NEW BIRTH BAPTIST CHURCH

New Birth Baptist Church members have been volunteering at the Dallas County Juvenile Department’s Detention Center for more than 10 years. Karen Bradford, leader, and five other church members have formed a consistent and reliable group that has never canceled in 10 years of services!

New Birth members come to the Center once a month to work with 200 residents. They conduct a Bible study with the youth in a large group setting then they break down into smaller, more personable groups to talk about how the Bible verse or lesson could apply to their lives.

The Detention Center is the Juvenile Department’s short-term, secured facility for children who are charged with delinquency offenses and are pending court action. The average stay for the youth at the Detention Center is 17 to 20 days. Basically, it is a holding place for youth until they go to court. During their stay at the Detention Center, the youth and their family are evaluated. After the evaluation, the Juvenile Department is able to make a plan to recommend to the judge. These planned service recommendations serve to assist in making changes in the child’s life. The mission of the Juvenile Department is to provide services for the youth so they will not reenter the juvenile system or advance into the adult penal system. New Birth Baptist Church has been instrumental in assisting the Juvenile Department with this goal by providing a constant spiritual foundation for the youth.

New Birth Baptist Church is located within the community where many of the Detention Center residents reside. The children in the Center know of the church and their faithful membership, which makes the children feel comfortable with the volunteers who come to the institution. Many of the children are very attentive and interested in the spiritual program when they are in the Center because they are scared, lonely and away from a familiar setting. It is when the young person returns home to their old environment that it becomes difficult to maintain the level of spirituality they had achieved at the Center.

New Birth is excellent in opening not only their hearts, but also their church doors to youth for support after they return home. The members back up their words with actions. This provides the youth with a certain level of consistency, which often is lacking in their lives. The members also provide a safe haven from all the chaos in the youth’s life, which is another attempt to keep the youth from returning to the old negative patterns of behavior.

New Birth consistently goes “above and beyond” to make a difference in the lives of the children in the Center. That extra gesture of being there for the children when back in the neighborhood is a quality that has impacted the lives of the youth. If the church cannot help, they always find alternative ways to help youth in need.

SISTER SHARON RAMBIN

Sister Sharon Rambin and the sisters of Our Lady of Sorrows founded the Renzi Education and Art Center more than three years ago when they took an old, dilapidated house in a low-income neighborhood and turned it into a much needed center for after-school programs. The center serves youths in first through 12th grades. The service is free and open to up to 60 students on a first-come, first-served basis.

Sister Sharon led Shreveport Mayor Keith Hightower on a tour of one run-down street, pointing out the homes as they walked past. “These children sleep on a filthy mattress on a floor covered with roaches. The little boy has asthma and none have food to eat. In this house, the mother has a chicken in the freezer to show the child services lady when she comes. They can’t eat the chicken, even though they have nothing else. She has to keep it there to prove they have food so the children won’t be taken away,” says Sister Sharon.

Sister Sharon enthusiastically took on a job few would want and moved into a neighborhood most are trying to escape. Her work in the Caddo Heights area gave rise to her desire for safe havens so children would be able to escape these conditions – if only for a few hours – and have a meal, get academic tutoring, paint, work with computers and be surrounded by positive adult role models. She literally started her campaign with a dream and a prayer. Throughout the months that she worked to get her first safe haven in place – the Renzi Art and Education Center – Sister Sharon begged, borrowed, cajoled, asked and demanded. And piece by piece, the Renzi Center was completed with no monetary help from the government. The $60,000 renovation cost was supported by in-kind donations of time and other resources.

“Our children have so many stories that they bring to the center. Some of them are heartbreaking and some of them will devastate anyone who hears them,” Sister Sharon says. “The stories are something that I think we should all listen to and do as much as we can for them to help them know that they are worth caring about. We are giving people hope that maybe they are not able to find anywhere else.”

At Shreveport’s Loyola College Prep, Sister Sharon has also had the opportunity to refocus the thoughts of middle-to-upper class teenagers from typical teen concerns to concerns about how to help families that are less fortunate. Her students volunteer their time and spend their money to fill and deliver food baskets for the poor, and work with low-income children at the Renzi Center.

Due to Sister Sharon’s efforts, a neighbor donated a vacant lot that sits next to the Renzi Center so that she and her helpers could begin a garden and plant flowers to beautify the neighborhood.

