RHONDA MILLER

Rhonda Miller moved to Cedar City nine years ago. As long as she has lived there, she has been known in the community for her concern for others and involvement in several projects. Projects she has been involved in have: helped school children in India, the Navajo tribe in southwestern Utah, the Family Support Center in Cedar City, Park Discovery in Cedar City, and others.

In the spring of 2003, several neighbors were discussing Jourdyn Cleveland, a 15-year-old girl in Miller’s neighborhood who had been diagnosed with cancer a year earlier. The family was in an economic predicament because of the costly cancer treatments and associated expenses. Everyone said, “Someone should organize a fundraiser.” By the end of that day, Rhonda had decided she would be that someone.

Miller has five children ages one through 13, and her husband, Richard, is frequently out of town with his National Guard responsibilities. The Miller’s had recently learned that they would need to relocate to another county in Utah, so Miller had much to do preparing for the move. She put all these plans on hold to plan, organize, and accomplish the goal of raising $10,000 to help the Cleveland family.

Miller started with a group of women who agreed to help. She carefully delineated specific responsibilities for each. Rhonda is a person who sees the big picture and yet knows exactly what details are necessary for putting the pieces together. She planned a 5 K race, a fun run, a kids carnival, an auction, a rummage sale, a dinner, two concerts, car wash, police dog demonstrations, haircutting, a bake sale, food booths and a craft fair. She worked full-time on this project, many times into the early morning, for two months.

On April 26, 2003, Jourdyn’s Jamboree was held – it was a phenomenal success! Over $22,000 was raised for the Cleveland family in that single day. Miller recognizes social problems on many levels, from the family struggling to meet the exorbitant costs of cancer treatment, to the needs of children who need a safe and stimulating place to play, to the needs of children she will never meet but who need a stove to keep warm or need pencils and paper to continue a sporadic education. Her selfless service to individuals, groups, causes, and the community of Cedar City is a great motivator to all who know her. Because if Miller has the time, anyone has the time!

KIERA ZITELMAN

Kiera Zitelman, 13, an eight-grader at Takoma Park Middle School in Silver Spring, organized an effort to make 60-120 bagged lunches at her church each month and distribute them to a local homeless shelter.

When she was 8 years old, Kiera received a gift of $20 but didn’t know what to do with it, so she donated it to a charity for the homeless. That made her feel so good that she began making and selling greeting cards, and organized a neighborhood concert, which raised another $80 for the cause. She donated that money to Happy Helpers for the Homeless after reading a newspaper article about the group, which was founded in Maryland by former Prudential Spirit of Community honoree Amber Coffman. Amber then asked Kiera to start a chapter in her county, so Kiera recruited a dozen young volunteers at her church to make, bag and distribute lunches for the homeless.

“The most difficult part of this project is getting money to buy food,” said Kiera, who originally received donations from grocery stores, but now relies on donations from church members. Kiera also has conducted canned-food drives for the homeless, and coordinates barbecues and holiday parties with her church group at the homeless shelter.

VERA MAE HANSON

Vera Mae Hanson is a 73 year-old retired dietician who worked as a Director of Food Service. She has been a resident of Napa, California since 1971 and has worked to help others in her community for the past 15 years.

Hanson has been running the Seventh Day Adventist Center in Napa for the past 15 years. The center provides free clothing, food and furniture to those in need. Hanson and her staff are all volunteers; however, they take the time to wash all the donated clothes and make baby layettes for new babies.

Hanson’s husband is a retired dentist, and she has influenced him to serve also. He now picks up donated appliances and furniture to be given to families that could not otherwise afford these items. Recently the Hansons came to the aid of a lady who had no transportation other than a bicycle. The woman had been searching for and found a job; however, the training was 20 miles away. Hanson did not want this woman on a bicycle at night and offered to drive her and pick her up.

Hanson is a special part of her Napa community. Those in need know her and have had their lives touched by her dedication and genuine concern for their well-being. There is no way to quantify all she does; however, it is evident that all who leave the Seventh Day Adventist center have been blessed.

TROY WALKER

Troy is a board member of A Volunteer Emergency Response Team, AVERT. As a member of AVERT, Walker helps to organize and train CERTs, Community Emergency Response Teams, which are volunteer groups trained in disaster preparedness, fire suppression, disaster medical operations, search and rescue, disaster psychology and team organization. Walker was trained by the Salt Lake County Fire Department, and then took the “Train the Trainer Course” to become an AVERT trainer under FEMA guidelines.

