VERNON STEWART
The Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association (MIFA) of Memphis, Tennessee, encompasses more than 30 different programs, serving thousands of individuals. The MIFA Meals program feeds 3,000 people daily; 1,500 of those meals are delivered to frail, homebound citizens with the help of nearly 100 volunteers each weekday. In addition to the hot, balanced meals, the volunteers deliver lots of concern and smiles and provide a physical report on these isolated individuals that may have no one else to check on them.
Of the thousands of dedicated volunteers that the MIFA Meals program has had in its 23-year history, Vernon Stewart is one of the outstanding. At 75 years of age, Stewart has delivered meals for almost 16 years. He presently drives his own vehicle three days per week on delivery routes in some of the roughest areas of Memphis.
For many years Stewart would volunteer five times week, sometimes taking more than one route at a time. He lets nothing stop his service to these needy residents. He has often completed his route despite illness and in all kinds of weather. Once, while on a route, he had an accident and was struck by a hit-and-run driver. Another time his car was stolen while he was delivering meals in a crime-infested area. Stewart also suffers from diabetes and serious vision impairment, but none of his ailments have kept him from serving others.
For a few years, Stewart’s vision became so poor that he was unable to drive. He refused to give up his volunteer service, so he became a part of the Red Cross Daily Hello program and made phone calls to isolated elderly people, giving them reassurance and friendship. Stewart’s energy was not long absorbed by telephone contact work, so he resumed his meal’s delivery volunteer service as a running partner for MIFA drivers. He would ride a city bus to MIFA, which entailed quite a walk to bus stops and a bus ride of more than 25 miles. With a supreme effort, treatment and specially designed glasses, Stewart was eventually able to regain his driving status and was joyous to be on his own again.
In addition to being active in his church (Sunshine Chairman for ten years), Stewart has been a newspaper deliveryman for a non-profit service paper for seniors and a volunteer visitor for MIFA’s Coordinated Care Case Management program. In the latter capacity, he visited frail elderly people to offer needed support and assistance in arranging services for them. An estimate of the hours that Vernon Stewart has given MIFA alone would be 12,000 hours.
SUSAN WODA
An article in the local newspaper that threatened the elimination of general music classes and the scaling back of art and music programs for 6th and 7th graders prompted Susan Woda to take action to ensure access to arts education each semester for every child. Woda testified to the School Board that her desire to learn and excel in middle school was unchallenged in academic classes and that music programs changed her life and generated momentum for her to embrace excellence.
Her widely reported testimony was pivotal in the subsequent rejection of these proposals. Energized by this success, Woda began recruiting an informal network of hundreds of volunteers, known as ARTSupporters, to focus on three objectives – encourage children to try the arts, promote the benefits of arts education, and impact public policy regarding arts education.
Woda has instituted an annual music camp scholarship and music instrument recycling, funded by her own part-time jobs, which has directly impacted more than 850 children. She also developed the “3 C’s” – CARE, COMMIT, & COMMUNICATE – to provide a framework for arts education advocates to become activists. Pursuant to this effort, she identified thousands of others who CARE about arts education by attending arts events; she obtained a COMMITMENT from a dozen volunteers to participate in the speakers registry, which she organized and distributed to more than 300 civic organizations and schools; and she developed both a brochure and a Web site to COMMUNICATE the benefits of arts education.
Armed with a study that she conducted of arts education requirements nationwide, Woda initiated a proposal to add fine arts to Maryland’s undergraduate admission requirements. The enacted proposal will directly affect hundreds of thousands of college admissions, and ensure that arts classes continue to be offered in Maryland high schools. Additionally, Woda volunteered with Maryland’s K-16 Partnership, which developed “essential learner outcomes” for all Maryland students, today and in the future. She most recently contributed to the draft of the Texas Fine Arts Education Accord.
Since 1996, Woda has also helped high school students overturn a $10 fee for music classes, supported access to music education for kids with Williams Syndrome (a chromosome defect characterized by mental and physical handicaps and an amazing ability to learn, retain, perform and compose music), written articles, columns, and letters for publication, and served on a committee at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to raise money for their arts outreach and education programs. Now a student at the University of Texas, Woda volunteers with a community organization that helps to provide the disabled with access to the arts.
Susan Woda’s efforts have met strong opposition at many levels. Yet, she has successfully influenced dozens of decision-makers and earned recognition from Maryland’s Governor who cited her “leadership, vision, and commitment.” By volunteering thousands of hours to this cause, she has touched the lives of many children, both directly and indirectly, enhancing their future potential through her work to enrich their educational experience.
