Loyce Logan

Grandma Loyce Logan has been a volunteer through the County of Sacramento’s Foster Grandparent Program since 1998. For the past 8 years she has been on the Cookie Brigade baking cookies and all sorts of sweets for the thousands of families of children receiving treatment at the Ronald McDonald House in Sacramento, CA.

After the house was built in 1998 Grandma Loyce and another founding volunteer began the Cookie Brigade to develop a means to engage the children and families that come though the House. Many of the families travel to Sacramento from other parts of the country and need a great deal of support navigating their way around this strange new world of hospitals and treatment centers and a new town while being under a much distress from their child’s illness. Loyce helps bring together people from diverse backgrounds and share common experiences. She is able to help ease the stress of hospitalization and provide a shoulder to cry on when needed. The impact she has is always a personal one. Loyce helps families through very tough times. The welcome aroma of cookies helps bring the families together to share and relax after a long day of treatments for their little ones. The siblings of the children receive attention that is badly needed at a time when they are feeling left out. It is such a win-win situation for everyone involved. Loyce is very attentive to all the needs of the families and it always is a pleasure for her to serve the needs of the children and their families.

Grandma Loyce has always loved children, while raising her family she worked in preschools and at the daycare at her church. She was also a Foster Parent for youth whom she brought into her home to nurture and love after her own children left the nest.

Grandma Loyce has registered over 8,000 hours of service for the Foster Grandparent Program and Ronald McDonald House in her 8 years. She has also baked hundreds of thousands of cookies and sweets for the kids and families that Ronald McDonald serves. Grandma Loyce received the Presidents Lifetime Achievement Award for volunteering over 4,000 hours in a lifetime. Even though she registered many hours and received an award, Grandma’s commitment hasn’t waned one bit and she still can be found at the end of a spatula at Ronald McDonald House.

Angela Ippolito

Angela Ippolito is an 80 year old marvel. Angie, a naturalized U.S. citizen, came to this country as a young adult. She worked full-time in a high school cafeteria until the age of 72, but after three months of retirement decided that she wanted more.

She has volunteered since 1998 at ScholarShop, the funding arm of The Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis. She loves the idea of helping young people be able to afford to continue their college education through no-interest loans from the Foundation. This past year Angie has contributed 780 hours of her time sorting and hanging donated upscale clothing for resale at ScholarShop. When asked what motivates her to continue at this “gold level” pace she replied, “I love the people, the place, and the work. It’s fun and I’m contributing to a great cause.” Angie has our vote for most dedicated volunteer of the year!Angela Ippolito is an 80 year old marvel. Angie, a naturalized U.S. citizen, came to this country as a young adult. She worked full-time in a high school cafeteria until the age of 72, but after three months of retirement decided that she wanted (and was capable of doing) more.

She has volunteered since 1998 at ScholarShop, the funding arm of The Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis. She loves the idea of helping young people be able to afford to continue their college education through no-interest loans from the Foundation. This past year Angie has contributed 780 hours of her time sorting and hanging donated upscale clothing for resale at ScholarShop. When asked what motivates her to continue at this “gold level” pace she replied, “I love the people, the place, and the work. It’s fun and I’m contributing to a great cause.” Angie has our vote for most dedicated volunteer of the year!

Anne Galvan

Students Working Against Tobacco

Students Working Against Tobacco (SWAT) is a national youth-led movement working to educate and unite students against the manipulation and targeting of youth by tobacco companies. In 2005, the Guyom SWAT team put in over 1,000 hours in service-learning projects. The Hats-Underwear -Gloves-Socks (H.U.G.S.) project collected 175 items for Hurricane Katrina and Rita victims and sent the items with anti-tobacco messages encouraging people to quit tobacco use and advising them not to start smoking.

Team members also translated and peer taught the Short Story of Smoking Calculator Curriculum, for the annual Great American Smoke Out. Guyom SWAT team members also recently attended National Youth Leadership Conference to share the SWAT story and learn more about service learning. These students are proud recipients of the President’s Volunteer Service Award.