Sister Sharon’s tireless efforts in spearheading this project have transformed a drug-dealing area into a rejuvenated neighborhood filled with hope and peace.

BROWARD COUNTY ASSOCIATION OF STUDENT COUNCILS

The Broward County Association of Student Councils (BCASC) was founded over 26 years ago in Broward County, Florida. They are made up of members from all of the 60 public middle and high schools and five of the private middle and high schools in the county. Their mission is to transform education one student at a time.

The BCASC has a long tradition of community service and specifically sponsors five programs for Broward County in addition to supporting many of the schools functions. Babes in Book land is a program that solicits donations and funds for low-income families. Collections of new books are then distributed over the holidays. During the 1999-2000 school year, over 4000 books were collected.

The BCASC also sponsors Beach Clean-up Broward. This program is a coastal clean up that stretches from the Dade County Line in the South to the Palm Beach County Line in the North. Over 3000 middle and high school students participated in this event during the 1999-2000 school year while also helping the environment.

In addition to this, the Winter Walk and Canned Food Challenge are also special projects for BCASC. The Winter Walk is a 12 K, organized to raise money for the Cancer Research Network. Last year, more than 1000 high school students participated and helped our nation get that much closer to a cure. The Canned Food Challenge is an inter-school competition used to collect non-perishable foods for those in need. Making this event a challenge increases the donations and helps more families. Last year, almost 8,000 pounds of food were collected during the challenge.

The final program sponsored by the BCASC is the Gift of Sight. A used eyeglass collection is organized by the BCASC. They, in turn, donate them to the Lions Club to help those in need receive the gift of sight.

The BCASC is a school, student-based organization that reaches far beyond its school district. The members of the community as well as those afflicted with cancer throughout the nation are touched by their labor of love.

BONNIE HARLOW

Bonnie Harlow has been a dedicated and enthusiastic volunteer and supporter of Notre Dame School for children with mental disabilities ages 3-21, for the last 11 years. She volunteers at the school twice a week from 8:30-3:00 as the librarian. If it were not for Harlow, the students at Notre Dame would not be able to experience the joy of reading and being read to, that their normal peers have. As a result of this opportunity the students have developed not only a love of reading but a respect for books as well. This opportunity has increased the students’ self-esteem and enhanced their reading ability.

Every child in the school comes to the library once a week to hear a story and check out books. Harlow makes sure that the appropriate level books are out on the table for the students to choose to check out. She follows parents’ directives in terms of the types of books that the students check out and makes sure that the students experience a variety of reading types.

Harlow has made the library a bright and cheery focus for school tours. She is what our principal calls “Notre Dame’s Cheerleader” as she recounts wonderful stories about the school and the students, to all who happen to visit. Bulletin boards are decorated with themes in mind and theme books are on display on top of the shelves. The library is well organized and cataloged. She keeps up with and orders new books, tracks overdue books, and offers reading incentive programs to develop and encourage a love of reading.

She organizes a book fair twice a year to raise money for books for the library. She also started a wish list for teachers, which provides more books for classroom libraries. She keeps the teachers informed about new materials that could assist their classroom efforts. Harlow also recruits and trains volunteers to assist her in the library. She even works during the summer when school is out to update the library and catch up on paperwork. She does so much and is such a good spokesperson for the school that many people do not realize that she is a volunteer and not a paid staff person.

Harlow literally has taken on the Notre Dame School library as her life’s project, second only to her family and church. In many schools, special needs children are not allowed to check out books to take home because it is felt that they couldn’t benefit from the experience. Harlow’s work with the students has proven this wrong. The students have risen to her challenge and have developed a loving and caring attitude for the books. This quality will follow the students throughout their lives and provide an excellent leisure skill for them.

Harlow is a mother of five adopted children, all with some type of special need. Each of these children presented a challenge that she embraced with love and her “can do” attitude. She has dedicated her life to serve the needs of those less fortunate, not only within her family but in the wider community as well. In addition to her work at Notre Dame she is heavily involved in her church and has gone to Mexico for several years in a row to deliver Christmas gifts and supplies to the residents of some of the impoverished communities.

BRETT WHITE

Brett White has had an astonishing impact on his school and community of Frametown, West Virginia. As a youth, he has achieved a success far beyond that of many adults. Awards, recognitions, and honors have all been bestowed upon him, but he does not serve his community for those things. White gives his effort, time, and heart to anyone who needs it. Many say he was born to be a leader, and his sense of caring has captivated the hearts of everyone in his rural community. His enthusiasm and spirit are contagious and he thrives off of turning a negative into a positive.

