Joe Coikon

Through his volunteer service as both a museum docent and Public Affairs Officer at the Midway, Joe is an exceptional advocate for both volunteering and patriotism. He is truly personable, bringing the ship’s story to a broad audience.

In April 2007, Joe was singled out from hundreds of Midway volunteers to receive our Volunteer of the Year award. As a role model to all who work at the Midway Museum, he has put in thousands of hours of volunteer work in leadership positions. One of the main reasons for Midway’s success has been the quality of its volunteers, and clearly Joe Ciokon is the MVP amongst his peers. He is dedicated to the museum mission and, in addition to the great work he does while onboard the ship, is their #1 public speaker in the community.

When the museum began, Joe worked to establish a Midway Speakers Bureau. As part of this project, he represents the Midway when the media or VIP’s need to hear from a museum representative. He also continues to maintain liaison with local civic, fraternal, and business organizations for the purpose of promoting the museum and its programs.

Joe also assists their Education and Exhibits departments with Navy orientations and historical materials. This included helping to acquire nearly $100,000 worth of video production equipment for use in the museum Oral History Project, documenting veteran’s stories for future generations. He has also established rare opportunities for Midway staff to go on board active duty ships for research and educational enrichment.

Joe is a man of great principles, integrity and a work ethic that makes it seem like he is still on active duty in the Navy. He is truly a San Diego superstar.

Fred Zastrow

Fred Zastrow, a retired barber, has been a volunteer with the Lakewood Police Department since December 1986, wearing several different hats during that 20-year career. Fred manned the front police desk during evening hours for many years, has assisted the Victim Advocate team by making follow-up calls to burglary victims, is a member of the Volunteer Surveillance Team and offers his assistance throughout the department whenever needed. He has also volunteered with the Hospice of St. John’s where he visited with patients and handed out mail in addition to answering the front desk phones.

Fred is a Neighborhood Watch block captain for his neighborhood where his ability to get along well with people shines. Fred is truly loved by his many friends within the Police Department, and well respected throughout the entire Lakewood community.

Fred underwent a laryngectomy in August 2005 after being diagnosed with stage 4 laryngeal cancer. Both vocal cords were removed which left him unable to talk without the aid of an electronic device that uses throat vibrations to produce words. In April 2007, Fred underwent a trachea-esophageal procedure, which now enables him to talk through a one-way valve in his throat. He is now perfecting his musical skills on the harmonica as well as enjoying his ability to speak again.

Fred’s strong will and determination not to be defeated have led him to helping others who have experienced the same surgery. Fred also does presentations to elementary school students on the dangers of smoking, hoping to keep them from experiencing what he has experienced.

Sue Young

Sue Young has worked at Sun for nearly 20 years and has always been interested in improving women’s’ lives. Last fall, she learned of a non-profit organization called Girls For A Change which promotes and empowers high school and middle school-aged girls as social change agents. She took on the 15-hour per month commitment to be a Girl Coach for a local middle school for the school year. Her team is currently deciding on a project to create social change in immigration or animal abuse. The organization includes a monthly life coach training session, which has been invaluable for her work with the girls, work at Sun, and with life in general. She also volunteers her time towards other organizations for short term or seasonal commitments like highway cleanup efforts, sorting cans at the Second Harvest Food Bank, teaching teachers, etc. Sue is currently a Sun Foundation Ambassador volunteer whose charter is working towards eliminating the digital divide. She has logged in over 210 hours since July.

Sue’s other passion has been bicycling. In 2005, Sue joined a group of women cyclists who ride for charity each year. She bought a used bike and trained for the American Lung Association’s Emigrant Trails 3-day, 100-mile ride in Lake Tahoe. Before she knew it, she’d raised almost $4500 and was riding an average of 150 miles per week, including commuting to and from work, over 26 miles round-trip. Last year, the group raised over $27,000 for Multiple Sclerosis. Their success led to them being mentioned in March 2007 Bicycling Magazine. She also joined a local non-profit bicycle advocacy group called Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition and became a primary organizer for their winter fundraiser, raising almost $4,000. Sue plans to volunteer for Bike to Work Day and other SVBC events in the future.

Amy Wurst

Amy owns two dogs who are trained to be volunteers for the “Delta Society,” in the R.E.A.D. program based on youth literacy, “Pets for Life,” a program benefiting children and the elderly and “Pet Pals,” a weekly program geared toward ill children at Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics, Kansas City, MO. Cabernet, one of Amy’s dogs, also provides Pet Assisted Therapy in the Physical Therapy department of Children’s Mercy. Amy also serves on the Children’s Mercy Volunteer Advisory Committee and Children’s Mercy Circle of Mercy Committee representing the hospital to potential donors and community groups. When Hurricane Katrina ravaged the southern coast of Louisiana, Amy and Cabby jumped into action after having attended a four-day training course for Animal Assisted Crisis Response (AACR), and spent a week in Washington Parish, LA visiting schools and nursing homes bringing emotional support to victims.

