ZETA PHI BETA

Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., is an international, nonprofit organization with headquarters in Washington DC whose mission is to foster the ideals of service, charity, scholarship, civil and cultural endeavors. Through the sorority’s national programs, members and auxiliary groups voluntarily carry out this mission by staffing community outreach programs, funding scholarships, supporting organized charities, and promoting legislation for social and civic change.

Lower-income women, regardless of age and race, are at greater risk for not receiving adequate prenatal care and having unhealthy birth outcomes, including higher rates of infant deaths. Particularly tragic, many unhealthy outcomes could be prevented. One important factor in prevention is early and regular prenatal care.

Since 1971, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority and the March of Dimes have been partners in implementing a prenatal education program called the Stork’s Nest. This program has three major objectives: (1) to provide prenatal education and incentives to low-income pregnant women, (2) to motivate women to get early, regular prenatal care through earned incentives, and (3) to educate women on self-care during pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. Sorority volunteers operates these Nests programs and conduct the educational classes. March of Dimes provides the educational materials, training, and some funding. Today, there are 165 Stork’s Nest across the country serving over 28,000 women each year.

Expanding on this partnership, in 2003 when the March of Dimes launched its 5-year, $75 Million National Prematurity Campaign, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority supported the campaign in full force. The sorority participated by implementing Zeta Prematurity Awareness Sunday, engaging hundreds of faith-based communities. On Sunday, November 16, 2003, local sorority chapters coordinated activities with their church communities to present information on premature birth. Zeta Phi Beta adapted March of Dimes prematurity material and distributed over 20,000 information cards on the signs/symptoms of pre-term labor to congregations across the country. Over 450 congregations participated, reaching over 150,000 people. This innovative partnership enhanced community outreach on a serious health issue. The project was repeated on November 14, 2004 and will be implemented annually for the duration of the national campaign. In 2004, an abstract for this innovative program had been accepted for presentation at the American Public Health Association Conference and the American Association for Health Education Conference.

Zeta Phi Beta also has been a major support of WalkAmerica, the March of Dimes largest fundraiser. Since 1998 the sorority has been a national team, raising over $435,000 to fund research and programs to save babies’ lives. In 2004 alone, the Sorority raised over $153,000. The partnership and programs with March of Dimes is only one of several national programs the Sorority supports. Zeta Phi Beta Sorority is truly an excellent representation of a community-conscious organization.

THERESA E. MCNULTY

Theresa McNulty and her husband, Joe wanted a family. Joe had a daughter from a previous marriage, but they wanted more children. After speaking with an adoption agency, they were lead to the Massachusetts Department of Social Services, where they discovered foster children available for adoption. They also discovered situations that many of these children face when they are removed from their birth parents.

The first children Theresa and Joe took in wre ages 1,2 and 5. It was a sibling group consisting of a baby sister and her two older brothers. Four years later, Dept. of Social Services (DSS) called to see if they would take a baby boy just 2 days old, whose mother was deemed unfit. With an hour to decide, they said yes. Today, these kids range from ages 4 to 13, and the McNulty’s are also to guardians of another child, a 13-year-old girl. Their oldest is now 19 and attending Bridgewater State College.

The story only begins here: The McNulty’s were horrified to learn the circumstances surrounding the removal of children from their birth parents to be placed in foster homes. Often being taken in the dark of night, the children are immediately removed. They have no time to take their blanket, favorite teddy bear, or anything else familiar. It’s get the child (or children) and to DSS to await a foster home. In the wee hours of the morning, Theresa found that she worried over the plight of these children. Then she had an idea. In 2002, she started to pull together new (or gently used) clothing items, combing set, a pair of pajamas, toothbrush and stuff animals. She used a backpack or duffel bag to put them in and brought them to the DSS office for the foster children that were brought in.

Theresa has become well known in her community and is sometimes surprised by the help of volunteers. People have been known to knock on her door to help. Her efforts and her dedication to this project have impacted the lives of hundreds of children, giving them something to call their own. Today, the Brockton, Massachusetts DSS office is well stocked with backpacks. Theresa created both a website and marketing materials with the voluntary assistance of a nationally known office supply store, Staples, Inc.

McNulty’s volunteer effort is now serving several communities in Southeastern Massachusetts and there are backpacks at any given time for children from birth to 18 years of age. Theresa is moving forward with her plan to make Supply Sacks a statewide program, with the ultimate dream of a national program to ensure that no child comes into foster care without something to call their own (how fitting this is with President Bush declaring that no child be left behind). If Mrs. McNulty has any say, children will always know someone cares.