NORTH COUNTRY THRESHOLDS & DECISIONS, INC.
On May 13, 1999, North Country Thresholds and Decisions (NCTD) graduated seven inmate participants. Remarkably, two other inmates also escaped on that day. The facility was in “total lockdown.” The new superintendent cancelled all other programs, but due to the credibility that NCTD volunteers had established with Corrections staff during the past eight years, graduation commenced, involving graduates’ family guests as planned.
RSVP volunteers Dick and Betty Abbott introduced the program to the New Hampshire Department of Corrections in January 1991. While this program was not the first of its kind, it was unique in New Hampshire correctional facilities where volunteers had rarely been used successfully, and where rehabilitation programs were very limited.
Volunteers pay $25 to attend a basic training weekend, often led by the National Thresholds & Decisions Director, Penny Rogers. Sound decision-making is taught in individual and group sessions to inmates who volunteer to take the five-week course. Using parables, rituals, symbols, music, films and poetry, volunteer teachers help the inmates separate facts from feelings, examine choices available, make sound and reasoned decisions rather than reacting to situations, and take responsibility for their decisions. In the process, the students’ self-esteem is nurtured. They learn they are unique and valuable individuals. By graduation time, smiles and confidence abound in this usually strained and hostile environment. All dimensions of the program are voluntary, a fact essential to its success.
NCTD addresses a serious community need: making New Hampshire a safer place to live by reducing the incidence of criminal activity. NCTD also addresses one of the causes of crime – substance abuse. Many drug-abusing offenders acquire skills that help them make the decision to seek treatment for substance abuse. They also acquire a supportive, but objective friend to supplement treatment efforts. NCTD reaches out to inmates who will be returning to the community – as our co-workers, employees, and neighbors.
Since 1991, 12 basic training weekends have been held; involving 95 teacher trainees aged 22 to 82. Corrections staff have also taken the training for administrative purposes. Sixteen classes, or a total of 124 volunteer inmates, have now graduated from North Country Thresholds and Decisions. Two graduates have gone on to become Thresholds teachers. The program even received a substantial donation from the grateful parents of a participant. Currently, the recidivism rate for the general corrections population is 46%. Among the 150 NCTD graduates since 1991, the rate is only 19.8%.
Today, NCTD is still run entirely by volunteers and is now incorporated. Two RSVP volunteer teachers, Flo Taylor and Evelyn Smith coordinate the program at the Correctional Facility in North Haverhill, New Hampshire, while the Abbotts coordinate the course serving the Vermont department of Corrections Reparative Probation (adult) and Court Diversion Programs (youth) in White River Junction, Vermont. The Abbotts have also helped other Retired and Senior Volunteer Programs establish similar programs in Cheshire and Hillsborough Counties of New Hampshire.
ALVIN CARTER-BEY
In 1976, North Town community resident Alvin Carter-Bey and a handful of other residents met to discuss the relatively few sports, nutritional and added educational options that existed for youth in the North Town Community, especially residing in the Chicago Housing Authority Cabrini-Green housing development. Their assessment was that most of the services that existed were either available for youth whose families could afford expensive fees at private facilities or targeted for youth involved in gangs or experiencing other problems.
Mr. Alvin Carter-Bey resolved to establish a program that provided sports, recreational, educational enrichment and nutritional services-free of charge to the youth of the community. The target population was all youth, not limited solely to those who could pay, were involved in gang activity, or at risk. He then, along with several volunteers, developed programs that helped the organization accomplish the following mission:
- To promote a positive self-image in children, youth and adults that allows for goal setting, decision making, communications, respect for others and development of leadership potential.
- Contribute to the development of the family unit and its improvement through parental involvement as program volunteers.
- Heighten citizen awareness for their involvement in the improvement and stabilization of their neighborhood.
Overtime Alvin Carter-Bey and the Al Carter Youth Foundation grew to serve hundreds of community youth annually, primarily in sports and recreational programs. Foundation volunteers pooled their personal and financial resources to produce the first Annual Cabrini-Green Black Olympics in 1977. Since the foundation’s inception, the Chicago Housing Authority has collaborated in the program by providing space for its operations. The space includes offices, classrooms, a kitchen and storage space.
The Al Carter Youth Foundation is now a 24-year-old community based 501(c)(3) organization. Under the leadership of its executive director, Alvin Carter-Bey, volunteers give hundreds of work hours in various programs that educate kids, provide them with activities to move them in productive directions and provide positive role models.
