FEINSTEIN COMMUNITY SERVICE CENTER
Over the last 10 years, Johnson & Wales University (J&W), through its Feinstein Community Service Center, has strategically invested educational, volunteer, monetary, and programmatic resources to assist Providence area nonprofits in caring for those in need. But perhaps even more significantly, J&W is in the business of training its career-focused students about the importance of community involvement – thousands of students have used their career skills to assist local nonprofits, as part of their academic coursework, and countless students have experienced community needs firsthand for the first time through the Feinstein Center’s programs.
Amos House runs a homeless shelter, a soup kitchen, and social service and job training programs for those who need assistance to help get back on their feet. The organization has witnessed a great demand for services, particularly from women and children, and benefits from the continuing partnership of J&W and the Feinstein Center in addressing the growing needs of the community. The Feinstein Center’s support for the Amos House is multifaceted; they have displayed a long-term commitment to developing and implementing creative, hands-on solutions to pressing community needs.
Four days a week, J&W culinary and hospitality students work in the Amos House kitchen as part of their Internship experience. Under the direction of a graduate student or staff from the Feinstein Center, the students learn about hunger and homelessness locally and nationally, prepare and serve meals for the soup kitchen, and interact with low-income guests.
On a basic level, approximately 2,500 meals per week are prepared through the partnership with J&W and Amos House. However, the scope of the presence of J&W volunteers extends far beyond the food that is cooked and served. Amos House guests learn to relate to college students, and may even begin to think of college as an option for themselves. The Amos House chef, for instance, is an “alum” of Amos House’s programs and also successfully completed a Culinary Arts degree at J&W.
The guests love the students and look forward to the meals they prepare with great eagerness. The J&W students learn to relate to the guests as peers and valuable people – many recognize the guests on the city streets after they volunteer and engage them in conversation. They also take what they learn about hunger and food redistribution into the foodservice industry and become leaders in getting their employers involved in food recovery, which will have a tremendous effect on hunger relief in the long-term.
The Feinstein Center has also given countless hours of staff and volunteer time to the Amos House including free consulting, volunteer training, in-kind donations, assistance with special projects and support in advocacy efforts.
NARRAGANSETT COUNCIL BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA
In 1997, President Bill Clinton held an historic summit on volunteerism. At this conference, he and General Colin Powell challenged all youth organizations to make a commitment to provide service in their surrounding communities. The Boy Scouts of America committed 200 million hours of service by the end of the year 2000. This led to the Boy Scouts developing a program called “Service to America.”
The Narragansett Council has delivered 64,000 hours of documented service to Rhode Island and to towns in Massachusetts and Connecticut in the past two Scouting program years (1998, 1999). More people are being helped locally because of the Scouts. They are a dramatic force for good in our communities. The Narragansett Council pledged that during the Scouting year 2000-2001 (June 1st to May 31), their Scouts and Leaders, staff and volunteers, parents and youth will give 90,000 hours of service to local communities.
There are several phases of the program to be completed by volunteer youth and adult members of the Boy Scouts of America. These phases include, but are not limited to:
- Community Renewal – cemetery clean ups, playground improvements
- Duty to God – church painting, organizing hikes to houses of worship to educate people about different religions
- Reclaiming our Heritage – help at Roger William’s National Park, participate in Memorial Day events, educate people about the sacrifices of Patriots
- Conservation Good Turns – Earth Day programs, trail work, duck boxes
- Feeding the Hungry – Scouting for Food, soup kitchens
- Citizenship – get out the vote drives, veteran support on Memorial & Flag Day
The Narragansett Council recently completed the Scouting for Food Drive and collected 337,000 pounds of food in one day for the RI Food Bank, which will provide them with enough food to keep their shelves stocked for half a year. They will distribute the food collected to Soup kitchens and shelters.
To date, they also have held clean ups and playground restoration at the YMCA, Scouts have restored graves that had become overgrown, placed flags at the burial sites of Veterans, and created the Scout Patriot Award to educate youth and adults about the greatness of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin.
