Frederick Hoffman
Over the past eight years, Frederick Hoffman has single handedly raised more than $300,000 for the National Leukemia Society by pedaling his bicycle throughout the United States and gaining pledges for his efforts.
As a young boy, Hoffman was ostracized by his peers because of his learning disability. Having no friends, he focused his attention on the American space program. He a goal to ride his bicycle the distance the Apollo astronauts would fly to the moon: 250,000 miles. To date, Hoffman has pedaled more than one million miles, to the moon and back twice.
There is increasing pressure on national health organizations to solicit funding from outside sources for research so that disease control and cure can become a reality. The National Leukemia Society is one such organization. Leukemia has had a profound impact on Hoffman’s life. Not only did his mother die from the disease, but all of his mother’s paternal relatives did as well. Hoffman has dedicated his life’s efforts toward supporting research on this terrible disease.
Hoffman works as a custodian at a church in his hometown of River Edge. He plans his cycling trips during the fall, winter and spring months. Before he starts out, he contacts chapters of the Leukemia Society in cities on his route. The Chapters mobilize and assist him in getting people to pledge a few cents for every mile he pedals. His trips, on average, are about 3,000 miles each. Donations on Hoffman’s behalf are made to the local Leukemia Society chapters. He has crisscrossed the United States, all during the summer months. After a trip he makes follow-up calls to the people who made pledges.
When Hoffman is in a town he calls the local newspapers, television and radio stations to promote awareness of his cause. Often, he is asked to tell his story to local schools and organizations, further expanding his donation base and educating others about the disease and the need for continued support from the private sector.
Hoffman has kept a detailed log of his journeys. His bike, the Ruthie 3, named after his mother, is outfitted with an odometer, altimeter and his personal supplies. This is his only means of transportation on a trip.
This year, Hoffman realized one of his life’s dreams. He was invited by NASA to a space shuttle launch and he met Apollo astronaut, Fred Haise. Hoffman believes a cure for leukemia will be found within his lifetime and he continues to work unselfishly toward that goal.
Nickelodeon’s Big Helper-Krista Roberson
I have been recycling for 8 years. Me and my family are still recycling. We have recycled boxes, soda cans, food cans, plastic bottles and Papers. Me and my 3rd grade friends have formed a club called The Mean Green Recycle Machine. Every recess we pick up trash on our Playground and at home we make sure there’s something to recycle. In our neighborhood we ask our neighbors if they have anything to recycle and we recycle it. I hope that the Mean Green recycle Machine will go on to the next generation of kids and to the next generation of kids.
-Krista Roberson
Tulsa Technology Center
The Student Council of Tulsa Technology Center, through the influence of the President’s Summit for America’s Future, convened a student summit in which 55 class leaders from the school discussed community issues and devised a plan to implement programs to benefit young people. The center adopted a local elementary school with a high amount of at-risk students and approached the students as a group of individual classes. Each Tulsa Tech class adopted a Briarglen Elementary class for one-to-one mentoring. The volunteers participate in several activities, including mentoring and tutoring, developing marketable skills, providing a safe after-school place, meeting nutritional needs, and offering service through community projects.
Tulsa Tech students were encouraged to seek opportunities for one-to-one relationships with Briarglen students. The students realized that by utilizing the five goals of the President’s Summit as guides for an action plan, they could reach their goal of community involvement to the next generation. Each of the five goals was addressed in the program. The enthusiasm that the students gained carried over to the elementary school students and staff at Briarglen. More than 1,000 students and staff from Tulsa Tech participate in the project.
In providing successful educational partnerships, the students of Tulsa Tech encouraged other student bodies in the area to become more involved in their communities. To deliver this message, they formed a student leader group called “High 5” Ambassadors, who contacted the National Association of Student Councils. The Ambassadors addressed the National Conference in June of 1997 and connected with student leaders from all over the country. They passed out flyers of the Summit Declaration and its goals, and initiated banner “sign-on” signatures, which indicated, on a banner two miles long, the individual commitment of student leaders to serve in their communities. Nine “High 5” Ambassadors and 16 volunteers working on producing the banner have spent a combined 1,488 hours on the project.
