Mary Baldauf

East New York Brooklyn is a low-income community where poverty, substance abuse, domestic violence and incarceration rates threaten the stability of families and compromises the development of children. Over 40% of East New York households earn a yearly income of less than fifteen thousand dollars a year. Over twenty-five thousand of the community’s residents live below the poverty line. There are eight foster care placements and thirty-seven reported cases of child abuse and neglect per one thousand residents.

In 2007, ENY partnered with Brookdale University Hospital to implement the Mentoring Thru Medicine program. BBBS-NYC was approached by Dr. Mary Baldauf, who is a critical care pediatrician at the hospital. Dr. Baldauf was alarmed at the number of unnecessary deaths she witnessed on a daily basis in the hospital’s emergency room. Moreover, she sought to find answers to help combat youthful gun possession and gang violence. In her efforts to find a solution to help reduce the local crime and injury rate, Dr. Baldauf discovered mentoring to be a proven method in the reduction of crime rates.

BBBS-ENY paired eighteen youths with eighteen of the hospital’s pediatric residents. Under the leadership of Dr. Baldauf, the collaboration between our two entities has been nothing short of a rousing success. She played a significant role in the execution of the curriculum. Additionally, Dr. Baldauf mentored the residents and youths alike. Moreover, she gave freely of herself on her off days. She spoke at BBBS-ENY Parent Summits and provided health workshops for our Mentoring Thru Medicine parents. Dr. Baldauf’s spirit is so infectious that other doctors have come aboard. Her energy and continued dedication to the community and its young people speaks volume.

Lubomira Cook

Lubomira Cook became a volunteer for the Senior Companion Program in 2004. She is currently assisting an 89 year old client who lives alone, has difficulty with numerous medical problems and was first referred to Senior Companions after a fall resulting in a three week hospitalization. She needed help with meal preparation, changing her bed linens, laundry, shopping, medication reminders and she also lacked the companionship of someone close to her own age.

Once, Ms. Cook noticed that her client was having difficulty breathing and alerted her client’s family who took her in for further evaluation with her physician resulting in better medical care for her. On another occasion she called the family to alert them to the fact that the client “just didn’t seem well”. The physician indicated that the client was experiencing problems with fluctuating blood pressure and changed her medications. Most recently the client began to experience problems with mood swings and forgetfulness. Again the physician was alerted and he diagnosed Alzheimer’s, placed her on medication for this and that has improved her functioning.

Ms. Cook volunteers 20 hours each week for the Senior Companion Program. She is an RSVP volunteer with the “Hello, How are you?” program, that regularly calls people with little outside contact. She volunteers for a local hospice program with her pet therapy dog. The two of them have logged over 800 hospice visits in the past two years and 300 nursing home visits in the past three years.

Diana Han Bowler

Diana Bowler started volunteering with the intent to be closer to her daughters as they were growing up. She started her involvement with National Charity League-Diablo Valley, part of a national organization aimed at to foster mother-daughter relationships in philanthropic organizations committed to community service, leadership development and cultural experiences. Through the last eight years, Diana and her daughters Melissa and Danielle have worked for the town of Danville at the Halloween carnival, watered flowers at the local nursing home, reconstructed sidewalks for Habitat for Humanity and sorted food for the local Food Bank. They also prepared meals at their local Fishes & Loaves and helped run events to raise money for Children’s Hospital and local schools.

By working side by side at various functions, they have developed an appreciation for each other’s strengths. They share memories of meeting a musician while delivering for Meals on Wheels who gave them a special piccolo concert, making quilts for premature babies for the local children’s hospital, sewing Christmas stockings to be stuffed with toiletries for the local homeless shelters, and shopping for Adopt-A-Families. Her daughters have learned to run their own monthly meetings, organizing their own events. Diana credits NCL in helping her raise her children to learn about themselves, giving them tools to be successful, and becoming caring, supportive people in their communities. Diana found her experience with NCL so rewarding that she began to volunteer her time with various ballet boards in her area. She helped them with expansion, business growth plans and budgeting.

