ASSOCIATION OF JUNIOR LEAGUES INTERNATIONAL

In April 2001, nearly 200,000 women commenced celebrating 100 years of volunteer community service and impact through the Junior League. With a century of family literacy, senior citizen care, battered women’s shelters, affordable day care, AIDS education, pregnancy prevention and multicultural awareness to their credit, the members of Junior Leagues in 296 communities in four countries have much to celebrate.

Few women’s organizations have even reached the centennial milestone, but the Junior Leagues have a distinguished legacy of making a difference in local communities since the inception of the New York Junior League in 1901. At the turn of the century, Barnard College student Mary Harriman established the Junior League “to foster among its members the interest in undertakings for the betterment of the social, economic and educational conditions in the City of New York.” Mary Harriman’s idea—that a group of women could be a powerful force for change—has resonated throughout this century. What began as 80 young women traveling to Manhattan’s Lower East Side to volunteer at a settlement house has blossomed into a growing movement of trained volunteers improving their communities through direct service, public education, advocacy, fundraising and sheer hard work.

Individual Junior Leagues contribute mightily to their local communities; Leagues know how to raise money, how to use influence and how to make positive things happen in communities. As an international movement, the organization has also contributed collectively to the public welfare of our society. Programs that we take for granted—free school lunches, children’s theatre and museums, domestic violence legislation, volunteer bureaus, quality TV programming for children—are among the innovations led by the Junior League. Today Leagues work with babies with HIV, abused children and the homeless and serve as mentors to young women and girls. League members found and staff childcare centers, fund breast cancer research and protect the environment. In short, the Junior League can be credited with implementing change and improving conditions in almost every sector. In recognition of decades of these sustained contributions, in 1989, the Association of Junior Leagues International (AJLI) was presented with the prestigious U.S. President’s Volunteer Action Award.

In 1901, membership in the Junior League gave women a rare opportunity to make an impact and to take a leadership role in the wider world. Today, even with increased professional opportunities for women, the Junior League continues to offer women a unique and powerful way to make a difference, take risks and become community leaders. In spite of the fact that two-thirds of the members are working women, they still commit their valuable time to serving their communities…through the Junior League.

SISTER ANITA MARIE STACY

Despite Sister Anita Marie’s success as a mathematics teacher, it is her position as BETA chair for the past twelve years that she help increase social awareness among teenagers, inspiring her “students of life” to become involved in their communities.

As a mathematics teacher, Sister Anita understands the power of multiplication and invests time in others, trying to duplicate herself. It is in this fashion that she and a multitude of her “students of life” are able to mobilize and try to make a difference as community needs arise.

To sponsor interest in the program, she pioneered a Social Awareness workshop for freshmen, where they spend the day reflecting on community needs and then set out to serve in the community with representatives of various agencies. In promoting social awareness, she has empowered a group of high school sophomores through seniors to serve their communities.

Currently, the group has grown to approximately 150 students, which is about two-thirds of the eligible population. Members of the group pledge to complete at least nine community service activities, averaging about four hours per activity, throughout the school year as well as one additional activity in service to the school. Sister Anita shows her support at every activity. Initially, she scheduled all of the activities, but as the program has expanded, she formed a board of outstanding group members to help meet the needs of the community. As an organization, they have provided food, clothing, shelter, and companionship to many.

Sister Anita has also used her creativity to come up with new and innovative ways to motivate the entire school to service. Under her direction the school sponsors an annual “Turkey Bowl” and “Penny War.” Each year for the Penny War, students in the BETA Club elect a charity to support. Following this decision, Sister Anita runs a weeklong campaign including posters, prayers, and videos, making students aware of social needs in the community and the people they have elected to support. Through the contest, Sister Anita appeals to the caring, competitive and strategic sides of each class, competing against other grade levels.

Throughout the past years, the amount of money raised in one week by approximately 400 students has escalated to the current level of over $4,500. The Turkey Bowl is similar, in that it serves as a canned good and money drive, prior to Thanksgiving, using events and activities that many students enjoy and helps support those in need. Each year they collect thousands of canned goods and dollars to donate to local soup kitchens and OxFam, respectively.

