Meals of Marin

Prompted by a newspaper article about the growing number of people with AIDS in Marin County, Carola Detrick, a local business woman and volunteer at Project Open Hand in San Francisco, founded a similar food delivery organization in Marin. She began with just two clients on March 3, 1993. Without funding or staff, Meals of Marin was born. When the client count reached 28, Detrick solicited the assistance of Beth Ashley of the Marin Independent Journal. Ashley wrote a feature article about the fledgling organization and within two days, MOM had 50 volunteers.

MOM has only one core program—free, daily delivery of two meals to homebound people living with life threatening illnesses in Marin County. MOM provides food for those who would otherwise be ineligible for service—those who are not poor enough, not old enough or ill with a disease other than AIDS. Volunteer cooks using organic and natural foods prepare all of the hot dinners and bag lunches with specific attention to the individual dietary needs of each client. Volunteer drivers deliver meals to the homes of the clients using their own cars and their own gas. The meals are delivered 365 days a year. There are no “days off” at MOM. People who are homebound have no days off from hunger or days off from loneliness.

The goal of MOM is to ensure that no person with a life-threatening illness goes hungry because he/she is too weak to cook or too poor to buy food. There is no waiting list and no wait to receive food. MOM clients are fed the very same day that a call comes in. In six years of service, MOM has never missed a meal nor turned away anyone asking for food. The volunteers of this organization have prepared and delivered more than 150,000 meals without salary or compensation. The 100% volunteer staff at MOM includes children, families, professional chefs and businesses. The program also does not receive any government funding.

MOM’s long-standing relationship with local farmers’ markets, small groceries and businesses, and home gardeners has increased awareness about the effectiveness of food recovery in combating hunger and eliminating food waste and excess production. The direct, no-nonsense approach of MOM is based on volunteer labor and in-kind donations of food and services. This approach has encouraged a streamlined, economical budget that is powerfully efficient. The success of the MOM program is measured in dignity not dollars.

Wayne Bentley

In the fall of 1994, City High School teacher Wayne Bentley became involved in minority representation on the local juries. Since then he has remained involved in community service and has involved his students in a number of important community projects.

Through an organized study involving monitoring sitting juries, he discovered that there was a gross underrepresentation of minorities. It became apparent that minority defendants were not being tried by a jury of their peers. Bentley, along with his students, set out to rectify this situation by drawing attention to the problem in the local bar association through a video and brochure explaining the situation along with recommendations for improvements. Many of his ideas were adopted by the court system.

As a consequence of his initiative, the governor of Michigan appointed Bentley to the Kent County Jury Board. From this post, he is helping to implement and monitor the recommended changes. As a jury commissioner, he is writing a State Judicial Institute Grant because the Court lacks the resources and funding to implement all of the recommendations. Along with the Bar Association, he is creating a model that will empower the process of jury selection to contain minorities in proportion to their population in the community.

Last fall, Bentley and his students organized a political debate forum. This forum involved several candidates running for state and federal office. Hosted by Bentley and his students, the forum has occurred during several previous elections. The events present the community with vital access to candidates and the community has responded well with a large attendance. The local press reports on the forums as well. Future debates such as this are slated to occur every congressional election year.

Besides providing for the improvement and education of the community, Wayne Bentley has created the opportunity and created models for active student participation in the community, both under his tutelage and through individual initiatives. Bentley also serves as the MEA Union Representative for City High Middle School in Grand Rapids, MI. His teaching duties at this school also include debate coach, quiz bowl coach, senior class advisor, science Olympiad coach and the City High Times Newspaper advisor.

Louise Reed

What could possibly inspire a 66-year-old mother of 10, grandmother of 39 and great-grandmother of 15 children to return to school, learn to read and use her personal growth to help others? For Louise Reed the answer is her undying commitment to education and the opportunities and options literacy can open in her life and the lives of others. After taking many years to raise her growing family and care for her oldest child, who died from cancer a few years ago, Louise finally gave in to the urgings of her family and enrolled in the Lancaster Literacy Council Adult Reading Program. What she has learned in the program has changed her life dramatically and motivated her to share her knowledge and experiences with those in need.

Louise began the literacy program on February 20, 1996 with minimal reading skills. She has since more than doubled her skills, a feat that has helped her become a leader in her church community. Over the past two years, she has been an effective speaker for the United Way and has spoken to more than 15 groups about her experiences in achieving literacy. Through her efforts, the United Way has seen an increase in campaign dollars and awareness of the United Way services provided by member agencies.

