Interval House: The Second Generation

The majority of the members of the Interval House: The Second Generation youth program grew up in homes devastated by domestic violence. This diverse group of teens, The Second Generation, struggled and overcame the likelihood of becoming abusers and victims of violence themselves. Fleeing to Interval House with their mothers as terrified four or five-year-olds, they have grown into passionate teens, with the power to utilize their traumatic past to educate and steer future generations from violence. The inspiration and driving force to their completely volunteer-run youth program has been the hope that other youth may not experience the struggles they were once forced to face.

This program has expanded since the beginning of Interval House in 1979. Using their own memories and experiences, Second Generation youth have developed a curriculum involving personal stories and dramatic skits capturing the minds of any audience.

In addition to providing their heart-grabbing presentations to numerous forums, all youth involved in this program also volunteer their time as mentors and peer counselors. As state-certified domestic violence advocates, they are available on-call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (in over 30 different languages) on their own teen-hotline. They are also available to do one-on-one peer counseling with youth who are at-risk or are encountering relationship violence.

These young people have crossed the line of understanding of their own background and joined hands to learn about the different cultures that they all come from and to appreciate and tolerate their differences and commonalities. They have cried together, laughed together and shared individual strengths with one another. They have instilled a sense of hope of a future with less violence.

“By beginning relationship violence prevention early with teens and providing resources to children who may feel helpless in violent homes, Second Generation teens are truly proving that even the most difficult challenges can end in triumph,” remarked Monsignor Ernest Gualderon, Principal, Saint Anthony High School and Priest, Saint Anthony Church.

Peace Games, Inc.

For the past eight years, Peace Games (PG) has worked to change children’s ideas and beliefs about violence. PG operates under the premise that violence is a learned behavior and so the principles of peace can also be learned.

In 1992, Dr. Francelia Butler, a children’s literature professor at the University of Connecticut at Storrs, brought PG to the Phillips Brooks House Association, Harvard University’s community service program. For three years before coming to Harvard, PG existed as an annual festival that united hundreds of Connecticut children to share their visions for peace. For four years as a student-run program at Harvard, volunteers directed the program and expanded its services annually.

Propelled by rapid growth and the increased involvement of college volunteers from universities in addition to Harvard, PG was incorporated in 1996 with seed money from the Echoing Green Foundation and Youth Service America to serve as a national model for combining community service and violence prevention. What began as a one-day event involving a few hundred elementary schools students is now a year-round program that includes 3,500 elementary and middle school students, 230 college volunteers, 250 school staff and hundreds of parents in making Boston-area schools safe.

With the use of an experiential curriculum written for each grade level, PG aims to build the skills needed to change the way children think about and act in violent-potential situations. Through games, role-playing and community service projects, PG challenges the leaders of tomorrow to become the peacemakers of today. In addition, the curricula have been designed to match statewide school standards. Lesson extenders, which complement the curricula, are distributed to the teachers each week. The extenders can be incorporated into English, history and art.

Realizing that families are crucial to building safer school communities, PG also works to extend lessons in the home. PG offers training workshops and special event nights to acquaint families with the same lessons their children are learning during the weekdays. In addition, children are given family and community connections homework pages, which offer activities that reinforce the program.

PG’s foundation is built upon relationships. Relationships cultivated between young adults and students are a key factor to success. It provides college students the opportunity to become involved in the community beyond their campuses. A considerable number of past volunteers have even changed their majors to education after realizing how significant PG is to them and their students.

Agnes Flaherty

Agnes Flaherty has contributed to several programs and initiatives to hospice care in Southern Maine. Volunteering approximately 40 hours per week, she currently serves on the Board of Directors for Visiting Nurse Service of Southern Maine, Wardell Home for the Aging, The Pines and Board Member Emeritus at Community Health Services.

Out of her dedication to hospice care, Agnes coordinated the hospice program of Hospice Volunteers of Southern Maine from 1980 to 1988 as a volunteer. She has long been committed to providing comprehensive hospice services to patients and families in their homes and has been very influential in the growth of volunteer hospice services. When the volunteer program merged with the Visiting Nurse Service of Southern Maine to become the Hospice of Visiting Nurse Services, Agnes played a critical role in assuring that the hospice needs of patients and families would still be met, by creating a Hospice Advisory Committee to guide the transition of the merger.

Agnes has been involved in this program in several capacities. She was initially directly involved in the development of volunteer services and facilitating teaching and training. She has provided leadership to the program in several roles, as board member and president, public relations ambassador, community liaison, fund-raiser, volunteer recruiter, and hospice bookstore manager.

