PROJECT LINUS NJ, INC. “BLANKETEERS”
The mission of Project Linus NJ, Inc. (PLNJ, Inc.) is to embrace fragile children from birth to 17 years of age with hope and healing through the gift of a handmade blanket. These children are presented with the comfort that a “hug from the heart” provides. Caring hearts and willing hands create the one-of-a-kind treasures. They are known as, “Blanketeers”.
What began as a few concerned citizens reaching out to comfort fragile children and their families has grown to over 800 active volunteers in 19 months. These volunteers have donated over 4,700 handmade blankets to children in New Jersey and across the country, as partners with global child-based agencies. Our “Caravan of Love” delivery drivers and our “good news” volunteers are an integral part of the team at PLNJ, Inc.
In October 2000, the Blanketeers participated in national Make A Difference Day. A seven site, five-hour blanket blitz was organized and over 900 handmade blankets were created and arrived in one day. Local fire stations, police departments, and first aid squads throughout three counties of New Jersey received these articles. These service departments come in contact with fragile children in need during the course of their job and it was appropriate for them to be recognized and supported as the recipients of the blanket blitz.
In April 2001, the Blanketeers engaged 100 high school students to participate in a global quilt mural project in praise of the 2001 International Year of the Volunteer. In partnership with the Community YMCA, a unique program to design and complete four murals to be donated to the United Nations Volunteer offices in Bonn, Germany and New York became the event. It was a day of youth volunteerism and community spirit with a global theme.
The volunteers of 0project Linus NJ, Inc. are quite diverse. There are blanket makers young and old. Some are experienced quilters, knitters and crocheters while many others are learning for the first time inspired by the mission. Among members are knitting circles, quilting guilds, church groups, military wives, and retail partners that offer workshops to their customers in support of the organization.
To date, over 4,700 children have felt an extra dose of tender loving care with a handmade blanket created just for them by a Project Linus NJ Blanketeer.
Blanketeers are partners in healing, on a mission of hope.
MICHAEL ROTH
Michael Roth’s passion is the preservation of agricultural history so that future generations in Montgomery County, Maryland (808,000-plus population adjoining Metropolitan Washington, DC) can appreciate their roots. Roth is not a farmer nor is he retird. He serves as a volunteer in the following capacities: 1) Chairman of Old Timers Exhibit at the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair, 2) Charter President of the Friends of the Agricultural History Farm Park, 3) producer of the cable television show “Focus on the Farm” for Montgomery Community Television, and 4) personal videotapes made of oral histories by retired farmers.
Michael Roth is chairman of the Old Timers Exhibit Area of the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair, where he has been involved since 1971. The Montgomery County Agricultural Fair draws about 250,000 patrons annually. The Old Timers Area is a 10,000 square foot display area featuring exhibits of farm and home antiques up to 1950 vintage plus demonstrations of old-time skills. Roth organizes 200 exhibitors and show volunteers into a uniquely popular show with stationary exhibits, ongoing demonstrations, parades, etc. for fair-goers.
In 1994, the Friends of the Agricultural History Farm Park was organized as an advocacy/support group for a farm purchased by the Montgomery County Government to develop into a working farm museum. Roth was elected charter president, a position that he still holds. This organization has approximately 300 members staging 10-12 festivals/events at the farm to both share agricultural heritage with festival attendees and to raise money for the development of displays and restoration of the original building of the farm. He also plays a major role in the planning and conducting of these shows, which are typically each attended by 3,000 to 5,000 people.
Three years ago, Roth began to work with Doug Tregoning, chairman of the Montgomery County Extension Service, to create a farm education show called “Focus on the Farm,” which airs weekly on Montgomery Community Television. There have been 28 shows taped, dealing with many subjects relating to agriculture. Roth and Tregoning help to tape these shows, contacting guests to be on the shows, planning props, etc. Roth has taken classes on how to do taping for cable television, and uses footage that he has personally taped for many shows.
