JASON CROWE
Through his hard-copy newspaper, use of technology, public speaking and entrepreneur efforts, Jason Dean Crowe, age 13, works to benefit the domestic and international communities and to motivate youth to join in problem-solving service. In 1996 (age 9) in memory of his grandmother, Jason created The Informer, a by-kids-for-kids newspaper, to raise money for cancer research. Today, it’s in 29 states, 16 foreign countries and several classrooms. He donates all profit. In 1999, his efforts resulted in $1,900 for the American Cancer Society.
His newspaper serves to “inform, inspire and interconnect” youth for service. He writes about school violence, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, world peace, multiculturalism and the environment. His “Kid Power” section features youth doing extraordinary service. His “GeoGem” feature, usually written by subscribers from foreign countries, promotes international understanding. He personally networks subscribers to help extend projects nationally and internationally.
Locally, Jason practices what he preaches in his paper. He serves with the library’s Teen Activity Council. He creates his own initiatives, i.e. Warrick County Annual Spring Food Drive (founded 1997), organizing kids to participate with him. Selected as Commissioner for the 50th Senate District of the Governor’s Youth Commission, he’s appointed Youth Ambassadors to help him identify and meet community needs. When a neighboring town was devastated (1/3/00) by a tornado, Jason set up drop points for food, supplies, toys at a grocery store, McDonald’s and Burger King. He contacted the Red Cross, obtained canisters, and mobilized his Ambassadors to put them in businesses and to execute door-to-door collections.
In April 1999, Jason originated “Operation Yellow Bow for Kosovo.” He convinced area businessmen to donate to the Red Cross, thus sponsoring his wholesale purchase of bows. He enlisted friends, tri-state youth organizations and adult civic groups to help him distribute bows to the community for $3.00, showing support for troops and raising money for refugees. He raised more than $4,000 locally for the Red Cross.
Touched by Bosnia’s ethnic cleansing, Jason founded (1998, age 11) The Cello Cries On, a 501 ©(3) corporation, which exists to unite youth across racial, ethnic and religious lines to work for human rights, social justice, multicultural harmony and peace. He speaks to school and state/national/international conferences about nonviolence and peace, motivating kids to work for domestic and international harmony. He has commissioned The Children’s International Peace and Harmony statue to be sent to Bosnia as a gift from kids worldwide who want to see an end to war and ethnic cleansing. Kids become “statue partners in peace.” In 1999, Jason appointed youth “statue ambassadors” in America and 9 foreign countries to head campaigns locally.
Jason is a member of Youth Service America’s National Youth Advisory Council and a member of the National Youth Advisory Board for Drug Prevention. He was selected by M.I.T. for their 1998 on-line International Junior Summit and is still active. During 1999, Jason’s efforts resulted in some $45,000 to local charities other than his own.
ANTONIO SOSA
Antonio Sosa is an inspirational, caring individual dedicated to providing avenues for youth of the Skagit Valley to gain a healthy start for a healthy future. In 1986, Sosa moved to Sedro Woolley, Washington from Mexico. He discovered a growing population of at-risk youth forming gangs at an alarming rate.
From that discovery point, Sosa drafted his plans to build a cultural bridge between youth and the community. He enrolled in the Human Services Program at Skagit Valley College and began volunteering in the community – translating and interpreting for the police, counseling at-risk youth in local schools and starting a bilingual radio show called “Háblame de Ti” (Tell Me About Yourself) focusing on he consequences of drug and alcohol abuse.
His spirit of service was recognized in 1997 when he won Skagit County’s Volunteer of the Year Award. During that year, with four young men, he created the group, PATADA (Peer Advocator Team Against Drugs and Alcohol) as a community alternative to gangs, violence, and drugs. PATADA, which means, “to kick” is a health promotion/violence prevention/drug and alcohol intervention program for youth. Its main focus is to teach young people how drugs and alcohol affect people’s lives and how, through healthy activities such as breakdancing, they can make positive life choices.
PATADA, now with 31 members ages 6-19, meets weekly for six hours. Sosa engages them in discussion about the consequences of drugs and alcohol. Directing them towards a healthy future, they learn steps, routines and break dance moves. When they perform at local schools, they talk to their peers and younger youth about the benefits of exercise, including stress reduction, positive self-concept and leadership development.