Walker serves as the Chair of Events and Community Relations for AVERT. In this volunteer position, he makes contacts in the community, and arranges to have information about AVERT and CERT at community events.

In Utah, a state emergency drill is held annually at the State Chemical Stockpile, a burn plant in Toelle. Walker and his wife, Jenny help plan this event. Jenny is a moorage artist, and offers her services to paint fake injuries on participants in the drill. Walker and Jenny help plan and attend many local emergency drills throughout the state.

Walker has helped to write policies and procedures for the AVERT-CERT program. As a CERT instructor, he has spent hundreds of hours training and teaching CERT’s and setting up teams in many communities in the state of Utah.

KYLE RASMUSSEN

Kyle Rasmussen has been volunteering in the Utah community since his youth. He grew up in Sandy, Utah and served as a volunteer for Sandy Parks and Recreation organizing umpires and referees for little league baseball and basketball games as a teenager.

Having graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy, 24-year-old Rasmussen, now a 1LT, USAF, volunteers with the Salt Lake City Chapter of the American Cancer Society. He has also served on the Gala and Relay for Life committees. Currently, he serves as chair of the Relay for Life Committee and the Salt Lake City Volunteer Division Leadership Chair for the American Cancer Society. Rasmussen is also working on a leadership tool aimed at increasing cancer awareness in northern Utah. He believes this will be invaluable in enhancing community involvement in the fight against cancer and will hopefully improve participation in cancer relays throughout the state.

On the weekends, Rasmussen makes the time to volunteer in LDS Hospital’s Shock and Trauma Intensive Care Unit. On average, he devotes in excess of fifty hours a month to volunteering in some capacity. At a time when so many demands are being placed on our military servicemen, Rasmussen, in addition to his service to this nation, still finds time to contribute to his community.

ANDREW BELL

Andrew Bell, 12, a sixth-grader at Sussex Academy of Arts and Sciences in Georgetown, organized a drive to collect shoes, socks and shoelaces for needy orphans. Looking for a service project to do for one of his classes, Andrew and his mother found information on the Internet about conducting a shoe drive, and sent away for instructions and an informational video.

“I always knew some orphanages were poor,” Andrew explained, “but I never knew they sometimes had to choose between food, or clothing and shoes.”

He wrote letters to four elementary school principals in his town and got permission to collect donations in their schools. He then wrote articles for his school newsletter, created a handout explaining his project, decorated collection boxes for each school, and solicited donations from local department stores. Andrew ended up collecting 213 pairs of usable shoes, 83 pairs of socks, and 15 sets of shoelaces. His teacher helped him pick up donations, which Andrew tied together, recorded and boxed for shipment to destinations throughout the world.

FRANK H. BRETZ

Frank Bretz is a visionary. He is one who recognizes a need and expands the need to fit the masses of many. His volunteer work began over 50 years ago. Where he was or is he continues to make the world a little better, one day at a time.

Recognizing a need at Hospice of Palm Beach County for horticulture therapy, plant day began. Bretz thought about who else might benefit from plants. An organization for disabled children became the recipients of many starter plants. An organization housing families of chronically ill children now has a lovely garden.

Holiday time five years ago, Bretz and a few volunteers baked cookies for families of terminally ill patients. These cookies were personally delivered giving them a touch of happiness during a difficult time. This year over 15,000 cookies will be baked for Hospice of Palm Beach County families. Bretz is now affectionately known as the Cookie Monster. The tears and letter of thanks are worth it all. He still oversees this operation, with more love and dedication than you can imagine.

During Bretz’s tenure with Café Joshua, an organization that serves meals to the homeless in a restaurant environment complete with waiters, he saw a need. The homeless really had no one to talk to. Table companions consisting of volunteers who dines with the homeless is now a tradition. Sometimes the smallest gesture means the most. Bretz’s perception, drive and completion of these efforts are shown in the number of hours served each week. At Hospice of Palm Beach County alone, he spends 20 hours per week. Frank Bretz is 80 years old.

