BREATHE EASY CORPS
The summer of 1999 found the Ohio Valley under almost constant Ozone Alert, and in January 2000 a tornado hit destroying many trees. The AACS “Senior Service Corps” (Foster Grandparent Program, Retired & Senior Volunteer Program, Senior Companion Program) and the GRADD “Senior Connections” Americorps joined together to help in solving this problem by writing a grant to the National Tree Trust for 1,000 tree seedlings. This collaborative effort became known as the “Breathe Easy Corps.”
The Breathe Easy Corps project was created to address several serious social concerns. Senior Citizens within the Green River Area, who are an often untapped resource, have knowledgeable skills and abilities to assist in approving the environment. Older citizens need a sense of belonging and activities where they can use their abilities to improve communities. Programs are needed that encourage interaction between older adults and youth. Youth need to develop a sense of appreciation for their elders. Programs are needed that bring the youth and senior citizens together for social interaction.
The Breathe Easy Corps volunteers will plant and care for 1,000 seedlings within the seven Green River Area counties for a two-year period. After the two-year monitoring period, the trees will be direct planted at sites such as: schools, nursing homes, senior centers, churches, and senior housing complexes. Volunteers will care for the trees for two years, tracking their growth and survival rate.
Seedlings were provided by the National Tree Trust and arrived in late March 2000. The Kentucky Department of Forestry assisted with information regarding the type of trees received, helped with the planting of the seedlings in containers, and provides continuing guidance throughout this project.
Twenty-two adults and 35 youth from the school-based Alternative Learning Center of Ohio County spent one full day preparing the containers for the seedlings. The public school systems in the seven-county area were involved by taking trees to 30 different schools, where the students will care for them and eventually permanently plant them at those schools.
The 1,000 trees will provide approximately 143 trees per county. Each county has senior volunteers that will work with youth in maintaining the trees during a two-year reporting period required by the National Tree Trust. Containerized or direct planted trees were placed at 30 schools, three nursing homes, four senior centers, four senior housing complexes, four churches, and 10 senior volunteer homes within the seven counties.
At this time, there is a 72% survival rate (according to the National Tree Trust, the average survival rate for a project this size is 40 to 60%). Approximately 448 volunteers were involved (including youth, inmates, students, and senior volunteers). The total year-to-date number of volunteer hours donated for this project is 579.5 hours. Soon, everyone will be able to “Breathe Easy!”
DAVID SACKEL AND LYLE FINKLER
Two ninth grade students approached a history department member of Trinity Preparatory School in 1997 with an idea for a community service project to help others. David Sackel and Lyle Finkler saw unpicked citrus and were troubled that large quantities of it were left to rot. Many of the citrus trees were not harvested, and they saw this as a solution to combat hunger. Constructing Ideas That Reach Underprivileged Sectors (CITRUS) Society was born that same year.
David and Lyle set out to make this program a success. The school was asked to recognize the new club and a meeting was scheduled to publicize the group’s mission. These high school students picked oranges and gave them to local charitable organizations. A local businessman who owned a citrus juicing and packing plant offered to process the picked fruit, and interest in the CITRUS Society began to grow.
The club scheduled four Saturdays to take its members to a grove to pick fruit. To further encourage interest in the program, Monday morning all-school assemblies were used to announce pickings, remind club members of meetings, and after each Saturday picking, to hand out several bags of fruit to faculty members. David and Lyle embraced their club and encouraged others to do the same. Their humorous public relations sketches were very successful and resulted in more members.
The purpose of this group is simply to utilize untapped resources to help others. At each picking, fruit is picked and bagged by the students and then loaded into a truck. While the fruit was initially juiced, it is now distributed in bags to local charitable agencies like the Second Harvest Food Bank, Coalition for the Homeless, Senior First, Inc., Community Service Center of South Orange County, Seminole County Better Living for seniors, The Salvation Army, and Spouse Abuse, Inc. Club members also help in the deliveries as well as the pickings. The volunteers find the pickings to be both meaningful and fun.
The CITRUS Society began with just an idea and two founders. The membership was 13 in the fall of 1997 and has grown to more than 60 members. The Society is also one of the most popular clubs at Trinity Prep, competing with nationally recognized programs. Since its inception, more than 1,700 half bushels of fresh fruit have been donated throughout Central Florida.
David and Lyle are genuinely concerned about their community and their quiet leadership has turned an idea into reality. Their concern gave birth to a worthwhile endeavor that is helping give nutrition to many in the Orlando area. The CITRUS Society is now well rooted at Trinity Prep and will continue even when David Sackel and Lyle Finkler have progressed into their college careers. They are pleased to know that this club will be their legacy to Central Florida.