Woody Austin

Woody has been a volunteer at CONTACT for the past 27 years filling in many overnight and empty day shifts. In December alone, Woody met his call center commitment and filled in six additional shifts in four days, including Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Woody should understand people, for he has spent the past 16 years working at Frederick Douglass Elementary School in Southeast Dallas working with children from pre-kindergarten to 8th grade. Currently he works with pre-kindergarten and kindergarten aged children. This second career came after a first career in management for two different utility companies.

Woody remembers one Friday night, when a teenage boy called because he was depressed and was considering running away from home. He was even contemplating suicide. The boy was living with one parent and his sister, and the sister was “miss perfect,” who received continual praise for her grades and activities. The other parent had picked up the sister and the boy was left at home. The boy had also just started at a new school because he had been so ostracized at his previous school that the parents and counselor thought a new school would provide a fresh start. However, he had not made many friends in his new school yet. Throughout the call, Woody engaged the boy in talking about person who had demonstrated concern for him in the past. By talking about these persons, Woody was able to help the boy identify positive reasons to live. As a result, the caller planned alternatives that would yield support systems for him and help him grow.

“Spending the time on the phones listening and reflecting with callers is just as valuable as any monetary donation we can make,” says Woody, “In addition, after each shift there is a sense of mission accomplished.”

Rebecca Acri

Rebecca “Becca” Acri’s senior high school service project began with her twin cousins’ 98-day stay in The Western Pennsylvania Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). During the summer of 2007, Becca’s fourth year as a junior volunteer at West Penn, she served in the NICU, where she discovered that many of the 500 “preemies” cared for each year were discharged to homes where cute new outfits were not in the budget.

Becca determined that, to commemorate her cousins’ life-saving time in the NICU, she would collect 98 new outfits to donate to needy families. In addition to volunteering at West Penn (almost 60 hours in 2007 and a cumulative total of almost 400 hours), Becca held a “baby shower” and clothing drive. On October 22, 2007, Becca brought to the NICU several huge storage containers containing more than 400 tiny outfits, separated by gender and each labeled with a tag describing her donation. She even brought the inspiration for her project—her twin cousins—to celebrate their 3rd birthdays with their NICU “family.”

Scott Breslow

Scott Breslow is a young man dedicated to serving others and making a positive impact in the lives of those he comes in contact with.

Scott is a 16 year-old high school student who has worked as a non-paid volunteer at the YWCA’s “Special Swim” program in Ridgewood NJ, serving youth and adults with special needs. He has served in this capacity for the past 5 years and his volunteer service and is an ongoing commitment.

Scott is not just a “swimming teacher”; his service meets a true community need. Often those with special needs, most especially young children, are isolated from the community and this isolation negatively impacts their growth and development. Scott’s intelligence, warmth and good humor allow him to connect with and reach the children at their level; he is a true “buddy” to his students. In this way he can teach them not only how to swim, but how to exercise their minds and their muscles, and most importantly, how to interact and socialize with others.

The impact from these activities is very obvious. The children have become more engaged with their instructors and peers across settings. This facilitates their learning in the classroom as well as their interactions in the community. Some of children who started out needing one-on-one assistance grew under his guidance to become independent swimmers.

Scott has also taken his involvement in these activities and used it to educate the larger community about those with special needs and how best to work, serve, and interact with them, by incorporating their daily lives into his own when possible. He will often take time both before and after the program to spend time with his students and others in the program, share a snack with them and to talk with the teens about contemporary music and movies, treating them as equal peers. His ongoing dedication to the education and inclusion of this population has served as an example and has resulted in other young people joining the Special Swim program as volunteers.

Scott’s work and dedication to these children make him a true gem to the community; he enables his students to reach their potential and sets the example of how we should all conduct ourselves towards our fellow “Man” in this world. Scott has impacted not only the children he teachers but their families also. He is a shining example of a servant leader and a great role model for other youth.