When supplies were running low on prizes for the monthly Bingo, one student took the initiative to convince Jergens to sponsor lotion as prizes. This past summer, Sister Anita traveled to Mexico, and volunteered at a school to help set up a computer lab and aid in instruction of mathematics to those less fortunate.

MARILYN PRICE

In 1986 Marilyn Price was pedaling up a bike trail on Mount Tamalpais, gazing at the view of San Francisco beyond. She remembered the kids she used to see when she volunteered at St. Anthony’s Dining Room in the heart of the inner city and though how wonderful it would be if they could have a chance to do what she was doing. It was then that her vision of Trips for Kids began to take shape.

Trips for Kids is a San Francisco Bay Area non-profit that provides mountain bike outings and environmental education for kids that would not otherwise be exposed to these types of activities. Trips for Kids’ goal is to combine lessons in personal responsibility, achievement and environmental awareness through development of practical skills and the simple act of having fun. The Trips for Kids Re-Cyclery program provides job training for youth while recycling old bikes and bike parts.

Price founded Trips for Kids on the belief that outdoor experiences should be available to all children. Unfortunately, most of the kids served by Trips for Kids do not often exercise or have the opportunity to get out of their concrete environments. With commitment and persistence, Price created a program that provides these youth with outdoor, educational and work experiences that set them on a path toward healthy and happy lives.

Price has directed the program as it grew from a home-based volunteer run effort into a flourishing nonprofit that has taken more than 5,000 disadvantaged youth on mountain bike outings and has a volunteer base of 300 people. Trips for Kids has provided 650 low-income youth a chance to earn a bike of their own, hired 11 teens trained through the program, and operates two earn-a-bike workshops for inner city kids and provides jobs for the older kids. The organization earns 68% of its operating expenses from its bike thrift shop and fundraising events. It is now a national program with 10 Trips for Kids chapters across the country.

All of this was accomplished through the dedication and hard work of a woman who, with no prior business experience, wanted to help others. Price worked on a strictly volunteer basis for the first 11 years, putting in 70-80 hours a week. Two years ago she accepted a minimal nonprofit salary and continues to sustain the same level of commitment to this day.

“I believe that sustained commitment is one of the most important things,” said Marilyn Price, “To really change things you have to set your sights on something and keep at it.”

SARAH BRABANT

Dr. Sarah Brabant began helping children more than 15 years ago when she took her keen intuition and extensive knowledge of grief to develop a program for children who had experienced the death of a sibling. Some years later, Dr. Brabant, professor of sociology at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, and other concerned individuals, founded The Grief Center of Southwest Louisiana in 1997 as a safe place for families to grieve and heal, especially children who have had to deal with traumatic loss, including a family member’s murder, suicide or accidental death. The Grief Center allows children to share their grief with others. It provides networking opportunities for area professionals working with grieving persons and it creates an awareness of grief issues as well as education on those issues. The Grief Center is the only one of its kind in the state.

Dr. Brabant writes grant proposals and networks with churches, organizations, the local University and local government to help secure much needed funds. She has also dedicated the royalties from her book, Mending The Torn Fabric, to The Grief Center.

Dr. Brabant’s history of community involvement and volunteerism in southwest Louisiana dates back into the early 1970s when she provided internships for University Senior sociology majors to work in community centers serving the economically disadvantaged. She was a member of the inaugural board of Lafeyette’s first shelter for battered women and their children. Dr. Brabant facilitated the first support group for the local AIDS organization and continues to volunteer there. She assisted Hospice of Acadiana with its volunteer training program in the 1980s. She has also volunteered in a program for children with hearing impairments.

Having just retired in May, Dr. Brabant devotes considerable volunteer time to The Grief Center. She uses her education and experience to bring knowledge and comfort to many that hurt deeply because of the separation brought about by death. The greatest benefactors of her time, talent and treasure are Louisiana’s children. Dr. Brabant impacts not only those children and adults at The Grief Center but in schools, churches and anywhere she is called. Her reward is not monetary. It is knowing that hope is restored in the lives of children and their families who reclaim their faith in themselves and discover the tools to heal and grow.