Man’s home may be his castle someplace else, but the McNulty’s home is the center for SupplySacks.org. Local TV stations and newspapers have interviewed her and her family, Teamsters and Fostering Families Today, both national magazines, have featured Theresa and her family who have been lauded by the local fire chief and many local groups and organizations.

REMY GREENO

Teenangels LA is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit, charitable foundation founded by Remy Greeno during her sophomore year in high school. Her foundation raises money for charities serving underprivileged children, focusing on those charities that are most in need of funds, through which the foundation’s contributions can make the most impact.

When Remy was 15 years old, and researching volunteer opportunities, she envisioned a foundation that would empower teenagers to interaction on all levels of fundraising, including the formation of a foundation, the planning and organizing of fundraisers, and the donation of funds to charities serving underprivileged children.

In December 2004, Remy applied to the Public Counsel Law Center for assistance in forming a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization and was successful in obtaining legal representation through the Public Counsel’s Community Development Project. Three month later, Teenangels LA was up and running as in independent nonprofit entity. She also applied for approval as a student-initiated organization at her high school, Harvard-Westlake, so that students would be eligible to earn community service hours when participating in any aspect of the fundraising.

Remy held her first fundraiser in April 2004, a Yu Gi Oh! Tournament, at the home of Denzel Washington. The fundraiser was a great success, and she donated the proceeds ($865) to Hope Village, an orphanage in Meridian, Mississippi.

Remy’s second fundraiser – a talent competition – was much more ambitious. Held in January 2005, it was a smash hit and was completely sold out. She produced the talent competition and recruited celebrity judges such as Jason Alexander, Seth Green, Alfre Woodward and Jason Ritter. She set up a website to sell tickets, held contestant auditions, had a marketing campaign with newspaper advertisements, flyers, posters and made announcements to several surrounding schools. She received prize donations from Alan Horn, President of Warner Brothers Studios, and Brad Grey, President of Paramount Studios. In addition, she sold t-shirts and caps made by Homeboy Industries, a nonprofit charity of ex-gang members. Remy was able to donate $8,200 to The Unusual Suspects, a charity bringing theater arts to youths in the juvenile system and foster homes. Her gift, along with the matching funds it provided, subsidized an entire session of workshops serving over 100 institutionalized youth. Remy was asked to be on the board of The Unusual Suspects as a result of her hugely successful fundraiser.

Remy is now working on a raffle fundraiser for Darfur, and planning a spring Battle of the Bands in the spring and a fall celebrity basketball tournament. Additionally, she is organizing Teenangels LA chapters at other California schools and is planning to expand nationally. Her dream is for Teenangels LA to become an international organization.

For her efforts, Remy has received the President’s Volunteer Service Award, the 2005 Prudential Sprit of Community Certificate of Excellence, and the 2004 Harvard-Westlake Award of Excellence for Innovative Outreach. She has received nominations including the National Young Leaders Conference, National Student Leadership Conference and National Youth Leadership in Medicine. For her extraordinary work at such a young age and for setting such an exemplary example for teenagers everywhere, for empowering teenagers and showing them how teens can make a difference starting with only an idea and hard work.

ELSIE CALAMESE

Elsie is referred to as the “Clara Barton” of the American Red Cross, Firelands Chapter. She has given of herself for the past twenty years. She not only volunteers at the ARC but is intensively involved in our community and serves on the American Red Cross national volunteer list. She is a quiet gentle great grandmother who can be summoned at a moment’s notice to jet off to the scene of a disaster anywhere in the United States. In response to September 11, Elsie boarded a plane the next day and worked 12 hour days to help those in need.

Elsie volunteers one day a week at Care and Share, Second Harvest doing whatever is needed to assist the hungry in our community. She was one of the co-founders of this organization. She has also been a long time board member of The Erie Huron Counties Community Action Commission.

GEORGE “RAY” CASPER

George “Ray” Casper currently volunteers for three programs within the Department of Aging in San Joaquin County. He has enormously positive impact on others as a result of his volunteer work. For example, Ray Casper volunteers to coordinate the distribution of foods at the St. Andrew’s Church site. When Ray unlocks the doors at 6:30am, over 30 volunteers are gathered outside ready to begin the task of packing the goods and setting up table’s distribution. Over 400 families are served at this site. Some of Ray’s responsibilities include checking in the foods to be distributed the day before, gathering and recruiting enough volunteers to help for the day, carefully calculating the number of items to be divided among the food bags, assisting with packing and completing the volunteer time sheet paperwork. Ray has a kind nature and goes the extra step to make the volunteers and recipients of the commodities feel welcome and important.

