Nancy Welton

Nancy Welton believes all boys should have the opportunity to build character, learn about their responsibilities as citizens and develop personal fitness goals with help from the Boy Scouts. For that reason, Nancy founded Boy Scout Troop 4 in the most unlikely of places: inside the gates of Adobe Mountain School, a juvenile detention center in Phoenix, Arizona.

For more than seven years Nancy has delivered invaluable character education and leadership activities to a group of youths that many people had already written off as a lost cause. Nancy works to find the very best volunteers to help bring the ideals of Scouting to a group of young men that need more positive influences in their lives.

Nancy projects the image and vision that all scout leaders aim for: she is loyal to her cause, and her friendly attitude motivates those around her. Over the seven-year period that this troop has operated, Nancy has successfully mobilized support from the Juvenile Detention community. She has leveraged a strong cadre of the best volunteers to give extra time and effort to a cause that could forever change the futures for incarcerated youths. These young people are given a second chance and motivation to not repeat the mistakes that resulted in their lost liberties.

Nancy’s message is that “Everyone deserves a second chance to prove their worth, regardless of their past. The future is always open to change by the nature of one's choices. Be prepared – for life!"

Nancy has been involved with Boy Scouts of America for more than a decade. Some 140 boys have progressed through the ranks of Troop 4 over the last seven years, and because of the work that Nancy is doing inside the fence, young boys are turning their lives around when they leave the facility. Nancy is forever changing the course of life for these young men, teaching them how to keep themselves physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.

If you know someone like Nancy changing people’s lives for the better, nominate them today for the Daily Point of Light Award at https://www.pointsoflight.org/programs/recognition/dpol/nomination !

Jake Reed and Rick Brown

A pair of restauranteurs in the Deep South use their passion for “farm to table” cuisine to help feed the hungry in Morgan County, Alabama, where roughly one in four children face food insecurity on a daily basis.

When he’s not in the kitchen dishing up casual cuisine at his bistro-styled restaurant, you can find local chef Jake Reed volunteering at farmers markets around the state, where for the past two years he has put on cooking demonstrations using locally-sourced produce and simple recipes that help low-income families see the possibilities in their pantries.

According to Mitch Dees, who oversees the Decatur Farmer’s Market, Jake is working to help end childhood hunger by educating families about how to make the most out of the food they have on hand. “Jake wanted to do cooking demonstrations using simple ingredients,” Mitch explains. “He wanted to show people that cooking didn’t have to be complicated.” Jake’s colleague, Rick Brown, manages the restaurant and in his spare time helps establish partnerships with groups ranging from local farmers to the Volunteer Center at Morgan County, a HandsOn network affiliate that tackles hunger issues.

Jake and Rick participate in community events year-round that support programs to end hunger, including an annual child hunger summit where they listen intently to young people who offer ideas. Currently Jake and Rick are working on a project to recruit volunteers who can recover unsold produce at the farmer’s market for use in a local soup kitchen and teach canning and preserving techniques to low-income families.

These two difference-makers are galvanizing their community to make sure no child has to go to bed hungry, equipping families with the know-how to cook healthy meals and get access to local produce.

Patricia Macholl

Doctors advertising free medical services or phone calls promising health benefits seem harmless enough, but Patricia Macholl, a volunteer fighting Medicare fraud schemes targeting seniors, knows better.

Macholl, a retired research director at a local TV station, volunteers with the California Senior Medicare Patrol to educate seniors about the fraud that diverts billions of dollars of Medicare funds at the American taxpayer’s expense.

“It makes me mad as a taxpayer to hear about fraud,” Macholl says. Senior Medicare Patrol was founded in 1997 in multiple states after it was realized Medicare beneficiary billing statements could hold evidence of fraud.

Macholl serves as a Medicare counselor and is known for her engaging presentations in the community, reaching 100 to 200 seniors in attendance each time. Macholl volunteers 10-20 hours each week to empower seniors, their families and caregivers by teaching them to protect themselves against Medicare fraud, medical identity theft and financial fraud.

