Heather Metzger

It has been four years since 21-year-old Heather Metzger lost her father in a drunk driving crash. Instead of being consumed by her grief, Heather decided to channel it into creating positive change. She has worked tirelessly and diligently in her state to ensure that other families do not suffer needlessly at the hands of a drunk driver.

Prior to her father’s death, she created a cartoon character curriculum entitled “Drug Free Me” that stresses the anti-drug message to first through third grade students. Before issuing the children participants their certificate of completion, Heather has them draw a picture of what they want to be when they grow up. She then has them crumple up the picture and throw it away in a trash can labeled “Drugs and Alcohol” symbolizing throwing away their dreams by abusing drugs.

Desiring to create an even greater impact, Heather decided to join forces with Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), where she shared her personal story with convicted DWI/DUI offenders in the hopes that it will prevent them from endangering their lives and the lives of others again.

Heather has shared her story with thousands of middle and high school students in the past four years. She believes it is not enough to tell young people to “just say no”. She encourages the students with whom she speaks to develop a dream and gives them a formula for achieving that dream. Her belief is that young people who are working toward a specific goal are much less likely to let drug and alcohol abuse prevent them from achieving that goal.

At prom time, Heather convinced local formal wear companies to place her pocket-sized flyers containing facts, statistics and stories about drunk driving in rental tuxedos. She has been approached by the County Executive to speak with his Criminal Justice Drug Intervention Program and the Heart of America Foundation has selected her to be one of 15 “Speaking from the Heart” ambassadors nationwide. In addition, MADD has designated her to be the Youth Power Camp Coordinator for Maryland and the Chairperson for the National Youth Summit 2000.

R. William Van Sant

In 1993, R. William “Bill” Van Sant, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Lukens Inc., a fortune 500 company, urged business leaders to join forces to help the community address the serious social and economic conditions facing the area. As a result, a coalition of 18 businesses formed the Coatesville Area Partners for Progress (CAPP) to initiate, support and influence activities which will improve the quality of life in the Coatesville Area. Bill and other business leaders realized that sustained improvement depended on the capacity of every segment of the community to work together, Bill has provided valuable leadership that is crucial to the city’s ability to adapt to changing conditions.

Through CAPP, work groups, comprised of people of all complexions, ethnicity, political persuasion and socio-economic status, set the direction for revitalization efforts. City government, business and religious leaders, public housing residents and the general public work side by side on community problems. Utilizing focus groups, public forums, workshops and planning sessions, community driven strategies are developed and implemented.

Bill’s personal involvement as chairperson of the newly formed nonprofit organization helped mobilize a convergence of interest in the city’s revitalization. He, along with other business leaders, donate time, money and support services. Nearly $10 million has been raised for community projects over the past three years. Most recently, another $16.4 million has been awarded to implement a revitalization plan that evolved out of a series of community workshops.

Much needed affordable housing is being built in areas previously plagued by blight and open drug trafficking. Neighborhood groups are directing the creation of a new park and the restoration of an existing park. A historically significant structure is under construction to create a multi-purpose cultural center, further advancing their efforts to use the arts as a community building tool. Computer equipment has been upgraded to improve the library’s services and a youth employment program provides jobs for more than 100 children during the summer months.

Bill has volunteered his time and allocated unprecedented financial, staff support and in-kind services. His personal involvement and leadership are invaluable and why the community has made such significant strides.

San Dieguito Alliance for Drug Free Youth

Study Buddy is a program where a high school students mentor and tutor elementary school students for one hour after school, once a week for eight-weeks. The program is sponsored by San Dieguito Alliance and the elementary schools’ PTAs. San Dieguito Alliance is a community based nonprofit collaboration of parents, students and community members who provide alcohol, tobacco and other drug prevention education and activities. The PTA provides the site coordinators, the refreshments and supplies. San Dieguito Alliance trains coordinators, makes presentations to teens, manages the application process and matches study buddies.

