Parole Rotary Club B.I.G. Project

For the last five years, the Parole Rotary Club located in Annapolis, MD, with the support of Rotary District 7620, has administered, funded and staffed the B.I.G. (Books of International Goodwill) project. B.I.G. was started in 1994 by club members who realized that, in this country, thousands of books sit unused in storage rooms and attics; while students in developing countries face a critical shortage of both academic textbooks and leisure reading material. Through the hard work and dedication of club members and the compassion of many segments of the local community, more than 400,000 books have been shipped to Africa, Eastern Europe and other developing areas in the world as well as several domestic areas.

The B.I.G. project, which is managed by club member Stephen Frantzich, has distributed books to recipients such as local Maryland community centers conducting tutoring programs, an Indian mission in Kentucky, schools in South Africa, a higher education center in Bahrain and schools in Kenya and the Philippines.

The books that are shipped are acquired by donations from individuals, bookstores and local school systems. Club members and other volunteers sort the books by age level and pack them for shipping. The project is able to send a large number of books by combining donations from shipping companies, local Rotary funding, and Rotary International matching grants. Once shipped, local Rotary Clubs in the receiving countries facilitate distribution through financial and labor contributions. The cost/benefit ratio of the project is impressive. Through the combination of a small amount of money, contributed services and volunteer efforts, the books are often shipped for less than 25 cents each.

The great need for books in many countries is difficult for many Americans to imagine. One law school professor from Liberia who toured the club’s sorting facility gave an example of the dire need. She told of having a class of 120 students and only 6 textbooks. To accommodate each student, she had literally cut the books in half and let students check them out for two-hour blocks, 24 hours a day. At the sorting facility, she emptied her suitcases of clothes in order to take books back with her directly; she could not wait the three months for the shipment to arrive.

The B.I.G. project has outgrown the capabilities of the 100 member Parole Rotary Club and now has the support of Rotary District 7620. Club members also seek help from other charitable and service organizations in gathering, sorting, and packing books. By partnering with several organizations, the B.I.G. project created an inter-generational and inter-ethnic group of volunteers working together for a common purpose. Capitalizing on the State of Maryland community service requirement for secondary school graduation, numerous high school students were attracted to the project to fulfill their graduation responsibility. During 1998, volunteers contributed more than 2,500 volunteer hours to the project. Parole Rotary Club members contributed more than 1,600 hours of volunteer effort in fund raising projects to fund a major portion of the project’s yearly $12,000 budget.

The program sensitizes those with excess resources, such as books, against the potential waste and provides a vehicle for matching resources with needs. Through active partnering with a variety of organizations, the project has created a network of volunteers with different resources and skills, making effective redistribution of books possible.

Kathleen Mahoney

Doctors Without Borders/Medécins Sans Frontieres (MSF) is the world’s largest independent emergency medical relief organization. Each year, the organization sends more than 2,000 volunteers to work in countries where wars, natural and man-made disasters, epidemics and lack of access to health care put populations at risk. As one of the organization’s volunteers, Kathleen Mahoney worked in Boa Vista, Brazil and the Javari region. A dedicated humanitarian, this 28-year-old registered nurse trained local health promoters to diagnose malaria and to recognize and treat other diseases that plague their communities.

For the past three years Mahoney, a native of Wellesley, MA and currently a student at the University of Pennsylvania’s graduate nursing program, navigated treacherous Amazonian rivers, mountains and jungles to reach villagers in need of health care. From Boa Vista, a town of 100,000, she traveled by small plane, boat, horse and on foot to 40 villages throughout the region. Mahoney was part of Doctors Without Borders’ effort to help indigenous people to sustain themselves amid the rise of malaria and other health care woes.

“As a young nurse, Kathy could have chosen a much easier path to practice her profession, but her desire to help those most in need led her to venture to a region where modern conveniences were non-existent,” remarked Joelle Tanguy, Executive Director of Doctors Without Borders USA, “Through her nursing expertise and show of respect toward native medicine, she was able to combine Western medical treatment with natural remedies familiar to the region.”