RUTH WEAVER
Homeless mothers and their children are among the most vulnerable persons in our communities today. Their loneliness and despair stirs the desire of many to give these families a chance at a stable and secure life. However, caring people often admit to feeling ill-equipped to reach out in helpful ways to those who are homeless because many of them also struggle with abuse, joblessness, or addiction. Since 1989, Bridge of Hope has been a simple yet powerful planned ministry of friendship, in which church groups and other volunteers are mobilized to help reach the homeless that are hurting in their own community.
Ruth Weaver is a distinguished volunteer for the Bridge of Hope. Her volunteer efforts have continuously promoted the mission of the program, which is to end homelessness for women and children. The program partners with trained mentoring groups within congregations to help meet this goal. Bridge of Hope offers a combination of rental assistance; life-skills training and ongoing mentoring relationships to help homeless mothers and their children achieve permanent housing, stability and financial self-sufficiency through employment.
Weaver’s dedication has resulted in the Bridge of Hope tripling in size in the past five years. They went from serving 10 families annually to 30. This rapid growth was in response to welfare reform and the increased interest for church-based involvement in that undeserved portion of the population. She joined the Bridge of Hope in April 1994, and by April 1995, she had been voted President of the Board. She has served in that capacity since, and has modeled and taught the Board how to raise the funds needed to continue to serve this vulnerable population.
Her service has strategically focused on Bridge of Hope’s unique role in bridging the needs of homeless families with those who can address their needs. Their programs offer an effective way for families to break the cycle of homelessness by creating a secure home along with a circle of supportive friends.
Bridge of Hope is a volunteer driven organization. Weaver has contributed and will continue to contribute her best efforts to serve her community through this organization. She has consistently recruited, nurtured, and equipped many of the volunteers who range from previously homeless woman to young executives. Her work has enabled them to raise dollar after dollar so they can continue to serve one homeless family after another. As a result of her efforts, approximately 325 mentors annually give of their time in this “ministry of friendship.” Also, 22 volunteers serve on the Board of Directors.
FEINSTEIN COMMUNITY SERVICE CENTER
Over the last 10 years, Johnson & Wales University (J&W), through its Feinstein Community Service Center, has strategically invested educational, volunteer, monetary, and programmatic resources to assist Providence area nonprofits in caring for those in need. But perhaps even more significantly, J&W is in the business of training its career-focused students about the importance of community involvement – thousands of students have used their career skills to assist local nonprofits, as part of their academic coursework, and countless students have experienced community needs firsthand for the first time through the Feinstein Center’s programs.
Amos House runs a homeless shelter, a soup kitchen, and social service and job training programs for those who need assistance to help get back on their feet. The organization has witnessed a great demand for services, particularly from women and children, and benefits from the continuing partnership of J&W and the Feinstein Center in addressing the growing needs of the community. The Feinstein Center’s support for the Amos House is multifaceted; they have displayed a long-term commitment to developing and implementing creative, hands-on solutions to pressing community needs.
Four days a week, J&W culinary and hospitality students work in the Amos House kitchen as part of their Internship experience. Under the direction of a graduate student or staff from the Feinstein Center, the students learn about hunger and homelessness locally and nationally, prepare and serve meals for the soup kitchen, and interact with low-income guests.
On a basic level, approximately 2,500 meals per week are prepared through the partnership with J&W and Amos House. However, the scope of the presence of J&W volunteers extends far beyond the food that is cooked and served. Amos House guests learn to relate to college students, and may even begin to think of college as an option for themselves. The Amos House chef, for instance, is an “alum” of Amos House’s programs and also successfully completed a Culinary Arts degree at J&W.
The guests love the students and look forward to the meals they prepare with great eagerness. The J&W students learn to relate to the guests as peers and valuable people – many recognize the guests on the city streets after they volunteer and engage them in conversation. They also take what they learn about hunger and food redistribution into the foodservice industry and become leaders in getting their employers involved in food recovery, which will have a tremendous effect on hunger relief in the long-term.
The Feinstein Center has also given countless hours of staff and volunteer time to the Amos House including free consulting, volunteer training, in-kind donations, assistance with special projects and support in advocacy efforts.
NARRAGANSETT COUNCIL BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA
In 1997, President Bill Clinton held an historic summit on volunteerism. At this conference, he and General Colin Powell challenged all youth organizations to make a commitment to provide service in their surrounding communities. The Boy Scouts of America committed 200 million hours of service by the end of the year 2000. This led to the Boy Scouts developing a program called “Service to America.”
The Narragansett Council has delivered 64,000 hours of documented service to Rhode Island and to towns in Massachusetts and Connecticut in the past two Scouting program years (1998, 1999). More people are being helped locally because of the Scouts. They are a dramatic force for good in our communities. The Narragansett Council pledged that during the Scouting year 2000-2001 (June 1st to May 31), their Scouts and Leaders, staff and volunteers, parents and youth will give 90,000 hours of service to local communities.