In a primarily rural area where 77% of high school seniors perceive that drugs, gangs and handguns are readily accessible*, PATADA’s performances promote positive images of youth to the general public. Dancing enhances their academic skills by developing concentration, focus, memory and positive mental attitudes. It helps create high self-esteem, a sense of pride and commitment to a group. Being part of a performing group fosters cooperation, instills a community service ethic and builds good citizens. Antonio Sosa has found a way to teach youth about the damage of alcohol and drugs before it is too late.
*1998 Washington State Survey of Adolescent Health Behavior (Skagit County)
SCARLOTTE DEUPREE
Every journey must begin with a single step, and thus Scarlotte Deupree’s journey with literacy began in 1997 when she began to notice an increasing need for literacy work in her rural hometown of Sylacauga, Alabama. In 1997, Deupree read an article in The Birmingham News advertising a literacy program in Birmingham. She signed up for the program and, after a 16-hour training course, became a certified Laubach Literacy Tutor. The high school senior carried her new skills and literacy training back to Sylacauga to combat the problem of illiteracy.
After becoming a trained tutor, Deupree became affiliated with an adult learning program that was already in effect in Sylacauga. This program lacked volunteers, so she coordinated with Central Alabama Community College, the governing body of the program, to revive the Sylacauga Adult Literacy Council. In October 1997, Deupree distributed letters about the new program to past volunteer tutors in Sylacauga and advertised the program heavily through church bulletins, local newspapers, and civic organizations. At this time, Deupree was also tutoring a 52-year-old illiterate woman for one hour, once a week.
In a short time, the Sylacauga Adult Literacy Council began to take form. Deupree assembled a Board of Directors comprised of educators, civic leaders, and literacy volunteers. In February of 1998, the first tutor training session was held and 25 tutors were trained. A kick-off luncheon was held to introduce the tutors and students to each other and to the Sylacauga community.
In the fall of 1998, Deupree began her college career and became involved with the Literacy Council of Central Alabama as a regular office volunteer. With this organization, she became an instructor for ALERT, a program that teaches medical practices how to recognize illiteracy, participated in the Crazy in Alabama movie premiere, and helped organize and conduct a statewide literacy telethon that placed illiterate Alabama citizens in literacy programs.
Deupree also volunteered with the Learn to Read Program in Athens, Alabama. The Learn to Read Program needed additional community support, so she devised the idea of conducting a Literacy Awareness Weekend in Athens. During the weekend of May 14-16, Deupree distributed literacy literature throughout Athens, organized a group of students to read to nursing home patients, and coordinated with area churches to raise literacy awareness in their Sunday services. A proclamation from the city of Athens designated May 16th as “Literacy Sunday.”
In the fall of 1999, Deupree took on a new literacy student, an eight-year-old second grader. The pair meets twice a week for tutoring. In her spare time, Scarlotte Deupree volunteers with more than 27 organizations in her community. However, with more than 900,000 citizens in Alabama who cannot function beyond a fifth grade level of comprehension, her journey to fight illiteracy in Alabama continues. Although the problem of illiteracy may seem overwhelming at times, Deupree believes that with more awareness and involvement from Alabama citizens, Alabama illiteracy rate will begin to change “one step at a time.”
THE SAMARITANS OF MERRIMACK VALLEY, INC.
While more Americans die by suicide than homicide or HIV/AIDS, shame, stigma, and a conspiracy of silence has surrounded the victims of self-harm and suicide. As a result, little public attention is give this tragedy except to glorify gruesome suicide deaths and for the last half-century there has been a lack of political will to marshal resources to save lives – despite the fact that nine out of every 10 suicides can be prevented.
The tide is beginning to change in the wake of the Surgeon General’s July “Call to Action to Prevent Suicide” declaring self violence a major public health crisis for the nation. Long before his announcement, however, grassroots, volunteer-led organizations such as The Samaritans of Merrimack Valley, Inc., have been at the forefront of community efforts to heighten public awareness of suicide and galvanize support for action.
Founded in 1980, by a local schoolteacher whose 15-year-old son hanged himself and two other teachers. The Samaritans have engaged nearly 600 people ages 16 to 85 years from more than 30 communities to volunteer on the agency’s 24-hour crisis hotlines, the Teen Line, to provide crisis support for schools following a suicide, assist with education programs for elder centers, communities of faith, youth programs, schools, and colleges. They also assist with the agency’s Mental Health Education and Screening Program in efforts to help identify teens and adults who suffer with depression, anxiety disorders, and eating disorders. For 19 consecutive years, volunteers have organized and facilitated support groups twice a month for families, friends, and partners who have lost someone to suicide.