Alex Kehm

Alex Kehm has a special community service activity. He created the Fenton Passback, an organization committed to providing underprivileged children locally and world-wide with soccer equipment.

Alex partnered with the U. S. Soccer Foundation Passback program in an effort to solicit donations in the St. Louis area. He came up the idea of founding Fenton Passback while watching the Fox Soccer channel one night and saw an advertisement for the grassroots organization of the U.S. Soccer Foundation Passback.

The Passback program is one of the cornerstones of the U. S. Soccer Foundation. Alex knew that he had used cleats, uniforms, and balls just sitting in his closet. He felt this would be a great way to help others.

He knew it would be a great idea to “recycle” his items instead of throwing them away. Then he took it a step further because he donated them to individuals who really need them. Alex then contacted the Passback organization and discovered there was not any local chapter established in the Fenton area. This motivated him to found the Fenton Passback.

The Passback program is joint effort between the U. S. Soccer Foundation, Eurosport and Major League Soccer to help meet the soccer uniform and equipment needs of all communities, regardless of income, gender, or location. The Fenton Passback chapter collected enough soccer gear to impact many kids locally and world-wide. They collected over 200 pieces of soccer gear.

By founding the Fenton Passback it provided a unique opportunity for Alex and others to reach out to their community. Alex was able to get others involved in the effort to help underprivileged kids by collecting new and gently used soccer equipment, and distributing gear to kids who may otherwise be unable to play the wonderful sport.

Some of the individuals he was able to get involved were Principals, teachers, friends, soccer coaches, parents, siblings, viola instructor, community leaders, local business and the newspapers. He began working on the program in 2007 and does not receive any money for founding the program.

Meredith Boyd

A mentor’s purpose is not to create individuals in her own image, but to develop young women who can create their own image.

Meredith Boyd was that gangly girl you remember from school. In her early teens she was diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, which explained all of the pain she had been suffering. From these humble beginnings came the success story of today.

During working hours you will find her at William Mills Agency as a Group Director. Her makeup line does well and of course there is the occasional modeling stint on the runway and print media. A frequent guest columnist for Pageantry Magazine sharing her tips for communications, Meredith is also called upon to share much of her hair and makeup artistry.

Believe it or not she does have spare time so that she can give back much of what she has received in support and encouragement to others in need.

This national spokesperson for the Arthritis Foundation goes above and beyond when you find her coaching at the Special Olympics or spreading cheer at the Ronald McDonald House. This veteran of many surgeries can also be found at hospital holding a hand, flashing a smile, consoling a family member, bringing something to eat for those too stressed out to leave a bedside.

Other times she is there for the little girl with the eating disorder, bad self-image, and others in need. She tells everyone, “Be your best self. Create your own image, the others are taken. It takes hard work, persistence and dedication to achieve your goals, but most of all it takes support. I am just so happy to be able to help someone find their way to their dreams.”

She has helped many become active voices locally through the national arena, volunteering and taking leadership positions within and out of their community.

Space Coast Early Intervention Center

Twenty years ago, a mother needed to return to work but could not fund a childcare center to care for her child with Down syndrome. She started her own and today, SCEIC cares for 82 students, ranging from 13 months to 6 years. One-half of the students are typical children who serve as role models for the remaining developing or physically challenged students.

The mission at SCEIC is to be the community’s premier nonprofit center for the support, care and maximum development of young children challenged by disabilities and their typically developing peers, serving also as a leading demonstration site and training center for future educators, nurses and parents.

SCEIC, a Gold Seal accredited program, incorporates state-wide and nationally approved educational, behavioral, social and therapeutic approaches addressing the diverse needs of young children. They experience successes regularly; listening to a child’s first words, watching first steps or initiating play. Parents are involved from the beginning; learning new techniques from speech, physical, occupational, hearing and sight therapists. Their low child to adult ratio ranges from 1 adult to 2 or 4 children throughout the day. All this is in preparation for their transition into public school and eventually on independent life in college or vacation.