There are many organizations and programs that have been helped by White. He has always said he was motivated by one goal in life – to help others. That is exactly what he does. The West Virginia Youth Service Initiative was one of his pet projects. White founded this organization single-handedly and was responsible, through it, for the first statewide food drive in West Virginia. White coordinated statewide drop off points to pick up the donated food, special kick off events, and contacted the media to publicize the drive. Because of his endless phone calls and numerous mailings, White got schools throughout the state involved in this monument us project. He traveled all over the state to bring attention to the food drive, and he spent more time and energy educating the citizens about what they; need to do to help end the problem of hunger. White believes there is no greater joy than to know you’ve helped someone and made his or her life easier.

Not only has White implemented this statewide food drive, but also he has been involved in many other projects. He was his Student Council Historian and Parliamentarian, Hi-Y President, Vice-President and Treasurer, member of the National Honor Society, editor-in-chief of the Eagle Video Yearbook and copy editor for The Banner Newspaper. White also used his talents and was Webmaster for The Banner Online, a member of SADD, President of the Quill and Scroll Honorary Society for Journalists, Concert Band, Fellowship of Christians and the WV Adopt-A-Highway Program. He has served on over ten committees and was honored with The Distinguished West Virginian Award, the President’s Student Service Award, Governor’s Service Award, Who’s Who Among American High School Students, and a three year BCHS Student Council Honor Council.

White is extraordinary in that he balances his family life, schoolwork, and community commitments. In addition to his service, White believes he needs to continue to learn to enrich his life so he can pass on more to others. He has attended three WVASC Summer Leadership Workshops, four WVASC Fall Conventions, NASC Are Conferences, WVASC Advanced Leadership Workshops, Three Legislature Days, and the WV State Conference on Volunteerism and Community Service. There is so much more you can say about White, but it would still all be different venues of saying he is dedicated to service.

RONALD MECHAM

Ronald Mecham’s personal motto is, “I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something; and everyday there is something better because I am here.”

Mecham was employed as a church custodian. He was paid for an eight-hour day but usually worked 10-12 hours. Mecham did this because there were other things to be done; he was not asked to nor did he ask to be compensated for it. He believed it was “just service.” When his health and eyesight began to deteriorate, it was determined that he should go on disability. He is happier when helping someone out; so not having a place to go help people was debilitating to him. He felt he had no work thus no purpose; so he slept 16 hours per day until his family came home to be with him.

This was just not the Mecham way, so he decided to go to school and learn new skills. The local technical school was not equipped to handle his disabilities nor were they willing to become equipped. But, he did not let that stop him, and instead jumped at a chance to go to a school for the blind in Salt Lake. There, he learned to become more independent, how to be mobile with a cane, and how to cook and clean without sight. He came home from school and advised the family he would take over the household chores so his wife could concentrate on her business and support the family.

Though many people were not willing to give him a job initially, there were numerous people who accepted his services after his graduation. Mecham was appointed to the Utah Blind Consumer Council, which led to a position with the Orrin Hatch Committee for Persons with Disabilities. He was appointed to the Advisory Council to the School for the Blind, and he became involved with Options for Independence in the Low Vision Support Group.

Mecham was also asked to join the Legislative Coalition for the Persons With Disabilities and learned to be an effective advocate in getting legislation passed for that group. He was invited to join the Consumer Council for the Center for Persons with disabilities at Utah State University and elected to a four-year term on the Utah Council of the Blind Consumer Board. In addition, he joined the Lion’s International Service club, and he teaches the High Priests Group Sunday Lessons and is the Stake Executive Secretary at his Church.

Mecham chose to continue to make his life fruitful, and he is now in Salt Lake City 2-3 days a week. He is able to council others with similar concerns, make appointments, and refer to those who can help with disability issues. He has a purpose again and works harder than he did when he was receiving a paycheck.

Ronald Mecham is a testament to his wife and children. One of his daughter’s friends had a sister diagnosed with Leukemia. They said she was crying all the time and not able to function. Mecham’s daughter said that she was glad her Dad had so many concerns. She said her father’s struggles made their family stronger. She also told her friend that their family does not let problems get in their way; they just deal with them and move on.