During these 20 years of volunteer service, Samaritan Befrienders have staffed nine crisis lines 24 hours a day, 365 days a year without a break in service – the only volunteer crisis center in Massachusetts to achieve unbroken service.
Volunteers are not only required to successfully complete an intensive 50-hour training program, but also commit to one 5-hour shift a week and one 9-hour overnight shift monthly. Most volunteers continue their commitment beyond the one year required time and many have volunteered for more than five years.
Each year, approximately 40 teens are engaged in staffing the Teen line and another 40 adults staff the hotlines, responding to more than 40,000 calls annually. With only three paid staff, the agency could not exist without trained volunteer Befrienders who contribute nearly 19,000 hours of service annually at a value of more than $200,000. Each year, volunteers save an untold number of lives of young people and adults in unbearable psychological pain – who do not want to die, but only want the pain to stop –comfort the lonely, and are present for human beings’ despair.
ELMA RAMSEY
Elma Ramsey has volunteered for Hospice of the Valley in Boardman, Ohio since 1989. She has given more than 1,500 hours to assisting patients who have terminal illnesses as well as giving compassion and support to their families. She was instrumental in the development of the organization’s volunteer placement and coordination system, which incorporates the efforts of all agency volunteers who serve approximately 650 families annually.
Ramsey sits with patients so that their caregivers can attend to other tasks, inside and outside of the home, or just take a respite from the demands of fill-time care giving. Knowing that their loved one is in the hands of a competent and well-trained volunteer is very important. Ramsey is also a patient advocate. She takes the extra time to communicate with the clinical staff about her patients, which is valuable feedback for the nurses who can incorporate this information with their own observations to provide a higher standard of care. She is also actively involved in community education, helping to coordinate events that promote knowledge of the hospice concept.
Hospice of the Valley relies on its volunteers to support the efforts of its clinical staff. While it may sound like a simple task, finding volunteers to sit with dying patients is difficult because of the commitment required. Volunteers must complete extensive training and be willing to give at least four hours a week, up to as 400 volunteer hours each week.
When Ramsey joined the Hospice of the Valley, the organization was growing rapidly. Coordinating the efforts of volunteers was a massive undertaking for the Director of Volunteers to handle alone. Ramsey agreed to establish and maintain a system of contacting volunteers and pairing them with patients, a full-time job, without pay. This “temporary” assignment grew into a four-year commitment until Hospice could afford a full-time staff member for the task in 1997. Hospice again called on Ramsey in 1999 to organize a major fundraising event that involved coordinating more than 300 volunteer hours and raising $10,000.
For a recent event, only four volunteers signed up to fill about 50 slots. In one weekend, Ramsey contacted more than 200 volunteers and found not one, but two, for each slot. She can literally mobilize an “army” of volunteers in minutes. For the past ten years, Ramsey has given an average of 225 documented hours to patients and countless extra hours to support the program in other capacity and her commitment and intensity has never diminished.
ROBERT HUESMAN
On August 30, 1978, Robert “Tony” Huesman underwent a life-saving heart transplant operation at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA. Since the operation, he has returned to work full-time and leads a very active life. During the workweek, Huesman now manages a local sporting goods store in Dayton. What is noteworthy, however, is what he does with the remainder of his time.
A 22-year transplant survivor, Huesman helped co-found TenderHearts®, a support group for parents of children with heart problems. After working for several months with Tenderhearts®, it became clear to him that there were very few children’s books available that deal with good heart health. At that time, Huesman undertook the task of writing a series of children’s books designed to help teach youngsters about good heart health.
In 1994, Huesman completed two children’s books, Heart Smart and There Are Some Things More Important Than Baseball. In 1998, he wrote His Only Hope…a Child’s View of Organ Donation. These books have been illustrated and widely published.
Through his fundraising efforts, Huesman has raised more than $400,000 for “Health Heart” education programs. He is also a member of the speakers’ bureau of the Dayton Area Heart & Cancer Association. Huesman also founded and chairs the Huesman Heart Foundation. The foundation has the stated mission to commit to the prevention of heart disease through programs that are designed to educate, foster health choices, deepen the understanding of heart disease, and promote and support good heart health.
