PAWS for People

PAWS for People is a nonprofit, volunteer organization serving New Castle County, DE; Elkton, MD; West Grove, PA; and parts of New Jersey. Their mission is to lovingly provide elders, children and folks with disabilities individualized, therapeutic visits with a gentle, affectionate pet. PAWS’ therapy teams enjoy visiting in many different settings. No matter where they go, the results are the same: more smiles, brighter attitudes and calmer emotions.

PAWS for People is a constant force in the life of residents at Jenner’s Pond Retirement Community. It is always touching when one of the PAWS Teams comes to visit. I see residents who rarely talk anymore react or talk to the pets. There are always smiles and happy responses from all our pet lovers. I think of so many things I could share about residents who do not show a lot of interest in most things but when the pets come these residents show a new spark of interest and always say please come back soon. One lady in particular is almost blind and does not always see the dogs until they are up close to her. The first clue to her is she hears their breathing. She then scoots to the edge of her seat and reaches down, so she is ready for some real pet therapy, before the dogs even get to her. Every pet team who comes to the facility is loved and appreciated by the residents and staff.

Lester Keliher

Lester, a member of CONTACT’s Board of Directors and liaison to the Teen CONTACT program, has been named Volunteer of the Month for October for his active role in the Teen program, particularly in the planning and development of the First Annual Teen Conference. He has been a member of the Board since the end of 2005 and is completing his second term. He enjoys being a part of CONTACT’s Board of Directors because he likes the atmosphere and the potential for growth in the agency. He describes his experience over the last two years as fun and dynamic.

“The Board is dynamic and in the last two years I’ve watched this agency go from 0-60,” he said. “I was quite familiar with CONTACT for a number of years but one of my colleagues, Terry Dallas, approached me about becoming a board member to take his place on the board and I agreed. I feel it’s everyone’s duty to give back and this was a great way for me to fulfill that duty.” Since becoming a board member, Lester has had the opportunity to play an active role with the Teen program.

“The Teen program is fairly new so that attracted me to it.” Lester said, “I am a member of Highland Park United Methodist Church and although I didn’t know Missy Wall, her reputation at the church followed her and I knew she would be great to work with. I am also the father of three children so being involved with the Teen program gives me a way to stay involved with teen issues as well.”

August Hoffman

Dr. Hoffman is a psychology professor at El Camino College-Compton Center in Compton, CA. In addition to his teaching position, he is a pillar of strength and service at the college. Dr. Hoffman began a gardening program on the campus in the year 2000, when, as an avid gardener, he noticed that there were few flowers to brighten the student and faculty’s day. With his own money, he purchased a few flats of colorful flowers and planted them on the campus. Within months, the program became a source of inspiration and light on an otherwise blighted campus.

As an academic, Dr. Hoffman observed the psychological benefits of outdoor gardening work; the physical labor, calming effect and collaboration with fellow students all seemed to increase students’ self-esteem and motivation to succeed. In 2003, Dr. Hoffman initiated his first research on the positive effects of gardening work in an academic setting. From that point, he has spent literally thousands of hours investigating the wondrous results of gardening. His research suggests that those who are involved in the gardening program have increased academic retention and transfer to four-year universities, higher grade point averages, and a higher overall sense of motivation and well-being. Most important of all, the students involved in this program (most of whom are African American, Latino and Caucasian) unite and work cooperatively with decreases in racial tension and ethnocentrism during and after their gardening work.

Bhavna Parmar

Bhavna began volunteering at CONTACT in July 2005 when she was introduced to CONTACT through the Junior League of Dallas. “They were hosting a booth in North Park Mall that had information about CONTACT and I immediately became interested because I was looking for a way to give back to the community,” Bhavna said.

In February, Bhavna signed up for the training class to become a telephone volunteer and in May, before she was scheduled to begin the class, her sister-in-law committed suicide, drawing her even closer to CONTACT and its mission.

“It was a real eye-opener to have the suicide hit so close to home. It seemed that CONTACT came at just the right time for me. Not only was I going to be able to learn more about how to deal with my own grief, but I was now going to be able to be there for someone else that might be going through the same issues that my sister-in-law went through,” Bhavna said.