JOHN TAYLOR AND CLYDE COLE, JR.
John Taylor is president of a local insurance agency in Warren, Ohio. Clyde Cole, Jr. is the president of an automobile dealership, and both men have full lives with their respective businesses and families. However, a local high school principal’s call to the community for help changed their lives.
Taylor and Cole were made aware of a request to clean up the property near Western Reserve Junior High School. The dedication of these men and other volunteers not only resulted in the high school being cleaned, but the entire community was redeveloped. The Westlawn area of Warren was built as temporary housing during World War II, and they clearly had structural and safety issues.
Renovation of the existing houses in Westlawn was not an appropriate solution. The most viable answer was to clear the entire area and rebuild with new homes. The City of Warren had tried to do so for several years, but they had not been able to organize a program to do so. They needed a comprehensive movement that would address the issues on their side of town.
Taylor and Cole took on the project as a challenge, and their goal was to do something that the city government had not been able to accomplish throughout the years. The pair gave many volunteer hours and even used their own resources to support a line of credit with a local bank.
At the project’s inception, it was obvious that they could not just do the work. The program had to also take into consideration the families affected by this great undertaking. They set up additional programs to relocate families, help in finding employment, and assist those who had medical considerations.
Taylor and Cole were the organizers. They held many meetings with local and state officials. In addition, they made trips to several communities with successful housing and community redevelopment programs to get ideas and be sure their plans were in order. Within a short period of time, these two heroes corrected a community problem that many had seen for years and chosen to ignore. They risked their money and investing personal funds and time in an undertaking for which success was not certain.
Many did not understand their motivation, but the two businessmen felt they should give back to their community. However, this project seemed to be quite a bit more than giving back. It was more like creating a new community in which to give. Taylor and Cole are motivated by their desire to give back to the community. Also, their faith causes them to act in love; even if that means to risk some of themselves to help others. The work was not for attention or the limelight; however, the two men wanted to share some of their blessings and expertise with others.
SHAUNA WINMILL
Just before her ninth birthday on December 13, 1992, Shauna Marie Winmill heard a letter read on the radio about a family that would have no Christmas. She knew by then that Santa was the parent, but she could not comprehend the notion that these children would get no toys.
She immediately and desperately wanted to help. Since her family did not have the means that year to just purchase toys, it was suggested to her that for her birthday she invite her friends and ask them to bring a new, unwrapped toy for a needy child. Never has a child been more excited about their birthday. She knew that she could now help.
That year, she took the donated gifts to a local fire station. The firefighters were so impressed with her generosity that they gave her and her friends the grand tour of the station and the fire engines. In 1993, she donated her birthday gifts to the Tustin Police Department’s Christmas program. She and the five friends she invited to her birthday party that year, brought stuffed animals, games and other toys to the police station.
As the years passed, Shauna’s family assumed that the gift-collecting would be just a one-time thing and that she would, like most other children, simply want her own birthday gifts. Instead, each year brought her more excitement and more desire to receive more toys for needy children. Shauna is now 17 years old and she has just completed her ninth year of collecting toys for needy children in lieu of ANY birthday gifts. During the nine years, she has collected more than 1,000 toys to donate.
So many teens say that they admire what she does, but could never give up their birthday presents. Still, she inspires these teens to donate for her cause. Others, including many adults, have thanked her for providing them with a way to give and help when they had not known how. This year, Shauna plans to start her own organization for collecting toys for needy children’s Christmas.
Many people look forward to Shauna’s birthday and presenting their toy donations. Equally many children have benefited from her caring generosity. She is a model in her community for all young people in setting an example of how small sacrifices can make a difference, and she is just getting started.
