Friends of the Family

Friends of the Family is the umbrella program for six distinct programs that offer psychosocial support to the pediatric cancer patients, parents and siblings at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, IL. Each program is volunteer-driven, making this unpaid staff an integral part of the hematology/oncology team, which provides services and support in dealing with childhood cancer. Finding the right volunteers is essential. All Parent to Parent program volunteers are parents of children with cancer. All Patient to Patient program volunteers were kids with cancer. The other programs are joint endeavors between these two groups and hospital staff. Careful screening, extensive training and supervision of volunteers make these programs so successful. There is no other known program in the country offering an array of volunteer psychosocial services, which span the entire family and are provided in an integrated way.

Friends of the Family began 10 years ago with one program, Parent to Parent, after the family of a former patient realized the value of peer support for parents undergoing the trauma of a cancer diagnosis. Volunteers are parents whose children had cancer. They work in inpatient and outpatient areas, mostly listening to and understanding, as no one else can, these families. Often the relationships they forge are long lasting and they celebrate remissions and discharges as well as attend funeral and wakes.

In 1990, the program expanded to include quarterly Family Workshops, conducted by volunteers and staff to enhance families’ coping skills and build cohesion. In 1992, volunteers began quarterly seminars for medical residents on the importance of effective communication with families, influencing the medical community by reaching the newest physicians. In 1994, volunteers and staff developed the Parent Journal, a journal where families can record medical information, receive helpful suggestions on coping with treatment, learn medical terminology and record feelings. By 1995, Friends of the Family began a weekly parent support group, partially staffed by volunteers, that provides parents with a safe place to discuss their children, both sick and well, the disease and their experience.

The newest program under Friends of the Family is Patient to Patient, begun in 1996, which allows former adolescent cancer patients, most in their early 20s, to volunteer with current teen patients who are going through the pains of adolescence as well as the pain of their disease. There are currently 10 volunteers in this program.

The coordinator and volunteers have also advocated for and received funding for videophones, which give the children in bone marrow transplant isolation a chance to communicate with family and friends. These kids must remain in isolation with little contact with their friends and family for up to one month, so the phones act as tremendous comforting tools.

Friends of the Family has also collaborated over the past four years with several medical centers around Chicago to celebrate Cancer Survivors’ Day and Walk. Volunteers and staff from all participating institutions plan the celebration, which includes thousands of participants, a night at the ballpark and a six-mile walk along the lakefront.

Hospice Kids Caring for Kids Program

Local students involved in the Hospice Kids Caring for Kids program are utilizing service-learning to identify ways to make the lives of terminally ill patients easier in Escondido, CA.

Thirty, 10 to 11-year-old students provide support services to the Pediatrics Hospice program at The Elizabeth Hospice through service-learning projects, including resale book drives and the entire creation and publication of a hospice cookbook. Their efforts benefit terminally ill children served by The Elizabeth Hospice.

The Hospice Kids Caring for Kids program at Orange Glen Elementary School was born out of a desire on the part of some socially aware, community spirited students who desired to serve pediatric hospice patients. Though they were legally too young to provide direct in-home support, they nevertheless wanted to help in some fashion.

Three years ago, two students came up with the idea for the class to collect previously read children’s books as a class project, re-sell the books at school and at local grocery stores and donate the proceeds to The Elizabeth Hospice Pediatrics Program.

After three successful years, Hospice Kids Caring for Kids expanded from one classroom to a school-wide project, with other school districts expressing interest.

Recently, the children came up with a new approach to pediatrics support – “The Elizabeth Hospice Cookbook.” Students are actively involved in the computer data input, page design and art work of a cookbook consisting of hundreds of recipes submitted by hospice volunteers and staff. These students are the beneficiaries of true service learning as they apply their skills to direct community service. Students then sell cookbooks and all proceeds go the hospice program.

The Hospice Kids Caring for Kids program effects quality of life issues on two important fronts. The first major impact is that the funds raised by these children go to serve terminally ill children at a most tragic time, providing comfort, support and love for both the children and their families. But almost equally important, Hospice Kids Caring for Kids impacts the lives of the student volunteers themselves. The program instills an ethic of volunteer spirit and validates the value of community service at an early age.

