Marie Hartman

After leaving the Houston area and returning to a family farm in Anderson, TX, Marie Hartman decided to volunteer in the Brazos Valley area. Upon completion of a training class, Ms. Hartman began what has become a 6-year relationship with Hospice of Brazos Valley.

Ms. Hartman, who had a history of volunteer experience, arrived with a wealth of ideas. She began serving patients in a rural part of Texas with round trip mileage often totaling more than 90 miles. Ms. Hartman has provided respite care, books to patients too remote to visit a library, and food and clothing to those in need. In some cases, she has been the only visitor willing to drive out to the home of a patient for tea and companionship. Because of her willingness to travel to remote areas, Ms. Hartman has been assigned to as many as three families at a time.

Ms. Hartman is also a thriving force behind the Hospice Mart, a resale/thrift shop. After three years of investigations and research, Ms. Hartman turned the idea into reality. She started by looking for, and renovating, a building for the shop. Once that was found, the 70 year-old Ms. Hartman worked tirelessly to see it renovated and opened, even going as far as tearing out a blocked door with a fire tool when others were unwilling to try.

In addition to her other work with Hospice of Brazos Valley she has allowed the use of her farm for the bereavement camp that Hospice of Brazos Valley hosts for children each year.

Pamela Jones

In 1988, Ms. Pamela Jones, inspired by her love for children, decided to serve as the coordinator of evening activities for the children of a hospital’s pediatric ward. Every Thursday night, Ms. Jones hosts the Kids Club where young cancer patients come together and decorate cookies, eat ice cream, and complete craft projects. Over the past ten years Ms. Jones has accumulated more than 3,000 hours of volunteer service with the pediatric program.

In addition to the Kids Club, Ms. Jones is actively involved with Camp Star Trails, an annual summer adventure for M. D. Anderson pediatric cancer patients and their siblings. She spends one week of her vacation serving as a counselor. Recently, Ms. Jones spent her weekends helping develop a campsite for the new Camp for All, a specially designed facility serving chronically ill children and adults. One of Ms. Jones early campers, a Leukemia patient, is just finishing his first year of college.

In addition to work as a volunteer, Ms. Jones works full time as an accountant for a Houston law firm. “It had to be a calling for me to volunteer to work at a hospital,” said Ms. Jones, “Working with the kids on movie night is my niche.”

Westtown School Service Network

Twenty years ago, Westtown School, a day and boarding school for grades K-12, located in Westtown, PA, embarked on an experiment that had a profound impact on the nature of education. With a $30,000 grant from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, which was used to purchase vans for transporting students, the school created the Westtown Service Network. While there had been a long tradition of volunteerism at Westtown, this program formalized and focused that tradition, making it more accessible to greater numbers of students.

The Service Network has always been an entirely voluntary organization for students in grades 9-12. Westtown is unique among schools in that it affords service the same status as athletics, so that students who participate typically devote four afternoons per week to volunteering at different sites throughout the community, with the fifth afternoon spent together reflecting on and discussing their experiences for the week. The students who participate, approximately 3,000 since 1978, have given their time in a variety of settings. In an effort to connect with the community, Westtown School students have invested countless hours with young children, senior citizens, developmentally disabled individuals, Head Start programs, a therapeutic riding center, and a Hispanic community center.

The impact of Service Network has extended far beyond Westtown and the agencies that the students visit. Secondary schools nationwide have used it as a model in creating their own community service programs. At its core, the Service Network has provided volunteers to community programs in need of caring and concerned persons.

Westtown endeavors to place students in a long-term, one-on-one relationship with an individual, so that bridges may be built between two people who might not otherwise have the opportunity to connect. The focus is on assisting rather than judging.

Everybody Wins!

Everybody Wins!, a non-profit, privately funded program promoting children's literacy and love of learning through shared reading experiences with caring adults started in New York City in 1991. In March 1993, Senator Jeffords and Senator Simon brought the program from New York City to Washington DC. Everybody Wins! has a full-time staff of seven, as well as part-time parent volunteers who coordinate the efforts of Everybody Wins! with the local participating schools. The program expands the possibilities for children's success in school, enhances children's self-esteem, while enabling adult volunteers to become involved within the community and experience the rewards of serving.

One of their regular activities, Power Lunch, pairs a young elementary student with an adult mentor. The mentor is given a child to work with throughout the entire school year. Once a week, the mentor comes to the elementary school during the child's lunch hour, and together the student and mentor read aloud to one another. This hour lunch break provides the child time to develop an ongoing relationship with a caring adult as well as the opportunity to develop a love for reading. This love for learning is essential in Washington DC, where 55% of fourth graders are reading below the lowest tested level, 36% of students who begin seventh grade do not graduate, and 51% of high school graduates are considered to be functionally illiterate. The adults also benefit from the reading sessions. The adults are full-time professionals, including businessmen, senators and lawyers, who are given the opportunity to work with, and serve, the children in the Washington Metropolitan community.

