Volunteer Probation Officers/Learning Partners of Grand Traverse County

In 1969, Probate Court Volunteers Services for Grand Traverse County began with a handful of junior college students serving as Volunteer Probation Officers (VPOs). These students, usually based in fields of study such as education, law enforcement or social science, were asked to meet with juveniles on a regular basis and to assist them in successfully completing their terms of probation. VPOs work with first offenders, and while they are not counselors, they are consistent, caring adult role models, providing structure to young lives, helping them to make more positive choices.

Some 30 years later, the volunteer services of the Probate Court has grown and evolved as the needs of the community are identified. Approximately 150 volunteers, aged 18-80, are active on a monthly basis in varied programs. Seniors as well as college students are especially prominent the Probate Court’s youth programs.

VPOs serve a great need of youth today that staff Probation Officer, with their overburdened caseloads, cannot hope to fill- that of personal one-on-one attention. VPOs, many times, serve as extended family to youth and parents because often there are no uncles, aunts or grandparents nearby. VPOs help youth look at why they are involved with the court and how they might choose to do differently in the future. Volunteers put “a face” on the community so that kids have a better feeling toward their neighbors which is believed to deter some from reoffending. VPOs help kids develop a plan; a plan for the week, the school year and life.

Another program of the Grand Traverse County Probate Court volunteer services is Learning Partners, a prevention program that targets non-court involved, at-risk students in grades one through six. Formalized in 1981, Learning Partner volunteer serve as tutor-friends supporting students in need of academic assistance with an emphasis and sensitivity toward their social developmentThe Learning Partner works in conjunction with the classroom teacher by providing individual support to the student. The Learning Partner provides emotional support and is sensitive to the social development of the students. He/she is an adult friend with whom the student may develop trust and share concerns. Learning Partners meet with their students two hours a week.

Through 1998, two full-time and one part-time paid staff have coordinated the Grand Traverse Volunteer program. These positions are funded through Grand Traverse County. VPOs receive no reimbursement. Learning Partner volunteers may receive mileage reimbursement.

Baxter Brem

Baxter Brem, a 15-year-old high school student in Portland, ME, volunteers his time brightening the lives of elderly residents at the Fallbrook Woods assisted living facility. He began volunteering because he had an interest in spending time with the elderly and wanted to make a contribution to his community that would mean something to him personally as well as help the people he came in contact with. Baxter first visited Fallbrook Woods in July of 1998. The activities he chose were to play music, do arts & crafts, talk with residents and help them write letters to their friends and family. Many of the ideas he came up with have been incorporated into the facility’s Saturday Activity Program.

Baxter spends every Saturday afternoon and two to three weekdays after school with the residents. He organizes a social, distributing ice cream cones or cookies and drinks to the residents. He plays music from their era, singing and dancing with many of the residents or conducts a sing-a-long. He might be found talking to the residents, playing games or tossing a ball. He brings laughter, fun and the joy of life to the residents.

One of the residents particularly looks forward to Baxter’s weekly visits. They have developed a very special bond, and the resident regards him as the grandson that she never had. He brings joy to 98-year old woman’s life by singing songs with her and laughing constantly.

Baxter has become an integral part of the Saturday Activity Program. The residents, as well as the staff, enjoy and depend on his afternoon program. He is described as a mature, responsible and dedicated individual. His out-going personality, entertaining skills, understanding and caring ways have made a difference in the lives of the Fallbrook Woods residents.

Genevieve Carey

Coming from a family that has always been involved in service, Genevieve Carey, the youngest of seven children, has spent the majority of her life reaching out to others. One such activity is her work with The House of Friendship Medical Brigade, which sponsors an annual mission to Honduras. The mission provides an opportunity for young people to witness life in a third world country and make a contribution toward improving the lives of the poor and needy.

Genevieve has been part of this mission for the past four summers, which is often described as a difficult one. There are no familiar landmarks to hold on to, the food is different; the work is hard and long and the living quarters are primitive. “Despite these conditions, Genevieve has inspired me, on a number of occasions with her enthusiasm and inner wisdom,” commented Patricia King, Mission Coordinator.

Genevieve participated in Medical Brigades, in which she cared for more than 400 people per day through the general medicine, adolescent, pediatric, ob-gyn and dental clinics. She has also been a major participant in The House of Friendship Orphanage Volunteer Program, which involves building, painting, cleaning and a tremendous amount of caring.