As a result of Louise’s courage and determination, she is a different person today. She takes the greatest joy in being able to pick out a greeting card for a family member or friend on her own, something that most people take for granted. Although she could sit quietly and enjoy her newfound knowledge, she chooses to give back to the community in many ways. She is an active member of her home church, David Stand A.M.E. Zion Church, serving as Leader of Class Leaders and responsible for shepherding each member of the congregation and caring for their needs.

Despite the service that Louise Reed has given back to her community, she is at most an inspiration for anyone who believes that it is too late to learn to read or receive an education. She stands as living proof that it can be done through hard work and perseverance. The fact that Louise continues to pass on the lessons of what she has learned is yet another tribute to her extraordinary spirit and belief in service.

Rosemary Mauk

Unique in the Tarrant County area, Rosemary “Rosie” Mauk combines divergent ideas into a common vision to serve the disenfranchised within her community. Her enthusiasm and dedication to creating a healthy Tarrant County are invaluable resources to those who live there. Her leadership has been the key to an increased understanding of the diverse needs of the Tarrant County residents among public leaders and private citizens.

Early in the spring of 1998, Mauk assessed there was a need for accessible addiction treatment for adolescents in her community. With this knowledge, she brought about the collaboration of substance abuse treatment providers to create a campus that provides a continuum of services. In April of 1999, the first adolescent treatment campus for uninsured youth will opened to provide wraparound services for addiction treatment. Five agencies cooperate to provide these services and it is the first of its kind to be funded in the state. Mauk has taken a lead role in drawing together people of various affiliations to take a proactive role in the community’s public health needs.

For 10 years, Mauk has been active in the local fight against AIDS, serving on the Board of Directors and as chair of the 1995 AIDS Walk. Currently, she is President of the Board of Directors of AIDS Outreach Center. Her staunch public support for HIV/AIDS services and preventive education promotes discussion about HIV/AIDS in the boardrooms of corporations and foundations throughout the community.

During the past year, she spearheaded a capital campaign of over four million dollars for the local YWCA. Mauk’s tireless work on behalf of women and children’s health paid off in an excess of 10% of the goal. She has taken the role of community volunteer to the highest level. It is likely that the Tarrant County community is thankful for the gifts of service, time and talent that Rosemary Mauk has bestowed.

Ross Nash Farnsworth

Ross Farnsworth has long been recognized as a leader and doer in the growing community of Mesa, AZ. He started volunteering in his youth, with church work, and continued through adulthood serving numerous schools, civic and agency boards and advisory committees. His dedication to the community is extensive, particularly his involvement in addressing the problem of family homelessness in Mesa since 1990.

Over 20% of the approximately 18,000 homeless people in Arizona are children. The children of homeless families often experience acute and chronic health problems, hunger, developmental delays, psychological problems and underachievement because of being homeless. During the past years, Farnsworth’s involvement significantly impacted a previously unmet need to provide shelter, basic needs, job training, case management and support for homeless families. Farnsworth championed this cause by initiating and advocating legislation, with public and corporate support.

La Mesita Lodge, a 1950’s era motel in need of repair, was selected as the site for La Mesita, A Family Shelter. Largely due to the efforts of Farnsworth, La Mesita has served more than 700 families averaging three to four individuals since 1991. His most notable contributions to La Mesita include serving as Board Member and Chair, hosting and working Chrissy’s Breakfast, a community breakfast that annually raises $10,000 to benefit the families at La Mesita and organizing others to make playground enhancements and basketball facilities for the youth.

The hands-on approach of Farnsworth to addressing critical issues is an example for many to follow. His entire family—wife, 12 children, their spouses and children—is involved throughout the year with a concerted effort for Chrissy’s Breakfast. Many of his employees have volunteered their time on various physical plant projects, conducted food drives and participated in the Holiday Adopt-A-Family program.

Hooked on Books

More than 700 volunteers are part of Hooked on Books, a one-on-one reading program that pairs inner city children with people from all segments of the population. Bankers, lawyers, elected officials, high school and college students, and senior citizens all act as designated storytellers for these children to promote reading success.