Doctors Without Borders, which won the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize, launched the project in northern Brazil in 1993, to control a malaria epidemic brought on by mining in the area. The region, rich in gold, had attracted prospectors as well as their diseases, to which the indigenous populations have no resistance. As part of a Doctors Without Borders team, Mahoney, together with local organizations, provided microscopes to nearly 40 villages and launched a training program for indigenous people to diagnose and treat malaria. There is now at least one trained microscopist in each village and the number of annual cases of malaria in the area has been cut by almost half since the project began.

During her nearly three years in the Amazon, Mahoney worked with numerous indigenous populations in their own communities. Teams took small planes to an airstrip in the mountains, and then hiked on foot or took a canoe or horse to remote villages, carrying boxes of medicine and equipment like IV kits and first aid materials.

Once she arrived in a village, Mahoney teamed up with local health workers and exchanged knowledge as they attended to patients together. She traveled from house to house by canoe through waters rife with snakes, alligators and piranhas. In addition to malaria, Mahoney treated many cases of pneumonia, hepatitis, skin infection, urinary tract infection, flu and local illness. At night, she slept in a hammock that she would hang up in the local school or health post, eating a diet of cassava root, beans and local grains.

“It was very difficult for me to imagine that this would be my daily routine,” says Kathy, “but now I can’t imagine not doing it. It has been an incredible learning experience.”

The educational process between Doctors Without Borders volunteers and indigenous health workers is mutual. Mahoney learned a great deal about traditional treatments while training health workers in modern medical practices. The Brazil program’s overall success has gained it much support and it has already been taken over by a local health organization.

Diane Vibhakar

Diane Vibhakar is the kind of volunteer that all coordinators hope to have in their program. Diane helps in all capacities: she folds and staples, she stands in the rain at bus stops, she decorates all day for the big reception, she serves on advisory committees that meet to be sure that a parent’s voice is heard and she stores boxes and boxes of books in her house for the Reading is FUNdamental program. Diane Vibhakar embodies what Volunteers in Public Schools (VIPS) is all about.

Diane has held just about every volunteer job that exists in the Little Rock School District. From PTA president, to VIPS chairperson, to Partners in Education liaison, to district-wide Reading is FUNdamental coordinator, to tutor, reader and bus stop monitor, to helping design the Vital Link program, to serving on numerous district-wide advisory committees and task forces, to helping lead the district through a community-wide strategic planning process; she’s done it all.

Diane lives and breathes the Little Rock School District all day, every day. She is a recognized parent leader in the district, and she does it all in a quiet, unassuming manner. Diane likes to be a behind-the-scenes worker, not the public mouthpiece for a project. She is in it for the kids—all kids—not just her own.

Diane commits her time to the areas of need that she feels are greatest in the district. She took on Reading is FUNdamental because she saw that the students in the district were going to miss an opportunity to receive free books since there was no one to coordinate the program. The same is true for the art program, Young Authors program, Junior Great Book program and the tutoring program that she helped start at Fulbright Elementary School.

Diane is always a hands-on volunteer, even when she is in a leadership role. Diane almost single-handedly coordinated the district’s Reading is FUNdamental program which included distributing thousands of free books to students. Diane ordered, stored and delivered all of those books.

Last year, Diane chaired VIPS’ 25th Anniversary Service Day, which placed a volunteer reader in each of the district’s 673 elementary classrooms. This was something that had never been done in VIPS’ 25 years with the school district.

Diane’s volunteer efforts with the district have affected literally thousands of children. The Junior Great Books program at Fulbright is still active, with volunteers working with hundreds of students each year. The Reading is FUNdamental program provided books to 8,000 students over its four years. The Service Day readers read to 14,459 students on March 25, 1998 and again on November 17, 1998. These are just three of the many programs that Diane has impacted in her 13-year service to the Little Rock School District.

Diane Vibhakar is a hard worker, clearly committed to public education and one of the best examples of true parent and community involvement.

Stephen Tang

Stephen Tang didn’t start out with a burning desire to establish a community health center for the Asian immigrant community in Boston. He had little in common with most Chinatown residents and little knowledge of community health care issues. Tang was a newcomer from Illinois and with his degree in Electrical Engineering had settled into a career in the telecommunications industry.