What makes her stand out is her ability to engage others in service. When torrential rains and flood devastated the area in Honduras where she had been, Genevieve asked if a chapel service could be held to pray for the victims and to get them some aid. Tearfully, Genevieve described the scene to her classmates and engaged them in a huge clothing drive. The response aided in collecting thousands of pounds of clothing. Not satisfied there, Genevieve offered endless hours to the Humanitarian Organization for the Victims of Central America (HOVCA) helping other students to organize their own collections of non-perishable goods, clothing and medicines.

Genevieve’s commitment to service has also led her to work with mentally and physically challenged children and the homeless. While working at an orphanage in Honduras, Genevieve aid “I love kids, being with them, talking to them, hugging them. What’s nothing to you is everything to them. I know when you look at these shacks and street kids; you think I’m not doing anything being here. But you do make a difference.”

“Genevieve Carey is a young woman whose volunteer work has extended far beyond what could ever be expected of one person,” remarked Dr. Barbara Judge, Convent of the Sacred Heart Upper School “As a moderator of community service efforts for the past 25 years, what I have witnessed in Genevieve these past two years has far exceeded my own experience with unselfish teenagers.”

Jerome Clemons, Jr.

In early 1997, Jerome Clemons, Jr., then a high school student in Charleston, SC, was notified that a delegate scheduled to attend the President’s Summit for America’s Future was unable to attend and that he was the selected replacement. Clemons attended the Summit and learned about the 15 million young people who were at-risk of not leading productive lives because of the lack of fundamental resources. He returned from the Summit inspired, educated and energized to make a difference.

Following the Summit, Clemons made a commitment to start a summer reading tutorial lab for elementary students. To get the program off the ground, Jerome solicited assistance from Youth Service Charleston who donated books and reading supplies to his program and helped him find area camps that needed his services. Additionally, he designed learning games to engage students in enjoyable learning and mobilized many of his friends to volunteer.

The program deals with children who live in the inner-city and who have some of the lowest test scores in the South Carolina. Each child is matched with a partner who helps them with reading mechanics. Teachers have reported an increase in the reading and vocabulary skills of participating students.

Since its first year, the summer program has grown from one site to four. Clemons believes that working with kids is the best job in the world and that the best way to build a strong foundation for a child is to show them love, hard work and respect.

Clemons currently attends Towson University in Towson, MD, where he plays soccer for the school and continues to volunteer. He hopes to major in elementary education and wants to be an elementary teacher when he graduates. “Education is the key to the future,” says Clemons, “and I hope to make children’s futures better by providing a good an education for them.”

Lucille Mullen

Lucille Mullen, a 78-year-old retiree, has been a volunteer at the Northern Regional Center for Independent Living (NRCIL) for over nine years. Mullen volunteers five days a week at NRCIL, seeing that it runs efficiently, effectively and thoughtfully. She arrives each day before 8:00 am, one hour before the Center opens, well before anyone else is there. As the Office Support Coordinator, Mullen is responsible for opening and preparing the office each morning.

Regardless of the sometimes extreme upstate New York weather, Mullen is in the office checking the machines, turning on the heat and preparing meeting rooms. She maintains a database of hundreds of names, agencies and addresses in her head. She uses her own knowledge of disabilities and personal experiences to better serve the program’s clients. As an active participant in all Center activities, Mullen lends her experience and insight to Center functions.

Mullen performs all tasks in her position: copying, typing and mailing. Around one in the afternoon, Mullen leaves, not to go home, but to head to the post office or to do any one of a number of office duties. When finished with her NRCIL duties, Mullen heads off to other volunteer sites.

Mullen has been a volunteer with Literacy Volunteers for the past 16 years, teaching inmates at the Watertown Correctional Facility how to improve their literacy skills. She does this for two hours a week. As a home tutor for the past 11 years, she works with individuals for another ten hours a week. For the past 20 years, Mullen has volunteered at the Jefferson County Ostomy Association. Additionally, she visits hospital patients, works at the local food bank and provides in-home assistance to people who are sick and/or elderly.

“The one defining line of her service to our community is that if the need is there and she can be of assistance, she’ll be there,” states Mullen’s nominator, “Anyone thinking that volunteerism is not alive need only look to Jefferson County for Lucille Mullen.”

Gina Schroeder

Gina Schroeder has volunteered as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Volunteer in Travis County since 1992, serving 15 children in that time. She has a special spot in her heart for children with challenges, whether they are physical, emotional or intellectual. The staff knows that she will leave no stone unturned in getting to the truth and understand how the courts and the community can best serve the child.

A CASA volunteer is a trained citizen, appointed by a judge to represent the best interest of a child. Kids helped by a CASA are those that have been removed from their homes because of sever abuse, neglect or abandonment.