Mr. Casper makes noteworthy contributions in that he serves as Chairman of the San Joaquin County Commission of Aging. The Commission is the lead advocate for the 87,000 seniors who reside in the county. They are also the Advisory Board to the San Joaquin County Area Agency on Aging, which provides an integrated system of care for the elderly and disabled. His duties with the Commission include his participation on several committees. He is a member of the Commission Executive committee, the Technical Advisory Committee, the Nutrition Task Force and the Monitoring committee. Each of these committees provides volunteer services that meet at least once a month. In addition, Ray attends the Area Agency on Aging Council meeting of California as the San Joaquin County Chairman representative.

Mr. Casper has volunteered for 15 years in the Long Term Care Ombudsman Program, advocating for seniors and dependent adults residing in nursing homes and assisted living facilities in San Joaquin County. This program tries to ensure that the residents in these facilities continue to have the best quality of life possible.

Mr. Ray Casper’s dedication to his community, the senior within, and the programs he serves are evidence for his continued work and average of over 80 volunteer hours each month. He has done an outstanding job of working to meet the needs of this community, and he is well respected and admired by those he works with and serves. We are honored to have Ray as a member of the San Joaquin County RSVP, Commodities Program, member of the Commission on Aging and volunteer in the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program.

MARILYN ROOT

Marilyn Root is a thoughtful, caring volunteer and community advocate. She has strived through the years as a member of the Commission on Aging, the Link Ages board and other senior advocacy groups to improve the lives of seniors in all areas.

Her involvement as past president and her current involvement on the board continues to make positive change for the county’s seniors. She was instrumental in the founding and building of the Betty Queen Intergenerational Center, which provides adult daycare and special activities to keep seniors active. She also recruits volunteers and delivers meals to homebound seniors.

Believing there was a huge need for additional local rescue service, she was one of the first local residents to acquire the needed training to become an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) for Lake Anna Rescue and she still works diligently for the squad as their Grounds Chairperson, and serving on the hospitality and fund raising committees. She often provides catering for community events. Last year she was also trained for Louisa County CERT (Community Emergency Response Teams).

She is active with the Mineral United Methodist Church, having served as the president of the UM Women and is a summer camp councilor at “All God’s Children” summer camp for children whose mothers are in prison. Her interest in children continues as she has been an advocate for individual children in the court system and delivers “Books for Babies” to encourage parents of newborns to read to their infants and instill a love for reading. Marilyn is also involved with the National Association for Retired Federal Employees (NARFE), serving as Chapter Alzheimers Chairperson and State Area 8 Representative.

TED MINTUN

Ted Mintun retired in 1990 as Chief of Social Services at the Salina Area Social and Rehabilitation Services office. After 44 years of social work practice, Ted transitioned from Volunteer Station liaison to RSVP volunteer, recording over 20,500 service hours between September 1991 – March 2005.

Since retirement, Ted has served on six Boards of Directors of community agencies. All Boards, and agencies, subsequently functioned more productively as a result of Ted’s contributions. His meeting minutes, research, and reports are legendary!

As Chairperson of the Volunteer Recruitment Committee for the All-America (substance abuse) Prevention Partnership Board of Directors for 4 years, he recruited between 10 and 55 adult volunteers for numerous alcohol, tobacco and drug free community recreational events for youth. Ted currently serves on the Community Corrections Advisory Board, Kansas Children’s Service League Advisory Council (and liaison to foster parents), and The Volunteer Connection Advisory Council.

As a member of the Salina Planning Council for Children and Families, Ted served on four of the five subcommittees: Not only an active participant, Ted has served as Secretary for all of the subcommittees, and the overall Steering Committee, including for 3 of them concurrently! Ted also worked many hours collecting data and writing reports for the Kansas Juvenile Justice Authority Community Planning Team for the 28th District.

Ted screened potential clients for the community health clinic for nine years. His numerous services helped two wheelchair bound senior citizens remain in their own homes for most of the last two years of their lives. For the past 10 years, he has mentored a young boy with special needs, enabling him to become a much more normal, happy, young man.

At 83, Ted remains a tireless advocate for children’s issues, relief of poverty and hunger on local, state and national levels.

ROBERT HEMMINGER

Robert Hemminger is known as “Mr. Habitat” at the Firelands Habitat for Humanity Chapter. He has been with the affiliate since it’s inception in 1990. At 86 years old, he still outworks most of the other volunteers and volunteers at least two days per week.