In Study Buddy, the teen and elementary school student pairs spend time on schoolwork, organization and study skills for the first 40 minutes of the session. The last 20 minutes are spent sharing common interests, such as drawing, reading, playing games or going outside on the playground for a sports activity. The elementary student is recommended to the program by their classroom teacher because they need extra personal attention and/or academic attention.

Both the high school student and elementary school student benefit from the Study Buddy program. During the application process, the high school student takes an oath to be alcohol and drug free and have respect for academic scholarship. The teen is trained to be an active listener and will provide a positive role model for the elementary student. The high school student gains self-confidence and develops a connection to his community by working in the elementary schools. The elementary students gain much needed personal academic attention from a positive role model who exemplifies healthy and safe choices.

The elementary schools have two Study Buddy sessions during the school year—one in the fall and one in the spring. Twelve elementary schools are participating this year with 400 students being served by 400 teens. In addition, there are 20 parent coordinators.

At the program’s completion, certificates are given to all participants. The certificate has a buddy pair photo and the number of community service hours is printed on the teens’ certificate. In addition, each high school participant receives a congressional certificate congratulating them on their participation in helping to shape a child’s life.

Padmini Parthasarathy

Padmini Parthasarathy is described by her nominator as a young woman of intelligence, creativity, integrity and conviction with a true passion to make a difference in the world.

Padmini is the current National Chair of the March of Dimes National Youth Council, a select group of 15 college students from across the country who are national volunteers for the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation. The selection process is extremely competitive and those chosen are selected for their leadership ability and their proven commitment to the mission of the March of Dimes, which is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects and infant mortality.

Padmini began volunteering for the March of Dimes as a member of the High School Leadership Council in San Francisco, CA and became Chair of the Council her senior year. It was this experience that has led her to her current pursuit of a Master’s Degree in Public Health and to ultimately pursue a career in the field of maternal and child health.

Padimini takes initiative and sees the global benefits of both large and small tasks. She is committed to giving other youth volunteers the opportunity to grow and is a mentor to high school and college volunteers across the country. She travels nationwide to represent youth volunteerism; she was chair of the 1998 National Youth Month initiative as well as the new National Youth Council member coaching program. While doing all of this, she’s remains active in her local March of Dimes chapter.

She was the leader for the National Youth Month initiative, likely the largest peer-led health education campaign the March of Dimes has had. The theme was TEAM Youth, where TEAM stands for Together Everyone Achieves Miracles. Launched at the National Youth Leadership Conference, all components of the youth program combined to create one large youth movement where young people across America joined the TEAM and worked toward the common goal of educating their peers about the importance of a healthy lifestyle and the importance of service to the community.

Led by Padmini, her committee was instrumental in the development of the concepts, objectives, health messages and materials, event planning tools, training sessions and follow-ups to help ensure the success of the national campaign. As a result of their efforts, hundreds of youth volunteers in more than 80 communities nationwide planned activities and touched the lives of thousands of young people.

Don Wolf

After learning how many students struggle to succeed academically, Don Wolf, a business executive, developed an idea to match students in need of extra help in school with adults once a week to work on homework. He took his plan to the Fort Wayne Community Schools Superintendent and area businesses to solicit their help in creating the framework and providing the funding to bring the concept to fruition. In August of 1989, Study Connection was formed and operated as a privately funded pilot project for three years, now a funded program of FWCS.

Study Connection is a simple idea turned into a powerful program. The goals and objectives of this program are to meet the academic needs of students identified as educationally disadvantaged by providing a consistent and long-term relationship with community volunteers for tutoring and homework assistance, to provide constant and positive exposure to successful adult role models to enhance students’ self-esteem and encourage students to set high goals and to encourage the business sector to take an active role in educating youth.

The program started with 120 volunteers. Last year, more than 900 individuals and 35 businesses, churches and community agencies participated in Study Connection. In a survey of teachers at the end of the school year, 71 % noticed an improvement in students’ academic achievement and 88% noticed an improvement in students’ self-esteem.