DANIEL CHOONG
Daniel Choong responded to a request for volunteers to help create a mentoring center for youth in Littleton, which appeared in the Denver Post the day after the Columbine tragedy. He signed up to be a mentor and to help in any other way he could. He has kept that commitment by donating more than 2,000 volunteer hours in the past year. He has attended every event, every service day, and most extraordinarily, he has helped at the mentoring center almost every day since the doors opened on July 31, 1999.
Choong is the first in line to help with any problem or concern. He has overcome his own shyness to help others. He drives from Denver to help youth and has rearranged his work schedule, including reporting to work very early, so that he can be at the mentoring center to provide after school activities from 3pm until 8pm for the teens.
He also provides conflict resolution and helps teens to consider all aspects of their actions before making decisions. He provides help to learning disabled teens and helps students who have been expelled from high school to earn their General Equivalency Diploma (GED). Choong also helps involve teens in service projects such as Peace Day and making pasta for people with AIDS. He helps to motivate and empower teens to make their world a better place. Through his work, Choong has helped to bring together diverse groups – the cliques and stereotypes now melt away when teens walk through the doors of the mentoring center.
One teen that Choong has taken under his wing has gone from an angry introvert to an outgoing, assertive and fun young man. One time, when he was especially concerning about this child, Choong went to the teen’s place of work and told him that he would be at the mentoring center until the teen came in to talk. Choong waited at the mentoring center well past closing time until finally the young man came in for a game of chess and a heart to heart talk. Choong may have very well saved the life of this youth.
Daniel Choong has proven to be an incredible gift to everyone at the mentoring center. He is a teacher not only for the teens, but also for the adults. At just 26 years old, he has a wisdom that is well beyond his years.
TAMARAC OPTIMIST CLUB
The Tamarac Optimist Club is comprised of 47 members whose purpose is to bring hope to youth and their families. The Club is involved the community through various forms of outreach. They believe in helping the community and solving some of the problems that ail Tamarac by getting directly involved.
Some of the projects undertaken this year were a monthly Super Citizenship Award along with a donation of musical instruments to Denver’s most needy elementary school, Destination Imagination coaching for children, Habitat for Humanity building, Tailored Transition donation, Cherry Creek Arts Festival volunteering for scholarships for students of the arts, along with preparing monthly meals and serving them to families who have extended stays at the Children’s Hospital. They also collected pop tops for the Ronald McDonald House, gift wrapping for Mile High Ministries, American Red Cross Fat Tire Classic volunteering, timing for Race for Research for cancer and donating hats and mittens to those in need.
The Tamarac Optimist Club also works with the Denver Human Services Department to meet critical community needs and concerns in the area. One of their ongoing projects focuses on dissociated physically challenged children who have been adopted by single foster mothers. The project encourages the single parents involvement in further education by donating school supplies and personal necessities that will help them achieve goals on their own. It also demonstrates connection building through service that brings certain members of the community in touch with others where they may have been isolated. Single foster mothers are given aid that builds their self-confidence and inspires them to strive for loftier goals.
The volunteers of the Club bring hope, optimism, and strength to the Denver community. They especially bring joy to foster adoptive mothers and physically challenged children.
MARTIEL MULLIS
Martiel Mullis’ motivation to serve is not recognition, a “pat on the back,” or a paycheck. She is motivated by the sheer desire of making a difference in someone’s life, which in turn should make a difference in her community.
Mullis works twice a week with SHAREHOUSE Ministries. SHAREHOUSE provides food, clothing and emergency funds for the families in need in Lacey’s Spring. Mullis coordinates the efforts of several churches in the community in providing these services. She meets with each family or family representative to determine their needs and gives encouraging words that will uplift their spirits and minister to their souls as well as their physical needs.
The need for this service in Lacey’s Spring is very great. There are many families who are less fortunate and in a poverty situation due to layoffs, divorce, over extensions, and other situations. Mullis recognized the need and began a solution. She and a few other volunteers organized SHAREHOUSE and began to minister to hundreds of families in need.