Each Friday, Huesman lectures about cardiac health to students in the Greater Dayton area. In addition to his efforts in raising funds, authoring books and acting as a speaker on the issues of heart health and organ donation, Huesman is a dedicated member of Knights of Columbus Maria-Joseph Council in Dayton, Ohio.
DOMINICAN LITERACY CENTER
In response to the demands of daily living and the challenges of the technological workplace, the Dominican Adult Literacy Center provides free one-to-one tutoring in reading, writing, math and basic computer, through the services of certified volunteers who tutor adults ranging in age from 18 to 80 years.
The concept of the Dominican Literacy Center, a site on the East Side of Detroit, originated in March 1988, through a proposal made by Sister Marie Schoenlein. The Center’s program was designed to serve the adults who are in need of functional literacy. It responds to this need with tutoring offered to a population in an area labeled by the census as one of the “poorest Congressional District in the United States.” Thus, the well-publicized statistics, at that time, that “1 out of 5 Americans cannot read” was even higher in this section of Detroit.
Following the 1988 proposal and several months of hard work and in kind service, space in the Dominican Complex was prepared for instructional use. The Center provides an atmosphere that offers privacy for students as well as space for tutor training. The program began with 12 retired women who felt honored to be tutoring the uneducated adult learners. The 2000 roster of tutors has grown to more than 150 certified volunteers assisting some 2000 adults, who mutually combine to form 250 weekly scheduled tutor/learner matches.
The Dominican literacy Center (DLC) has never been a lone effort, but rather a collaborative Literacy Project (CLP) that calls forth adult learners, tutors, coordinators, volunteers, programming, facility and funding – all working together. This collaborative effort is the response of a community in mission bonding with a common purpose and addressing the critical societal need of educating adults. Consequently, during the 1988 to 2000 calendar years, nearly 800 certified volunteers have tutored 1800 adults.
The establishment of the DLC was the first of its kind in the tri-county area of Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties. The Center acted quickly to become Laubach certified, to offer complete flexible scheduling, tutor training and in-service updates, and to be informed in the latest methods, materials, and equipment that is available in the effort to address the serious needs facing their students. With this in mind, networked computer now provide computer skills and reinforcement, and in July 1994, after its incorporation, the DLC became an AmeriCorp VISTA site. DLC has also assisted in the foundation of Centers in Detroit; Columbus, Ohio; Newburgh, New York; West Palm Beach, Florida; Chicago, Illinois and Seattle, Washington.
CAMP CARE-A-LOT
Camp Care-A-Lot, established in 1994 by volunteer community members, helps children aged 6-10 to build self-esteem and teaches children how to manage their own problems. Children from impoverished homes in Central Illinois, sometimes feel unloved. Camp experiences help these children learn to deal with their anger, aggression or despair through an intense week of learning and living together.
In nine sessions, this residential camp, has served almost 450 children at no cost to campers’ families, and is staffed entirely by volunteers. Six hundred individual volunteers (250 annually) staff the two weeklong camps each summer and work all year to provide this program. Businesses, civic groups and individuals provide volunteers and financial support to the fulfillment of the camp’s mission: to teach children to care about themselves, other, their country, community and environment and to let them know that people care about them. The camp provides a safe nurturing environment with nutritious meals, affection and opportunities to have new experiences.
The children swim, paddle canoes, play games, make crafts and sing songs by the light of campfires. Sprinkled among each seven-day camp’s typical activities are sessions on conflict resolution and anger management, while counselors and speakers remind kids of the importance of staying in school and staying away from drugs and gangs. There’s typically a waiting list for the camp, which is staffed four kids to one counselor, 21 years or older, to make sure everyone gets plenty of attention.
Through their camp experiences, volunteers and campers indicate positive changes in their attitude and behavior. Educators/youth agencies say that children carry to school what they have learned at camp about teamwork, cooperation and managing conflict/anger.
Other achievements include receiving many local grants, having positive media coverage and enjoying the support of law enforcement officials and local Firefighters Unions. Mayors teach children about government/citizenship and prepare the each camper for their opportunity to be “mayor of the day.” Children with low self-esteem increase confidence, have learned dignity and help others. A “Good News Camp Care-A-Lot paper” showcases accomplishments during camp.