IONIA COUNTY LITERACY COUNCIL
According to a 1990 census report, 17% of the adult population in Ionia County, a rural county in Michigan, is functionally illiterate. Thus, the Ionia County Literacy Council was formed in August 1987 to address the needs that illiteracy brings to the community. Since then, nearly 1000 individuals have had their literacy needs addressed by this organization. One-to-one tutoring is arranged for children, teens, and adult volunteers who meet with their students at local libraries, churches, or businesses to work on the skills needs and the goals determined by the learner.
The Ionia County Literacy Council has grown from employing a five-hour-a-week director to a twenty-five hour per week director, plus two additional part-time staff. Volunteers have increased from 30 to more than 150. Sixty volunteer/student pairs are working together each week throughout Ionia County.
The accomplishments of the Ionia County Literacy Council include working in two local plants with nearly 50 students and conducting English as a Second Language classes for several Spanish and Thai students. There are programs for inmates in three of the State penitentiaries in the county. In two of these facilities, inmates are trained as volunteer tutors to work with other inmates to improve literacy skills.
“Reading with Your Children” workshops are held in the prisons in December. In 1999, nearly 100 men went through the program in which they learned the importance of reading and the impact they have on their children’s future. After the presentation, they were allowed to select a book to send to their children with a note from themselves. Nearly 200 children received a gift from their fathers. At one facility, 10 men were allowed to send a tape of their reading a book to their children.
In another prison, the Ionia County Literacy Council volunteers go in one day a week and use children’s literature to enhance parenting skills for the inmates. There are 10 men involved in the first cycle of the program, which means that at least 17 children will be impacted. Volunteer tutors also travel to the local county jail. These volunteers work one on one with inmates on reading, writing, and math skills.
During the summer, the council runs a tutoring program for youth reading below grade level. Volunteers work for 45-minute sessions, two to four times per week and grade levels generally increase by two-thirds. In February, the council sponsors a poster contest for students in second through fifth grade. Winners receive ribbons, books, and prize money. In March, Ionia County Literacy Council volunteers go into every first grade class in the county. Books are read to the class, and every first grader receives a new book that the Literacy Council provides through a grant from the Child Abuse Council.
REV. JAMES MORRISON
An eighth grade girl expelled for bringing a weapon to school led to a mission of hope for Father Jim Morrison, who also serves as pastor of Annunziata Catholic Church in Houma. In 1993, the grandmother of this youth brought her granddaughter to Father Jim. From simple beginnings grew Providence High School, a school for students who have been expelled from school because of drugs, weapons, or repeated discipline violations. Providence High School gives these students a second chance, an opportunity to address the issues that led to their expulsion.
Providence High School began as a project called Annunziata Tutorial Center, and later snowballed after an increasing number of youth came to the church seeking an alternative education site. At this time, there was no alternative educational system in Terrebonne Parish available for students expelled from school for drug or weapon violations. Providence opened with only seven students led by a Morrison and a team of volunteers.
Each year, the number of children served has steadily increased. To date, Providence school has served 429 students from Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, Assumption, and St. Charles parishes. There are 47 students currently enrolled in the school.
Providence High School takes a holistic approach to helping the students within the parameters of a strict code of discipline, dress code, and high expectations. Father Morrison defines success not in terms of academics, but in terms of individuals. “For each student, it’s different. Some of our great successes are kids who have been just so broken…then after being here for a while, you see them come to life,” said Father Morrison.
His involvement with the youth in Louisiana dates back to his college days when he served as the director of the St. Francis Day Camp Program in 1982 and 1983, reaching out to 600 underprivileged youth and a staff of more than 60 college and high school students. He hopes to pass on the compassion and help that he received as a youngster to the students of Providence High School. Early in his priesthood, Morrison became aware of the educational roadblocks that many youth face in the bayou area and established an after-school tutoring program in Chauvin utilizing retired teachers and volunteers from the community.
As Providence High School has grown, its initial board of advisors has evolved into the Board of Directors of the newly formed, Youth Experiencing Success! Inc., a non-profit corporation that now owns and operated Providence. The entire community has been motivated by Morrison’s leadership to take on the task of creating a new school to serve the needs of at-risk youth. Father Morrison serves as the President of this Board and continues to work as the liaison between the Board of Directors, the Administrator, and the Development Director, and as an advocate to the entire community on behalf of all young people in need.