He did, however, want to do something. His parents were immigrants from China and he wanted to assist the community in some way. In 1979, Tang joined the Chinese Community Health Projects Task Force, as the need for appropriate health care for the low-income, non-English speaking community in Chinatown became a critical issue. It was through the efforts of this Task Force that in 1972, Boston Chinese Community Health Services (which later became South Cove Community Health Center) was established with a mission to provide bilingual, culturally competent and affordable health services for its residents. More than a quarter century later, South Cove provides 75,000 clinic visits and more than 20 preventative health care programs out of six sites, is a major Chinatown employer and is an important advocate for the continued health and welfare for the residents of Chinatown.

“Tang’s interest has developed into a devotion to ensure access to health care for the Asian community, which spans nearly 30 years, described Peggy Leong, Executive Director, South Cove Community Health Center. “From his membership on the Task Force, to his current office as Treasurer of the Board of Directors, Tang has been South Cove’s leader, motivator and conscience.”

Over the years, Tang has held every Board office, multiple times. He has represented South Cove in its fight for community benefits from a local hospital. His role of historian plays a major part in clarifying issues.

His dedication to the effort is demonstrated best through his actions. In 1972, Tang took a three-month leave of absence from his job to oversee the start-up of clinic operations. His interest also led him to a new career. His four years of medical school were the only break he has taken from active support of South Cove.

Most recently, Dr. Tang and other members of the board formed a “transition committee” which effectively ran the health center after the executive director left. For six months, until a new director was hired, Tang and his colleagues spend hundreds of hours ensuring health center operations and its mission remained intact.

“Tang considers himself the ‘old man’ of the board,” remarked Leong. “We think ‘heart’ or ‘spirit’ describe him better.”

Shandra Borgen

When the Grand Forks Mission lost its kitchen to a flood, it continued serving meals with help from the National Guard, ND and from a special teenager—Shanda Borgen. Thirteen year old Shanda baked and delivered more than 500 mini-loaves and 30 dozen cookies to the Grand Forks Mission.

Even through Shanda lives 40 miles away in Niagara, she continues to funnel her personal resources into projects for the Grand Forks Mission. She has initiated projects such as “Day to Day,” in which her fellow 4-H members answer meeting roll-calls by donating items that are on the mission’s daily needs list. She then coordinates transportation, with her grandmother, to deliver the collected items. The Mission saved more than $2,000 last year by the “Day to Day” project intake.

Shanda has also started and finished several other volunteer service activities. Using money from her own allowance and asking friends and family to donate flour, sugar and bananas, Shanda made an additional 300 mini-loaves of bread for the Mission Banquet. She additionally sponsored a bake sale which netted $400.

Shanda solicited candies and small gifts from family, friends and fellow 4-H members to fill Halloween treat bags for residents which were handed out at the Mission. Additionally, she organized a Christmas Mug gift project for the Mission residents. Each coffee mug was filled with personal care items and a small gift.

Shanda wrote and was awarded a $1,000 grant from Wal-Mart to help the homeless communicate with their families with post cards, stationery and stamps. She also worked with her local and state 4-H chapters to help educate the public, through booths, bake sales and fund drives, about the needs of the homeless population.

In addition to her service activities, Shanda is actively involved in extracurricular activities including, band, basketball and volleyball.

“Shanda is proof that teenagers do care and can make a difference,” remarked Karen Frisch, Grand Forks Mission, Resource Development Director, “if there were more teenagers like her, there would be no need for a city mission or government programs to help the needy.”

Cinda Seamon

Prior to 1986, there had not been a rape crisis center on Hilton Head Island. Crisis calls were handled by an office an hour away. In 1986, Cinda Seamon took training to become a rape crisis intervention volunteer. With three other volunteers, Seamon began holding meetings once a month, sending out a newsletter and providing schedules of on-call volunteers to the hospital and sheriff’s department. Through her hard work, the beginnings of the Rape Crisis Center began to take shape.