Everybody Wins! also provides parent education workshops once a year. These classes are used to foster the relationships between parents and the adult mentor readers, with the main focus being on the child. Parents are encouraged to become actively engaged in reading with their children in the home, and are also invited to attend the Power Lunch sessions. Through these workshops, parents are taught about literacy for adults, and referred to programs where they can learn to read and write, if needed.

Storytime, another part of Everybody Wins!, provides special enrichment activities, to instill the desire of reading into the lives of the children. A special entertainer, working with puppets, music, books, etc., performs anywhere between 45 minutes to one hour. The program, which was only in 2 of the D.C. schools last year, has now expanded into 7 different elementary schools for this fall. The projected plan is to have a Storytime activity in each school once a month. At the end of "storytime", the children are given a book that they can take home. Storytime is privately funded.

Everybody Wins! reaches out to those in the DC community. Parents' and students' lives are affected, as working professionals are taking an active part in the education of the Washington Metropolitan Area. The volunteers themselves are affected, as they are able to see the effects and happiness that comes from serving.

Arturo and Toni Sisneros

Arturo, a retired veteran, and his wife, Toni, have donated their retirement years to developing and providing youth and community programs to the residents of El Rito, NM. Mr. and Mrs. Sisneros developed a learning center offering programming to the youth and their families in this primarily Hispanic region. The center, located in a mobile home across the street from their house, is unique for three reasons: 1) the degree of commitment, 2) the quality of the program, and 3) the sense of community and caring people in the program.

The Sisneros family devotes between 40-60 hours weekly to the children in their community. They purchased the trailer house over 5 years ago and have been working since then to provide these services for the children. The area in which they live is a rough neighborhood, where there are not many opportunities for extra-curricular activities.

The program is designed to give kids the opportunity to grow and learn within their own desires and limits. Mr. and Mrs. Sisneros use their own talents and interests to help the children learn and grow. Mr. Sisneros works specifically with computers and has taught the children to not only use computers but has also shown them how to fix and rebuild them. Mrs. Sisneros has a more creative touch, as she uses artwork and potting skills to help the children learn. Tutoring is available for writing, reading and other school subjects. Volunteers are parents and other adults from the community.

The sense of community at the Learning Center is unique. There are such positive feelings in the center as parents work with their children, or as a senior helps a neighbor child. The center is truly a home for many of the children after school. They receive love and encouragement, which builds their self-confidence and esteem. The Sisneros feel that they have been given so much that they want to give back to their community through this service. The program is funded through private donations and Save the Children.

Mark D. French

Mark D. French is a life-long resident of Ghent, NY, whose ongoing community service over the past seven years has produced long term solutions to the problem of too few safe and structured activities for youth to learn and grow during non-school hours within Columbia County.

In 1994, Mr. French started the CYO Youth Basketball League in his community, based out of St. James Church in Chatham, NY. This league is non-denominational, serves 125 youth in the Chatham School District and emphasizes positive youth development over winning.

Participating coaches are required to complete an annual certification workshop to increase their knowledge of the social, physical and emotional development of children. As this concept has gained popularity, other local youth leagues have requested Mr. French’s assistance in developing similar workshops in their areas.

Another program initiated by Mr. French is The Challenger Little League Baseball Program. The program, developed in 1995, is a county-wide program for youth with physical and developmental disabilities. Although he is not the parent of a child with a physical or developmental disability, he wanted to ensure that the game of baseball was made available to all youth. The Challenger program includes community service opportunities for non-disabled youth to serve as one-on-one “buddies” with their disabled peers during the games. The parents of Challenger players now operate the thriving league, serving over 50 youth.

Mr. French also chairs an annual community-wide effort to raise thousands of dollars to support the Morris Memorial – Chatham’s youth center. This facility provides structured recreational, sports and leisure time activities after school and on weekends for youth in grades 3-12. Mr. French was instrumental in convincing over 400 volunteers, businesses, community organizations and private donors to financially support his volunteer efforts through a 5K-road race that he founded and directs. The first race was in September 1997and took two years of preparation.

As a Morris Memorial volunteer, Mr. French has run and put together several sports oriented programs for youth. He spearheaded a volunteer group to redesign the Morris Memorial Soccer program, and he commenced Chatham Gold – the first all-youth track and field program, and cross-country program in upstate New York.

All of the programs that Mr. French runs are funded through business sponsorships, community based organizations, small user fees for those that can afford them, and personal donations.

