Judith Lajoie

Judith Lajoie is a formerly battered woman who had a vision of what a successful transitional home for women and children would consist of. In August 1991, The Haven of Grace Ministries became incorporated and Judith started planning to open a home for women and children overcoming addictions and abuse. She had decided that the Haven would not take state or federal money. It was to be funded entirely by donations from foundations, church and civic groups and private individuals.

Through the hard work and planning of Judith and several volunteers, the Haven opened its doors in 1993 in Woonsocket, RI. It has three components: residential living, community outreach and a violence prevention program.

The residential component is a two-year program taking in women and their children from drug rehabs and prisons, serving as a battered women’s short term shelter. Group counseling is offered to help the women acquire skills such as money management, driver’s education and job training. Each woman is required to enroll in an educational or job training program. Of the 53 residents that the Haven has housed since 1993, 30 have entered college. The women are also required to volunteer at the Haven after six months of residency. Many have additionally volunteered at local soup kitchens, nursing homes and schools.

The community outreach portion of the program also consists of individual and group counseling, a 12-step spiritual group and casework services. It provides outreach to families with donations of food, clothing and household items on a weekly basis. At Christmas, they provide gifts and clothing to families in the Greater Woonsocket area.

The Haven offers a violence and substance abuse prevention program to elementary, junior high and senior high schools in Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts. The services include parent workshops, teacher trainings, creation of school resource centers and a Students Against Violence Everywhere (S.A.V.E.) curriculum which is offered to the students. The six students sessions are designed to educate students on the different forms of abuse and the prevention skills necessary to avoid abusive behaviors and relationships. They also discuss the role of substances in relationships and its connection to abuse, self-esteem and decision making. The students are taught assertive techniques in dealing with peer pressure and strong emotions such as jealousy and anger.

Judith now serves as the executive director of The Haven, coordinating volunteers and client services. She provides services such as teaching Bible Study and running support groups. She is responsible for the business aspects of the program which she started. Judith has also published a children’s book on prejudice called, The Leopard and the Panther: What’s the Difference? It is used in elementary schools to teach children about prejudice.

The program that she dreamed and created has received the Make a Difference Day award for the past two years.

Olla Rae Chicola

At 11:15 am each day, a line forms outside of a previously well-known grocery store. The men, women and children of all ages and races, some homeless, some unemployed, some living on fixed incomes and others who are considered the working poor gather to enjoy a well-balanced meal. More than 3,000 volunteers per year work at Manna House, a soup kitchen that feeds between 200 and 300 individuals each day, seven days a week.

Manna House was established on May 1, 1990 when Mrs. Olla Rae Chicola donated her grocery store for the project. Reverend Gerard Foley initiated the idea to feed the hungry who were slipping through the social safety net in the Alexandria, LA community of 131,000. Mrs. Chicola told her family that she was going to let them use the store, but two weeks before opening the volunteers called and asked her how they would get food to distribute. Mrs. Chicola has been there ever since using her contacts in the grocery business to locate food sources, obtain equipment and furnishings, plan menus, raise funds and perform bookkeeping activities. She also recruits volunteers from all areas of the community including youth and church groups, professional and civic associations, college students and retirees.

With more than 700,000 meals served since its opening, finding food is a major effort. Donations are provided by local grocery store owners, Cabrini Hospital, the food bank, local caterers, individuals and a special FDA program. Manna House was started by Cabrini Catholic Church, but is currently operating as a private nonprofit organization.

John Wessner

Dr. John Wessner, a physics professor and Chairman of the Department of Physics at Towson University, became involved in Sandtown Habitat through a student, Susan Tibbels. She introduced him to the West Baltimore neighborhood of Sandtown, where she had recently moved with her family to begin church-based community development programs. Her husband had initiated the Sandtown affiliate of Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit housing organization with 1,500 affiliates throughout the United States that builds affordable housing for families in need. In Sandtown there are more than 800 units of vacant housing awaiting rehabilitation.

Dr. Wessner, with a background in heating installation, put his experience into action and began volunteering for Sandtown Habitat in 1990. He designed and installed a heating system in a two-story row house. Dr. Wessner and his wife participated in the dedication of the home on December 23rd and brought along a Christmas tree as a gift for the new homeowners.

Nine years later, Dr. Wessner is still Sandtown Habitat’s most faithful volunteer, having designed and installed heating systems in more than 120 Habitat houses in Sandtown. As a result, families have a comfortable, warm home during Baltimore’s cold winters.