Amy also extends her volunteer reach to a worldwide organization, the Special Olympics. She is involved in this organization for people with intellectual disabilities on every level from event volunteer to Aquatics Sports Director to Games Management Team in the Missouri and North Carolina Games. Amy is a Board member of North Carolina Special Olympics and was a volunteer at the Special Olympics World Games in Raleigh, NC 1999, Anchorage, AK in 2001 and Summer Games in Dublin, Ireland, 2003.

Kaye Woodworth

Kaye Woodworth has fed the homeless, provided blankets for newborns, tutored adult in literacy, acted in community theater projects, served in her church, lead interfaith volunteer projects and served her elderly neighbors dinner on a weekly basis.

She also serves internationally! She has led expeditions to serve the poor in Peru, trained and lead volunteers to teach healthcare and women’s empowerment in Mali, West Africa, organized Wave of Hope, which led to a hundred volunteers laboring along the coast of Khao Lak, Thailand after the December 26 tsunami. She is also a tremendous mother to her own ten children, including two adopted children from Mexico and Brazil and a set of triplets!

Richard Wachenheim

Richard is a Resource Management Regional Steward who was able to make spectacular strides on several new programs or systems by implementing district wide events where volunteers were scheduled and trained, including National Public Lands Day, Make a Difference Day, WTTW and Eagle Scout projects. He also is instrumental in the upgrading and implementation of training opportunities and conference attendance for volunteers. He monitors a very successful volunteer bulletin board that helps to get information out to the entire volunteer workforce. He has trained a volunteer to take supervisory capacity at event events.

A relatively new initiative—Service Learning Opportunities with Colleges—inspires students to take action that will make a lasting improvement to their community and enrich their personal and academic life. The Forest Preserves Service learning program helps the student make Service-Learning a meaningful, educational and character building experience in a way that the students work together to make real change in the community. The student is given the opportunity to document and evaluate the success of their Service-Learning project and help the student combine academic learning with service to the community. Richard is on the ground level to the final experience of the student. Another initiative—Corporate Sponsorships of programs and services—endeavors to create an atmosphere of stewardship in the community. The Forest Preserve corporate sponsorship program helps business find a meaningful way to incorporate their educational or environmental mission components to that make a real difference in the community. Programs and services were either sponsored in monetary, goods or services. Again Richard is in on the process form beginning to end.

Lewis Thomas

Lewis is a member of the Westover High School Engineering Academy and currently has a 3.91 GPA, ranking him 14th out of the senior class of 279 students. He is a member of the National Honor Society, has served as a Governor’s page, is captain of the Westover Wolverine’s Men’s Varsity Basketball Team and currently serves as parliamentarian for the Student Government Association.

For the last two years, Lewis has been involved with FreshStart, a Freshman Mentoring program unique to Westover High School, and decided to start his own program, called Project REBOUND (Reading Books Unlocks New Doors). He initiated an action plan, and inspired his Basketball teammates not only to show off their skills on the court to McNair Elementary School, but to also show off their skills in reading and achievement in academia. Lewis’ work led to other mentoring opportunities for his teammates at the elementary school’s Field and Science Days events. He plans to extend Project REBOUND in to other elementary schools on Ft. Bragg, especially during the Month of the Military Child. Lewis’ work as left an impression that will last after his graduation this spring and ensure his legacy not only at Westover High School, but at other schools and in the many lives he has touched. For his services, Lewis was recently awarded Cumberland County’s Shining Star.

Kay Stickle

Kay’s volunteer work truly makes a difference for patients, families and professionals who encounter her, as she understands that anxiety reduction is a key to helping people. She uses her skills and experience as an internationally recognized elementary education professor to provide comfort and support to patients and families of all ages. A role model volunteer, Dr. Stickle began her second career, volunteering for Cardinal Health System in 1988, while working as a professor for the reading program and elementary education department for Ball State University and serving as faculty for the Professional Development program at Cowan Schools in Cowan, Indiana. She often popped over to fill in for the flower delivery service program and began knitting baby hats and booties for newborn infants at Ball Memorial Hospital as part of the Operation CoverUp, a program focused at helping new mothers understand how quickly newborns lose body heat when they have nothing covering the baby’s head, volunteers quickly spear-headed this project. To date Kay has reached milestone hours with 8,617 lifetime hours of service. Since July 1 of this year, Kay had donated more than 660 hours to benefit the many services rendered to the hospital and patients at Cardinal Health System.