JACK WINER

In a diverse community such as San Diego, improved literacy and learning English as a second language are important issues faced in every school classroom. To increase public awareness of the value of the public library for all in our community and recognize students for educational achievement, Jack Winer established a city-wide essay contest reaching out to elementary and high school students from 165 public and more than 70 non-public schools in San Diego. Topics are designed to encourage students writers to reflect on a variety of subjects such as The Importance of Libraries to the Community and Volunteering in Your Community.

The essay contest crosses economic and racial lines and offers all students in grades 4, 8 and 10 the opportunity to enter. One winner last year was a former runaway who had attempted to take her own life. In her essay, she wrote about how the book, “Go Ask Alice,” had helped her overcome her despair and move forward in her life.

Another child wrote about his reading difficulties until he discovered in the fourth grade, that he could read Dr. Seuss books with success. He overcame his fear and difficulty in reading through this author. Another winner accompanied school officials to Sacramento to present to the Governor of California his essay on the importance of public libraries for the people.

Jack Winer is gifted in mobilizing large groups and bringing them together to work toward a common goal. To create such a successful program, Winer motivated so many to participate, including The Friends of the San Diego Public Library (membership 5,000); the San Diego Public Library (main library and 33 branches); the San Diego Unified School District (administration, teachers, school librarians and the PTA); citizens (local newspaper writers, elected officials, civic leaders) and Corporate Sponsors (Seaworld, Barnes and Noble, Qualcomm, San Diego Padres, Office Depot), and of course students, parents and primary care givers.

Since its founding, the contest has grown in both the number of participating schools and the number of entrants with 1,200 students participating last year. The contest has become an ongoing project under the wing of the Friends of the San Diego Public Library.

Certainly when one child learns to read and write an impact is made in the life of that child. Society gains, too. Literacy changes lives. The city-wide essay contest helps the San Diego community to focus on the value of the public library (open and free to all), the importance of learning to read, and the power of self expression through the written word.

Winer created a program that did not previously exist in San Diego. San Diego is America’s sixth largest city. Winer’s idea, and his success in bringing together many diverse groups in a new and different way to promote student use of the public library is innovative.

GIRL TEE VEE, A PROGRAM OF THE GIRLS CENTER

Girl Tee Vee is a program at The Girls Center in Walpole, Massachusetts. The Girls Center is a community-based, self-actualization and leadership development program for young adolescent girls. The Center works to engender personal and social change to create a safer and more empowering community for young girls. They work to achieve this goal through activities and projects as well as through community outreach and education.

Girl Tee Vee has been exceptional in this regard demonstrated by how these young women have worked diligently to educate and reach out to the Walpole Community over the past four years. They have created and produced a community access television show since they were 12 and 13 years old. They are currently in high school and are working with a group of middle school students so that the community service will continue. The shows have educated the community about issues facing girls, decision-making skills, and the importance of higher education and the problems of under-age drinking. The girls were contacted and paid by the Walpole Police Department to work on the under age drinking project, and have worked to educate themselves as well as the middle school students on this issue that faces almost all youth.

Girl Tee Vee not only works with youth, but they are also developing a project that will work with the elders in the community. They will be compiling materials for and putting together material and memorabilia as part of a project with a local elder community, entitled “The Video Quilt.” They will compile footage of elders reminiscing about their lives and talking about objects and events that have created the stories and meanings of their lives. This video will serve as educational material for children throughout the school system of Walpole and surrounding communities.

These young women have provided services across the life cycle with intelligence, creativity and warmth. Their talents and services have not gone unnoticed. They were the recipients of the Women in Cable Award in 1998 for their outstanding achievements. They have worked hard and without pay for four years serving and educating the Walpole community.

The original founders of Girl Tee Vee are: Jessica Cataldo, Julie Cunniff, Jessica Riu, and Lindsey Taylor. The Girl Tee Vee tradition continues with: Judi Bisceglia, Kasey Duncan, Alana Goldstein, Megan Hughes, Laura Milot, Morgan Randall, Stephanie Rose, Kayla Soutwick, and Kathy Thibodeau.