When asked about her most memorable call during her two years of being on the phone, Bhavna’s face lit up as she said, “My most memorable call was March 25, 2006 when Jay Leno called the call center during my shift! I didn’t believe it was him at first, but when I realized it was, he said, ‘This is Jay Leno and I wanted to call in to let you know you’re doing a great job, keep it up.’ I felt honored and excited at the same time.”

Steve McIntyre

From the nominator:

“Steve McIntyre has been volunteering as a firefighter with the Orange County Fire Authority. He is committed, dedicated and dependable.

He volunteered selflessly during the past fire storm in Orange county, CA. We are reserve firefighters who work for orange county fire authority and Steve McIntyre is my senior reserve officer.

When the fire broke on Sunday in Irvine he immediately got his crew together and began the assault. For 72 hours straight he kept his crew going, saved homes, helped homeowners pack their belongings, etc… I could go on for days about the list of things this gentleman does for others. He is selfless and caring. His relief came over 72 hours after the fire began, but never once did he even stop to think about food or sleep…just saving lives and property.”

Orry McDonald

Orry has spent many hours educating himself along with creating committee goals and objectives for his school and community. He has volunteered in the community education booths, city and school board meeting presentations and was the chairman of the committee who established our school’s first recycling project, which is one of ten schools in our state selected to receive the Good Sports Always Recycle 2007 Award.

Orry was selected by his fellow club members to accept a state award from the Tennessee Energy Education Network for their tireless efforts to provide low income families and our local county shelter free CFL bulbs. To date over 1,500 CFL light bulbs have been placed in our community and another 350 will be placed in the center’s Christmas baskets.

Our Community is preparing to open its first battered women’s shelter known as The Hope House. Orry helped to raise the funds to purchase 50 CFL light bulbs for the shelter. If that is not enough our local school Board passed its first energy policy during the meeting where Orry presented the school energy audit data. Orry personally met with a school board member who volunteered to provide the club a trailer for aluminum recycling. Orry also met with the city Mayor who provided the club an opportunity to appear before the city Board who voted to join the TVA Green Power Switch allowing us to pursue funding to establish a solar energy project and become a 100% green power campus.

If that is not enough, the local police chief has requested help to acquire funding to make energy upgrades at the police station and the county has requested our energy conservation presentation before the county commission. The local Neighborhood Watch program has invited the club to attend their first community block party where Orry will continue to educate the community about CFL bulbs and provide each family a CFL for their front porch to help offset energy cost to leave their front porch lights on as requested by the local police chief.

The far reaching impacts of this fine young man’s efforts are to be commended. We have over 400 pledges signed by families who commit to change a bulb in their home take a serious look at energy conservation.

Dottie King

In September 2005, Dottie King found one more way to give back to her community by attending the training and becoming a Crisis Line Specialist. After seeing a billboard with CONTACT’s volunteer opportunity information on it, she immediately called to get enrolled in the class.

Dottie took a suicide call from a woman that was on the verge of ending her life but decided to call CONTACT before she completed the act. “Although it was a suicide call, she was very open and receptive to words of encouragement and just having someone there to listen to her.” Dottie recalls, “The call lasted for about an hour and when the call was coming to an end, she thanked me but the most impactful part of the entire call was that she called back to tell me how grateful she was that she had called CONTACT and that she loved me.”

“Dottie’s has a willingness to work extra shifts, awareness of the benefits of using the model with the caller and in her own life. Her advice to new volunteers was quite simple: “Make sure you listen with an open mind and an open heart.”

Connie James

Connie James is a lymphoma cancer survivor and volunteer at The Wellness Community of Central Arizona. She is active in the lymphoma networking group at The Wellness Community, helping others who are currently battling lymphoma. In addition to leading Newcomer Orientations with her husband Brian every month, she is the head of the Newcomer Committee/Speakers Bureau and is active in the Volunteer Advisory Council.

She has been instrumental in getting the board to bring a volunteer coordinator onto the staff; she is focused on building a strong volunteer corps to help strengthen and build The Wellness Community. With her vision and perspective, she has enabled The Wellness Community to do more than support cancer patients, she is helping The Wellness Community to change lives one person at a time. In addition to these regular duties, Connie will usually be the first to say “Yes” when asked to help. She is truly inspiring and makes everyone around her feel like a friend.