The Ambassadors have traveled to a number of conferences across the country and are the motivating force to get hundreds of other schools to participate in The Presidents’ Student Summits. The Student Summits are part of a three-year project in which student council presidents and youth leaders convene local summits to connect and mobilize youth through service to their communities.
The two mile banner with thousands of student signatures will be displayed at a ceremony in Washington D.C. on National Youth Service Day, April 21, to symbolize the youth commitment to America’s future.
Becky Jarvis
Becky Jarvis, a 16 year-old high school junior from Minneapolis, believes that youth have the power to change and impact the world around them through community service. She consistently demonstrates this power through the numerous community service ventures that she supports.
Becky does much of her service through youth councils and organizations. She has been a member of the Minnesota Youth Advisory Council (MYAC) since September 1996. This council advises politicians on issues affecting youth, such as student rights and responsibilities, and creating internship awareness and involvement for youth. Becky has been a member of the Minnesota Alliance with Youth since spring 1997, and is currently a co-chair of the organization, acting as a youth representative who provides the state with youth perspective and action. She has coordinated numerous projects for them, attending meetings twice weekly and working from her home. She has also been a part of the Youth Involvement Group of the Twin Cities Promise for Youth since September 1997. This organization was formed as a response to the President’s Summit on America’s Future, and provides Becky with the means to help students initiate their own service projects throughout Minneapolis.
Becky’s volunteer efforts also reach beyond youth advocacy. She participates in food drives, helps out at soup kitchens, visits hospitalized children and has sandbagged during floods with her Synagogue youth group, of which she was the Programming/Social Action Vice President from May 1996 to September 1997 and has been the Membership Vice President since August 1997. She is the Coordinator of Volunteer Projects for her high school, St. Paul Academy. In this position, she volunteers for organizations like the American Red Cross, the Special Olympics, Habitat for Humanity, and Headstart.
Because of her commitment to service, Becky Jarvis was selected by the National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC) to be one of four young people to attend the President’s Summit for America’s Future in April 1997. During the Summit, Becky was responsible for making daily news reports on NYLC’s Summit Action Youth website. In addition, Becky and the NYLC news team were able to initiate a “youth declaration” which was presented at the end of the Summit. This declaration pointed out to the adults in attendance that “this summit must be by youth, not just for youth, empowering youth to recognize the issues we are all facing…this movement can only work if we unite, youth and adults together.”
The National Youth Leaders Council (NYLC) is a national non-profit located in the Twin Cities, dedicated to engaging youth in communities and schools through innovation in learning, service, leadership, and public policy, and providing technical assistance in service-learning (learning through service) to schools and community-based organizations. From October 1996 to September 1997, she was a part of their Youth Project Team, where she spent many hours coordinating service projects and providing youth voice and youth action. She was also a delegate at the National Conference on Service Learning in Orlando, Florida, for the Council, where she helped teachers learn how to better reach their students, talked with political leaders about educational policy and encouraged students to lead volunteer projects. Because of her past efforts for the Council, Becky is currently on the NYLC Board of Directors.
Don McGehee
Don McGehee, a retired juvenile probation officer, has been volunteering in the Nashville community for more than 50 years. In 1993, he started a school-wide program at two inner-city elementary schools called “I am somebody” that promotes self-esteem and builds character in young students.
The program focuses on the value of diverse abilities and on trying to be the best that one can be. All children have the opportunity to prove themselves in at least one of the nine components of the program. These components are: academics, altruism, art, athletics, attitude, character, creativeness, music, and perseverance.
An assembly at the beginning of the school year kicks-off the program and excites children about participating. Throughout the school year, Mr. McGehee goes into the classrooms during school hours and speaks to one grade each week about the nine components of the program. He uses examples from his own personal experience and those of noteworthy role models who have persevered to be the best they could be.
Mr. McGehee brings in snacks and plays games with the students. One exercise he does with kindergarten and first-graders explores the definitions of altruism and perseverance. Each meeting, the students are asked to define the words. The first child to define each word gets $1.00. The student gives the dollar to the teacher and when the class accumulates $30.00 this way, they decide how to spend it.