Michael Roth is deeply interested in videotaping oral histories from retired farmers and has used his own camcorder to make these tapes. Sadly, many of the retired farmers whom Roth has taped have passed away, making his work that much more valuable.
Roth works tirelessly to motivate – especially children – to understand their farm heritage when most have never even seen a farm. Activities at events are hands-on as much as possible. Roth’s leadership brings agricultural history and issues alive for an estimated half million people annually. As a volunteer, Roth does all of this on his own time and also involves his family – a wife and three children.
YUMA READING COUNCIL
The Yuma Reading Council has been a literacy provider in Yuma County since 1981. Beginning then as a small pool of dedicated volunteers and growing today into a large, multi-faceted agency serving the community-at-large, the agency is the largest literacy program in Yuma County and the only volunteer-based program in the area.
Additionally, the Yuma Reading Council is the only agency that breaking geographic boundaries and working to provide services in an area that covers 5,200 square miles, contains two military installations, and two Indian tribes.
The volunteers at the Yuma Reading Council strive to provide the community with quality service rather than quantity services. Each year approximately 900 people are served by a staff of 14 and a volunteer corps of just over 100 residents. They take pride in working with the students to successfully place them in jobs or volunteer placements in the community.
The Yuma Reading Council utilizes a plan of growth and planning that includes community members, students, tutors, staff and Board. This has made the organization highly effective in all aspects of program development and growth to meet the needs of those most in need of quality of life through increased literacy.
The Yuma Reading Council provides English as a Second Language, GED, Adult Basic Education and Spanish literacy to the residents of Yuma County. They provide these services through a cooperative effort of paid instructional staff and volunteer literacy tutors. There are programs on life skills and community integration for all students. The staff and volunteers recognize that literacy involves not just giving students the skills but also showing them how to use the skills.
The Yuma Reading Council works in the community in partnership with other human services agencies, probation and state departments to enhance lives through cooperative education programs.
LEE COUNTY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
Lee County Community Development Corporation (CDC) is a community based 501(c)(3) organization established in July 1996. Governed by a nine-member Board of Directors, with each director representing various communities geographically located within Lee County. The mission is to improve the quality of life for all residents by stimulating training, employment opportunities and increasing business activities, which lead to self-sufficiency. The vision is a unified county working together to create diversified economic activity within a globally competitive market.
The programs and activities adopted by Lee County CDC have assisted the organization to fulfill its goals to build the community and the Lower Mississippi Delta Region, focusing on building the leadership capacity of area youth. Lee County has been ranked among the 20 poorest counties in the nation. Most of its constituencies are low-income families that have been historically deprive or disconnected from the general community. The Lee County CDC offers assistance in affordable housing opportunities, technology training, and small business development opportunities. Lee County CDC serves as a training site for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients and AmeriCorps services.
Lee County CDC youth volunteers assist community members obtain the tools needed to achieve self-sufficiency. Corp members and community youth are involved in all aspects of the organization’s programmatic activities offered to the community residents. These activities include serving as community outreach workers who inform the community of the programs and activities available. Other programmatic activities include the housing programs in which several AmeriCorps members have served as volunteers in the complex process of assisting low-income families and individuals to construct their homes in the Mutual Self-Help Housing Program and assisting applicants in completing their housing applications for mortgage loans.
The technology training programs have served as a valuable asset for the community and the entire region. Local youth have received training, which allows them to serve as technology coaches in the community technology centers. The most recent program involved training AmeriCorps members to repair computers and host community technology literacy training sessions.
To date the Lee County CDCs housing programs have succeeded in assisting more than 40 families in Lee County to realize their dream of homeownership and building wealth in local communities. The Business Development and Technology programs have assisted hundreds of individuals to improve or enhance their skills to allow them to obtain jobs or start businesses making livable wages to support their families.