“Convincing people to read the fine print from Medicare and their providers is tough, Macholl says. “People want to trust and then something comes along that breaks that trust, but you have to be skeptical and tough.” Macholl singled out Medicare phone scams as an example, explaining many people do not realize Medicare does not make phone calls in the to initiate contact with beneficiaries.

Macholl didn’t qualify for Medicare upon retirement, but was a witness to the struggles beneficiaries face when her friend was attempting to sign up for Medicare without reading the fine print or fully understanding how it works. According to Macholl, sometimes a Medicare bill could have an error, which could be an honest mistake, but it’s important to check everything and never hesitate to call for help.

“I read a newspaper article about volunteering with a health insurance counseling program and I thought, ‘I can read’,” Macholl recalls. “I could learn it myself and then help others.”

Macholl sympathizes with others like her friend who do not know how Medicare works. The sobering truth is that there are many Americans like Macholl’s friend, unaware they are being victimized.

“What your mother told you was right,” Macholl says. “There’s no such thing as a free lunch. If it sounds too good to be true, it is.”

It is estimated that 10 percent of Medicare’s yearly spending is being diverted nationwide by fraud. That equates to $58 billion of last year’s total Medicare spending.

But work like Macholl’s is forging a path for anti-fraud efforts. In 2013, $2.86 billion Medicare dollars were recovered nationally through antifraud efforts. Macholl encourages others to find a cause that motivates them to volunteer.

“Pick something that fits your skills and keeps you involved and go do it,” Macholl says. “If there is something that engages you emotionally, you know you are picking something worthwhile.”

Erin Bernhardt

Through journalism, filmmaking and events, Erin Bernhardt sets out to motivate and inspire individuals to rally behind important issues and causes. Drawing on her experience with television news reporting and the Peace Corps, Erin has found a niche exploring an intriguing topic in Africa: musical activism and how it influences education.

Erin is working full-time, without compensation, on her first independent documentary feature film about the African Children’s Choir titled “Imba Means Sing.” The feature film follows the story of Moses, Angel, and Nina, three young Africans who growing up in the slums of Kampala, Uganda, unable to afford to attend even the first grade.

The film is told through their perspective of being selected to join the Grammy-nominated African Children’s Choir and tour the world. On tour, the three youths raise enough money to fund their educations through university, which is something that fewer than one in five Ugandan children are able to accomplish.

Erin believes in the Choir's children and in its mission to empower those children to become agents of positive change in their communities through education. According to Erin, her character-driven documentary has three key objectives:

* raise awareness about the need for universal education

* shed light on the power of music and arts to overcome the hardest of struggles in this world

* explore the differences and similarities of happiness and dignity across cultures

Erin is dedicating her time to create “Imba Means Sing” with the hope that the film can raise awareness about the global education crisis and change the way all individuals think about both the West and Africa.

Kevin Salwen, a friend of Erin’s, describes her as a person who “sees human potential — not in some people, but in all people. She sees the world’s problems as fixable with enough hard work and love. And she understands that her true gift is helping to tell the stories in ways that energize others to join the fight for good.”

Using her talent for storytelling to spark discussion about the global education crisis, Erin Bernhardt is a Daily Point of Light.

Neighborhood Watch #13

John Villa, a fifth-generation resident of his Erie, Pennsylvania neighborhood, helps lead Neighborhood Watch #13, a volunteer group of home owners that take on revitalization projects for a safer community.

Neighborhood Watch #13 was started in 1995 to address changes that John and other longtime residents saw happening on their block. According to John, a retired US Navy serviceman, many homes in the old Polish neighborhood changed ownership over time, as older residents passed away and property ownership switched over to absentee landlords. Volunteers rallied around needs such as emergency home repairs, code violations, greenspace cleanup, broken windows, damaged roofs and facades.