In addition to comforting others, Kay is always willing to assist in promotion of the CHS volunteer program, and in recruitment efforts. She assists in training incoming ED volunteer candidates, and always represents CHS positively in her daily activities and interactions with members of the community. With a background in professional speaking, Kay is always willing to serve as a volunteer speaker when many non for profit agencies are in need.

Kay also added to her volunteering activities by becoming a Cuddler in the NICU. She comes once a week or more often as we need her to, to hold the infants that we have in our unit in need of her special touch. She also always has a wonderful story to tell the staff that can often lighten the load of our busy day. She softly sings or tells stories to our infants. She even arrived on the morning after our large snow storm ready to do whatever we needed her to do. “Kay is a great addition to our team,” said Donna Wilcox, NICU nurse manager.

Hal Stern

Hal Stern volunteers as a board member, head manager and team manager with the New Jersey Devils youth hockey club. His volunteer duties cover all aspects of running a large youth sports program, from budget analysis and team modeling in the spring to recruiting and training new team managers. Hal uses his skills as a systems engineer on cold, winter weekend mornings, when he’s called on to do everything from provide driving directions to unmarked ice rinks to improvise emergency hockey pants belts or chin straps when something breaks in the locker room. As the manager of the New Jersey Devils Youth Hockey Club “Pee Wee B” team, he insists that his job is to keep everyone smiling through the whole season. Between September and April, he volunteers approximately 25-30 hours a month working with parents, coaches, team managers and youth players. He also works with the DareDevils, a special needs hockey program.

In addition to scheduling games, maintaining statistics and communicating weekly with the parents and the club, Hal is also the “off-ice official” for his team on Saturday afternoons, running the scorer’s table during home games or giving lessons to new team managers for doing the same. In between his own team’s work, Hal picks up board duties including registering beginner players and analyzing the club’s financials and budget. Hal has also spent several years as a board member, coach and volunteer with the Livingston National Little League, and says that he has adopted the philosophy of Willie Stargell, the Pittsburgh Pirates captain who used to say “It is supposed to be fun, the man says ‘Play ball’ not ‘Work ball.'” Hal has adopted this philosophy in coaching, managing and handling conflicts with parents. He says the youth players remember if they’ve had fun much longer than they remember the score of a game or who played well and who did not. “I’m also a strong believer in diversity through youth sports,” he says. “I’ve had players of Russian, Korean and Nigerian families on my teams, and through the DareDevils we’re able to offer hockey opportunities to athletes with autism and other special needs.”

Marc Schmidt

Marc is the Vice President for the Arizona Affiliate of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), planning and coordinating statewide programs to assist them in their goal of empowering blind individuals to live productive, independent lives. He is also the founder and president of the newly formed West Valley Chapter of the NFB. He is also the state coordinator and a mentor for the Youth Slam, a National Science and Math Camp for blind youth held this past summer in Baltimore, MD. Marc is a member of the Phoenix Mayor’s Commission for Disabled Individuals, whose purpose is to advise the Mayor’s office on issues relating to the disabled. He serves as the head of the transportation committee, working to improve transportation for all citizens, especially the disabled.

In addition to these activities, Marc is an active musician, volunteering as the worship leader of Desert Sun Church for the past 22 years, and co-founding and touring with Extended Hand Ministries to sing, play, and share hope with those in rescue missions, rehab centers, and in the inner cities of America. Marc has led countless individuals toward services & resources helpful to their growth and independence; and spoken to several groups of students about healthy attitudes on blindness. From students to seniors, Marc has advocated for disabled people’s rights and full integration locally, statewide, nationally and even abroad while a young student himself. Marc has educated the public on blindness through talks in classrooms & toastmaster meetings as well as a number of written articles. Through his involvement on the mayor’s commission, he’s working on long-term solutions to Phoenix Dial-A-Ride problems, affecting thousands disabled citizens. Through his gift of music, Marc has brought a message of hope, faith & courage to over 500 homeless & drug addicts in inner cities throughout the southwest.

Marc demonstrates his leadership as vice president of NFB’S state affiliate, starting a new chapter of the NFB in Sun City to serve the blind in the west valley, of which he’s been president since its inception about 3 years ago. He served as elder for 6 years, and has led the worship ministry at his church in north Phoenix for 22 years. He has served on NFB’S state scholarship committee for several years and the National Scholarship committee for one year. In chairing the Mayor’s Commission on Disability Issues (MCDI) transportation committee, he has shown his innovation in how effectively he tackles complex issues, such as Phoenix’s Dial-A-Ride problems. His creativity shows in articles & songs he’s written, as well as at work at Arizona Public Service Company, where he has worked as an Engineer for the past 22 years.

As a man who’s been blind since birth from a congenital disease, Marc has lived his life as an inspiration to all those who meet him. Refusing to allow his blindness to be a handicap, he has shown that if we receive the training necessary, and refuse to be limited, our disabilities can be reduced to mere nuisances.