Lee County CDC recently received an award from Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC) and Fannie Mae Foundation for “Outstanding Achievements of a Young CDC.” The Board of Directors and staff members attribute the organization’s success, in part, to the support and assistance received from the young community volunteers. The efforts of these volunteers help to make a positive impact on local communities and the Delta Region.
JAMES JOHNSON-2
Since 1975, through associations like Pop Warner Football, Boy’s Club League, and South Central Athletic, James Johnson has served as coach, friend and mentor to many young men in the Dallas area.
Johnson’s work focuses on inner-city youth growing up in impoverished, sometimes violent areas of the metroplex. The boys witness drug deals and violence in their neighborhoods on a regular basis and the challenge is to help them overcome the obstacles and find a path to a better way of life.
He strives to provide a safe place for the children, ranging from 4 to 12 years old, to spend their time and to serve as a stable, consistent adult role-model to them as well. Johnson and his team of volunteer coaches work to teach more than 80 boys a year individual responsibility, teamwork and dedication.
To the young men, Johnson’s mentoring has a tremendous personal impact, giving them hope, dignity, guidance and inspiration. His success stories include:
- The first African-American to quarterback at Rice University
- Four college graduates, two of which became Dallas Police Officers and two that were drafted by the National Football League
- Three young men that have returned to Dallas to give back to the community by working for the Dallas Housing Authority, assisting as a coach and mentor, and studying to become a minister
Currently serving as President and Athletic Director of the South Central Athletic Association’s West Dallas Vikings, Johnson organizes fundraisers, manages funds and heads up the Rules Committee to ensure that players and coaches have the equipment and fees necessary to keep their teams on the field and off the streets.
Johnson has a philosophy in that he does not ask that the mountains in his way be moved, he asks only for the strength to climb them. He works tirelessly to make that philosophy a reality for both himself and all of the young people he encounters.
B. ALMA HYATT
In November of 1994, William and Alma Hyatt moved into their new San Antonio, Texas home. By 1997, what had been a lovely neighborhood of modest homes built in the mid-seventies, had become a deteriorating sub-division, strewed with old cars and stacks of trash. Family violence calls, curb side drug paraphernalia and gun shots were everyday occurrences.
Alma Hyatt was determined that she wasn’t going to be run out of her home. She survived hardships back in the seventies–a single mother of four, working as an Army dental assistant. Two of her daughters are educators, one with a Ph.D. in education running an elementary school and another teaching at The University of Texas at San Antonio. Her son, a contractor in Austin, builds big houses and her youngest daughter, 37, is graduating from medical school in Galveston in May 2001.
Hyatt decided to help the San Antonio Police Department call in emergencies. She wanted to do more and after taking some advice from her SAFFE officer, Bill Campbell, she sent out flyers, to her own expense, to her surrounding neighbors and the first meeting of Sierra North Citizens On Alert was held. Under Hyatt’s direction, what was a hand full of neighbors, has turned into a SAFFE Program with 100 members and 25 plus active monthly volunteers covering 900 homes. Her program includes monthly meetings, street patrolling, telephone check in for the shut-in and a newsletter.
Hyatt has also volunteered for Meals on Wheels, NESA, the nutrition center for GRASP, and she reads a blind professor his mail. At least once a day, she takes meals to a couple in their 70s with no local family. The man has lost both of his legs to diabetes, and the woman has Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Due to Hyatt’s perseverance with phone calls, the neighbor with MS receives her $900 per month medicine for free.
The sub-division is now in compliance with all the city ordinances, the elderly and disabled neighbors are assisted, and the “crack houses” are gone. At 68, Hyatt’s health issues have not stopped her from lending a helping hand. She says she feels “pretty good” as her Hansen Disease has been in remission for at least 20 years.
JIM AMOS
Many think that James (Jim) Amos, volunteer extraordinaire of Kalamazoo, Michigan, should be cloned. He is an example of how one person’s unselfish volunteer spirit can positively impact a community and its citizens.