COMMUNITY ORIENTED POLICING SATELLITE OF UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS

The Community Oriented Policing Satellite (COPS) was established in University Heights in 1995 through a joint effort of the University Heights CDA, Inc., the Buffalo Common Council, the City of Buffalo, and the Buffalo Police. Subsequently, they piloted satellite stations in six other areas of the city, developing community advisory groups and placing VISTA and volunteer staff to actively engage area residents.

The COPS stations use a community policing approach to effectively address specific neighborhood needs while working on larger issues that affect the City of Buffalo as a whole. They serve as a resource to focus and strengthen the block clubs and community-based initiatives that make a community policing strategy effective. The result is stronger, more stable neighborhoods, desirable for residents and merchants alike. The COPS are highly visible in the community, hosting National Night Out and Glad Bag-A-Thon, and taking part in Take Back the Night, Police Community Days and many other community events. COPS supports local block clubs, help form new ones, and on streets where there are none, recruits block contacts to help communicate with residents.

A key component of the COPS Station program in the Non-Emergency or “Quality of Life” Complaints system, which area residents can use to call in their complaints and concerns. Crime Prevention staff then relay the complaint to the proper authority, most often the local police district, although some complaints are directed to an appropriate city agency. Although this system does not move complaints up to a higher priority, it does give the area another source of getting their non-emergency complaints answered in a timely manner. It also supports the police in addressing non-emergency issues in a thorough and friendly way.

For example, the University Heights COPS Station logged 425 calls in the year 2000. All but two of those complaint calls have been fully resolved. Those two unresolved complaints are currently being settled in court. Eighty-two percent of the calls receive were for police assistance; 18% went to other appropriate city agencies.

One strength of the COPS system is follow-up. All non-emergency complaints are properly recorded and followed up by Buffalo Community Police Officers. COPS staff stays in touch with complainants until some resolution is achieved. This may take the form of arbitration for a neighborhood dispute or an arrest for criminal activity.

Another strength is coordination of information. Just as police districts collect data on crime occurrence, COPS stations collect data on neighborhood nuisances and disturbances. Repeated complaints about a single address are tracked at the stations. Ultimately, COPS will identify strategies to address common complaints and work with the appropriate departments to implement those strategies, whether it is monitoring drug activity to facilitate and arrest, or working with landlords and housing programs to improve problem properties.

COPS is a revitalizing force in Buffalo, involving residents and businesses alike in public safety for the community.

DR. WILLIAM STAPP

Dr. William Stapp is affectionately called the Father of Environmental Education. In 1984, Dr. Stapp helped a group of concerned students investigate cases of hepatitis contracted from the Huron River. The students discovered the cause of the problem and worked with the local government to find a solution. As a result of their success, Dr. Stapp founded the Global Rivers Environmental Education Network (GREEN) to aid youth around the work in protecting their local water resources. Today, GREEN is a program of Earth Force and links educators and students in watershed education programs in 50 sates and 135 countries.

During his career, Dr. Stapp focused on the root causes of environmental issues as well as educating people to fin solutions to those issues. He and his students are largely responsible for coining and defining the term, “environmental education” and the spread of environmental education into the curricula of schools around the globe.

Dr. Stapp has been a pioneer in environmental education long before it became a cause to embrace. He has been actively working in the field since the 1960’s. Dr. Stapp earned his B.S., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Michigan, and has taught there as a professor since 1964. He initiated an environmental education program into the Ann Arbor school system in the 60’s and co-founded the Citizens Association for Area Planning (CAAP) in the City of Ann Arbor during that same time. In addition to this, Dr. Stapp served as chairperson of the Governor’s Task Force for developing an environmental education plan for the state of Michigan.

His work continued through the 70’s when Dr. Stapp was elected president of the American Nature Study Society. In 1971, he was involved in planning the First Earth Day. He also was an integral part in drafting the National Environmental Education Act. Dr. Stapp expanded his efforts in environmental education to the international level as he served as an advisor to U.S. government agencies and was appointed the first Director of the Environmental Education Program for the United Nations (UNESCO) in 1971. This program involved 146 nations and led to the first intergovernmental conference in Tbilisi, USSR in 1978.

Dr. Stapp was a founder and the first President of the North American Association for Environmental Education in the mid 1980’s. He also worked with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources in Geneva, the United Nations Environment Programme in Nairobi, and a host of other programs and projects in both industrialized and developing nations.