He has been instrumental in patient care, spending numerous hours doing what most patients relish, listening. He takes special assignments to deal with difficult patients. His volunteer efforts are also instrumental in helping those employees who may be stressed, knowing that making their lives a little easier will ultimately have that positive effect on patients and their families. In his spare time he makes cross-stitch gifts for departments of Hospice, recognizing them for what they do.

For 16 weeks, in an effort to reach the community as a whole, Bretz wrote and moderated a local television program aimed at senior citizen issues.

Frank Bretz volunteers his time, his love, his compassion, and his knowledge. He is paving the road for the future of volunteerism, recognizing that somewhere, at sometime, each of us might need a person like him, who recognizes the need for the extraordinary as well as ordinary.

READING RANGERS

A Reading Ranger program was developed to bring awareness to students and teachers of the opportunities for learning through the National Park Service (NPS). It involved Volunteer Senior Rangers and staff members reading to K-6th grade students in a 100-mile radius of Beatrice. Books were age appropriate and connected the students to the themes of Homestead National Monument of America. The 25 readers read to 36 classrooms for a total of 825 students over 7 days.

This project was launched with the Governor and First Lady of Nebraska reading to Beatrice children. It ties directly to the First Lady of Nebraska’s “Read to Your Children” campaign. Family bonds were emphasized by many volunteers who read to their grandchildren while building a connection to the park. One grandfather traveled 300 miles in order to read to his grandchildren’s classrooms. The teachers enjoyed having the interaction and learning associated with the chosen books, and curriculum-based education programs explained. The older students were encouraged to read more and the value of a college education emphasized.

Volunteers developed enhancements to their own programs. While reading the book “Seaman, the Captain’s Dog” which is about Lewis and Clark’s Newfoundland dog, one volunteer read the book and another joined at the end with his Newfoundland dog. The project brought greater awareness to the National Park Service, Homestead National Monument of America and the Web Ranger program. This project coincided with the launching of the Web Ranger program, so students and teachers were given copies of the Web ranger rackcard which shows them how to access other learning opportunities through the National Park Service over the Internet.

The Reading Ranger program connects rural populations with free educational activities. The community has many low-income and at risk children that take information home to their parents. The activities of Homestead National Monument of America are free to anyone. This program encourages senior citizens to work with the day care centers and schools to develop a love of reading. Many of the volunteers requested and assisted in working with their own grandchildren’s classrooms, which encouraged an intergenerational connection in the schools.

The curriculum-based education programs at Homestead National Monument of America are growing to more than 14,000 students participating each year as more teachers learn about the program. Taking the coordination of education resources found in the NPS directly to teachers is an innovative approach. Using senior citizen volunteers, especially when going to their own grandchildren’s classroom, also makes this program possible, since the staff could not provide all the programs requested.

TIMOTHY A. MILLER

The Texas EquuSearch Mounted Search and recovery Team (TES) was founded by Mr. Timothy (Tim) A. Miller in August 2000 with the purpose to provide volunteer horse mounted search and recovery resources for the search of lost and missing persons.

The TES was started in North Galveston County, Texas because of the high incidence of missing persons in this largely undeveloped area. TES is dedicated to the memory of Laura Miller, a young woman abducted and murdered in 1984 and the daughter of Tim Miller. TES is composed of volunteers of various talents, including experienced horse owners. TES has recruited more than 250+ members over the years, conducting searches locally, statewide, and nationally. TES is a nonprofit and funded solely by donations from team members and the surrounding communities. Mr. Miller receives, infrequently, a small stipend that helps to defray some of his personal TES expenses as its director.

The TES organization is compassionate and dedicated. TES’s fundamental belief is that we can better ourselves by working together to help the community and people in need. Many TES members are trained in various rescue and life saving skills such as CPR, advanced lifesaving skills, aircraft search operations. Members come from all walks of life…business owners, medics, firefighters, housewives, electricians, pilots, and students. Resources range from horse and rider teams to foot searchers, water (divers, boats) air (planes, helicopters), dog teams (air scent, cadaver, and tracking) and ATVs. TES is a professional organization that takes notification of, and the search for, a missing person very seriously.