At the end of the school year, a full assembly is held in which each child receives an award for the component(s) their teachers saw improvement in. The awards are given by positive role models from the local community and each student has the opportunity to cross the stage and accept his or her award. Tennessee Governor Don Sundquist personally attends each ceremony.
Mr. McGehee provides the majority of the funding for the program, which amounts to about $1,000 for each school of 300 to 400 students. He receives donations from PTA and individual parents. Mr. McGehee has also provides money for school field trips when needed. He has made himself available to advise anyone wishing to start a similar program at other schools.
Heartland Book Bank
The Heartland Book Bank works to alleviate illiteracy in the community by collecting and then distributing books, free of charge, to agencies, schools, libraries, public housing sites, and other groups that serve low-to-moderate income individuals. The organization began in July 1996 and serves the greater Kansas City area, which is home to more than 100,000 illiterate adults. It was organized by Joann Harper with seed money from Southwestern Bell, her former employer.
The Book Bank is completely staffed by 40 volunteers and is open six days a week year round. Most volunteers are senior citizens or teachers. Others include Southwestern Bell employees involved in the company’s community service program, Southwestern Bell Pioneers.
Books and educational materials are donated by individuals, organizations, and various corporate collection sites. The Book Bank has distributed over 33,000 books, magazines, and other educational materials to 146 agency workers who represent 88 different nonprofit agencies since it opened. Those agencies serve 612,900 people throughout the greater Kansas City metropolitan area.
The Heartland Book Bank is funded by grants and donations from corporations, churches, and community service organizations, as well as fundraising events. The administrative offices of a local cemetery donate office space and utilities to the Book Bank. In the last year, the Book Bank has doubled the number of agencies they serve. The Bank distributed five times the number of materials in the last half of their first year than they did in the first half. It is currently working to provide classroom space for reading classes and open book banks in other cities.
Joann Harper was awarded a JC Penney Golden Rule Award in 1997 for her work with the Book Bank.
T.E.E.N. AIDS
T.E.E.N. AIDS (Teens Effectively Educating Now about AIDS) is a unique acting troupe of teenagers who perform at schools; community based organizations, clubs or wherever teens congregate. They perform in order to educate their peers about the dangers of HIV/AIDS.
The troupe was started in 1994 when the American Red Cross Street Performance Program was given a grant. The group is comprised of 15 performers (10 paid, five volunteers) all coming from the greater Buffalo school district. The program is funded by a grant from the New York State AIDS Institute. They perform on the average three or four times a month by request. Sometimes they have more performances per month and because schools request most of their performances there are very few performances during the summer.
The presentations relate to teens and their families, especially teenagers who are involved in relationships, those that may have an alternative life style or do not live in a traditional family, i.e. homeless or living with another person other than their parents. The goal of T.E.E.N. AIDS is to educate their peers through theatrical performances. They address HIV/AIDS its dangers and its co-factors. Which include low self-esteem, peer pressure and substance abuse. They also try to increase awareness about prevention and teach preventative habits.
The club was started due to an increase in HIV in rural Chautauqua County making people realize that HIV/AIDS is not just a problem in urban areas. T.E.E.N. AIDS believes that because there is no cure for AIDS, education is the best defense and they provide education in a non-threatening, fun way.
Carmen Conteras-Shrum
Carmen Conteras-Shrum is a housewife and mother attending school at Brevard Community College in Cocoa, Florida. While at Brevard Community College, Carmen has donated over 3,000 volunteer hours to the community.
Mrs. Conteras-Shrum created the Supervised Visitation/Monitored Exchange Program in Brevard County. The program, now called the Family Enrichment Center, works with at least 40 families each week creating a child friendly environment for court ordered exchanges. Instead of meeting in police stations, children meet in a safe place with toys and a new playground. Carmen solicited local law enforcement officers and the county sheriff’s office to donate their time to provide security.