At 60 years of age, Dr. Wessner lives as if he’s half of that. Whether it’s the heat of summer or the cold of winter, he can be found climbing through basements and crawl spaces installing ductwork and furnaces. Since every heating system requires at least 30 hours in design and installation. Dr. Wessner has invested a minimum of 3,600 hours since 1990, more than 1,200 during 1998 alone. And with average labor costs charged by a subcontractor for this work averaging at least $2,000 per unit, Wessner has saved Habitat in excess of $80,000 during 1998 and more than $240,000 since he began in 1990.

Allan Tibbels, Co-Executive Director of Sandtown Habitat for Humanity, Inc., remarks, “Wessner epitomizes the American volunteer spirit, partnering with us to rebuild homes and hope in this historic Baltimore neighborhood.”

Weld Food Bank Coupon Program Volunteers

Sixteen ladies volunteer on a weekly basis for a program that is more than 12-years-old. They are the Weld Food Bank Coupon Program Volunteers. Some of these volunteers have been working with the program since it began in July of 1986. With dedication and hard work by their volunteers, most of whom are senior citizens, they had 52,547 coupons returned and raised a total of $32,118.77 in 1998. Each dollar raised allows the Weld Food Bank to distribute $17.00 worth of food.

The Weld volunteers collect coupons for a discount on grocery items from newspapers and other sources. They cut and trim the coupons, sort by product, by expiration date, and by grocery store aisle. Next, the coupons are folded and stapled to a message about the food bank, and then attached to products at the grocery store. The next step is for cashiers in the store to remove the coupons as they come through the checkout counter. They are put into cans near the registers and collected by volunteers. After being returned to the food bank, volunteers unstaple and sort the coupons by size to enable the volunteer coordinator to add them up easier. After being added, the coupons are returned to the grocery store where a check is cut for the program.

The volunteers who were involved in the beginning stages of this program helped to design the program and have helped to modify it to continue to make it viable. As the program has aged, it has grown. The ladies continue to seek ways to make it run more smoothly and have implemented many changes over the years. They have established good rapport with the grocery store and its employees, and often leave the shelves in better order than they found them. Over the years, they have worked with many agencies, churches, associations, retirement homes, and interested individuals to collect and turn in their unused coupons.

To meet their budget and be able to distribute more than 30 tons of food to the needy each week, the food bank must raise more than $150,000 through fund raising activities. This program provides much needed funds to allow Weld Food Bank, whose mission is to help alleviate hunger and prevent food waste with community help, to continually meet the demand for food in Weld County, CO.

The ladies in the coupon program are a definite help in meeting that goal. More food must be purchased each year in order to provide nutritionally balanced food boxes. This coupon program is a steady source of revenue that can be counted on when preparing a budget. In 1998, 10,282 emergency food boxes were distributed and more than 14,000 families served.

Michael Edwards

Michael Edwards, Volunteer Probation Officer (VPO) for the 6th Judicial District in Pulaski County spends at least two hours per week with his assigned juveniles supervising their court ordered probation. This includes contact with the juvenile’s school and family to insure that there are no probation violations. VPO’s must also make referrals to appropriate agencies, provide family guidance and assist the juvenile with their educational goals.

The staff probation officers in Pulaski County often have as many as 100 cases at a time. This caseload makes one-on-one supervision impossible. With the help of volunteers like Edwards, the caseloads of the staff probation officers are reduced and first-time juvenile offenders receive the kind of supervision they need to insure they will not get into further trouble.

Edwards joined the Volunteer Probation Officer Program in February 1996. Since then, he has remained active and is always supervising at least one case. He has dealt with very difficult cases, some of which included drug and physical abuse and neglect. In addition to the required duties of VPO’s, Edwards also provides tutoring to any of his juveniles who need extra help. Recently, he helped provide training to new VPO’s joining the program. He has spoken to elementary school kids about juvenile crime and probation and has spoken to a youth group about the importance of education, staying out of trouble and striving to attain goals. Edwards always makes arrangements with his school or other commitments so he can attend court with his families.

Since becoming a VPO, Edwards has become increasingly aware of the problem of illiteracy among our young people. He recently completed a class sponsored by Literacy Action of Central Arkansas to become a tutor to teach English as a second language. He will teach basic reading to anyone that wants to help and has made his services available to Juvenile Court. Edwards tries to instill the importance of good grades in the juvenile he works with. He has taken his skills back to his hometown, Hughes, AR, where he helps some children who have lost their father by being a mentor, buying them school clothes and taking them out to eat when he is in town.

Of all the children that Edwards has supervised as a VPO, none are re-offenders. He was named “Volunteer of the Week” by the United Way in October 1996. The efforts of VPO’s such as Edwards have a direct effect on the recidivism rate, which is 17% for juveniles who have a Volunteer Probation Officer. This compares to a normal recidivism rate of 50% for the first-time juvenile offenders who do not have the added supervision of a volunteer.