Though they charge tuition similar to other childcare centers, their expenses are higher because of the quality care and additional supports. Tuition covers 1/3 of the costs per child. They off-set set their expenses with fundraisers, donations and grants. Families from all economic levels attend SCEIC with financial support from the board of director’s and local scholarships.

Their ongoing public awareness campaign educates the community on the importance of early intervention and the positive long term outcomes children and their family’s experience when addressed early on. Daily tours are given for community leaders, the public and families who are interested in the group, supporting the group or adding their child to the waiting list. They are active legislatively, addressing funding issues and have developed strong collaborative partnerships with our local school system, university internship and research programs, federally funded Early Steps and Head Start programs, the medical community and local government.

The need for quality programs is great. In 2005 we started a capital campaign to raise 3 million dollars to build a new 15,000 sq. ft. center. The dream will soon become a reality in December 2007. The support of the community has been phenomenal with donated supplies, manpower and money. The new center will afford them the needed room to expand our services.

Their enlarged boundless playground free to the public on the weekends, will include sensory gardens, an aviary, water play and courses to challenge physical, occupational and behavioral needs.

Dreams can come true when community leadership, business involvement and visionary thinkers synergize to make them reality. SCEIC is the result of people who care. All are welcome to come and visit the new facility in February 2008.

Kaitlyn Chana

Kaitlyn Chana is the Founder and President of Love Letters: Random Cards of Kindness, Inc. which is a non-profit national organization whose mission is to create positive and inspirational homemade cards for children with life-threatening illnesses. Each card is unique because it is created by hand using stamps, stickers, scrapbook paper and art supplies. Inside each card a positive uplifting inspirational message such as “Sending You A Great Big Hug,” “You Shine Like a Star” or “Believe In Yourself” is written to give children faith, courage and the will to survive. Bringing smiles to children’s faces is her mission. Once the cards are created, Kaitlyn hand delivers some of the cards to children with life-threatening illnesses in hospitals and organizations such as Give Kids the World. Other cards are sent with love through the mail to children with life-threatening illnesses to lift their spirits. Kaitlyn’s motto is: Sick children need more than medicine; they need love and support from their families, friends and Love Letters “Pen Pals.” To date, Kaitlyn’s organization has impacted over 9,000 children and their families by creating homemade cards.

Given the opportunity to make a difference in her community in January 2005 through an eighth grade assignment called “Promote the Common Welfare”, Kaitlyn knew she wanted to touch the lives of children throughout the United States, so she contacted Linda Bremner, the Founder of Love Letters, Inc. After several phone conversations and boxes of cards and gifts sent to Linda, she encouraged Kaitlyn to start a Love Letters chapter. Linda told Kaitlyn, “It only takes one person to move a mountain and then others will follow.” Kaitlyn didn’t know exactly what Linda meant at the time, but she wrote Linda’s beautiful quote in her book. Later, when she received an e-mail from Linda’s friend saying Linda passed away and at her request the national organization, Love Letters Inc., was closed, Kaitlyn’s hands gravitated to Linda’s quote and then she realized what the quote meant. Kaitlyn wanted to move the mountain to help children going through the difficult times of treatments and surgeries. She took the initiative to carry on Linda’s legacy by encouraging others to create positive and inspirational homemade cards for children with life-threatening illnesses through Love Letters: Random Cards of Kindness, Inc. Kaitlyn encourages other teens to start chapters in their hometowns. Currently, she is helping 35 individuals in 19 states to implement Love Letters chapters in their schools and hometowns.

Since creating her first card, Kaitlyn has spent 869 hours creating cards, hosting card making parties, helping others implement Love Letters chapters, and her favorite activity, visiting children with life-threatening illnesses to help brighten their day. Kaitlyn doesn’t receive a stipend or salary for her volunteer work; her love of helping children comes from the heart. Kaitlyn has been very fortunate to receive donations to help purchase card making supplies, note cards, envelopes and stamps.