Stewart Gordon

Dr. Stewart Gordon is an assistant professor of Pediatrics and the Residency Program director for Earl K. Long Medical Center. While a resident at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, he witnessed two children die due to child abuse. He was so devastated by this that he decided to put his foot down and go to work every day with the intention of making a difference in the life of at least one child every day.

Because of his compassion for children, Dr. Gordon’s volunteer service is entirely related to children. He is actively involved in various programs and organizations. For the Louisiana Council on Child Abuse (LCCA), Dr. Gordon is a member of the First Steps Advisory committee, the Program committee and its speaker’s bureau. He volunteers at the Stop Rape Crisis Center, acts as treasurer for the Missing and Exploited Children Comprehensive Action program and is on the office of Community Services’ Multidisciplinary team. Dr. Gordon is also involved doing a “Committed to Kids” weight-loss program, which has expanded nation-wide on the Internet.

As a volunteer at LCCA, Dr. Gordon stays on-call, goes to meetings faithfully and is frequently called to give speeches. He has also volunteered more than 1,000 hours since September 1995.

Fifty percent of LCCA’s funding comes from federal and state grants, while the remaining 50% comes from private, philanthropic and corporate donations. Last year, Dr. Gordon was awarded the Blue Cross Blue Shield Angel Award for Louisiana and was the recipient of LCCA’s most prestigious award, the “Champion for Children” award.

Penny Poe

In 1983, seeing the needs of students in her school, retired teacher Penny Poe began purchasing items of clothing from her own funds and giving them away. As the needs of the students grew, so did Ms. Poe’s desire to help, which led her to found the Putman City Care…Share program. This program is composed of several entities operating for the benefit of needy children and their families.

Part of the Putnam City Care…Share program is the Kids Kloset. The Kids Kloset is a storehouse filled with donated children’s clothing. Under Ms. Poe’s supervision, volunteers collect the clothes from clothing drives, wash and sort them according to size. Children in need can come to the Kloset and select free clothing and shoes. Money for these items is raised by organizations such as Ronald McDonald Charities and Wal-Mart.

Another facet of the Putnam City Care…Share program is Hands Against Hunger. Every week, high school students transport food from the food bank to the homes of needy children. A week’s supply of food is provided, benefiting not only the needy children but their families as well.

The last element of the Putnam City Care…Share program takes place during the holiday season. During this time of the year, hundreds of volunteers organize a supply of food and gifts, enough to last a month, and deliver them to needy families.

In addition to her work with Putnam City Care…Share program, Ms. Poe helped to find a home for a disabled orphan from Bosnia, whose parents were killed by landmines. Ms. Poe was able to work with the government on this matter, enabling the girl to come to the United States.

Although her health is failing, Ms. Poe has remained an integral part of Putnam City Care…Share program.

James Ketelsen

James Ketelsen , retired CEO of Tenneco, founded Project GRAD (Graduation Really Achieves Dreams), a program designed to improve inner-city education. His work dates back to 1989, when Tenneco, under Mr. Ketelsen, partnered with Davis High School in Houston, a school which had a 30% graduation rate and where students rarely pursued higher education. Mr. Ketelsen believed that many children in that community did not have the right opportunities presented, lacked motivation and did not see that people cared.

At the beginning in 1993, Project GRAD focused on the seven elementary schools and the one middle school that fed into Davis High. Ketelsen believed that if the program was implemented into the schools while the children were young, students would progress and succeed more. Project GRAD developed a system to strengthen the academic track by reforming the curriculum and engaging the local community in a common effort to find more effective ways to educate the children within the community. It developed three different programs to be implemented into the school system. “Move It Math” focuses on the math programs and “Success for All” and “Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition,” focus on reading. Consistency Management and Cooperative Discipline (management practices and student discipline), and Communities In Schools support services (parental and community involvement) are two other programs that were implemented into the school structure. Reform was needed within the Davis High community. The elementary and middle schools feeding into Davis are located in a low-income community, where drug use, crime and unemployment are high. Currently, there are 24 schools and 17,000 children impacted by Project GRAD.

Mr. Ketelsen wants to solidify the academic and social connection so that the kids involved in the program not only graduate, but also pursue higher education. Mr. Ketelsen is unique because, besides solidifying and managing the program, he does hands on work. He attends teacher’s meetings, delivers supplies, tutors the student, and monitors project implementation and staff perceptions. Mr. Ketelsen feels that he was given many opportunities and successes through his education and would like everyone to experience the benefits of education.