SHAREHOUSE has been in existence for ten years and impacts the lives of an average of 70-80 families per month. Mullis not only tries to meet the immediate need of food and clothing, but she attempts to always do more. Each Monday and Wednesday, she is there and greets the families with a genuine, “how can I help you today?” She recognizes where she can offer assistance in getting jobs, education opportunities, and even sound advice. She is known in the elementary and junior high schools as much as in the community for her labor of love.
In addition to the weekly outreach, Mullis coordinates an annual SHAREHOUSE Christmas. This helps to provide children who are less fortunate with Christmas needs. She networks and works with various churches, businesses and individuals and determines needs and wants. The distribution is coordinated and the final product is hundreds of children having food, gifts of clothing, and other gifts for Christmas.
DR. MARTHA SARNO
Acquired aphasia, a language processing disorder that is a result of a stroke or brain injury, affects more than one million Americans. It manifests itself differently in different people, but generally the individual’s intelligence is intact. However, someone affected with aphasia may not be able to read a notice, ask for a cup of coffee, or follow a news story on the television. The effects of the disorder are long term.
Few people in this country have done more for this disconnected group of disabled citizens than Dr. Martha Sarno. Dr. Sarno is an internationally recognized authority on communication disorders. She has professional responsibilities; however, she tirelessly gives of herself to those affected with aphasia outside of her employment duties. Dr. Sarno is quite aware of the causes and effects and states, “one does not recover from aphasia, one recovers with aphasia.” So it is all the more important for those affected to be educated as much as they can and have the necessary tools available for their daily lives.
In addition to writing about stroke and aphasia for the layman, Dr. Sarno founded the National Aphasia Association (NAA) in 1987. This Association is the only national organization dedicated to reconnecting individuals who have aphasia with their families, communities, and their ability to communicate. The mission of the NAA is to reduce the social and emotional consequences of the disorder by raising greater awareness of aphasia among the general public, providing information to people with their families, and giving a voice to the thousands of people who are not able to use theirs.
It is difficult to overemphasize the emotional devastation and isolation created by aphasia. Part of this is due to the lack of knowledge of aphasia by both professionals and the public. Thousands of stroke survivors are discharged from the hospital every year without being told that their speech problem has a name or that treatment is available. Furthermore, when patients are referred for speech therapy, insurance reimbursement is minimal.
Annually, through a toll-free number, the NAA answers questions from thousands of people affected with aphasia as well as their family members. The NAA provides non-technical information about aphasia, guidelines for communicating with people who have aphasia, information about support groups, and other literature. Also, through “Speaking Out,” the NAA’s biennial conference for people with aphasia, their families, and rehabilitation professionals, the Pen Pals page on the NAA’s Web site, and community groups, people with the disorder learn that they are not alone. The NAA also supports National Aphasia Awareness Week, by providing aphasia community groups across the country with literature and suggestions for raising awareness of aphasia in their communities.
Dr. Sarno has assisted many who otherwise may not have information to live their lives in a productive way. Her career began when she was hired by Dr. Howard Rusk to be the Director of the Speech-Language Pathology Department at the Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine. She has held the position since, and her department has served as a model for programs all over the world. In 1982, she was awarded a Doctor of Medicine honoris causa from the University of Goteberg. Her primary work is as Professor of Clinical Rehabilitation Medicine at the New York University School of Medicine.
VOLUNTARY SERVICES FOR THE BLIND OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, INC.
In the early 1990’s, the population of legally blind residents in Fairfield County was several thousand and growing due to the rise of vision disorders among the elderly in the community. Claudette Tallon and Jim Waddington joined forces and began the Voluntary Services for the Blind of Fairfield County in 1993. Tallon wanted to help others in memory of her father who had severe visual impairment most of his life, and Waddington is legally blind.
The birth of the organization in 1993 did not cause a great stir initially. The pair spent countless hours planning and organizing what at first was just an idea. By 1999, the group had grown from two to 123 volunteers. The program had provided more than 7,200 hours of direct service to 146 visually impaired clients, and by the end of 2000 they had given more than 30,000 hours of direct service to their clients since its inception.