MARY RESCH

Community organizing is not just a job for Mary Louise Resch. As the Executive Director of the South Carolina Center for Family Policy, she currently leads the more than 600 volunteer members of South Carolina’s Governor’s Community Youth Councils in creating and sustaining some of the most effective juvenile justice diversion programs in the state.

Under her leadership, these Councils have diverted 1,695 youth from the SC Department of Juvenile Justice to more than 20 locally created community programs in 1999-2000. These diversions have resulted in savings of more than $5 million to South Carolina taxpayers in juvenile justice dollars. These programs have also been conducive to reducing the number of status offenders (truants, runaways and incorrigibles) committed to the secure facilities of the SC Department of Justice by approximately 17% during that same period.

As a volunteer in her community, Resch serves as an example of what volunteer leadership and advocacy should be. Since relocating here in 1988, Resch has served and often times led such diverse community groups as the local sexual trauma services board of directors, local child advocacy organizations such as the Alliance for South Carolina’s Children, veterans groups such as the American Legion, and others as listed on the attached supporting material. Not only she has been an active leader in these organizations individually, but has often brought these diverse groups to the table for the first time to collaborate and share information, ideas and resources.

As a result of this leadership, Resch has ensured the active integration of results-based planning and evaluation into many of these organizations. She has helped to demonstrate the need for strategic plans that develop programs that generate real positive changes in the community. Many of these organizations, including Communities in Schools of the Midlands, now effectively use her model planning documents to guide decision-making and program changes. These results are now being used to apply for and receive funding from a variety of public and private resources to ensure long-term stability of these initiatives.

Resch has been recognized for her work on behalf of her community. Governor Jim Hodges recently appointed Resch to serve, along with other state leaders on the Governor’s Juvenile Justice Advisory Council, the volunteer advisory group that makes recommendations regarding juvenile justice priorities and the expenditure of South Carolina’s Federal Juvenile Justice dollars. She was the inaugural recipient of the N. Peter Johnson Award as South Carolina’s prevention professional of the year in 1999, and in 2000 was the co-recipient of the President’s Award from the South Carolina Association of Crime Prevention Officers for her volunteer work for actively linking the law enforcement and human services communities in our state.

BETTY HALL

Before becoming an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer with the North Central Texas Area on Aging, Betty Hall was an active advocate dedicated to aiding nursing home residents. She was touched by the circumstances of many of the residents that she observed while visiting her family members in nursing homes. She then decided to become a Certified Volunteer Ombudsman, and successfully completed the training required to be certified by the state of Texas to help nursing home residents achieve the best possible quality of life. It was in her service as an Ombudsman that she learned of the opportunity to become a VISTA volunteer and recruit other volunteers to become advocates, also.

Inspired by the many nursing home residents that she was helping and the many residents that still needed advocates, Hall applied for the VISTA position and was chosen as the best candidate. She rose to the many challenges of her position with AmeriCorps. The task she faced was enormous geographically, and it was imperative for her to recruit volunteers. She worked with a rural 14 county area that boasted of 89 nursing homes accommodating approximately 8,745 residents. Although she had no prior experience, Hall immediately began to develop an innovative approach to volunteer recruitment. She traveled from county to county in North Central Texas and spread the message of need through grassroots methods and increased the number of volunteers from 28 to a record 74 after her first year of service.

In addition to the extensive geographic area Hall was required to cover, she also overcame other challenges as a VISTA volunteer. The volunteers must be available 24 hours a day 7 days a week for the community they serve, and they only receive a small monthly living allowance to pay for necessities. Despite this, she became so committed to the program, the North Central Texas Area Agency on Aging, and her mission to advocate for nursing home residents, that she enrolled for a second year of service.

During her second year, Hall oriented another VISTA volunteer to the program. They both worked to increase the number of Certified Volunteer Ombudsmen, and by the end of her second term of service there was a 400% increase in the number of active volunteers.

The effect of Hall’s dedication and hard work can still be seen today. The North Central Texas Area Agency on Aging presently has 90 active Certified Volunteer Ombudsmen. Now 6,725 nursing home residents in their area have a volunteer who visits regularly to identify, investigate, and resolve complaints. They have someone who can provide them with information about their rights and the facilities procedures as well as much needed social contact.

After her second term with VISTA ended, Hall returned to being a Certified Volunteer Ombudsman. Today she continues her work, advocating for nursing home residents and acting as a mentor to new Ombudsmen.