Project GRAD is a year-round program. It is intervention plan and has become part of the school’s curriculum to not only keep kids in school but to keep them on grade level. During the summer, scholarship recipients attend summer institute programs and receive an extensive four week training session in reading study skills, time management, critical thinking and analytical skills, as well as mathematics and courses in the natural sciences.

The results have been positive. The scholarship program has resulted in improved attendance, grades, college-bound rates, parent involvement, and job training. Davis’ college-bound rate went from 10% in 1981 to 66% in 1994.

Project GRAD is over 90% funded by private donors; Mr. Ketelsen has secured more than $6.5 million since 1993. Volunteers come from a number of organizations. The program continues to expand, with an increase of eight schools during the next school year. The school system in Newark, NJ is raising funds and preparing to replicate Project GRAD.

Nathaniel Kissel

Since literacy is one of the most powerful predictors of a child’s future success, improving literacy levels, especially in young children, is one of the greatest community challenges in Alabama. Nathaniel Kissel, a seventeen-year-old student from Montgomery, AL, has taken on the challenge of addressing the literacy needs of his community.

Nathaniel not only serves as a personal tutor to an at-risk seven-year-old from a low-income housing area, which he has been doing for the past two years, he also inspires community service among his peers through Tomorrow’s Voices, a unique organization he founded in 1996. The main goal of this organization is “to reduce illiteracy among today’s children and promote enthusiasm among young people to read.”

Upon the birth of Tomorrow’s Voices, Nathaniel solicited a small group of 14 to 18-year-olds and directed them in their first project—to collect as many children’s books as possible and distribute them to low-income children. Nathaniel researched the issues and recognized that many low-income children lack appropriate reading material at home. He developed a plan and with the initial eight members of Tomorrow’s Voices, established 21 sites to collect new and used children’s books. Nathaniel then approached the media and solicited their help to publicize the organization’s cause and to promote its book collection efforts. All monetary resources for the project were raised by organization members and Nathaniel personally volunteered eight to ten hours per week during the four months leading up to their first big distribution.

Nathaniel and Tomorrow’s Voices chose “Operation Care” as the setting for their book distribution because they felt that the children who would be participating were exactly the type of children that they were trying to reach. “Operation Care”, held May 3-4, 1997, was a two-day mission to provide for the immediate healthcare needs of the thousands of medically under-served citizens of Montgomery County. Over 2,000 people received free medical and dental care, hot meals, and social services. Tomorrow’s Voices distributed more than 1,400 books to children ages 3 to 14. Tomorrow’s Voices volunteers read to the children, provided an area for the children to sit and read, and talked with parents about the importance of reading to their children.

Today, with an average of seven active volunteers, Nathaniel and Tomorrow’s Voices continue to individually address literacy problems through tutoring and book collection. The group is currently running a “Reading is Fun” project with a goal to get as many children as possible to read at least five books within a three-month period. They plan on doing this by giving each child some type of treat for every five books read. Volunteers have already successfully gone to area business like McDonalds and Domino’s Pizza for donations, in the form of gift certificates, etc., to give the children as treats. After getting $2,000 worth of art work donated to Tomorrow’s Voices, they developed a poster to promote the “Reading is Fun” project, and have put up the posters all around town, in the libraries and schools in preparation for the fall, which is the project’s next start time.

Dr. Michael Clark

Dr. Michael Clark is a neonatologist at McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden, UT. The small infants that he cares for on the job are often the helpless victims of tobacco use. Seeing these babies fighting for a chance at a healthy life sparked Dr. Clark to take action.

In 1996, he produced a video aimed at preventing youth from “lighting up” and contacted the American Cancer Society about volunteering his time to help their Tobacco Control Committee deliver its message of tobacco abuse prevention.

Ever since then, Dr. Clark has been very involved in teaching the youth of Weber County about the dangers of tobacco use. From the young mothers’ group at Washington Alternative High School and the End Nicotine Dependence (END) program at Roy High School to presentations at several elementary schools, Dr. Clark shows his video, gives presentations and runs discussion groups that embody the tobacco abuse prevention message. He teaches participants valuable self-esteem building and refusal skills that can be used when faced with peer pressure. With a very straightforward approach, he tells them the truth about smoking, tobacco and its effects on their health.