There are no paid employees in the program. As a result, virtually all grants and donations go directly to provide services to visually impaired clients. Major funding has been and is provided by the E. Matilda Ziegler Foundation for the Blind, The Fairfield County Foundation, and the Stamford/Springdale Lions Club. The Senior Services of Stamford also gives assistance to the program by providing free office space.
Many of the clients are elderly and may not have immediate family in the area. To them, this service has become a lifeline that enables them to maintain the independent lifestyle they desire. The program offers them assistance, guidance, and encouragement. They know they always have someone to call in case of a crisis. The volunteers also believe the program is a lifeline as it allows them to enrich their society by sharing with others and enabling other citizens to continue being productive in their community.
Tallon has been the life-force of the program. She tirelessly handles virtually every aspect of its operation. She recruits and interviews volunteers, signs up new clients, matches clients and volunteers, attends initial meeting between the volunteers and clients, as well as coordinates ongoing activities with the clients and volunteers. She is available seven days a week to deal with any program issues.
The Voluntary Services for the Blind of Fairfield County received the CT Life Award for outstanding service to the senior community of Connecticut in 1995. They were honored by Mayor Daniel Malloy of Stamford on November 15,1996 when he declared that day, “Blind Services Day” in honor of the program’s volunteers. In addition, Tallon was named Community Leader of the Year by the Stamford Advocate newspaper in 1998.
The program is a staple in the community and the volunteers are making a significant impact in the lives of many who need assistance. They are motivated by compassion and care and are working to attract additional volunteers to facilitate the delivery of their service to an even larger number of visually impaired people.
G. CLARK SMITH
The quality of care a young child receives has been shown to dramatically impact his or her social, emotional, physical, and intellectual development. Ultimately it affects the child’s success in school and life. Parents often seek childcare with little information about quality and the predictors of quality childcare.
The Durham Child Care Council is an accredited childcare resource and referral agency. The Council’s mission is to provide support services to families and child care programs that enhance the care and education of children. They also want to aid in expanding the availability and affordability of quality childcare. Some services they offer are consumer education and referrals, childcare quality improvement initiatives, the USDA Child Care Food Program, a qualified substitute caregiver pool, professional development, and technical assistance for childcare providers and community planning.
The consumer education and referral department provides support, childcare referrals, publications, and information for families about quality childcare, childcare regulations, childcare financial assistance, and child development. The staff also maintains a database of more than 850 programs that is the most complete and accurate listing in Durham. Information was initially available to families during office hours, through written correspondence, by telephone, or in person. The community needed more.
G. Clark Smith was aware that the citizens could benefit by having this information available around the clock via the Internet. During a little more than a year and working for more than 1,000 volunteer hours, Clark created and programmed an interactive Web page. This service outlines 10 steps to take when seeking childcare and it links users to additional information that will assist them throughout the selection process. The Web site consists of hundreds of pages of linked information along with a sidebar menu to aid users. Some topics covered are options and regulations, quality checklist, compliance history information, and the on-line referral directory. Many families visit the directory, which allows a search and then presents the user with a customized list of facilities that meet their needs.
Clark was the initiator, motivator, and key player in creating and developing the Web page. His vision, skill, and volunteer hours were essential to the project. The service would not be provided today without Clark as the volunteer programmer because the Council did not have the staff or financial resources to undertake the project. Clark discovered the difficulties of searching for child care fist hand. He saw a need, and then he decided to create a solution. As the actual project took shape, Clark continued to initiate activities, use innovative methods to solve problems, and promote collaboration between organizations aiding in the project – Duke University and the Durham Child Care Council.
Clark accomplished more than the Council ever imagined possible. What began as a simple listing of childcare facilities on the Web grew into a comprehensive information center for families seeking childcare. The site has been active since August 15, 1998, and they have received both local and national feedback praising it as one of the best Web sites available for parents seeking childcare.