Hospice of VNS continues to benefit from one of Agnes’ most creative and innovative projects. To obtain the funds needed for staff positions, education and training and operating expenses, Ages spearheaded the creation and opening of two hospice bookstores. These stores sell donated used books at reasonable prices to help fund the volunteer program. Agnes single handedly created systems for book donations, recycling, volunteer recruitment and scheduling. The stores grossed more than $35,000 in revenue in 1999.

Warriors Against Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is the most common major cancer occurring in men today and the second leading cause of cancer death of African-American men. One out of every six men will develop prostate cancer in their lifetime. Delaware is ranked 10th highest in the nation in prostate cancer mortality and the cancer incidence rate is 78% higher in blacks than all other men. These findings highlight the importance of targeting African-American men for screening and educational programs.

Trial data indicates that with less than a 10 percent participation rate among African-American men, the current approach to recruitment into prostate cancer screening is not as effective as it can be. Efforts must be based where African-American men normally congregate within the community. Consequently, at Christiana Care Health Services, a special group called the Warriors Against Prostate Cancer was formed.

Men meet each month on a volunteer basis to identify barriers to screening in their communities as well as to find ways to spread the message of the importance of prostate cancer screening to other high risk men.

Because of the work these men are doing, participation in prostate screenings at Christiana Care, Wilmington Hospital, has increased from 5% in 1996 to 19% in just two years. In 1998, 38% of men screened for the first time were African-American.

Currently, increased participation in early detection screening programs with diagnosis of the disease at an early stage offers the best opportunity for successful treatment of prostate cancer.

The group’s other activities include collaborating on mass media communication with the American Cancer Society Wilmington Prostate Task Force, the distribution of the group and its mission at special regional events and incorporating women into its fight to disperse the life-saving information.

An estimated 184,500 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in the United States during 1999. The Warriors, through their efforts, plan to continue to stress behavioral modification and attitudinal change by taking the campaign to the streets.

Patricia Mitchell

Patricia Mitchell became involved in the Youth Companion Program at the Washtenaw County Family Independence Agency in Michigan several years ago. She volunteered her time and attention as a Big Sister starting in 1991 and has continued with the program to the present. She has been matched with the same young lady, now 14-years-old, for more than eight years now.

The Youth Companion Program is a mentoring program that matches adult volunteers with children in need of a caring adult in their life. The program serves boys and girls ages five to seventeen that are generally referred by a social services worker. The volunteers spend time weekly with the children and serve as role models and adult friends to them. The volunteers also spend valuable time with the children, helping with homework, social skills and introducing them to new experiences.

Mitchell is described as having gone over and beyond her call as a mentor. The bond between Mitchell and her Little Sister happened very early in their relationship and has been strengthened through the years. There have been some very rough periods for this child (physical abuse, emotional abuse and trouble in school) and Mitchell has been there through it all. She has been there for unconditional support.

In addition to their weekly meetings, Mitchell has included her Little Sister in family trips; their annual tradition is a weekend at an amusement park. Mitchell’s Little Sister has spent the night several times at her house and met new neighborhood friends. Mitchell, additionally, has helped her Little Sister obtain jobs as a babysitter. When her Little Sister was in need of braces, Mitchell, after exhausting efforts to find an agency that could help, arranged and transported the child to her appointments and paid for the cost of the braces.

In addition to the one-on-one time Mitchell spends with her Little Sister, she is also very active in attending Youth Companion program activities as well as giving support and guidance to new companions.

Besides the above-mentioned volunteer efforts, Mitchell also volunteers in other areas of the community as well. Her most recent effort was running in a marathon for the Leukemia Society. Unfortunately, an injury sidelined her; however, she still raised $2,200 for the cause.

Gregory Fainberg

Gregory Fainberg is a unique and compassionate volunteer who began visiting Shady Grove Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in March of 1994. He wakes up every morning, Monday through Friday, looking forward to spending three hours of his day helping others. To date, Greg has contributed almost 5,000 hours as a volunteer at Shady Grove.

Greg is a remarkable individual who overcame many obstacles to dedicate his time to volunteering. Born visually impaired and with cerebral palsy, Greg uses a wheelchair. Although he is limited to the amount of physical activity he can do, he has an amazing will and manages to accomplish an extraordinary amount of things.

Greg is supported by SEEC, a non-profit organization dedicated to enabling persons with developmental disabilities to become contributing members of their community. SEEC and Greg’s family believe that he has the right to work within his community in the same manner as his non-disabled peers. They help him to determine what he wants for his life and support him in making his personal visions a reality.

Greg has a desire to give to his community. Part of his personal vision is to help the staff and residents at Shady Grove. Every morning, Greg takes a cab to work where he is met by a SEEC Employment Specialist. With her assistance, he helps the staff and residents with the group activities and day-to-day tasks. He greets all residents as they arrive and helps with miscellaneous tasks; such as the distribution of materials, clean up, and his favorite—calling bingo. He also provides companionship for many residents.