There are several phases of the program to be completed by volunteer youth and adult members of the Boy Scouts of America. These phases include, but are not limited to:
- Community Renewal – cemetery clean ups, playground improvements
- Duty to God – church painting, organizing hikes to houses of worship to educate people about different religions
- Reclaiming our Heritage – help at Roger William’s National Park, participate in Memorial Day events, educate people about the sacrifices of Patriots
- Conservation Good Turns – Earth Day programs, trail work, duck boxes
- Feeding the Hungry – Scouting for Food, soup kitchens
- Citizenship – get out the vote drives, veteran support on Memorial & Flag Day
The Narragansett Council recently completed the Scouting for Food Drive and collected 337,000 pounds of food in one day for the RI Food Bank, which will provide them with enough food to keep their shelves stocked for half a year. They will distribute the food collected to Soup kitchens and shelters.
To date, they also have held clean ups and playground restoration at the YMCA, Scouts have restored graves that had become overgrown, placed flags at the burial sites of Veterans, and created the Scout Patriot Award to educate youth and adults about the greatness of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin.
JOHN TAYLOR AND CLYDE COLE, JR.
John Taylor is president of a local insurance agency in Warren, Ohio. Clyde Cole, Jr. is the president of an automobile dealership, and both men have full lives with their respective businesses and families. However, a local high school principal’s call to the community for help changed their lives.
Taylor and Cole were made aware of a request to clean up the property near Western Reserve Junior High School. The dedication of these men and other volunteers not only resulted in the high school being cleaned, but the entire community was redeveloped. The Westlawn area of Warren was built as temporary housing during World War II, and they clearly had structural and safety issues.
Renovation of the existing houses in Westlawn was not an appropriate solution. The most viable answer was to clear the entire area and rebuild with new homes. The City of Warren had tried to do so for several years, but they had not been able to organize a program to do so. They needed a comprehensive movement that would address the issues on their side of town.
Taylor and Cole took on the project as a challenge, and their goal was to do something that the city government had not been able to accomplish throughout the years. The pair gave many volunteer hours and even used their own resources to support a line of credit with a local bank.
At the project’s inception, it was obvious that they could not just do the work. The program had to also take into consideration the families affected by this great undertaking. They set up additional programs to relocate families, help in finding employment, and assist those who had medical considerations.
Taylor and Cole were the organizers. They held many meetings with local and state officials. In addition, they made trips to several communities with successful housing and community redevelopment programs to get ideas and be sure their plans were in order. Within a short period of time, these two heroes corrected a community problem that many had seen for years and chosen to ignore. They risked their money and investing personal funds and time in an undertaking for which success was not certain.
Many did not understand their motivation, but the two businessmen felt they should give back to their community. However, this project seemed to be quite a bit more than giving back. It was more like creating a new community in which to give. Taylor and Cole are motivated by their desire to give back to the community. Also, their faith causes them to act in love; even if that means to risk some of themselves to help others. The work was not for attention or the limelight; however, the two men wanted to share some of their blessings and expertise with others.
SHAUNA WINMILL
Just before her ninth birthday on December 13, 1992, Shauna Marie Winmill heard a letter read on the radio about a family that would have no Christmas. She knew by then that Santa was the parent, but she could not comprehend the notion that these children would get no toys.
She immediately and desperately wanted to help. Since her family did not have the means that year to just purchase toys, it was suggested to her that for her birthday she invite her friends and ask them to bring a new, unwrapped toy for a needy child. Never has a child been more excited about their birthday. She knew that she could now help.
That year, she took the donated gifts to a local fire station. The firefighters were so impressed with her generosity that they gave her and her friends the grand tour of the station and the fire engines. In 1993, she donated her birthday gifts to the Tustin Police Department’s Christmas program. She and the five friends she invited to her birthday party that year, brought stuffed animals, games and other toys to the police station.
As the years passed, Shauna’s family assumed that the gift-collecting would be just a one-time thing and that she would, like most other children, simply want her own birthday gifts. Instead, each year brought her more excitement and more desire to receive more toys for needy children. Shauna is now 17 years old and she has just completed her ninth year of collecting toys for needy children in lieu of ANY birthday gifts. During the nine years, she has collected more than 1,000 toys to donate.
So many teens say that they admire what she does, but could never give up their birthday presents. Still, she inspires these teens to donate for her cause. Others, including many adults, have thanked her for providing them with a way to give and help when they had not known how. This year, Shauna plans to start her own organization for collecting toys for needy children’s Christmas.
Many people look forward to Shauna’s birthday and presenting their toy donations. Equally many children have benefited from her caring generosity. She is a model in her community for all young people in setting an example of how small sacrifices can make a difference, and she is just getting started.