A grant from the Lily Foundation allowed Study Connection staff to prepare a detailed packet of information that can be shared with other communities that wishes to emulate the Fort Wayne program. Many other states, including Alabama, Wisconsin, Ohio and Virginia, now have their own versions of Study Connection.

Ben Conner

In early 1995, the only agency providing services to victims of family violence and sexual assault in Hutchinson County, TX closed its doors. This left the small, rural county of 26,000 with no means of help or support for these women and children in crisis. It was then that Ben Conner stepped forward and worked to organize a group of citizens committed to ending family violence and sexual assault in Hutchinson County. Together this group formed a Board of Directors, incorporated and took all the necessary steps to make the Hutchinson County Crisis Center, Inc. (HC3) a reality. A shelter facility was secured and furnished, volunteers were trained and as an office facility was established.

In order to fund this nonprofit, Ben, as Borger Rotary President, initiated the First Annual Borger Open Golf Tournament in the summer of 1995, the proceeds fromwhich covered HC3’s start-up costs. Almost single-handedly, Ben secured sponsors, golfers, sites, prizes and volunteers or this event. The tournament was very successful and raised more than $9,000. Ben and the Borger Rotary have continued the Borger Open each year since and consistently raise more than $8,000 for HC3.

Ben has served as Board Chair for two terms, during which HC3 has gone from a fledging organization to an active agency serving the needs of victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. In just three short years, HC3, under Ben’s guidance, has grown to have $225,000+ annual budget and a staff of 11 well-trained, caring employees and a volunteer base of over thirty. HC3 provides safety, shelter and services to more than 400 women and children and runs a 24-hour Hotline that has assisted more than 1,500 callers.

Joseph Cristina

Since the early 1980’s, this country has been trying to cope with the devastating effects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Millions of Americans have been impacted and hundreds of thousands of individuals have died. In 1985, Joe Cristina, an executive at Mattel, Inc., learned he was HIV positive. After disclosing his illness, Joe received an overwhelming amount of support within Mattel and the toy industry as a whole. Joe thought, “why not try to harness this support and use it for the benefit of many?”

Along with the assistance of two pediatric nurses, Joe assessed the needs of the pediatric AIDS community. While money was available for clinical research and medical assistance to children living with AIDS, there were many gaps in the service provided. Children who weren’t infected with HIV but who had parents or siblings who were, faced a multitude of issues that were not being addressed. Joe decided to connect the needs of the pediatric AIDS community with the resources of the children’s toy industry, thus the Children Affected by AIDS Foundation was conceived.

Since its inception in 1993, the Foundation, under Joe Cristina’s volunteer leadership as Board Chair, has distributed nearly $2 million dollars to qualified nonprofit organizations throughout the United States. Assistance is provided for programs such as permanent placement for AIDS-orphaned children, basic needs such as food and shelter and opportunities for children to enjoy their childhood, such as summer camp.

These funds are primarily raised through an annual event called Dream Halloween. Joe’s vision and innovation led to the creation of this family Halloween event in Los Angeles. Sponsorship of this event has expanded beyond the toy industry and is supported by major corporations in almost every field of industry including advertising, banking, entertainment and retail. This night is complete with celebrities, trick-or-treating, stage performances, a fun house, interactive games, face painting, arts and crafts and plenty of food. Each corporate sponsorship package sold enables children affected by AIDS to attend the event. In addition, for the many who cannot attend, “trick-or-treat” bags, containing toys, gifts, candy and a t-shirt, are sent to affected children throughout the country.

Joe has turned what could have been a personal tragedy into hope for thousands of children.

Frances O. Scarantino

Frances O. Scarantino had a vision to form a place where youth of all ages could get the services they wanted and needed. There had been a great need for youth services in the area. As a result, Frances reached out to other community leaders and residents and established Striving to Achieve & Reach Success, Inc. ( S.T.A.R.S.) as a not for profit community youth organization in June of 1996.

In September of 1997, they opened the doors to a youth center where a range of programs for boys and girls ages 4 to 18 are offered at no cost. The programs include, but are not limited to, cheerleading teams, dance classes, arts & crafts, vocal club, after school help, educational and vocational workshops.