The residents are delighted to see Greg as he delivers their mail every morning. This social young man always has something nice to say and brightens every room he is in. He knows all of the residents’ names and their voices and he considers them his friends.

Before his work at Shady Grove, Greg spent two years with Lealand Recreation Center in Montgomery County. From 1991 to 1993, he volunteered at the activities desk, welcoming guests, checking ID’s, and handing out sports equipment. As a result of his work, Greg received an Outstanding Volunteer Award from the Montgomery County Community Service Partnership, Inc. and the Volunteer Center.

Through Greg’s charitable activities, he sets an example for other SEEC clients and staff. They see the consistency and quality of his accomplishments and realized they are also capable of helping others through volunteering. Everyone knows Greg because of his cheerful presence and because he was one of SEEC’s original clients when the nonprofit began in 1988. As a founding member of the organization, Fainberg’s mother saw the need for her son to work and give to the community.

“Greg accomplishes so much through his volunteer activities,” states Karen Lee, SEEC, Executive Director.” He not only enriches the lives of the elderly through his companionship, but he also brings attention to individuals with developmental disabilities. With the right support, he has given back to his community. It certainly has not been easy, but Greg wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Orange County Volunteer Program

Orange County has a long history of volunteerism where residents often step forward and offer their rich, diverse pool of talents and skills in an effort to help others in need. Despite a spirit of giving, historically, there has been a lack of communication between individuals who are willing to give their time and various social service programs that are in need of volunteers.

Two years ago, Orange County Supervisor, Jim Silva, recognized the potential benefits to be gained from tapping into the community. Silva explored the concept of creating a volunteer program to help coordinate all volunteer opportunities available throughout county government. As a result, the Orange County Volunteer Program was established in 1997.

In its first year of implementation, the OC Volunteer Program worked in conjunction with 15 county agencies that sponsor more than 30 volunteer and internship programs. Annually, 14,350 people contribute more than 670,000 volunteer hours throughout the County. These contributions represent $10 million in avoided county costs. The only cost of the program is the salary of one full-time employee, the Volunteer Coordinator.

This program functions as the primary contact for existing volunteer programs throughout the county. In addition, the program facilitates expansion by working with county agencies and departments to create additional volunteer opportunities. The program has created a vital link between volunteer agencies, schools and universities, senior citizens groups as well as religious and private sector groups.

The OC Volunteer Program has strengthened several volunteer projects throughout the county by providing additional support to county agencies, enabling them to fine-tune their volunteer and internship programs. Volunteers serve the community in a variety of ways. Individuals may serve as mentors to children experiencing emotional problems through “Project Together.” Others may volunteer for the “Cold Weather Homeless Program,” setting up cots and serving hot meals in the evenings for homeless people in search of shelter from the cold. Still others may find they can reach a child who has been placed in the juvenile detention facility through the probation department’s “VIP” program. Regardless of where a volunteer’s strengths and interests lie, the Orange County Volunteer Program facilitates proper recruitment and matches.

The program has not only administratively strengthened the volunteer and internship programs by making them more efficient, but, more importantly, it has allowed more people to be touched by generosity of individuals desiring to give of their time.

Lieutenant Michael Cash

The Law Enforcement and Parole (L.E.A.P.) program was initially started in 1990 by San Diego Police Department Community Relations Officer Michael Cash.

Officer Cash was approached by the Education Instructor at Richard J. Donovan State Prison about being a guest speaker for one of the pre-release classes held at the prison. Officer Cash arrived at the prison and found a hostile, yet attentive, audience of about 25 inmates.

The inmates had never been taught by a law enforcement officer in an environment that gave them the freedom to express themselves openly and honestly about their fears regarding treatment by the police. At the end of this two-hour training session, the inmates shook hands with Officer Cash and thanked him for the interchange. Thus began the L.E.A.P. program.

Officer Cash knew this type of interaction was not occurring anywhere else in the State of California. He developed learning goals and objectives, a resource manual, a training class outline and a rights and responsibilities information sheet to accompany his training sessions. The training consisted of a one-day, two-hour session at a selected site each month. This project was outside the scope of his assigned duties. The majority of his research work was done on his own time without compensation. He has since recruited more than 20 officers that have gone into the prison and participated with the inmates in the training. This opening of dialogue between future parolees and law enforcement officers has assisted in bridging the gap from prison to release for inmates and decreasing tensions between parolees and law enforcement personnel.

The program is now in its ninth year, with more than 2,000 inmates having participated. Two years after the initiation of this training, Officer Cash was promoted to Sergeant and transferred to another assignment. He continues to find time to teach the program and expose other officers to the curriculum. Even after being promoted to Lieutenant, Cash still teaches every class.