A researcher and author of international renown, Dr. Stapp has participated in workshops, conferences, programs, and sponsored research activities throughout the world. He has spread the word of care and concern for the environment through 22 books and over 200 professional articles. He is in demand throughout the world to work with others in establishing national, international, and cross-cultural programs. Dr. Stapp has received over 80 international and provincial awards for his accomplishments including the President’s Environmental and Conservation Challenge Award in 1992, and being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994.

ACADEMY ICU CLUB

The Academy for the Arts, Science, and Technology’s ICU club is a unique community service organization. The club’s mission is to reach out and make a difference in their Myrtle Beach community. The members are six teacher sponsors, four organization sponsors, and 35 students. Since the club’s inception, they have made commitments to five community organizations and events.

The Club was created to organize a community of young people who desire to make a difference. The American Red Cross (ARC) sponsored a group of leaders and helped give ICU a start. Then the Club made the commitment to assist three other organizations – Citizens Against Spousal Abuse (CASA), Habitat For Humanity (HFH), and SOS Healthcare.

In addition to this, they found another community needs that required addressing. Myrtle Beach is seeing an increased population of elderly in nursing homes. Many of the patients have no visitors and receive no correspondence. The ICU Club decided to bring a little sunshine to the residents who were sometimes very lonely, and they started Annie’s Angels. The Angels sole purpose is to make the nursing homes residents happy. They visit the homes and spend time with their mature friends. The Club members saw they could still make a greater impact and have decided to also visit those seniors at their homes because they have noone to care for them and give them attention. They also developed Senior Buddies. Each member adopts one senior to mentor, and they hope to care for their well being, learn from each other, and bridge the generation gap.

Some of the projects they have recently completed for CASA are coat drives and canned food drives. They also decorated a tree that was auctioned off with all proceeds donated to the organization. By becoming involved with this organization, the Club has been able to raise awareness about spousal abuse among teenagers and within the community at large. The awareness is a step towards combating the abuse.

During the Christmas season, The ICU Club helped the ARC conduct a dinner that fed more than 2300 meals to those less fortunate in the community. The meals were served at three different locations in the area. They also raised money for the Special Olympics and work with Pasta for Pennies, which raises money for a young girl suffering with Leukemia. In addition to this, they support the March of Dimes, The Black and Blue Ball, and the Myrtle Beach Marathon, which supports the ARC.

In the near future, the Club plans to assist in the building of a home for HFH. They are already recruiting other students because of the enormous need of volunteers for such a project.

NANCY SCHROEDER

Nancy Schroeder worked at a local college in the bookstore for many years. Once she retired, Schroeder devoted the majority of her time to service in her community. She single-handedly coordinated the Winter Wraps Program.

Schroeder was used to the cold Midwest winters; however, she saw that many adults and children were out in the elements without the proper protection. In May of 200, Schroeder organized a community-wide coat drive. The local public schools were checkpoints for the drive initially. Community members were dropping off children’s coats and the schools, and soon the area dry-cleaners opened their arms to the program. The dry-cleaners volunteered to clean the used coats, and Schroeder, along with other youth and senior volunteers sorted and sized them.

The Winter Wraps Program debuted in October of 2000. Over 1000 used, cleaned winter coats as well as hats and mittens for the children were given to those in need in Kenosha County. Additionally, 182 adults were provided with warm coats. Though the program is still in its infancy stage, Schroeder believes it is a success. The three-day October “coat-fest” brought the community together. Hundreds of volunteers worked with hundreds of families and were able to meet one of their needs.

Schroeder devotes hundreds of hours to Winter Wraps, but she gives her time to other organizations also. She volunteers for WoMen and Children’s Horizons. This agency provides advocacy, support and emergency shelter for victims and child witnesses of domestic abuse. Schroeder provides outreach and education about domestic abuse at the local homeless shelter, and she assists with children’s groups. You may also find Schroeder working during the week at her church providing homeless individuals with a night’s relief through their INNS Program. In addition to that, she works with the Hospice Alliance providing comfort to patients with terminal illnesses as well as their loved ones.