Much thought was given by Tim Miller to the idea of forming TES. The following words are Tim Miller’s own, and the spirit of the TES mission:

“…I know how important a search and rescue team can be. My daughter, Laura Miller was abducted in September of 1984. I went to the police department to report her missing and file a missing persons report. Five months prior to Laura’s disappearance the remains of a young lady named Heidi Villareal Fye, were found on some property at an abandoned oil field on Calder Road in League City, Texas. I told the police officer taking the report of my concerns, and would they please check the area where she had been found, or tell me where it was located so that I might check myself. Of course they said Laura is sixteen, she ran away and will be coming back home…I found out that Heidi had only lived 4 blocks from our house. So I went back to the police station to tell them my new worries about the close location of our houses and could they go and check the field where Heidi was or please take me to where it was located. Again they said Laura was sixteen and she had run away so we should go home and wait by the phone for her to call. The days turned into weeks, weeks into months…still no Laura. Seventeen months later, kids were riding dirt bikes on Calder Road when they smelled foul odor…it was in fact the remains of a female who had been there approximately two months. The police were called out to investigate, and during the investigation stumbled across the remains of yet another female some sixty feet from the other. These remains of the other girl found were those of my daughter, Laura Miller…These were by far the most frustrating and lonely seventeen months of my life and there was some feeling of relief when Laura was found, at least now we know. I often think of what would have changed back in 1984 when Laura disappeared, if there has been a Texas EquuSearch. Would Laura have been found alive?…Would Jane Doe have been murdered?…We could stay in the what ifs-what if we has search that field, what if we had had a rescue team, but we can also grow from these unfortunate (to say the least) events. Let’s grow way beyond the surrounding communities in helping to change the way we handle missing persons. …Our goal is to grow many times over and serve more and more communities so no family has to experience the feeling of hopelessness and loneliness if a loved one should ever disappear.” – Tim Miller

Law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, have credited TES with having perhaps the highest ‘find rate’ (about 70% -with nearly 85% of these found alive) of any search and rescue organization in our nation.

In October of 2002, having been invited by The White House, Tim Miller participated in ‘The White House Conference on Missing, Exploited, and Runaway Children’-conferring with President George W. Bush about Texas EquuSearch’s accomplishments.

PROJECT FOCUS (Families Overcoming Crisis Understanding Strengths)

Project FOCUS truly meets community needs by working with children who are living in alcoholic and other drug addicted environments. Six years ago, several counties collaboratively identified the need to provide prevention activities for children living in high stress situations. These activities include building resiliency skills, recognizing safe people (safe communities), building a sense of self through service, and adopting healthy life habits. Not surprisingly, these activities align with CARE’s most recent appointment as a Metro Detroit Site of Promise.

The collaborative and other local agencies that identified the need for a safe learning environment for some of the most vulnerable populations based their recommendations on facts. The University of Michigan survey provided data specific to Macomb County youth. Sixty-one percent of Macomb County 12th graders reported using alcohol and other drugs during the past month compared to the national average of 51 percent. Twenty-three percent of the nation’s 12th graders had used marijuana within the 30 days prior to the survey while 32% of Macomb County 12th graders reported use. Additionally, Macomb County ranks 62 out of 83 counties in teen suicide while the local child welfare agency reports that approximately 80% of their substituted child abuse and neglect cases involve the parent’s use of alcohol or other drugs.

The collaborative decided that they would offer children an opportunity to learn about alcoholism and other drug addiction, family dynamics along with skills that would help them make healthy choices as they grow older. Project Focus offers two summer programs and two year-round programs that keep children, ages 3-13, and their families engaged. The messages are continually reinforced through hands on activities, mentors, and service learning projects. Both of the programs are offered at faith-based community centers that allow families’ access to other services. This strengthens the family’s ability to develop healthy family characteristics.

Project Focus is innovative in the respect that it offers long-term assistance to those children at high risk for alcoholism and other drug addiction. Most prevention programs are short in duration and offer somewhat of a band-aid approach to hard problems. Project Focus curriculum was developed by Maplegrove’s Children Program, a leader in the field of addiction and treatment. Jerry Moe, M.A., author and director of Children’s Programs at the Betty Ford Clinic says about CARE’s Project Focus, “This unique service provides summer (year round) support for youth who benefit from student assistance services through the school year. The professionalism, passion, and caring of your staff shines through.”

Over 550 families have participated in Project Focus over the past six years. Many of the children who took part as participants have returned as teen volunteers. In part, because CARE offers this program, the local child welfare agency has housed a Family-to-Family Project at a community center. Family to Family increases services to at risk families.