Camp Care-A-Lot’s volunteer led, recreational, social and educational programs include: teens leading anti-gang, violence, drug/alcohol programs, senior citizens assisting with crafts, social workers leading sessions on conflict resolution/anger management, and community members helping campers write letters, creating talent shows, providing recreational activities, sharing their careers and stressing the importance of education.
In its 7th year in Springfield and 4th year in Jacksonville, Illinois, the camp is supported solely through donations and the work of hundreds of volunteers. The nondenominational camp is held at the Lake Springfield Baptist Camp site in June and the Western 4-H Camp in Jacksonville in August, and kids are referred to the camp through area charities, schools, and agencies.
MICHAEL WHITE
Michael White is the volunteer that every nonprofit organization desires. He is outgoing, dedicated, and always willing to pitch in. To the students at Matheny School and Hospital in Peapack, where he has been visiting weekly since 1994, White is more than a volunteer – he’s a role model. This is mainly because White has Spina Bifida, a congenital malformation of the spine, which is a disability shared by many of the students at Matheny School.
White became involved with Matheny through a design project. He quickly expressed an interest in volunteering, and was matched as a friendly visitor to Jim Lane, a nonverbal young man who did not receive many visitors. White learned all he could about his new friend from speech therapists and other staff at the school. Today, White and Mr. Lane are old friends, and Lane beams with happiness at the mention of Michael White.
When Alex Stojko and Todd Dupre asked about White’s specially adapted vehicle, he demonstrated how he drives, and the three motor enthusiasts often had their heads buried under the car’s hood, studying the engine. Alex has since expressed an interest in learning to drive, and White has spoken to his parents about it on his behalf.
White spends Christmas Day at Matheny, teaching the students to play board games and chess and baking pies and cooking with them. At Matheny, White also:
- Assists the Arts Access department with evening classes
- Attends fundraisers to sell raffle tickets
- Chaperones trips to local eateries
- Visits former students who have left Matheny and moved to group homes
- Assists the Matheny athletes at Special Olympics
- Wears a tuxedo and feeds students at Matheny’s annual “Elegant Dining” event
- Keeps the students informed on advocacy issues
- Ties shoes, cleans eye glasses, and consults with students on appropriate wardrobe for special occasions
Michael White’s desire to be involved with the student at Matheny School and Hospital at every level coupled with his positive, upbeat attitude have had a profound impact on the students’ lives, and his tireless dedication has been an asset for the staff as well.
ASHLEY PETERSON
Ashley Peterson, a 17-year-old high school student enrolled in Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles, has identified a need in the community, conceived and initiated a program, engaged volunteers, and is now providing an invaluable service to the homeless in California and nationwide. The old truism that a society can ultimately be judged by the way it treats those at the bottom is most applicable to Ashley Peterson and the program she founded in early 1999 – ReREAD.
ReREAD is a nonprofit organization that distributes more than 10,000 current magazines each month to more than 1,000 homeless shelters and similar agencies throughout the country. Through ReREAD, Ashley’s foremost objective is to not only provide edification and reconnection with mainstream society, but to instill dignity and respect in the thousands of souls living on the street and sleeping in protective shelters.
Ashley became fascinated and troubled by the growing problem of visible and invisible homelessness, especially the ever-increasing numbers of homeless families and children. She took the tension and discomfort that permeates society regarding issues of the homeless and transformed it into doing something positive, uniting not only the homeless, but also scores of teenage volunteers, businesses and publishers.
Presently, several high schools are involved in the collection and distribution of the periodicals on a monthly basis. To aid the effort, Ashley has raised close to $30,000 in private donations to cover the cost of collection bins and postage. Her relentless and most admirable alacrity and persistence with publishing companies has resulted in substantial donations of magazines, including Time, Girl, Parents, Women’s Day, Nickelodeon, and many others.
The impact that ReREAD has had on the lives of the homeless and the less fortunate is outstanding and heartwarming. Numerous letters have been received from shelters and individual clients praising the program. Homeless teens and battered women are most appreciative, commenting that the periodicals not only provide interesting articles and are used for school projects, but also are a welcome respite from a morose life.
ReREAD is also expanding nationally, and has commenced distribution of periodicals to homeless shelters in New York, Boston, Chicago, and other cities. Further, Ashley has successfully solicited financial donations to support ReREAD’s activities. The program is having a positive impact on the unmet needs of the homeless, abused women and children, and other disadvantaged individuals.