After a few years as a structured crisis center, the group gained a solid reputation in the community and new volunteers began to join the effort. Seamon continues to head up the group of volunteers in Hilton Head, providing training, meetings, newsletters and schedules. Her 24-hour companion, a pager, remains within arm’s reach and ear’s range at all times.

Seamon has handled hundreds of sexual assault cases over the years, which means participating in evidence collection, dealing with family members in the waiting room of the hospital and providing follow-up for legal action and counseling for the survivor.

The center is now well known on Hilton Head Island and assistance is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Additionally, the Rape Crisis Center on Hilton Head has started a support group which meets in a room donated by the hospital. One of the volunteers is a certified counselor and provides counseling for survivors.

Seamon is also a volunteer Lieutenant with Hilton Head Island Fire & Rescue, where she has been a member since 1990. Along with riding the ambulance and other responsibilities, Seamon heads up the Junior Program, a program for high school students 16-18-years of age who actually ride the ambulance and participate in all duties and aspects of Hilton Head Island Fire & Rescue. The program is designed to give students insight into the emergency medical field and also provide a challenging extracurricular activity. The Junior Program has been honored nationally by the Fire Insurance Association.

Mountain Trails Youth Ranch

Through the Juvenile Restitution Program at the Mountain Trails Youth Ranch (MTYR), located in Monte Vista, CO, youth that have committed crimes participate in supervised work projects where they can earn money owed for their court-ordered restitution. MTYR partners with various agencies in the San Luis Valley in South Central Colorado to provide the work projects. Activities have included numerous trial projects and campground contracts with the Rio Grande National Forest, the Bureau of Land Management, Great Sand Dunes National Monument, the Division of Wildlife, Colorado Off Highway Vehicles and various projects for individuals in the valley.

Participants in the program learn the work skills and ethics necessary to hold a job while at the same time are given the opportunity to make amends for previous wrongdoing. The Restitution Program teaches youth that they are accountable for their behavior and assists them in becoming productive members of the community. The youth receive a weekly wage, with 85% of the money paid to court and 15% to the youth. Approximately 20% of the program’s budget comes from the State Division of Criminal Justice. A crew of 12 young people working 40 hours a week costs the agencies approximately $1,200, which is one-fourth less than it would cost to have an in-house crew.

In the past six years, more than 500 young people have participated in the program, contributing more than 53,000 work hours on public lands. Twelve trail projects have been complete in the Rio Grande National Forest and over 61 miles of trail maintenance and reconstruction has been completed, saving federal agencies approximately $540,000 in trail construction costs.

With each successful project completed by MTYR, their reputation grows. The success of this endeavor has demonstrated to the community and other local groups the potential for creating partnerships within the local community.

Neighbor to Neighbor

A coalition of representatives from eight human service agencies, 13 area congregations and four community organizations from seven rural towns in central Yavapai County, AZ convened in the spring 1996 to discuss how they could more effectively help the homebound, elderly and disabled in their rural community. Minimal services existed for the homebound in the rural communities along the Highway 69 corridor from Prescott Valley to Cordes Lakes, AZ, a 45-mile stretch of highway with a combined population of some 30,000. According to census data, 28% of the citizens in this area are 65 or older.

Neighbor to Neighbor (NtN) is an Arizona nonprofit volunteer interfaith caregiving program formed in 1996 to address the needs of the elderly/disabled identified such as transportation to and from medical and business appointments, shopping assistance, business help, respite care, handyperson/chore service and visiting to alleviate isolation and depression. From 1996 to 1997, 60 volunteers served 3,105 hours and drove 9,740 miles to help their neighbors.

In 1998, NtN entered into a partnership with the Yavapai County Health Department to do case management for the rural elderly and has advocated for services with other agencies, helped get needed medical services and assisted with the family process of making some tough decisions for the most incapacitated rural elders along the Corridor. NtN also opened a social day-center for seniors. Additionally, in September of 1998, NtN began working with four other agencies to do county-wide community education to help identify the most isolated elderly who may be experiencing behavioral health problems and Alzheimer’s. In 1998, NtN experienced an almost 100% growth factor, more than 100 volunteers served more than 5,700 hours and drove 17,000 miles.