Hooked on Books was founded in 1989 by Dr. Dolores Sarafinski, a professor of English at Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania. The philosophy behind the program is that reading aloud to children is the most important factor in building reading success. Volunteer readers have the opportunity to share their own love for reading with a child. The benefits of this one-on-one interaction through reading are that it helps children overcome their apprehension of reading, it builds listening comprehension and vocabulary, and it increases attention span.

The children that participate in the Hooked on Books program are 7-14 year olds who do not have opportunities for someone to read aloud to them in the home. Over 50% of these children come from single parent homes. In some cases, the parent does not have time to read aloud to their children. In other cases, the parent lacks the reading skills necessary to make reading aloud a successful endeavor that instills a love of reading in their children.

When the program first began, the volunteers worked in the inner-city grade schools in Erie. In 1994, the program moved to Inner-City Neighborhood Art House, where it is now housed. Since Hooked on Books moved to the Art House, program volunteers have worked with over 1,000 children. These children choose to participate in the reading program for a semester or for a week during the summer, in addition to taking selected art or music classes.

The dedication of volunteer readers is critical to the success of Hooked on Books. Most volunteers read at least once a week to their child during the semester, or every day for a week in the summertime. They are able to build a relationship with the child and tailor the book selection to match the child’s interests. Volunteers make it possible for the kids to develop and maintain a love of reading. Also, the program has received support from the Pennsylvania Governor’s office. The Neighborhood Art House was chosen as the site to introduce a new “Read to Succeed” initiative, and Lt. Governor Mark Schweiker read one of his favorite books to children in Hooked on Books program following the press conference.

Karen Zimmer

Karen Zimmer has been essential to the development of the Linking Neighbors program, which provides technical assistance to community residents’ neighborhood revitalization plans. The goal of this project is to increase the capacity of low-income people to participate in community-based planning through training in social and demographic data resources.

Shortly after arriving in Sacramento, Zimmer gained a solid understanding of her project and became familiar with the Greater Sacramento area and each of the project’s targeted communities. She developed an ambitious work plan for her project year and acquired training skills, performed day-to-day coordination with community members, and completed project evaluation and reporting.

Zimmer has been active in four targeted communities. She attends community meetings and events and works with residents and community leaders. She is recognized and well known by the residents of these communities. To date, she has trained almost 75 community residents to use social indicator and asset data for community planning and advocacy. The workshop series includes: Identifying and Mapping, Finding and Collecting Information, Making Sense of Information, Setting Goals, Putting the Plan Together and Refining the Plan.

Zimmer was quick to fill in for an absent VISTA member, picking up the training load so that no community was neglected. For more than four months she juggled double-duty and double the responsibilities. Although she faces tough community challenges, she always shows exceptional initiative in all of her endeavors and freely shares her experience and knowledge with others to aid in the revitalization of her community.

Thor Andersen

A retired engineer, Thor Andersen works diligently to help homeless individuals and families get back on their feet and find permanent housing. In Westchester County, housing is relatively scarce and expensive so even working families find it difficult to meet their housing expenses on the wages they earn. More than 1,000 households—many of them with children—are living in emergency shelter facilities and the odds against their finding permanent housing are high.

As a member of SHORE (Sheltering the Homeless is Our Responsibility), a volunteer interfaith housing group, Andersen helped renovate two 2-family homes to make rental apartments for four formerly homeless families. Understanding that families need ongoing support in their transition from homelessness back to normal life, he led the search for a qualified social service provider to help. He oversees upkeep and management of the four apartments, remaining “on call” for maintenance emergencies.

For a number of years, Andersen has collected donated furniture and transported it, with the help of other volunteer, to homeless families who have found housing but have few other possessions. He also takes an active part in fundraising events that support all these volunteer activities.

Andersen is currently working on an exciting new SHORE project: construction of 14 affordable mixed ownership and rental townhouse units. He helped present the project to the local government for approval; was active in predevelopment planning and community relations; and, with construction now underway, meets regularly with contractors to review drawings, permits and work progress.

In all these activities, Andersen serves as a catalyst by enrolling the help of other volunteers from SHORE or from his own local church congregation. His presence as a leader and liaison led Andersen’s pastor and fellow church members to form a solid support group for the project that makes community action strong and effective. Thanks to his compassion and energy, several families who were previously homeless are now in permanent housing, many others have obtained furniture to set up their homes and the community has a new awareness of an important need and practical solutions.