His work, belief and love for Habitat for Humanity inspires both the staff and all who volunteer with him. He deeply cares for the families served by Habitat and is viewed as grandfather figure by many of them. He helps the families in many ways, talking to them, offering guidance when needed and much more. When the Firelands chapter needs a truck or backhoe or other large equipment, Bob is there with the needed equipment. When the chapter needed a location to build it’s workshop, Bob stepped forward and offered a corner of his farm. The workshop was built and Bob is frequently there helping out as needed.

Fran Mason

Fran Mason’s volunteer effort has definitely impacted both individuals and the community of Kalamazoo, MI. Fran began her second “full-time” job as a RSVP volunteer when she retired in 1993, and today volunteers for Ministry With Community, Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes, Kalamazoo Nature Center, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Washington Writers Academy, Meals on Wheels and Westminster Presbyterian Church.

Fran goes above and beyond the call of duty. When Kalamazoo resident Vicki Saeman’s house burned down, she turned to Ministry With Community for help. Saeman said many people promised to help, “but Fran actually wrote down what I could use. Fran goes out of her way to help. It’s the simple things that mean so much.”

Fran coordinates volunteers who bake, package and deliver 100,000 cookies to non-profits, nursing homes and psychiatric hospitals during the Holidays. Fran teaches volunteers to roll candles that are sold as a community fundraiser. She is the election chair for precinct 16 and volunteers for every election. She coordinates the wrapping of 600 holiday packages given to area youth on Christmas Day. For eleven years she has tutored and mentored children through RSVP and her “reward” as she says, is seeing so many graduates. Fran always encourages others to volunteer; “…we need lots more helping hands.”

Fran’s special skills and talents were recently recognized this year, when she received Kalamazoo’s Irving S. Gilmore Lifetime Achievement Award for her volunteer efforts. It’s hard to believe Fran will turn 80 next year, for she shows no sign of letting up. “I think the primary reason for volunteering is feeling blessed yourself, and having the physical ability to get out and help someone who is less fortunate.” Mason says. “That’s satisfaction that money can’t buy.”

MARY ELLEN COX

Mary Ellen Cox has been an advocate for aging issues and reforms since 1971 when she officially “retired”. She served on Senior Connections, the Capital Area Agency on Aging’s Board of Directors from 1993-2002. Now she is a member of our Advisory Council. In 2003-2004 she has chaired the Agency’s 30th Anniversary Planning Committee. Her commitment and passion to educate and advocate ensuring the availability of home and community based services for seniors and their caregivers are tireless.

She was appointed by five Governors of Virginia to serve on the Governor’s Advisory Board on Aging. She served on this board for 20 years. She was the first Chairwoman of the Virginia Coalition on Aging. Other positions and contributions include: Chairwoman of the Interfaith Coalition for Older Virginias, Chairwoman of the Statewide Coalition to Support Family Caregivers, and board membership for Our Lady of Hope Health Care Center, Richmond Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association and the Virginia Center on Aging.

She has been instrumental in the faith community as Coordinator of Older Adult Ministry for the Catholic Diocese of Richmond. She insures that information on senior and caregiver topics is included in church publications.

She has served as a legislative advocate with the General Assembly on may aging issues to include tax relief for caregivers of the elderly and adults with disabilities. Before moving to Beaverdam, VA in 1993 to be with her daughter and family, she had already opted for a retirement of meaningful humanitarian service. Instead of days of bridge and cocktail parties, the previous twenty-five years in Southeastern Virginia involved her creating a Senior Center Multi-Purpose Center, a location for seniors to socialize, get continuous education and health services. This came out of a federal initiative and she asked to be appointed to the Southeast Virginia Model Program. This model led to the outgrowth of Tidewater’s first adult day care center in 1975 and 1987 it was named for her, the M.E. Cox Center for Elder Day Care, Inc. this she saw not only a respite for frail elderly, but for their caregivers. Her desire to see home and community based services meet the needs and desires of seniors and their families also serves the needs for cost savings in long term care choices and health care spending. Her gentle disposition, sure speaking manner, ego less aura, and reluctance to enumerate her accomplishments vocally make her an advocate’s advocate. The long list of unmentioned honors can’t be included in this short document. It is also not just humans that benefit from her daily care. Seven years ago she created a private rescue service for lost and injured animals. It takes really just a few words to describe Mary Ellen Cox – a warm, caring, active citizens’ citizen who puts service to others needs before her own. She has achieved vibrancy at the age of 84 by trying to wear herself out in service to others.