Following his retirement in the early 1990’s, Amos developed new skills in video production. This is one senior citizen who embraced technology and used his life experiences to develop programs cablecast to more than 60,000 households. He answered the need for someone to film and edit both events and personalities at the local cable access station and, over the years, became the station’s most ardent volunteer producer, instructor, and supporter. Last year along, Amos averaged a 40-hour volunteer workweek, which is equivalent to $30,846.40 worth of time.
Amos’ volunteer service is vast and far-reaching. As a member of RSVP (Retired and Senior Volunteer Program), he has created videos to attract seniors as volunteers. He has videotaped weekly meetings for the City Commission, which has enabled many citizens who have difficulty getting around, the opportunity to keep in touch with local government. He has presided on the Shepherds Center Board of Directors, as well as on the Board of the Kendall United Methodist Church. He has served as a representative for the Boy Scouts of America, and has provided pastoral counseling to hospital patients and inmates of the Ionia Prison.
Amos has produced videos to promote public awareness of nonprofits and highlighted their volunteer opportunities and upcoming events. He also has greeted visitors at Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport for the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, and served on the RSVP Advisory Council where he was instrumental in recruiting and mobilizing retirees interested in a “second career.”
Amos brings community events into the homes of many who would be denied the experience due to low income, disabilities, frail health, or time constraints. He tapes performances of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, city parades, the Kalamazoo International Air Show and Kalamazoo Sings out, to name a few. He produces educational shows on such topics as Living Wills, Eating Smart, Safety Tips for Seniors, Alzheimer’s, Understanding Prescriptions and Grandparents’ Rights. His tireless contribution to his community is particularly impressive considering that he has had to overcome complications from several heart attacks.
Jim Amos is a senior citizen that is living a rich, full life of constant learning. His service has not only contributed to the overall well being of the people in Kalamazoo County, but his motivation, energy, and unselfishness has inspired his peers and youth to give of themselves to their community.
JESSICA FRIEDER
Jessica Frieder has spent more than 1,250 hours the past two years working with at-risk youth at a local service agency while attending Allegheny College as a full-time student. She has completed her two AmeriCorps terms working part-time at Friends of Youth, an organization whose primary goal is to prevent first time involvement of at-risk youth with the court system and to reduce the recidivism rate for those already involved. Jessica has mentored youth, organized and facilitated anger management sessions, supervised court-sanctioned service, organized field trips and events, tutored youth on suspension, and coordinated weekly bowling trips.
Jessica has developed an excellent rapport with the kids; she “gives respect and demands respect” from the stereotypically untrusting and challenging population. Because of her tough, but approachable demeanor, she has earned the respect of many of the kids. Many of them have opened up to her about risky behaviors such as sex and drugs and Jessica has worked on helping to develop more self-respect, and has empowered them to change their behavior. Jessica was responsible for running the Youth Garden this past summer, a responsibility that the agency supervisor has previously never entirely handed over to anyone. She worked with students to plant, weed, and harvest pumpkins and other vegetables as cash crops.
One aspect of Jessica’s role that makes all her work quadruple is how effective she has been as a liaison with Allegheny College. She has recruited, oriented, and trained numerous students to mentor, tutor, and help organize events. This link with Allegheny has equaled positive role models for kids involved with the court system or at-risk youth heading that way. The relationships that have developed because of her involvement with Friends of Youth make a large difference, for the kids and for the Allegheny volunteers. Jessica’s impact as a role model extends past the kids and to the other Allegheny students. She introduces generally mid- to high-income college students to walks of life that they may never have seen.
Jessica’s investment in helping others is apparent in her additional service activities the past three years. She has taught GED Science class through the Crawford County READ Program, gone on an Alternative Spring Break Trip to Atlanta working in shelters and soup kitchens, traveled to Jamaica for two weeks the past two Januarys on a mission trip, and has been a member of her sorority’s Philanthropy Committee. She continues to work with youth at Friends and is dedicated to her role as an advocate for the organization and the kids on campus.