Richard Green

In 1988, Richard Green and his 10 year-old son went to the Economic Opportunity Board of Clark County to voluntarily spend Saturdays with the seniors involved in the program. They played games, sang songs, did crafts and other activities involved in the Senior Daycare Program. As years passed and his son left, Mr. Green continued his involvement by playing games going to ball games, playing cards, and leading exercise groups for the program.

Mr. Green assisted in the initial planning and implementation of the Saturday programs, even though he was a single parent and student working full-time. He continues to conduct morning group socialization, which consists of one-on-one activities for the socially impaired and counseling. Over the past 10 years, Mr. Green’s service has provided dignity, worth and active daily involvement to many cognitively and physically impaired seniors who might have otherwise been sent to long-term care facilities.

Mr. Green’s compassion was clearly evident in his relationship with Alice, a former resident at the Hollyhock Adult Daycare Center. For ten years, Richard and Alice played cards and talked every Saturday. They listened to each other’s life stories and troubles. Mr. Green would often send her cards and letters. He shared her death as he shared her life, staying with her all hours of the night just to say goodbye.

In addition to his work at the center, Richard is actively involved with his church, serving as a Sunday school teacher, an usher and a Stephen’s minister.

100 Men Reading

In November of 1996, the non-profit organization A Cultural Exchange started a program geared towards African-American preschool-aged children. The program, 100 Men Reading, is made up of African-American males from all walks of life and serves the Cuyahoga County area. These men donate their time and resources to the benefit of the children in their community. The men read for an hour once a month to children in pre-schools, Head Start programs, nursery schools and day-care centers throughout the community. Each month, the volunteers donate multicultural, non-stereotypical, non-gender books to their adopted facility, helping to establish a library for future use.

The purpose of 100 Men Reading is to enrich the educational experiences of children by reinforcing the positive aspects of cultural identity through reading aloud. The communities of these day-care centers and preschools are located in areas of diversity, where poverty is high and male role models are rarely found. The men enter these schools to develop on-site children’s libraries to help correct pre-existing myths and stereotypes of African-American men, provide positive role-models and to help the children develop the desire within to read and learn.

The men in the organization feel that it is a privilege to serve those within their community because they are able to inspire and help the children. Through their efforts, the attitudes of the children change. The children in the pre-schools and daycare centers see that others of the same ethnicity have succeeded, and therefore their self-esteem and confidence rises.

100 Men Reading is funded by grants from the programs’ volunteers. As these men work with their adopted centers, they are nurturing their community and impacting lives of children.

Tracey Cox

Tracey Cox has been involved in community service since his elementary school years. He has been involved with his school, the 4-H club, and the Tuttle Police Department, where he has organized and implemented many different projects.

Tracey just completed his senior year at Tuttle’s public high school where he played a major role in organizing several of the school’s service projects, including a food drive, a blood drive, and a campus beautification project. Tracey has also exhibited strong leadership abilities at his high school serving as the Student Body Vice President. In this position, he was able to encourage other students to become involved in volunteer service by setting an example while serving his fellow classmates.

Tracey has been involved in 4-H for nine years. During this time Tracey organized a county recycling fair, a program against litter, and a state highway clean up. Tracey also served as a state 4-H project leader for a project that provided baseball hats for children who were undergoing chemotherapy at a local hospital. Tracey’s “Warm Heart, Warm Hands” project, which entailed collecting gloves and mittens for the needy, demonstrated his creativity and love for others.

Tracey has been a member of the Tuttle Police Department Explorer Post since March of 1996. While in this post, Tracey has been involved with a number of community projects, including a Scout-A-Rama, the 4th of July parade, and the Chamber of Commerce Golf Tournament.

The Anderson Family Christmas Show

Ten years ago, Dale and Angie Anderson, along with their two children Chris and Osjha, decided as a family to donate their Christmas to the community of Glennville. Taking the money that would usually be spent on gifts for one another; they prepared the first annual Anderson Family Christmas Show. Today, the entire community of Glennville supports the show.

The Anderson’s decided to start the show in order to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. Their goal was to bind the community together and allow those families and individuals who were depressed, lonely or suffering to be reached through the efforts of those around them.

Through the Anderson Christmas Show, the community has become more unified. Last year, there were over 65 children who were participants of the show.

Funding comes from donations of local organizations and businesses as well as from the Anderson family and other private donations. The show takes place during the two weeks preceding the Christmas holiday in the Anderson’s yard. Last Christmas, it was estimated that over 10,000 people visited the Anderson home. Not only are the Anderson’s involved, but the entire community has come together, volunteering their time, talents and money, to ensure that the show is a success.

The Anderson Christmas Show is covered by local newspapers and has television footage. Each year a new theme is chosen, relating to the needs of the community.