Jack Hiehle

Due to extreme growth in the past 20 years, Sacramento has experienced a great loss of wildlife habitat. Jack Hiehle uses his knowledge from 36 years of employment with the California Department of Parks and Recreation and Department of Fish and Game to educate the public about the need to protect and conserve these natural resources. He volunteers with many organizations in the Sacramento area including the American River Natural History Association, the Sacramento Audubon Society, the California Native Plant Society, the Effie Yeaw Nature Center (EYNC) and the Sierra Club.

Hiehle’s accomplishments as a volunteer are numerous; in his several thousand volunteer hours he has distinguished himself as a nature tour guide and a habitat restorer. His work as a naturalist includes guiding many adults and children, instilling feelings of respect for the natural world. Hiehle leads two walks each month in the American River Parkway for the Effie Yeaw Nature Center and regularly serves as a field trip guide for the Audubon Society, allowing Hiehle to educate up to 70 people each month.

As a habitat restorer, Hiehle has led other volunteers in removing non-native plant species from the American River Parkway since 1988. Hiehle leads a restoration crew, monthly, in the 77-acre nature study area associated with EYNC. These Habitat Improvement days, involving between 1 and 30 volunteers, have resulted in the removal of many thousands of non-native plant species, allowing more space for native plants to thrive and provide food and habitat to native animals.

Hiehle lends his expertise to the Docent Training Program at EYNC. He is responsible for teaching these volunteers about the plants and birds which live in the nature study area. In turn, the docents provide guided walks to more than 50,000 school children each year.

Additionally, Hiehle developed a nature walk for visually impaired people who were used at EYNC and the Sierra Club.

One senior described Hiehle as, “the ultimate walking field guide. Everything you ever could want to know about anything that lives is known by this man already. He has used his knowledge to voluntarily show people how to plant, seed, and observe.”

Michael Coffman

The El Dorado Women’s Center in Placerville, CA is a nonprofit agency dedicated to serving adult and child victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. It serves a large, primarily rural community. With only a small staff, the Center relies on volunteers, such as Michael Coffman, to assist in efforts to provide quality services.

Coffman has been a volunteer with the Center since completing a 62-hour, in-depth volunteer training program in the spring of 1997. In 1998, despite suffering from chronic pain due to a serious back problem, Coffman gave 480 volunteer hours, helping in three programs. He is also a regular volunteer at the Center’s safe house. He is best known there for his loving nature in working with children from violent homes. He also counsels battered women living in the shelter and serves as a role model as a nonviolent male. When not working with shelter residents, Coffman has done maintenance work for the Center, such as painting the entire shelter and fixing broken bicycles and other toys.

The “Men’s Alternative to Abusive Patterns” (M.A.A.P.) program is as 52-week batterers treatment program for which Coffman has served as volunteer facilitator. He has shown an extraordinary amount of dedication to the M.A.A.P. program and its participants. Because he has experienced much of what the group members have experienced, he has a unique ability to share his own story while remaining completely professional. He is living proof that the program works.

Coffman also volunteers in the Center’s Community Education program. In 1998, he assisted the Center with their volunteer training program and outreach and he participated in special projects such as the Holiday Adopt-A-Family give away, the Kid’s Expo and health fairs. Also in 1998, Coffman began teaching a Personal Safety course to groups of developmentally disabled adults. Two female staff members originally started the new outreach program. After completion of the first group, they realized that their team would be much more effective if they added a male instructor. Coffman has since committed himself to assisting with three weekly groups.

“There are many dedicated volunteers at the El Dorado Women’s Center, but Michael Coffman stands apart from the rest and deserves special recognition,” remarked Karen Howard, the Community Education Coordinator, “while no one person can ever measure the impact of another on his community, when Coffman does outreach presentations, people listen and respond. When he facilitates in the M.A.A.P. program, he inspires men to believe they can change. Most of all, he makes the Center’s goal of eliminating sexual assault and domestic violence seem reachable.”

Pat Murphy

The St. Norbert College student chapter of Habitat of Humanity partnered with DePere Christian Outreach and St. Norbert College to sponsor DePere’s first Habitat for Humanity home. Pat Murphy is one of the unsung heroes of this project. Murphy, owner of one of DePere’s largest construction companies, personally oversaw the finishing work of the house.