A CASA provides a judge with a carefully researched background of the child to help the court make a sound decision about that child’s future. The CASA must determine if it is in a child’s best interest to stay with his/her parents, be placed in foster care or be freed for permanent out of home placement or adoption.

To prepare a recommendation, the CASA volunteer spends time with the child, talks to parents, family members, attorneys, social workers, school officials, therapists, teachers and others who know about the child’s history and progress.

Schroeder’s most recent case involved a family in which a child died under questionable circumstances. Two siblings of the deceased child were taken from the home while court-ordered services tried working with all of the family. Despite guarded expectations about these parents’ ability to be successful caretakers, Schroeder made every effort to see if this family could be salvaged.

Schroeder never wavered in her determination to advocate for these children and made sure all the facts came to court in a timely and accurate manner. She discovered grandparents with custody of half-siblings of the children involved in the court case. The grandparents, who were both mentally and physically challenged, came to every court hearing faithfully and showed appropriate concern for this group of grandchildren.

After these relatives asked to be considered as a placement when the parents’ rights were terminated, Schroeder made a home visit and discovered their dismal living conditions. She agonized over the circumstances but also recognized the children’s strong bond with their grandparents. Schroeder went to work and secured $20,000 in community donations to help find them affordable housing and ensured that Family Preservation Services (the agency that had originally placed these children in the home knowing what the conditions were) were engaged to help these grandparents in a positive manner. She also obtained follow-up evaluations for the caretakers to ensure their own emotional and financial support. More than six community organizations united to make donations of time, dollars and services. By orchestrating this effort, Schroeder was able to give these children the hope of staying in the home they have known for most of their young lives.

Working with children as an advocate is only one portion of Schroeder’s involvement with the CASA program. She has always been extremely involved in fundraising efforts as well. In addition, Schroeder has helped with community outreach efforts.

“It is on the shoulders of volunteers such as Gina Schroeder that the respect, appreciation, and reputation of CASA rests,” remarked Karen Cox, Executive Director, CASA of Travis County. “We are proud to have her in our community representing this organization. She is truly an inspiration to our staff, volunteers, and most importantly, to the precious children she has diligently and tirelessly served over the years.”

Box Elder High School Key Club

The Box Elder High School Key Club is dedicated to improving the present and future life of youth considered at-risk of failing school.

Box Elder High School is located in rural Brigham City, UT in an area where 62% of children have both or their only guardian in the workforce. Many guardians lack the time or skills to help their children academically. Since 1993, the dropout rate has increased 21%. A solution was needed to help Box Elder County youth stay in school.

Engaging in academic mentoring, Box Elder Key Club is helping youth succeed. Adhering to the belief that an individual’s education level and degree of academic success have a direct correlation with becoming involved in criminal behavior, teenage pregnancy, substance abuse and other at-risk behavior, their solution is to assume the role of a caring role model in the life of at-risk youth. In less than a year, 20 members have contributed some 100 individual hours of service to Project LEARN, an academic mentoring program.

Mentors teach their mentee self-empowerment and responsibility through setting and working toward goals. Students are learning valuable study and social skills. The results are evidence that they make a difference: 84% of guardians report their student is doing better in school, 88% report a decrease in school discipline episodes and 65% saw a significant increase in their child’s self-confidence.

Project LEARN is the only organized mentoring program in Box Elder County. The director of LEARN, Tabbie Mayne, believes that “without the help of the Key Club, our mentoring program may have failed. There exists a real need for this program. These youth serve both as friend and tutor. Their contributions mean the difference between hope and the despair that comes from failing.”

Mease Auxiliary CareLift Service

CareLift is a community outreach program providing patients and their family free transportation to and from hospitals, outpatient centers and medical office buildings. This program is sponsored by the Auxiliary of Mease Health Care. The service boasts four eight-passenger minivans staffed with volunteer drivers and volunteer aides. Rides are scheduled through a centralized dispatching office staffed by volunteer dispatchers.

Volunteer involvement with transportation services is not new; however, but what makes the CareLift program unique, is the fact that it is totally funded and staffed by volunteers, with no salary costs to the hospital.

About four years ago, the Auxiliary began hearing some serious concerns from volunteers who were concerned about patients driving when it was obvious they were just too sick to be behind the wheel. The Florida communities served are made up largely of a geriatric population (25% are 65 and older) and many residents live alone with no family nearby. Transportation was determined a real community problem.