Run by an all-volunteer Board of Directors who are also long-time residents, the organization’s history of strong leadership and community engagement has been instrumental in their ongoing success. Working with local retailers, individual donors and city officials, the group has successfully obtained over $600,000 in grant funding over the past 18 years to support restoration projects.

Neighborhood Watch #13 also leads a food drive each month that provides bags of food to 75 residents in the area. The effort currently has seven active volunteers.

John’s advice to others who want to revitalize their neighborhoods? “Never give up,” he says emphatically. “That's the key. Change is going to take a long time. If you're serious about wanting to change your neighborhood, never give up.”

Gabrielle Ernest

As they put their best foot forward to learn how America works, the Utah refugee community has a friend they can count on. Gabrielle Ernest of Bountiful, UT, has been working with Kenyan, Somalian, Eritrean, Nepalese and other refugee families as a volunteer since she was just 10 years old, helping America’s newest arrivals with everything from setting up their new households to babysitting their children while they attend school to learn how to become US citizens.

What started out as a weekly volunteer activity involving Gabrielle’s family helping one refugee family has grown, as word spread quickly among the tight-knit refugee community around Salt Lake City that they could get help from Gabrielle if they needed it. “We help refugee families navigate through new experiences, like applying for their driver’s licenses and setting up utilities,” Gabrielle explains. She also teaches English to the families and provides tutoring help for the children in their academic subjects.

Gabrielle raises funds to help refugee families with school supplies, sports activity and education fees for programs that these families may not be able to afford, but are the cornerstones of US culture and community involvement.

Now a graduate school student pursuing her Master’s degree in social work, Gabrielle says that volunteering since she was young has helped set the course for her intended career path. “With support from my mom, our family turned our volunteer work into a formal non-profit organization,” she explains, adding that the change enabled her to attract volunteer help from all over the community. Gabrielle has been running the effort, called Education for Generations, since she was 19.

Through her efforts, Gabrielle Ernest is helping the first generation of refugee children build a solid academic and social foundation that can ensure the a better future for the next generation, as they work to define their place in the Land of Opportunity. “It’s so enjoyable to help others,” she says, adding that she has found “volunteering is a great way to balance out your life.”

Dr. Ross Wolf

During his 19 years of service in Orange County, Florida, Dr. Ross Wolf has annually engaged nearly 100 sworn volunteer law enforcement officers that collectively provide more than 25,000 hours of volunteer time for a variety of community functions, including fundraising events and parades, patrol and law enforcement functions, and other special assignments like disaster preparedness.

Dr. Wolf recalls how his passion for working with the law enforcement reserve unit began at an early age. “As a college student I participated in a ride-along with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office,” Wolf says, “and I loved the interaction between the community and the deputies who worked in patrol. Shortly thereafter I talked to a recruiter about volunteering for the agency, and learned about the Reserve Unit.”

Drawing on his own experience as a young person, Dr. Wolf would later develop the Law Enforcement Training Corps Program, which provides college students with job shadowing and ride-along opportunities. This exposure can pave the way for qualified individuals to seek reserve and full-time deputy positions within the agency. Dr. Wolf also helped develop a command structure within the Reserve Unit that mirrors that of the sheriff’s office so that participation and volunteerism in the reserve unit can be recognized and rewarded.

His role in strengthening the Orange County Sheriff’s Office Reserve Unit has yielded phenomenal support that helps the Orlando community, but the success of this work has also brought some challenges. Dr. Wolf says his unit can become inundated with requests for assistance, and that many citizens do not appreciate that the reserve volunteers their time, as they wear identical uniforms as the full-time officers.

Dr. Wolf has carried his enthusiasm for law enforcement to the University of Central Florida, where he is Associate Dean in the College of Health and Public Affairs and Associate Professor of Criminal Justice in the Department of Criminal Justice. His experience with community issues related to law enforcement has taken him to international police agencies, where he offers guidance to help others abroad to enhance their reserve programs.

