts to cover administrative expenses, all of the money from partners goes toward paying student tuition. Finally, SPA organizes a number of group activities during the year to encourage interaction between students and their partners. At least one annual gathering involves a charitable activity in order to instill a sense of community responsibility in the students.
While the primary goal of SPA is to give disadvantaged youth a chance to become productive and contributing members of society, there is a strong additional benefit of the program. Most inner-city private schools are running well under capacity. When schools are running under capacity, the cost of educating a student rises. This creates a vicious cycle of tuition increasing, thus pushing down enrollment even further. Over the years, a number of private schools have closed their doors permanently, leaving major voids in communities and neighborhoods which can never be filled. By bringing additional students into these schools, SPA is helping , in a modest way, to stem the tide of increasing tuition, making the schools more accessible to the communities they serve.
SHERRI LEE
Tinker Cooper, Executive Director of Families Against Drugs (FAD), formed this nonprofit organization after her son died from a drug overdose in Orange County, Florida. Originally, FAD was a support group for parents who have lost a child to a drug overdose because these deaths are perceived by society and law enforcement as less significant than a death by any other means. FAD also includes family members of loved ones who are in a come, jail, rehab or still using drugs, as well as members of various law enforcement agencies.
Cooper met Sherri Lee under adverse conditions when Lee became a member of FAD. Lee has recently lost her only child, Robert, to a heroin overdose that occurred the day before his 19th birthday. Robert was a first-time user. The fatal incident happened at a going away party for him as he was leaving for the Marines.
With Lee’s help, FAD has expanded to include education of young people and parents about the destructive and deadly consequences of drug use. Lee has since become the Vice President of FAD and Cooper’s right arm. She manages the business aspect of the group and publicly speaks at schools, churches, jails, rehabs and organizations. Whatever there is to be done, Lee handles it. Despite her demanding career as the Vice President of a major advertising firm, and becoming the new mother of a baby girl born 21 years after her deceased brother, Lee has been a major factor in helping FAD raise five times the amount of money that was raised last year.
Lee does more in the community beyond the role she plays in FAD. Raised in poverty and being an abused child, Lee is involved in the Take Stock in Children program, mentoring young people and encouraging them to stay in school. She tells the story of her childhood, marriage and motherhood at the tender age of 16. She talks about the abuse from her first marriage and how she found the courage and strength to improve her life and the life of her child. She explains that through perseverance and education, one can rise above their circumstances and become successfull and happy.
Lee is also a volunteer in the Dividends Program in Seminole County Public Schools, Florida, teaching a variety of subjects to broaden the horizons of impressionable young people. These subjects include marketing, ancient Chinese art & culture, and ancient Egyptian history.
Sherri Lee is also her own “Secret Santa.” She selects one needy family per year and provides Christmas presented for the entire family. The only things she asks in return is that these families do the same for another needy family once they are financially able to do so.
BSSW STUDENT SOCIAL WORK ORGANIZATION COLLEGE OF SOCIAL WORK, UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE
As identified in its bylaws, a major objective of the University of Tennessee BSSW Student Social Work Organization (BSSW-SWO) is to “facilitate and provide volunteer community service to social welfare organizations in the Knoxville community.” Students who are majoring in social work meet every Tuesday during the academic year from 11:15 to 12:20 for meetings. This time is protected and built into every social work student’s schedule. To expedite the work of the organization, the students have organized into various committees. The largest committee is community service, with more than 25 active members. The co-chairpersons of this committee contact social service agencies throughout the Knoxville and East Tennessee region to offer the organization’s volunteer assistance.
In the past three years, approximately 20 social service agencies have been assisted by the BSSW-SWO. Some of the agencies assisted by the members include: Big Brother/Big Sisters, Blount County Children’s Home, Child and Family Tennessee, Florence Crittenton, Knoxville Area Rescue Ministries, and the Ronald McDonald House. Members have been involved in fund-raising, serving meals at homeless shelters, collecting canned goods for a food bank, organizing parties at nursing homes, and providing social activities for children at a runaway shelter and for young women at a residential maternity shelter. References to some of these efforts are found in the organization’s newsletters. In recognition of its work in the community, the BSSW-SWO received a Citation for Extraordinary Contribution to Campus Life at the University Convocation in April 2000.
An ongoing service being provided by the BSSW-SWO is to the Greater Knoxville Mental Health Association. For the past two years, members have been providing service in the Association’s COMPEER program. The COMPEER program matches caring, trained volunteers in supportive relationships with children and adults receiving services from mental health professionals. A number of students in the BSSW-SWO have gone through volunteer training at the Mental Health Association and have been matched with young clients receiving mental health care. The students meet with their “compeer friends” each week to provide friendship and support.
The students involved in COMPEER keep a journal in which they document their volunteer activity, reflect on their involvement in this community project, and connect what they are learning in their social work classes to their service. In addition to the weekly contact with their friends, the students meet with the faculty advisor of the BSSW-SWO once a month to discuss their volunteer activities and to comment on their journal entries. This informal, voluntary seminar connects service with learning.
The BSSW-SWO is meeting a community need for volunteers in social services. Also, the organization is serving client groups that are disconnected from the larger community, i.e., pregnant teenagers in a residential maternity shelter and homeless men, women, and children. The BSSW-SWO encourages its members to be citizens who “will not pass to the other side” when seeing people who are isolated and disconnected from the larger community.