Mrs. Conteras-Shrum has also raised money and awareness for domestic violence. She writes monthly press releases for programs offered by the Salvation Army. She has chaired the Brevard County Commission on the Status of Women. For three years in a row, she has led the commission to sponsor a countywide and statewide domestic violence seminar.
Ms. Contreras-Shrum has been intimately involved with the victims of domestic violence. She founded the Brevard County Clothesline Project, an ongoing awareness and healing program for victims of domestic violence. With this project, she has helped more than 50 domestic violence shelter clients to help tell their individual stories by painting T-shirts.
Ms. Contreras-Shrum frequently speaks to area chambers, the United Way, civic groups, various social service agencies and Brevard Community College. She has participated on several committees concerned with domestic violence including Domestic Violence Court Issues and Injection for Protection Reviews.
Ms. Conteras-Shrum has received many awards for her contributions to her community including Brevard Community College’s Outstanding Student Humanitarian Award and the college-wide Community Service Award presentation at graduation.
Last year she was honored by the U.S. Secretary of Education, Richard Riley, as a Howard R. Swearer Student Humanitarian Award Winner. This award is given annually by Campus Compact to five students nationwide.
Ted Stanislowski
Even though Ted Stanislowski is a full time employee at Deluxe Corporation, a part-time student, a husband, and a father of two, he stillvfinds the time to volunteer. He has helped such organizations as the United Way, the March of Dimes, the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, and the American Red Cross.
Mr. Stanislowski coordinates much of Deluxe Corporation’s involvement in community service efforts. Serving as a role model for other employees, he often encourages them to volunteer by talking with them face-to-face to let them know that there is a need.
As chairperson of Deluxe’s 1997 corporate United Way campaign, Mr. Stanislowski helped raise $278,000. He has participated in the United Way campaign since 1993, and chaired the campaign in ’96 and ’97. Although the campaign’s focus is on employee dollar contributions, Mr. Stanislowski spearheaded a direct-service volunteering effort as part of the campaign. He organized 40 to 50 employees to pack food at a local food bank. He also noticed that the food bank’s offices needed paint, and as a result, organized a successful “paint-a-thon.”
Mr. Stanislowski’s deeds of service do not end with those mentioned above. For the last three years, he has mentored for the Minority Encouragement Program by meeting monthly with a group of minority students to help them build self-esteem and be successful in school and life. He has coordinated Deluxe’s involvement in Capitol Community Services’ food and toy drive for the last two years, and in 1997, Mr. Stanislowski was instrumental in collecting 15,196 pounds of food and 200 toys. He also coordinated Deluxe’s blood drive for the American Red Cross in 1996, and the corporation’s involvement in the March of Dimes WalkAmerica for the last two years.
Mr. Stanislowski’s relationship with these non-profit organizations goes beyond what he does through the Deluxe Corporation. For example, during the last holiday season, he and his son spent a day at a local mall encouraging shoppers to buy “Toys for Teens,” a Capitol Community Services effort. On another occasion, he raised money for the March of Dimes by selling hot dogs and drinks outside of a local grocery store with the help of his son.
Lou Epps
Lou Epps has been doing volunteer work in rural Texas for about 15 years, the last year as a Texas VISTA Health Corps Volunteer. After teaching kindergarten in Houston for 25 years, Ms. Epps shifted her focus to empowering the Crockett community by building partnerships among groups who have traditionally operated independently of each other, such as businesses, churches, health agencies, schools and community groups.
Ms. Epps has worked with a variety of programs that address health issues as well as working on her own. She advocates immunization services and participates in a Breast Feeding Project. She also works to improve literacy and keep drop-outs and drug users off the streets, helping them to find jobs and finish school.
Several community needs are addressed by Ms. Epps. The community is safer and children and women’s health issues are met because of her dedicated work. Her guidance has helped people find jobs and stay healthy. Her main goal is the empowerment of others. She is constantly on the lookout for people who need help. She’ll ask someone on the street if their child is immunized, she’ll call someone to see if they filled out their job application yet. Her motivation, sincerity, and expertise have been crucial to the success of the Texas VISTA Health Corps Program and the well-being of the people in the Crockett area.