In addition, they developed a youth council for teens 12 to 18 which acted as a research team and sounding board to develop programming. They grew to be a youth civic group. They bring up issues for youth and for the community at large and they initiate, plan and implement community projects as well as work on existing projects.

In less than a year, the youth council conducted a neighborhood clean-up, a recycle project, food collection, clothing collection and brought performances to a shelter for homeless and runaway youth. The youth council has proven to be successful in empowering these young people to make a difference in the community. They have learned what it means to be a leader in their community and how to strengthen their neighborhoods.

All of these accomplishments could not have been made possible without the leadership of Frances. The only thing she expects in return for her time and talents is the smiles of the many youth whose lives she has enriched. Every night after work and all day on Saturday, she is at the Youth Center. Not only is she the Founder/President of the Board of Directors and Executive Director doing all the paperwork, publicity and research, she also teaches the arts and crafts class, supervised the cheerleading class and heads the Youth Council, as well as mentoring the older youth who have taken on some of the responsibilities of peer teacher.

Sue Sisley

Sue Sisley, a resident physician at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center, is committed to preventing teen pregnancy in Arizona and nationwide. Currently, Arizona has the 4th highest rate of teen pregnancy in the country. Last year, under Sue’s leadership, the Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in conjunction with Desert Stages Theatre embarked upon a public health project entitled The Think it Through Revue, a 30 minute musical promoting sexual abstinence among teens and at-risk youth, to tour schools statewide.

Sue began a year ago by assembling teenagers from all over the Valley and orchestrating an improvisational workshop where kids replayed various adolescent interactions including dating, first love and peer pressure. Sue then videotaped these efforts and generated the script from their dialogue.

To subsidize the costs of touring the musical production, Sue, who had no prior experience writing grants, wrote more than 40 grants proposals that generated more than $120,000. In addition, Sue managed to galvanize support from diverse partners in the community– groups that have traditionally been competitive with each other– to work towards the same mission.

Over the past six months, more than 60,000 people have seen the show and there is often a deluge of kids who rush the stage afterwards to share their own personal experiences.

Since its inception, The Think It Through Revue has been supported entirely by volunteers, from the directors and producer to the writers, cast and administrative staff. Parent volunteers book, schedule and coordinate the tours and more experienced cast members aid in teaching the newer cast members.

Sue’s most recent accomplishment is the newly formed coalition with the Hispanic community. Bilingual teenagers were called upon to revamp the original script to reflect a Latino motif. The completed Spanish version, Piensalo Bien, is scheduled to premiere February of 1999.

Kendall and Betty Booth

Through their gifts of time, energy and love, Kendall and Betty Booth have provided caring and continuing relations with the young patients at Miller Children’s Long Beach Memorial Medical Center for the past 10 years.

Years ago, Kendall and Betty lost one of their own grandchildren to a brain tumor. Today, as retired professionals and grandparents, they have transformed their own loss into love, compassion and patience with other similarly afflicted children.

Between March of 1989 and September of 1998, Kendall volunteered a total of 12,196 hours. Betty, who began her volunteer service a little earlier, has volunteered 12,246 hours. Betty has faced a number of her own health challenges but regardless of her own discomfort, she is always available to hold a hand, to play cards and to offer a friendly smile to hospitalized children. The patients know her as “Grandma Betty” and just the promise of her arrival always brings a smile to a patient’s face.

Kendall plays his own important role. As coordinator of the Grandparents Program at the hospital, he selects the volunteers who will serve as surrogate grandparents for children who might not have family members available to nurture and care for them during a hospital stay. His understanding of the nature of serious pediatric illness, the importance of dedicated, trained volunteers and his personal familiarity with the individual children assist in his successful recruitment and retention of volunteers.

Parents have expressed relief from the Boothss kindness and compassion. Many have drawn comfort from the knowledge that two such caring individuals were there to sit with their children in lonely and scary times and to provide a thoughtful and comforting word to parents and patients alike.