The Rev. Jim Morrison was named the statewide winner of the 1999 Angel Award, sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana.
DORA LEE BELTON
At the age of 84, Dora Lee Belton is an active member of the Reitred & Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) and the Council on Aging. In her rural home of Powhatan, Louisiana, pop. 132, Mrs. Belton directs her grassroots efforts to projects which will improve the quality of life in the community. As a member of the Board of Directors of the Natchitoches Parish Council on Aging (NPCOA) since 1995, Belton represents her community and has made valuable contributions for the elderly and handicapped citizens of that area. She has had a strong voice in improving direct services, such as expanded meals, transportation, commodity distribution, and utility assistance. In addition, Belton has been instrumental in coordinating with the Natchitoches Parish Housing Authority to provide affordable, modernized housing for the elderly and handicapped citizens of Powhatan.
Almost three years ago Belton, with the counsel of a former police juror, sought assistance from Theresa Gibson, executive director of the Natchitoches Parish Housing Authority, for help in providing a better housing environment for the citizens of Powhatan. The need was almost to the desperate point. Belton and her associate were determined to make a positive movement toward providing housing to her community.
As a result of Belton’s persistence, Assisted and Safe Homes, Inc. (ASH), a non-profit organization that made them eligible to receive funding from the Louisiana Housing Finance Agency (LHFA) for new construction and HOME funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Belton was subsequently named to the newly formed board of ASH.
An application was made for funding to construct 40 new dwellings within the limits of the Village of Powhatan was approved by LHFA. This new dwelling would be the first new construction in the village since 1979, when a private dwelling was built. The construction of rental property had hitherto been virtually non-existent, and former records indicate that it had been 40 years or more since the last rental properties were built in Powhatan.
Well on the road to realizing her vision, Belton co-hosted a 1999 groundbreaking of a permanent affordable housing facility in the community of Powhatan. Currently, the residents of Powhatan have witnessed 60% completion of some of the most attractive housing units the parish has ever had, and certainly that have been built within the village limits. All of this is due to the concern of one citizen that cares about and loves her small community and its people.
In the mid-1980’s, Belton identified the need for a community fire department. As a concerned citizen, Belton spoke out and mobilized a community to support the effort. Realizing the need for government intervention, she sought the assistance of Parish government to guide the community in her endeavor. Today, Powhatan has a fire department, and Belton is a charter member of the fire department board and serves as financial secretary.
Mrs. Belton is a born-again Christian and member of the First Presbyterian Church in Natchitoches, has taught Sunday School, is an ordained elder, and member of the mission and evangelist.
SHARED DREAMS
For many school children in the Fort Bend Independent School District (FBISD), the road is long indeed with many a winding turn. Without adequate clothing, these children tend to have high rates of absenteeism and low self-esteem, which leads to poor academic skills. However, thanks to volunteers from local schools, businesses and churches, these children have access to the supplies and clothing they need.
Shared Dreams was started by caring adults who noticed that not all of the FBISD children came to school with adequate clothing and those that did not attend regularly were withdrawn when they did attend. Through this program, children are provided with various toiletry items. An open house volunteer was deeply moved as he helped a mother carry her Shared Dreams items to her car. When her daughter saw the shampoo, she shouted with joy, “Oh mama, we have shampoo! Now I can wash my hair!”
Started in parents’ garages 13 years ago, the Shared Dreams project now provides clothing and toiletries for more than 400 children every year. The program has clothed more than 3,200 children. To accomplish this, volunteers at every school hold a gently used clothing drive annually. Each week, volunteers meet at the warehouse to sort, mend, size, wash and fold the clothes. School nurses confidentially submit requests for clothing, providing the child’s measurements and personality traits. This enables volunteers to pull together five unique outfits and outerwear plus brand new undergarments, socks, and toiletries. Families can also shop for their allotted clothing at open houses.
The Shared Dreams program continues to be run solely by volunteers. Local businesses and church groups help with clothing drives and monetary contributions. The money is used to purchase new clothing and toiletries as necessary. Evidence of the program’s success can be found in this individual account: in one school year, a Burton Elementary 2nd-grader missed 24 days. She was described as a bright child who was going nowhere. The school nurse bathed her at school. It took several towels to clean off the dirt. Shared Dreams clothed her and the next year she missed only four days of school, due to illness. Today, the child is clean and takes pride in her appearance, and she is now passing all of her subjects.