DANIEL CHOONG
Daniel Choong responded to a request for volunteers to help create a mentoring center for youth in Littleton, which appeared in the Denver Post the day after the Columbine tragedy. He signed up to be a mentor and to help in any other way he could. He has kept that commitment by donating more than 2,000 volunteer hours in the past year. He has attended every event, every service day, and most extraordinarily, he has helped at the mentoring center almost every day since the doors opened on July 31, 1999.
Choong is the first in line to help with any problem or concern. He has overcome his own shyness to help others. He drives from Denver to help youth and has rearranged his work schedule, including reporting to work very early, so that he can be at the mentoring center to provide after school activities from 3pm until 8pm for the teens.
He also provides conflict resolution and helps teens to consider all aspects of their actions before making decisions. He provides help to learning disabled teens and helps students who have been expelled from high school to earn their General Equivalency Diploma (GED). Choong also helps involve teens in service projects such as Peace Day and making pasta for people with AIDS. He helps to motivate and empower teens to make their world a better place. Through his work, Choong has helped to bring together diverse groups – the cliques and stereotypes now melt away when teens walk through the doors of the mentoring center.
One teen that Choong has taken under his wing has gone from an angry introvert to an outgoing, assertive and fun young man. One time, when he was especially concerning about this child, Choong went to the teen’s place of work and told him that he would be at the mentoring center until the teen came in to talk. Choong waited at the mentoring center well past closing time until finally the young man came in for a game of chess and a heart to heart talk. Choong may have very well saved the life of this youth.
Daniel Choong has proven to be an incredible gift to everyone at the mentoring center. He is a teacher not only for the teens, but also for the adults. At just 26 years old, he has a wisdom that is well beyond his years.
TAMARAC OPTIMIST CLUB
The Tamarac Optimist Club is comprised of 47 members whose purpose is to bring hope to youth and their families. The Club is involved the community through various forms of outreach. They believe in helping the community and solving some of the problems that ail Tamarac by getting directly involved.
Some of the projects undertaken this year were a monthly Super Citizenship Award along with a donation of musical instruments to Denver’s most needy elementary school, Destination Imagination coaching for children, Habitat for Humanity building, Tailored Transition donation, Cherry Creek Arts Festival volunteering for scholarships for students of the arts, along with preparing monthly meals and serving them to families who have extended stays at the Children’s Hospital. They also collected pop tops for the Ronald McDonald House, gift wrapping for Mile High Ministries, American Red Cross Fat Tire Classic volunteering, timing for Race for Research for cancer and donating hats and mittens to those in need.
The Tamarac Optimist Club also works with the Denver Human Services Department to meet critical community needs and concerns in the area. One of their ongoing projects focuses on dissociated physically challenged children who have been adopted by single foster mothers. The project encourages the single parents involvement in further education by donating school supplies and personal necessities that will help them achieve goals on their own. It also demonstrates connection building through service that brings certain members of the community in touch with others where they may have been isolated. Single foster mothers are given aid that builds their self-confidence and inspires them to strive for loftier goals.
The volunteers of the Club bring hope, optimism, and strength to the Denver community. They especially bring joy to foster adoptive mothers and physically challenged children.
MARTIEL MULLIS
Martiel Mullis’ motivation to serve is not recognition, a “pat on the back,” or a paycheck. She is motivated by the sheer desire of making a difference in someone’s life, which in turn should make a difference in her community.
Mullis works twice a week with SHAREHOUSE Ministries. SHAREHOUSE provides food, clothing and emergency funds for the families in need in Lacey’s Spring. Mullis coordinates the efforts of several churches in the community in providing these services. She meets with each family or family representative to determine their needs and gives encouraging words that will uplift their spirits and minister to their souls as well as their physical needs.
The need for this service in Lacey’s Spring is very great. There are many families who are less fortunate and in a poverty situation due to layoffs, divorce, over extensions, and other situations. Mullis recognized the need and began a solution. She and a few other volunteers organized SHAREHOUSE and began to minister to hundreds of families in need.
SHAREHOUSE has been in existence for ten years and impacts the lives of an average of 70-80 families per month. Mullis not only tries to meet the immediate need of food and clothing, but she attempts to always do more. Each Monday and Wednesday, she is there and greets the families with a genuine, “how can I help you today?” She recognizes where she can offer assistance in getting jobs, education opportunities, and even sound advice. She is known in the elementary and junior high schools as much as in the community for her labor of love.
In addition to the weekly outreach, Mullis coordinates an annual SHAREHOUSE Christmas. This helps to provide children who are less fortunate with Christmas needs. She networks and works with various churches, businesses and individuals and determines needs and wants. The distribution is coordinated and the final product is hundreds of children having food, gifts of clothing, and other gifts for Christmas.