THE KATIE RIDE FOR LIFE

The Katie Caples Foundation was started in 1998 by the family of Katie Caples, a young high school student from Jacksonville who became an organ and tissue donor after not surviving the trauma of an automobile accident.

The foundation hosts the Katie Ride for Life cycling fundraising event. David Caples, Katie’s father and foundation chairman says that “we host this event in memory of Katie and the wonderful legacy she left behind. Katie was an athlete, and it is fitting to her memory to host a sporting event like this in her name. She was also a generous child who gave many others a chance to live through her gifts of organ and donor tissue.”

There are more than 90,000 Americans currently on the national organ transplant waiting list, with roughly 3,000 listed at transplant centers in Florida. It is hoped that this event will not only provide donor education to the community, but also raise funds for future donor education campaigns.

Joanne Loritz

Joanne is the leader for Girl Scout Troop 56. We have 8 girls who are Brownies and 4 Daisy Girl Scouts. I’m constantly amazed at how much work it takes to be a leader now. Joanne spends hours each week on paperwork, phone calls, research and organizing. We’ve had field trips, educational speakers and camping trips. Girl Scouting isn’t just a twice a month deal with our troop — through Joanne’s efforts, these girls are thinking about scouting all the time.

Service Projects are very important to Joanne. She helps the girls complete at least one (and often several) each month. The girls wrote 191 letters to the troops and have 14 service men and women pen pals now in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Baltic Sea, and Alaska. They sold 85 boxes of cookies in their “Cookies for Troops” drive during the recent cookie sale that they will be sending with letters and pictures. At Christmas the girls decorated Christmas trees and sang at the Yountville Veteran’s Home as well as at a local hospital. Participating in the Fourth of July Parade and singing patriotic songs with residents of a nursing home; collecting warm coats, Toys for Tots, and toiletries for the local Women’s Emergency Shelter; and picking up litter in our local waterways during Coastal Clean-Up Day were some of the service projects she organized for our girls and our community.

Joanne also is the Napa Service Unit Director. She generally puts in an hour or two (or even three or four) each night when she gets home from work to help organize things for an upcoming meeting or event. In many ways, it’s a part time job immediately following her full day at the clinic. . Joanne, as a physician, has been the “Camp Doctor” at various Girl Scout overnight expeditions. In January she organized a letter exchange service unit wide with letters from girls in troops throughout California and the USA in addition to England, South Korea, and Japan.

However the biggest thing Joanne worked on this year was getting the Presidential Volunteer Award for the Napa Girl Scout leaders who put in so much time for their girls. Doing the paperwork for a hundred people to get the award was a job in itself. The Awards Ceremony was also a major event to coordinate but a great time was had by all.

Roger Uber

Roger is a member of the Boy Scouts of America and volunteers as a “Lunch Buddy,” with Big Brothers/Big Sisters, having lunch with a young boy at the grade school weekly. Active with People First, a local advocacy group, Roger helped raise money in 2005 for Relay For Life – Garrett County Hospice. Roger also serves in many roles as the official host of the Special Olympics Maryland Winter Games in Garrett County.

During the most recent Winter Games, he served as the athlete representative for the Games Evaluation Team, as an official at the Cross Country & Snowshoeing venue, a speaker at the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and filled in at the awards ceremony as a general volunteer. Roger has never met a stranger. He literally loves his neighbor, is always giving of himself, and encourages others toward success. One of Roger’s Special Olympics coaches’ states, “He lives to help others. Our lives would have a great void without him.”

Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens

The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens is home to the Jacksonville affiliate of VSA arts, an international organization founded by Jean Kennedy Smith to provide opportunities in the arts for individuals with disabilities. The Cummer Museum and VSA arts jointly support programs for exceptional students and adults that engage the human spirit, spur the imagination, and spark the intellect. The Cummer Museum has received local, state and national recognition for its multifaceted educational programming including the 2000 ADA Compliant and Disability Friendly Award from the City of Jacksonville Mayor’s Disability Council. Annually, over 13,000 underserved special needs students and adults directly benefit from these educational initiatives, making the Cummer one of the country’s most accessible museums.

This year marks the 11th year anniversary of the VSA Arts Festival at The Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens. The four-day art festival provides meaningful art experiences for 2,600 children with disabilities. For many of these children it is their one opportunity to experience the beauty of original works of art and the creative power inherent in the art-making process.

Last year more than 870 volunteers devoted their time and talent to the festival. Volunteers represent every segment of the community and include corporate volunteers, university students, high school students, school system staff members, museum docents, and hundreds of other individuals.

The VSA festival has been recognized as a national model by VSA Arts International and is the ONLY such event to happen in a museum anywhere in the country. The festival is unique in that it not only involves children in making art, but they do so right in the galleries, surrounded by masterpieces of original art.

One teacher writes of her student’s experience…, “It is a rare occasion when my children are not just accepted in the community but honored as you honored them through Very Special Arts.”

Kyle Amber

Kyle Amber was six years old when his brother was diagnosed with leukemia. In response, Kyle formed Kids That Care, a nonprofit, all volunteer, student-run organization, to improve the lives of children with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. He has volunteered over 4,000 hours and has raised over $125,000. His efforts have benefitted thousands of children. Kyle has been working on behalf of critically ill children for over half his life, and he is only 16.

As President of Kids That Care, Kyle participates in and coordinates all of its projects, including the year-round “Ouch Box Toy Drive” (where children receive “rewards” after cancer treatments), the “Stick it to Cancer Day” fund-raiser and awareness program, the “Dream a Little Dream” contest (which grants wishes to critically ill children), the ongoing clothing drive for inner city patients, year-round bone marrow donor registration drives targeting communities of color, sibling counseling, community and corporate outreach programs, public service announcements, music therapy, and short-term financial assistance. In addition, Kyle has established the Kids That Care Music Center at Jackson Memorial Children’s Hospital.

Kyle founded Kids That Care as an outlet for Miami-Dade County students to volunteer. Since Kids That Care is an all-volunteer organization, all funds go directly to help the children. Kids That Care also supports cancer research, and has recently awarded a $20,000 grant for lymphoma research.

Kyle continues to expand the Kids That Care message to more and more schools, businesses, churches, and synagogues, while partnering with other non-profit organizations with similar goals. Through public service announcements and speaking engagements, Kyle teaches the community about the effects of cancer on the entire family.

Kyle’s volunteerism has been recognized both locally and nationally, and this National Volunteer Week, we are proud to present him with the President’s Lifetime Volunteer Award.

La Rue Reese

Although La Rue is a quiet and unassuming man, he serves as a powerful inspiration to the staff and clients of the National Ability Center in Park City. During the summer of 2005, La Rue contacted the Center about potential volunteer opportunities. The fact that the National Ability Center is located in Park City, more than 3,000 miles from his home in Pennsylvania, did not seem to matter to La Rue. Whether it required taking on a fleet of adaptive bicycles, working on canoes or fixing and maintaining the summer equipment, he faithfully asked for another task after finishing each job.

La Rue worked hard each week to ensure he maintained his personal time commitment of at least 40 hours each week. As winter approached, La Rue also began volunteering at the Center’s ski facility at Park City Mountain Resort. Here, he quickly assessed the work needing to be done on the adaptive equipment used in lessons for the diverse clientele of the Center. His efforts helped make the ski program a huge success. Now home in Pennsylvania, La Rue continues to keep in contact with the Center, keeping the Center informed about a new idea or approach to a problem he has found. His continual service and selflessness is greatly appreciated, and the National Ability Center is fortunate to be the ongoing beneficiary of his service.