Officers have expressed a better understanding of parolees and the difficulties they face readjusting in the community after prison life. Parolees have expressed a better understanding of the duties and responsibilities of law enforcement and how the negative decisions they make as parolees affect not only themselves but others as well.

Alyson Cangemi

Alyson Cangemi, a senior attending Ridgewood High School in Ridgewood, NJ, undertook the cause of donor awareness in the summer of 1997, following the deaths of two local students in automobile accidents. While the community was grieving, Alyson tried to make sense of the tragedies and began thinking of a way to make a difference in Ridgewood. She was aware of the importance of organ and tissue donation; including the fact that one donor has the potential to save the lives of seven people and decided that making her community aware of donation and transplantation was how she could make a difference.

Alyson embarked on her campaign to raise awareness in partnership with The New Jersey Organ and Tissue Sharing Network (The Sharing Network), the federally certified organ procurement organization responsible for recovering organs and tissue in New Jersey. There is a profound need for donated organs and tissues throughout the country. According to the Sharing Network, as of today, there are some 50,000-plus Americans awaiting life-saving transplants and, on average, just 20,000 transplants are performed each year.

Alyson organized nine of her friends and together the students went door-to-door in Ridgewood and contacted some 24,000 residents with donor education materials. In total, the students collected more than 7,000 donor cards and 11,000 pledges from residents to discuss this issue with their families.

Alyson continues to work to promote donor awareness and, through her efforts, the Ridgewood program has been duplicated by students from two other New Jersey communities. In addition, Alyson has continued to work with her high school and has arranged for a heart recipient to become a regular guest speaker at the school. She has also reached out to the parents of a donor in a neighboring town and has worked collaboratively with them to promote awareness activities in their communities.

“When our daughter, Amy Federici, was murdered and we became on organ donor family, we could not have known the far-reaching healing impact that decision would have on our lives,” remarked Arlene Locicero, Donor Mother. “In the ensuing years, we have been privileged to meet and know other donor families…and a young woman named Alyson Cangemi. She is, in fact, a dedicated, sensitive young woman who understands the need to proclaim the message of the ‘gift of life’ to those in her school, her community and other communities. She has provided a lasting memory for us all.”

YMCA at Virginia Tech – Student Programs

The YMCA at Virginia Tech has been serving the community as a nonprofit organization for 126 years. In 1986, the YMCA began Student Programs as a response to the nascent student volunteer movement. Since then, they have been uniquely successful at transforming the energy and enthusiasm of college students into committed and thoughtful community service. From their humble beginnings, they have grown to providing more than 8,000 hours of community service to the New River Valley of Virginia each year. This year they offer 15 programs, all coordinated by student leaders, which will directly serve the region.

The model for the program consists of recruiting student leaders from the Virginia Tech community and preparing them to coordinate and manage a corps of volunteers to serve in each program area.

These programs fall into several general categories. They support the public schools through tutoring in six local elementary schools, one middle school and the town high school, staffing school nurses offices in two of these elementary schools, after-school programs for children at three low-income housing complexes, mentoring in two 4-H sites and sponsoring a Buddy Program for developmentally challenged students. Additionally, they send their volunteers to six regional HeadStart sites.

The program’s commitment to the broader community is felt through Project Home Repair, a community garden and their "Community Pets" program, which sends volunteers and their pets into local nursing homes. The Alternative Spring Breaks divert students from the typical bacchanalia of spring into a positive week of work and sharing at four sites: Appalachia, inner-city Washington, D.C., a Native American reservation and an international site.

In addition to working with student volunteers, YMCA Student Programs also offers all these opportunities to students who participate in Virginia Tech’s Service-Learning Program. In the previous academic year, 63 students received class credit in courses designed by their professors to integrate the community into the classroom.

Much of the strength of the YMCA Student Programs lies in the outstanding work of the student Program Leaders. These young people commit on the average five to 10 hours a week as volunteer leaders. They undergo an intensive training program through the Y, and are then responsible for coordinating all aspects of their individual programs. They learn the skills, values and qualities necessary for leadership development and program management. They gain an opportunity to ground their academic work in real-life experience. Many of the program leaders have gone on to AmeriCorps, Peace Corps, teaching, and many other people and society friendly occupations.

In April 1999, YMCA Student Programs was selected by the YMCA of the USA to participate in a national pilot project designed to promote civic engagement among young adults aged 18-29. As a pilot Young Adult Civic Connector Center, they have been able to expand their training, support, and community service/leadership opportunities to young adults who are not necessarily Virginia Tech students. They are focusing on involving young adults into every aspect of community, government, and political life by partnering with various organizations from the nonprofit, for-profit, and government sectors.