DAVID MOORHEAD
David Moorhead’s contributions to his community are numerous and significant. He can often be seen around the halls of Bryn Mawr Rehab, a physical medicine and rehabilitation hospital in Malvern, Pennsylvania, where he volunteers more than 500 hours each year. He also contributes many hours to his church, where he serves on several different committees. Through his altruism and caring spirit, Moorhead has made an enormous, positive impact on hundreds of people.
In 1968, Moorhead injured his spinal cord in a diving accident. The accident left him a C-5, C-6 quadriplegic. He became involved with Bryn Mawr Rehab after a close friend suffered a brain injury in a driving accident. Moorhead was inspired by the determination and hard work of the other patients and decided to volunteer at the hospital through the chaplaincy program.
Moorhead enrolled in Bryn Mawr Rehab’s Adapted Driving Education program in 1990. Six months later, he drove away in a specially equipped van. Since his injury, he has worked to help others who are disabled. Perhaps his most significant accomplishment at Bryn Mawr Rehab is his work with patients that have suffered spinal cord injuries. In 1991, he took responsibility for the Spinal Cord Injured Persons Support Group. At that time, there were only about 20 participants. Under his leadership, the group grew to a 100-member support system that meets monthly to discuss issues of concern and provide mutual support for its participants.
Moorhead actively recruits spinal cord injured patients from area institutions to join the group by visiting them throughout their rehabilitation stay and offering guidance, advice, and friendship. Those who know him say that he is always readily available to help a person in need of support and love.
In addition to his direct service to physically challenged individuals and their families, he has championed many causes for disability rights. For example, when a disabled Amish farmer was unable to accept funding from the state catastrophic injury fund due to religious reasons, Moorhead stepped in as trustee and caseworker, helping the farmer obtain necessary equipment and medical supplies. Through his support, the Amish family was able to start a business – a roadside stand of country crafts.
Members of St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Boothwyn, Pennsylvania, have also been beneficiaries of Moorhead’s kindness. As property chairman for the Vestry of the church, he faithfully works to maintain the building structure and the grounds. This often involves negotiating with vendors or raising money to make the repairs. In addition, he serves on a regional committee for Episcopal Churches where he acts as a representative for disabled church members.
THE INMATE VOLUNTEER PROGRAM
When Janie M. Velasquez, Director of Volunteer Services, and Leon Bawcom, Executive Director of the Center, conceived the idea of developing an “Inmate Volunteer Program” utilizing minimum security female prisoners housed at the Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, they saw many possibilities for the agency and the inmates that would also benefit the clients. However, since such a project did not exist anywhere in the United States, careful planning along with detailed responses to potential problems arising from having the inmates outside their secured facility had to be in place before the program could be presented to the prison officials. Velasquez and the staff at the Mental Health Mental Retardation Authority (MHMRA) of Brazos Valley did their homework, and in May 1990, the first six inmates arrived to begin work at MHMRA.
The one-of-a-kind Inmate Volunteer Program is a Vocational Training Program, providing vocational rehabilitation for inmates in a work environment at virtually no cost to the taxpayer. The Inmate Volunteer Program has yielded the following benefits for the inmates:
- An opportunity for utilization of existing skills, and to gain additional ones at no cost to the taxpayer
- A high degree of motivation
- An eagerness and willingness to learn
- Interaction with society while in a work environment and therefore changing the misconception concerning inmates
- An opportunity to be productive members of the community
- Experience proves beneficial when seeking employment after release
This program benefits MHMRA with a group of skilled, full-time volunteers, whose presence for extended periods of time is virtually assured, which alleviates a key issue with most volunteer programs – securing and keeping good volunteers. The program also results in tremendous cost savings for the community, in excess of $300,000 per year.
For the past 10 years, a total of 295 full-time volunteers have contributed 355,752 hours amounting to more than $3 million in budgetary savings. These substantial savings to the community and state allow the agency to provide additional services to its clients without incurring additional costs. The inmate volunteers work alongside full-time paid staff, creating a “win-win” situation for all concerned.
The volunteers from the Bryan Federal Prison Camp serve in a variety of MHMRA programs and work together for the common purpose of giving of themselves to someone in need. They assist with typing, transcribing, accounting, filing, data input, telephone crisis hotlines, switchboard operation, publication and design, producing circulars, taking inventory, and directing clients to their appointments.
In the past 10 years, participation has increased from six original volunteers to as many as 38 volunteers at a time. Goals for the future include continuing to expand and explore further possibilities for the program.