Jessica’s AmeriCorps package included $5,300 in compensation and education awards of $3,127.50. Her compensation has been minimal compared to what she has given of herself and her dedication has gone beyond the expectations of students in these AmeriCorps positions. Jessica’s agency supervisor, Nancy Overman, has an immense respect for Jessica’s abilities and is actively recruiting her for positions after graduation working with at-risk youth in the area.
JUNE PERRY
Success comes in many forms and is measured in many ways, but making a difference in people’s lives is a significant universal standard. For 25 years, June Perry has succeeded in mentoring inner-city men and women with few life choices to become competent, self-sufficient members of society.
In 1975, Perry and co-founder Geri McFadden created New Concept Self Development Center Inc., after recognizing a significant need for social services in Milwaukee’s inner-city. Through its programs, services and supportive staff, Perry and McFadden have encouraged many people to complete their education, open businesses or gain meaningful employment. New Concept offers an extensive list of social services, including parenting skills training for teen parents, comprehensive case management and in-home parenting assistance, first-time juvenile offender prevention and intervention, and AODA assessment and role modeling and group work services.
New Concepts’ George M. Sanders Fathers Resource Center mentors fathers, teaches them parenting skills, helps them in job searches and assists in establishing paternity and visitation rights. The center is unique in that it is the only one of its kind in the nation, and has encouraged many young men to mentor their peers to become better parents.
Today New Concept boasts an annual operating budget of more than three-million dollars, compared to its first operating budget of 35-thousand dollars.
New Concept celebrated its 25th anniversary in the year 2000. Having grown from an outpatient mental health clinic, to a multi-service agency, serving thousands of families and children, and employing more than 65 social workers, New Concept will continue its mission to help make people self-sufficient.
Perry has established the Enrichment Institute with funds received from her participation in a national social entrepreneurship program called the Denali Initiative, established by the Denali Institute. The Enrichment Institute assists charter schools and other organizations in developing social services for their staff and clients.
Perry’s social-minded entrepreneurship demonstrates how success can be found in unexpected places, through creative strategy and business acumen.
ELDER SERVICES NETWORK
The Iron Range of Minnesota has once again suffered a setback with the closing of the iron mines, the major employers in the area. Because of this, other businesses have closed, also. Many younger family members have left the area seeking employment, or intend to.
This leaves many of the frail and elderly in the community without grocery stores in their towns. Many have no way to get to the larger communities to get food as they no longer drive and have no one to assist them. The social system is already burdened with requests for assistance, so solutions had to be found within the affected communities.
Recognizing this, the Elder Services Network has coordinated volunteers to shop and deliver food weekly in six Iron Range communities. The senior calls the order to the office where volunteers write it up and fax it to the participating stores. Then, ESN finds volunteers to shop the following day and deliver to the seniors. The senior will mail their checks directly to the store so the volunteer does not have that responsibility. ESN also provides a daily telephone reassurance call to those requesting it. These things enable the seniors to remain in their own homes longer.
Volunteers come from all avenues in the communities. Many are retired persons themselves. More and more young professionals are responding to this need. Even delivering when it is 20 degrees below zero. Also, students from Student Learning Classes and honor students have responded to this need. The past year, 156 volunteers delivered 1,265 grocery orders to seniors in Gilbert, Eveleth, Virginia, Mountain Iron, Chisholm and Hibbing. The list of seniors grows weekly. To date there are 118 taking advantage of this volunteer service. There is never a charge for the seniors.
This organization also works to bring the younger seniors into the Senior Centers. They find volunteers to teach the computer skills they need to access the Internet. They can job search, trace ancestors, join other seniors in conversation, join recipe and card clubs, or keep in touch with children and grandchildren. The response to the computer classes has been great. Seniors from 50 to 90 feel they can be in touch with the world.