Jim Hanson

Jim has volunteered more than 14,000 hours of service over the past 18 years, and spends approximately 20 hours per week between Children’s Mercy’s Main campus and Children’ Mercy South. When Children’s Mercy South opened its expanded facility in January 2004, no volunteers were assigned to support the Inpatient Nurses. The first month the new unit opened, a busy flu season was underway. At that time, Jim was volunteering at the main campus only. Jim stepped up to the plate offering to be of service to the new Children’s Mercy South Inpatient unit bringing years of experience, boundless energy and a lively spirit to this fledgling area of the hospital. Jim had been volunteering on inpatient units at Children’s Mercy downtown since 1988.

Currently Jim serves in five different areas of the hospital including Same Day Surgery, Inpatient Units and Child Life. Jim does everything from holding babies needing comfort to restocking literature shelves, to helping families fill out forms in Surgery. To date Jim has donated more than 8,000 hours of his time supporting staff and assisting families at Children’s Mercy. This New Year’s Eve will be Jim’s tenth anniversary to bring in refreshments for the nursing staff at Children’s Mercy and to share his New Year’s Eve with patients and families.

From 2001 to 2003, Jim served as a para-educator for a developmentally challenged young boy. Jim attended third and fourth grades with the child to provide behavioral assistance in the classroom. Without Jim’s dedication to this young boy and his family, the boy may not have been able to finish his school program.

Jim also has been active at his church. For two weeks in December, 1996 Jim participated in a mission trip to Haiti. While the trip was a “medical” mission trip, the group also worked on building a school for underprivileged children. In 2000, the first year of his retirement, Jim volunteered at his church’s Parent’s Day Out, a day nursery serving dozens of children in his community.

Aside from the obvious tasks Jim accomplishes every day in his volunteer activity at Children’s Mercy, such as comforting ill babies and toddlers in distress with no parents or caregivers present; preparing procedure rooms for medical procedures; restocking supply areas; assisting in transport of children being discharged after surgery; helping families fill out complicated forms and giving a supportive smile to a tired nurse; many descriptive words come to mind. When Jim is here volunteering, there is an added sense of “security.” Jim has a way of bringing our hospital into a sense of “community.” Everyone knows him and he greets us all with a loving, positive demeanor. Jim service acts as a “model” for other volunteers. Jim “mentors” new volunteers and helps provide excellent “training” for them. Jim, now in his seventies, is a bundle of “spirit” and “activity.” The embodiment of commitment, Jim graces us with his presence at Children’s Mercy five days a week and has been a part of the hospital for 18 years. Jim’s love of life displays itself in his bringing sparkling grape juice to the hospital on New Year’s Eve to share with staff working on the units. Jim explains, “God willing, this will be my tenth year.” A quiet man, Jim often writes poetry to express his innermost thoughts. Jim truly personifies the “spirit” of love at Children’s Mercy. Without Jim, a bit of love we at Children’s Mercy are blessed to experience each day would be missing.

David Gauthier

David “Larry” Gauthier joined the Phoenix Police Department in January 2002 as a Motorist Assist Program (M.A.P.) volunteer. MAP members are uniformed volunteers who patrol city streets in marked police vehicles. Their position is the most strenuous and visible volunteer program within the Police Department. Their work includes a significant amount of time with the public and in the roadway, which exposes them to many dangers.

In just the first 9 months of this year, Larry assisted with 243 traffic collisions, 69 disabled vehicle calls, and logged more than 298 hours in just directing traffic. This is just a part of many different day-to-day functions he does as a MAP volunteer. Larry donated 1,015 hours to the Citizens Offering Police Support (C.O.P.S.) Program in 2006 and so far this year as logged 812 hours of volunteer time; the most for our group. These hours calculate a savings to the City in the amount of $35,188.

Larry has exceeded department standards in overall performance. In addition to Larry’s normal MAP functions, he has been our M.A.P. Administrative Coordinator for the last several years. On a monthly basis, he collects all M.A.P. worksheets and enters the information into a database. Larry also consistently manages the equipment issues related to our six patrol trucks and recently spent a significant amount of time helping me bring two new trucks on board.