All NtN volunteers attend an initial 2-hour training and orientation session. Each volunteer must provide at least 3 references and is covered for liability under the program’s insurance policy. Volunteers continue their training and personal growth by attending periodic workshops that cover topics related to aging such as depression, communication skills, working with memory-impaired adults, death and dying.

NtN is committed to establishing working partnerships within the community that bridge the gap in services to the rural elderly and homebound as well as raising consciousness about the issues of aging. NtN considers itself as a low-cost, high-impact program. The program is funded by individual contributions, member congregations, business, foundation grants and fundraising events.

Davine Schwarz

Davine Schwarz’s long and ongoing relationship with the West Islip Public Library began in 1974. Her only child, Lee, had passed away after a long battle with leukemia and she came to the library to set up a fund in her memory.

At that time, Schwarz was asked if she would like to volunteer a few hours at the library. She agreed immediately and began her first library assignment with The Bookmobile. The bus would start at the library and travel a regular route within the community, serving those community members who were either without transportation or had a disability. Schwarz found books for these patrons and forged a relationship with each of them. The few hours she volunteered changed quickly to 25 hours per week.

In 1975, Schwarz realized there was a serious need within the area for literacy assistance. The library provided training for those interested in becoming literacy volunteers. She had her hands full at this point, between the Bookmobile and now working as a literacy volunteer. Education though, whether it be learning to read or the pursuit of a master’s degree, is so important to Schwarz that much of her free time is spent in the pursuit of any new way to add to the educational facilities at the West Islip Public Library.

In 1987, the library was computerizing its circulation system, but had run into a stumbling block. If the library staff alone was to attempt to bar coding the library’s 200,000 items, the project would have taken more than two years. When Schwarz heard about the project she volunteered her help. She soon saw, though, that more than her 25 volunteer hours per week were needed to finish the bar-coding job. Schwarz was working with an organization called “Friends of the Library” and enlisted the group’s help to complete the project, enabling the library to be online in less than one year.

For the past 10 years, she has volunteered her time in the Processing Department of the library, where she adds AV material to the computer system. She has also served for the past 10 years on the Board of Trustees of the library, where she has been voted in as President of the Board by her fellow Trustees for the past three years.

Vecinos Unidos/Neighbors United

Herndon is the fifth most densely population community in Virginia and home to a diverse population. Approximately 20% of the population is represented by immigrants from Central and South American countries, India, Pakistan and other Middle Eastern countries. Without a comprehensive human service agency located in Herndon and cutbacks of school-funded homework and mentoring programs, there was a critical need to serve the growing immigrant population, particularly children at risk of social and academic failure due to language barriers.

Vecinos Unidos grew out of a Herndon Town Council task force formed in 1992 and experienced a rebirth in 1996 when Captain Darryl Smith, longtime Herndon resident and 25-year veteran of the Herndon Police Department, became chairman of the group. To increase visibility and participation, meetings were moved to a donated office in an apartment complex, Elden Terrace, which is located in a predominately Hispanic neighborhood. In April 1997, a homework assistance program opened. Currently, between 40 and 50 children attend three evenings per week, with regular attendees showing improved grades and behavior at school. More than 80% of the 200 children living in the area have participated in Vecinos Unidos programs.

Initially, Smith recruited a handful of volunteer tutors from other civic organizations, Elden Terrace staff and the local high school. Today, an average of 15 volunteers participates each evening. They are of diverse ages, cultures and professions.

In addition, Vecinos Unidos, sponsors a Girl Scout Troop at Elden Terrace, collects and distributes clothing to families, organizes and assists in a county-sponsored free lunch program for children in the summer and operates a health education and screening program conducted by a student nurse. This screening program has resulted in the detection of significant vision and hearing problems in children.

Local businesses have donated many computers to use in the homework office and to be distributed to households. In turn, Vecinos Unidos has donated a few computers to another community in Fairfax, VA to replicate the homework program. In February 1999, a second homework office was opened in Herndon and a third is soon to follow.