Joe Dean

Joe Dean founded a Reading Is Fundamental Program in Opelika, AL and named it Jean Dean RI, in honor of his late wife, a longtime friend to children and Kiwanis. Joe provided an office for the fledgling RIF program, complete with phone and copier and turned his attention to making it the best children’s literacy program it could be.

For the past eight years, Joe has worked tirelessly, sorting and packing boxes of books, hauling them to distribution sites, speaking on behalf of RIF and children’s literacy, running a reading team for two locations in Lee County and reading as needed in several other counties. The same year that Joe started Jean Dean RIF, Kiwanis International launched a worldwide initiative, Young Child: Priority One, to promote the health and well-being of children ages zero to five. Joe volunteered to serve as his district’s chairman of this program. While Young Child: Priority One has a physical health focus, Joe has consistently emphasized the need for mental agility as well. Because literacy is so crucial to leading a fulfilling life, Joe promotes books and reading at all times. “We need to help build children who can do well in school, get a job and be an asset to society, not a burden,” he said.

Jean Dean RIF serves at-risk children, from birth to age five, throughout the state; the program provides books and reading motivation at a crucial age in brain development. It is the nation’s largest RIF project devoted to very young children and receives support from more than 90% of Alabama’s Kiwanis Clubs. A lifelong farmer, Joe knows how to plant a seed and make it grow. Thanks to his watchful eye and nurturing care, Jean Dean RIF now has some 2,000 volunteers and reaches children in every Head Start program in Alabama, most Even Start programs and many state-sponsored childcare services. Jean Dean RIF also brings books and motivational activities to homeless shelters and migrant programs.

Joe is also a highly successful fundraiser. He has developed partnerships with civic clubs, church groups, college organizations, scout groups and local businesses soliciting enough support to enable Jean Dean RIF to distribute more than 360,000 books to 120,000 children over eight years. In-kind donations to Jean Dean RIF amount to more than $4 million.

At age 75, Joe is still an active businessman and volunteer. He runs a small insurance and real-estate office, as well as a farm, and is serving his second term as Board Chairman of the Alabama Council on Child Abuse. Joe frequently closes his business on weekday mornings to read to children in Head Start centers. According to his daughter, Cathy Gafford, who serves as executive director of Jean Dean RIF, Joe lives by the motto, “the impossible just takes a little longer.”

Fairview Elementary School

The staff and administration at Fairview Elementary School have taken an innovative approach to addressing community social problems within the public school system. By implementing programs that involve the whole family in school related activities, Fairview Elementary is making an effort to halt the deterioration of the nuclear family. They also work to ensure that their students and educators have a solid foundation to build upon to become productive and responsible citizens in the work force. The school also stresses the importance of young children active in community service initiatives. Through several inventive programs, Fairview Elementary School works toward achieving its objective of influencing the community in a positive way.

During the 1997-1998 school year, Fairview Elementary presented a program called “Fairview Fathers First.” The program was designed to get fathers involved in the lives of their children. There were several events including “Dinner With Dad,” “Donuts With Dad” and “Daddy Date Night.” The program has since been expanded to involve the entire family and is called “Fairview Families First.” The positive impact of the program has been seen in the increased attendance at the Christmas Program, Grandparents’ Day, Open House and parent/teacher conferences. In addition, many more parents are volunteering to dedicate time to helping out at Fairview.

Through the use and reinforcement of lifelong guidelines (truth, trust, active listening, personal best, and no put-downs), Fairview is utilizing early prevention as a means to produce students that will be assets to the workforce. It is their hope that all students and educators will reach their full potential in becoming lifelong learners and productive citizens. A concept called C.L.A.S.S. (Connecting Learning Assures Successful Students) is central to this goal and provides a professional development model for teachers at the school to follow.

Community service is also crucial to the formula that spells success for Fairview students and instructors. Fairview consistently participates in the “National Make A Difference Day” program. In April 1998, the school received a Community Service Award for their 1997 Make a Difference Day project. For this project, students illustrated and wrote stories for Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana. The stories were included in a book that was also distributed to local businesses, day care centers, and nursing homes. For the 1998 project, each grade level was given a specific mission to complete and the results were featured in Fairview’s November newsletter. As Fairview looks forward to the year 2000, they are embracing the challenges that lie ahead in a positive, constructive manner.