This dedicated volunteer leader says he gets much of his identity from his lifelong affiliation with law enforcement, particularly where the work intersects with community education. He notes, “As a public safety volunteer, my most rewarding experience continues to be the wonderful men and women that I work with who go through continuous training, month-after-month, in order to give to their community.”

If you know someone like Dr. Ross Wolf who has tirelessly committed themselves to their community, nominate them today for the Daily Point of Light Award at https://www.pointsoflight.org/programs/recognition/dpol/nomination .

Lint Center for National Security Studies

James Lint was a 19-year-old Marine on duty in the Mediterranean when he had his first encounter with a national security threat. She was an attractive young woman, as James remembers the story, and she took a real interest in the warship he was guarding. “She asked me what types of weapons we had aboard the ship, and whether it ran on nuclear power,” Lint recalls. He ceased the conversation with the woman and immediately reported the incident to the Marine Corps Counterintelligence Team on ship. That moment shaped his career in national intelligence, and Lint retells the story to the young people he mentors through the Lint Center for National Security Studies, a volunteer organization he started in 2007 to support educational advancement for the next generation of national security workers.

Run entirely by volunteers, the Lint Center offers a mentoring program that connects emerging leaders with professionals in the U.S. intelligence and national security field. More than 200 mentors, seasoned practitioners in their field, volunteer through the Lint Center to show younger people what they can do in the intelligence community. This enhances the study of national security issues and creates a natural bridge for the next generation to acquire “the lessons learned, the wisdom gleaned from experience and the knowledge attained in the trenches,” as Lint puts it.

According to Lint, “It is important that we grow a new and smarter counterintelligence and national security workforce to replace those of us who are retiring. If future leaders in the industry cannot see where they are going, then they should have a viable resource to ask current members of the defense and intelligence community that have been there before.”

Lint, now retired from military and civilian intelligence service, knows outsiders get many of their ideas about the intelligence community from what they see on TV or at the movies. Lint points out that, by virtue of the important and highly sensitive role they play in securing America, intelligence and defense professionals cannot – and should not – draw attention to their work. This circumstance can create barriers to the public’s understanding of the work and the careers that exist in the national security field. But Lint sees value in the volunteer mentoring program to dispel the James Bond fantasies for those seriously considering a career in intelligence. “Surveillance work is not like what people see on TV,” he states, adding “There occasionally exciting days, but there are also many boring days.”

While the topic of national security will always be incredibly serious in nature, Lint Center Chief Operations Officer Timothy W. Coleman has found opportunities to smile, asking rhetorically, “If we didn’t have fun or it wasn’t a great group, why would a volunteer sign up or stay for that matter?” The Lint Center staff are enthusiastic about their role in bringing together mentors and mentees to transfer knowledge across generations. “We are an all-volunteer force,” Lint explains, “so every action is done through the generous donation of someone’s time, skillset and desire to see our mission succeed.”

The Lint Center also awards merit-based scholarships ranging from $500 to $1,500 to people pursuing educational opportunities in government and international affairs that can prepare them to serve the interests of national security. Volunteers from the intelligence community, department of defense, armed forces, treasury, justice department and other branches of government review the applications to select awardees. Coleman, himself a past recipient of a Lint Center scholarship, explains that students apply from schools all over the nation, and the awardees “must demonstrate their ability to think outside the box when it comes to national security.”

Since 2007, the Lint Center has awarded 32 scholarships, with financial support from corporate sponsors ranging from a global investment bank to a geopolitical intelligence firm. To Lint, making phone calls to students with the good news that they’ve been selected to receive a scholarship is always a happy occasion. Coleman agrees, having been on the receiving end of one of those calls. “After I hung up the phone with Mr. Lint, I was very excited,” he remembers.

Drawing on his career experience as a leader in the national security and intelligence community, retired Special Agent James Lint and the Lint Center for National Security Studies are preparing the next generation of professionals to protect our nation through volunteer-based career and education programs. “It’s my mission, the mission of the Lint Center, and I hope we will complete it,” says Lint of his volunteer mentors and protégés.