Four weeks before the house was to be dedicated, the project was short of funds, materials and time. Murphy learned of this situation and jumped in with both feet. He went well above the call of duty by personally overseeing the finishing work on the house and raising over $18,000 in donated materials and labor (some $7,000 from his own family and business). Due to his extraordinary efforts, the family that was moving into the house received many extras not regularly part of a Habitat construction, including a dishwasher, shelving in the basement and garage, trim and landscaping. Murphy ensured the family would have a Christmas they would never forget.

Murphy’s work provided an extra special home to a family of six with many special needs. By helping to complete this house in record time, the family was able to move in one month early, just in time for Christmas. More than 300 individuals, 40 businesses and eight churches contributed to the construction of this home. Murphy mobilized more than 20 small businesses and 40 people to donate materials or labor or both.

Although Murphy provided outstanding service in a crisis situation, he also introduced many construction personnel to Habitat. After researching the Habitat organization, he became a great promoter of Habitat in the community and is planning efforts to continue this relationship in the future.

Charlotte Jimenez

Charlotte Jimenez facilitates life skill classes at the Greeley Transitional House as part of the educational services from the Equal Opportunity Center. At Greeley House, Jimenez coordinates and provides enrollment, financial aid and guidance services for residents.

Jimenez is a wonderful role model for Hispanic women in her community, standing out as a very encouraging and supportive community leader. She sits on the board of The Greeley House and is very active in their programs. Even when ill, she continues to conduct classes. Jimenez receives no salary or stipend for her volunteer work.

One story, of many, that is particularly representative of Jimenez’s commitment to volunteerism involves her helping a young mother go back to school. The woman, living at the house with her son, was very interested in getting into school. She became inspired after participating in one of Jimenez’s classes. In no time, Jimenez was lining up financial aid and helping the woman pick out classes. This client is scheduled to receive a degree in Marketing and Management later this year. And although it is not necessary, Jimenez and this client communicate at least once a week on the progress and successes that she has made.

She finds the time to provide inspiration through her volunteerism, even though she herself works full-time, attends graduate school, and has a family of her own to sustain.

Chinese-American Volunteer Corp

In 1994, the Chinese-American Volunteer Corp (CAVC) was established to help reduce barriers in language, cultural beliefs and community isolation. The program is located in NYU Downtown Hospital (NYUDH), which is in an area with a large concentration of ethnic Chinese residents in the United States. Therefore bilingual support is necessary for the hospital to provide these patients and the community with hospital services.

There is a dire need for a group like the Chinese-American Volunteer Corp and their services. Different beliefs, concepts and values preclude many Chinese from obtaining necessary health care. Also, there is the barrier of community isolation in that newly arrived immigrants and long-standing residents of Chinatown pursue their livelihoods, social and family obligations within the ethnic boundaries of their community. The new Chinese residents often lack basic information about heath care prevention, risk factors and the symptoms of diseases.

When CAVC first began, a core group of volunteers were recruited to assist with developing promotional materials in the Chinese language and to assist with marketing the CAVC program. As a result, 285 Chinese speaking individuals volunteered for the hospital the year following its establishment. Currently, there are more than 1,082 Chinese volunteers at the hospital. Approximately 80% of new applicants are referred to the hospital through other volunteers, an indication that the program has developed a solid reputation in the community.

In 1996, a special information desk was set up in the main lobby of the hospital for Chinese patients and visitors during the weekdays. The CAVC volunteers greet patients and visitors, provide directions during the weekdays to appropriate departments, translate medical bills, check appointment times and answer questions from patients and visitors. CAVC volunteers also assist with the hospital’s free screening events. Each year, the CAVC helps set up a street health fair to provide health information to the Chinese community. The volunteers register and escort patients through the screening process and distribute health information materials.

Aside from outreach and health screenings, the CAVC program developed a Designated Chinese Volunteer Translator Team in 1996. Each day a CAVC volunteer is scheduled to carry a pager while they are volunteering in the hospital. Hospital staff is able to directly page the volunteer whenever Chinese translating is needed. Patients, doctors and staff no longer have to wait for a long time because response time is usually within five minutes. A toll-free Chinese Health Information and Referral Hotline was also developed to assist Chinese patients with health-related questions and to provide health education materials and referral services to doctors and nurses. Calls come from primarily New York City residents but also from other states across the country and Canada.

The Chinese-American Volunteer Corp has had and significant impact not only on the Chinese community but on the entire hospital community as well. Since CAVC was founded, Chinese immigrants are no longer afraid of coming to the hospital because they do not speak English. Hospital information, department directions and language interpretation are available immediately; the presence of Chinese volunteers has made patients feel more comfortable. The Chinese-American Volunteer Corp has helped to break down barriers that would otherwise prevent adequate medical care and health maintenance and improve the quality of life for Chinese citizens.