HASKELL CONKLE

AMBUCS is a national service organization composed of a diverse group of men and women dedicated to creating independence and opportunities for people with disabilities by performing community service, providing AmTrykes to children with disabilities, and providing scholarships for therapists. There are 5,600 members currently in AMBUCS in 15 states across the country. The AMBUCS “Big Hat Club” is a club within the association restricted to those AMBUCS who have, by their own efforts, secured three or more new members in existing chapters or newly chartered chapters during any twelve-month period.

Haskell Conkle, an organizer and charter member of the Griffin Chapter of AMBUCS, received his Big Hat, an award for membership recruitment, on charter night, August 20, 1948. He has served in all chapter offices, sometimes two and three times, through his years as an AMBUC with total commitment. This year, after serving on the Board of Directors for many years, he has been elected Parliamentarian. During his chapter presidency in 1960-61, 42 new members joined the Griffin Chapter and in 1990-91, as Club President, 25 more members were added.

Conkle served on the committee that started the AMBUCS School classes for handicapped children in 1951, which was taken over by the State and Federal Governments in 1964 and as Chairman of the committee that started the Putt-Putt Golf Course in City Park in 1957.

In 1961, Conkle formed the committee to attain AMBUCS Park consisting of a basketball gym with meeting rooms upstairs and six Dixie Youth League Baseball Fields where the state playoffs are held. The park grosses more than $50,000 annually and the monies are contributed each year to the baseball league for scholarships for children who cannot afford registration. The original idea for building a wheelchair accessible playground came from Conkle and he chaired the committee that made his dream a reality. There are now two wheelchair accessible playgrounds in the area.

In 1993-96, as Southern Regional Director, he provided the leadership to charter a new chapter in Spalding County and the North Georgia chapter in Dahlonega, Georgia. Conkle is the only member of the Griffin chapter in 52 years to be Regional Director.

Not only is Conkle busy in AMBUCS, but he is dedicated to other community organizations as well. He has served as steward many times in his 58 years of membership at the First United Methodist Church in Griffin, Georgia. For more than 40 years, he served as Finance Chairperson for the Flint River District of Boy Scouts for three years raising more than $30,000. He was once Spalding County Commissioner and is a lifetime member of the Georgia County Commission’s Association. He is a Blue Lodge Mason and Past Master of Griffin Lodge #413. For 50 years, he has donated to the Masonic Children’s Home and for 40 years to the Scottish Rite Hospital.

In 1961, when the AMBUCS National Convention was held in Atlanta, Haskell Conkle was the Lt. Governor and planned with National for a “day out” in Griffin Georgia. Over all, he has attended 24 National Conventions, and at the 79th National Conference in New Orleans was named AMBUC of the Century.

THE SCHOOL BOARD OF BROWARD COUNTY

Many in the Broward County area are concerned about adolescent activity and motivation. They wanted to interest youth in giving back to their communities. Not only do they want to pique their interest, but the desire is to promote volunteerism and recognize those who participate in community service. Thus, the School Board of Broward County founded the State of Florida’s first district-wide volunteer service program in 1989, The Student Volunteer Service Program.

A committee chaired by the School Board’s Student Activities Liaison, community leaders, school personnel, businessmen, and students establishes rules and rewards for the program. Graduates who accumulate 250 documented hours of volunteer service have their names listed in graduation programs. They complete 100 of those 250 hours during their senior year and upon graduation are awarded a Silver Honor Cord to wear at graduation ceremonies.

Each high school has forms on which the service hours are documented. Pamphlets stipulating the rules about what does and does not count as volunteer service hours are published in each of the schools so all are clear as to what is expected. The schools provide for a supplementary position called the Student Volunteer Service Program Coordinator. This person is responsible for overseeing the program, monitoring service hours, promoting the program, and trouble-shooting.

The Student Volunteer Service Program has been a huge success. The community is benefiting at the hospitals, soup kitchens, nursing homes and other facilities. The teens are seeing that they can brighten someone’s day and make a difference in someone’s life. They have also learned to be appreciative of what they have by seeing people who are less fortunate than them. The program is building character, self-confidence and self-esteem within the teens.

Since 1989, the number of Silver Cords being issued by each high school has increased annually. In June 2000, more than 15% of the graduates from each of the district’s 23 high schools earned Silver Cords. The School Board of Broward County further increased their commitment by adding a graduation requirement of 40 hours of documented community service in the year 2000.