Good work is happening in communities everywhere, powered by volunteers. Who’s making a difference where you live? Nominate an exceptional volunteer or organization today for the Daily Point of Light Award at https://www.pointsoflight.org/programs/recognition/dpol/nomination

Seth Sawyer

Seth Sawyer has proudly volunteered as a first responder at his local fire department since he was 16. His work as the captain of the Southwest Virginia Mountain Rescue Group over the past four years has helped grow the volunteer base from eight active members to nearly 45 members, making the group one of the best equipped to assist with search and rescue missions as dispatched by the Virginia Department of Emergency Management across the Commonwealth.

The surrounding community in Blacksburg needed a trained, knowledgeable, progressive and experienced search and rescue team to be on call when emergencies happen. Seth provided the means for the group to become more sustainable and attract others to serve on search and rescue missions in this mountainous region, developing training manuals and offering positive encouragement to his crew.

While ensuring adequate training opportunities through his relentless pursuit of adequate funding, Seth also serves as a Stress First Aid instructor for the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. He developed a stress first aid Peer Support program in which he trains search and rescue members to recognize when they may have a stress injury and how to ensure their own well-being, and that of their fellow responders, when working under duress in the midst of a traumatic experience. This is the first program of its kind designed for search and rescue professionals, underscoring the concern for the group that Seth possesses. Seth also provides First Aid training and certification to the community at no cost in order to build the resilience of the area when it comes to facing medical emergencies.

For his commitment to volunteering, taking the initiative to make his community better prepared and building a mission-ready group of volunteers, Seth Sawyer is truly a Daily Point of Light.

Jack King

Sometimes we take for granted simple pleasures like a fresh new haircut. Jack King, a hairstyle pro that once managed the manes of Hollywood stars, has come out of retirement to ensure that individuals at Family Hospice Care in California’s Coachella Valley of have the opportunity to get their hair washed, cut and styled. Jack gives people in hospice something to look forward to, and they walk away feeling good about how they look.

Jack King owned a salon in West Los Angeles for years. “I worked in Beverly Hills for 30-40 years. I eventually converted to a children’s hairstylist because no one liked to cut children’s hair and I found it easy,” Jack says while recalling the start to his career. Jack was happily retired, but felt a calling to serve.

Jack started volunteering at Braille Institute in Palm Desert, teaching cooking for blind people. “It helps them become more independent because many are not allowed to cook on their own,” he explains, adding, “I started volunteering for hospice 2-3 years ago, which is really rewarding.”

What does a new ‘do mean for the people who need care and their caregivers? “Getting their hair styled lifts their spirits, and as weird as it sounds, it lifts the spirits of the caregivers and the people around them,” Jack reflects. He recognizes some of the simple needs of those in hospice, but he also has a great admiration for those who tend to these individuals. “The caregivers are great communicators. And they need to be cared for too,” Jack says.

Some people would find the thought of working with individuals who are in the final stages of their life to be unappealing. But Jack is working with hospice patients almost daily. His smile is so warm and comforting to the patients, and he always has a kind word and a joke for the patients while their hair is being styled. Even if the patient is bedridden, he manages to make them feel like royalty. Jack devotes his time to meet with at least five patients a day, giving them all special treatment and attention. His smile and kindhearted personality eases the minds of the patients, all while providing a simple, but necessary, service.

Jack's work is never done and it keeps him going even through his own health struggles. He never complains, just smiles and remarks that “people are waiting to look good.” This hairstylist knows every square inch of his trade. “I don’t find it challenging,” Jack explains. “It’s a constant learning experience and you have to be flexible. The gift you give to others, you get back yourself. Its good vibrations.”

Jack King is a true Point of Light and a testament to the power of volunteering, putting his talents to work for the benefit of those in dire straits. Jack urges others, “Try it once. Start somewhere. You will be amazed by the reward you receive. “

Do you know someone like Jack making an impact in your community? Nominate them today for the Daily Point of Light award at https://www.pointsoflight.org/programs/recognition/dpol/nomination.