His efforts prompted fifth grade students at Green Acres Elementary in Weber County to write letters to the governor of Utah, Michael Leavitt, expressing their concerns on tobacco issues. This is just one example of the positive impact that he is having in the youth of his community.

The Umbrella Project

The Umbrella Project is a volunteer nonprofit organization that uses art to empower young people worldwide. Dedicated to uniting children throughout the world through creativity, The Umbrella Project develops self-esteem by teaching and inspiring children to make a difference on the planet. Using white umbrellas and rainbow-colored, non-toxic waterproof markers, healthy, ill and challenged children are encouraged to draw images of peace, healing and love.

The Umbrella Project has recently initiated a mentoring program that encourages famous artists, designers and celebrities to paint with school age children. Through this program, the Umbrella Project brings free art to educational facilities.

In 1990, children from the former USSR became the first participants of the project. Since then the adult volunteers have joined together with thousands of children in the United States, Romania, Nepal and Japan to create functional, one-of-a-kind artistic umbrellas. The project’s next location will be on the border of Israel and Palestine. Participants will work with Israeli children from Efrat City and Palestinian children of Wadi Nis village to paint umbrellas for peace.

All of the umbrellas are given in exchange for donations at community events. After expenses are met, all funds are donated back to children’s organizations. Some of the funds are applied towards administrative costs including umbrellas, markers, newsletters and other office supplies. However, the majority of the funds go to the community and to support free arts programs for children around the world.

Village to Child

The Ohio Dominican College is located in an urban community where poverty is high—higher than any other area in Columbus, OH. Five years ago, the faculty, administration and board of trustees at Ohio Dominican College started the Village to Child program, a mentoring program geared towards minority and low-income students. The college decided to adopt a zip code, 43219, which surrounds Ohio Dominican College.

The goal of this mentoring program is to open the horizon for higher education to low-income students. Many of the students are the first in their families to attend college.

The volunteer force primarily consists of college students, though faculty, alumni and trustees volunteer as well. Services are offered year-round, during the school year, students are invited to the college campus to receive tutoring services from the college students between the hours of 3-6 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. The primary focus is on middle school-aged children, with plans for expansion to elementary schools in the future. The volunteers help the younger children with their studies, as well as give them moral and social support with their individual needs.

The results of the program have been surprising. The children involved in the program have not only done better with their schoolwork, but also with school attendance and extracurricular activities. A heightened desire to succeed and a greater appreciation for the school system have also been reported.

Village to Child receives funding from the Columbus Foundation, Ohio Dominican College as well as private donations. The Kellogg Foundation has recently agreed to build a wing at Ohio Dominican College to allow more students to benefits from the services.

Bishop Raymond Napper

Bishop Raymond Napper is a veteran of 21 years. In October 1984, he founded the Powerhouse of Deliverance Church, Inc. in Hinesville, GA where he is employed full-time. He spends most of his non-working hours giving back to his community.

Bishop Napper is the founder of Hinesville’s “Superchurch” for underprivileged children. It is a church on wheels that travels to low-income neighborhoods to provide outreach church services. The “Superchurch” has a summer camp for youth through age 19, consisting of various activities, workshops, and trips throughout the year for its members.

Bishop Napper is also the founder of Young and Successful, a work-study program for children ages 13-17, and the organizer of the Men to Boys mentoring program. This program is a military style program that works in conjunction with Youth Challenge of Ft. Stewart, GA helping dropouts and at-risk youth obtain their GED’s. In addition, Bishop Napper is an active member of the Liberty County Family Connection (LCFC), a military community service program that works with local agencies to provide services to low-income, at-risk individuals and families. He assists LCFC by talking to families in crisis with the hopes of keeping them together and providing transportation over a 30-mile radius to children in support of the agency’s Teen Appreciation Day, an event intended to provide teens with a worry-free day of fun.

Bishop Napper visits the sick, feeds the homeless and helps them pay bills. He goes to court on behalf of juveniles in trouble and pleads with judges to give mandatory community service instead of jail time. He gives of his time, in some way, just about every day.