Patient surveys showed 20% of patients had difficulty with transportation to and from healthcare facilities and 36% would use courtesy transportation, confirming the need for a transportation service. An Auxiliary planning task force was mobilized and input was received from Nursing Services, Risk Management, Social Services, Security and Administration. After 18 months of research and planning, on April 1, 1996, the CareLift Service became a reality.

CareLift’s achievements can be best seen through its growth in volunteers, from 18 in 1996 to 70 currently; the number of safe and reliable rides, from 2,800 in 1996 to 11,600 in 1998; and continuous feedback from their customers via surveys and letters.

“Although the benefit is obvious, not many healthcare organizations have made a commitment to provide their patients and patient’s families with transportation to and from their facilities, free or otherwise,” remarked Margie Harris, Director of Volunteer/Team Member Services, Morton Plant Mease Health Care. “It has happened for Mease Health Care because of a truly dedicated, community-focused Auxiliary. They recognized a critical need, found an innovative solution and committed the necessary financial and people resources to make the service a reality.”

Tara Church

Tara Church began her quest to make the world a better place at age eight when she co-founded the nation’s first youth environmental organization, TREE MUSKETEERS. Tara has dedicated an annual average of more than 400 hours since 1987. Now a college senior, Tara is determined to leave TREE MUSKETEERS as a legacy to tomorrow’s youth.

El Segundo, CA is a small residential community surrounded by the Los Angeles Airport on the north, a sewage treatment plant on the west, an oil refinery on the south and a major highway sprinkled with chemical factories on the east. Fearing for the future of the town’s environmental health, Tara and her peers decided that an enlarged community forest could at least mitigate the menu of environmental problems the town faced.

Tara personally mentors youth in the skills required to lead environmental action and they in turn teach other kids. Youth led community forestry and recycling projects improve the local quality of life and are designed for nationwide replication.

Tara has been in the trenches as author and editor, tree planter and care giver, event organizer and participant, speaker, mentor, grant writer, program manager and leader of huge undertakings such as National Youth Summits. Tara was the primary architect of the Partners for the Planet Network, which has mobilized some 6 million people worldwide in the youth environmental movement.

Of the 13 founders, Tara is the leader who has remained steadfastly at the helm of TREE MUSKETEERS that grew from local tree planting project to national dimensions in only five years on 100% volunteer power, in-kind donations as primary revenue source and youthful tenacity.

“I met Tara 11 years ago, when she sat down next to me on the first day of fifth grade,” remarked Tamara Smith, Tree Musketeers Board Member. “We became instant friends, and even at such a young age, I recognized in her the rare qualities of a person who effects change.”

Jane Clinard

Jane Clinard, a lifelong resident of Kalamazoo County and retiree of Bronson Methodist Hospital, sought volunteer opportunities through the local Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP). She became the facilitator of the “Every Grandchild by Two” and “Immunize by Two in Kalamazoo” programs, where she has remained for the past years.

The Every Grandchild by Two and Immunize by Two in Kalamazoo are childhood immunization programs that utilize senior volunteers to assist families in keeping children less than three years of age immunized on a timely basis.

Clinard was quick to recognize that the skills she gained as an employee of a hospital could be applicable to these programs.

As an Immunization Coordinator, Clinard provides information to prospective parents regarding the importance of protecting their children from immunization-preventable childhood diseases. For every single dollar spent on prevention, ten dollars are saved in treatment costs.

Upon receipt of the names of children under three who are delinquent in obtaining timely immunizations, Clinard prepares individual phone scripts for each child, selects the appropriate volunteer and supplies all necessary information for the volunteer to complete the assigned calls. If a phone has been disconnected or there is no phone service, Clinard initiates the appropriate individual letter.

Clinard also compiles the necessary data collected for the Department of Human Services and assists with keeping Senior Services records, accurately reflecting current family addresses and immunization status, thus enabling both programs to run as efficiently as possible.

An offer of transportation to an immunization site for parents of children under three years of age is made at the time of each individual contact. Out of county residents receive one initial reminder letter and an explanation why the family will no longer be on the call or mail list.

Reminder telephone calls are routinely made to the families, and are consistent with the recommended immunization schedule provided by the Centers for Disease Control. If the family has no telephone service or the volunteer notes that phone service has been disconnected, reminder letters are sent in an effort to maintain contact.

In 1998, Clinard facilitated 30 volunteers who made approximately 1,000 contacts with families who went on to have their children immunized. Clinard’s volunteer hours provided an estimated $1,238 in savings to the agency.

Through her diligence with the two programs and working with other community agencies, she has seen Kalamazoo County improve its immunization of children under three years of age go from less than 42% to 92%.