Corey Castillo
When many can barely make time for themselves, Corey Castillo, has found time to do something special for others. Already a busy kid, somewhere between marching band, basketball, track, science club, and numerous other activities, Corey Castillo helps the elderly, veterans, and even his peers in his community.
One such way was cleaning up a local cemetary. Years of neglect and three major hurricanes had left the Edgerly Cemetary in disarray. To fix this, Corey organized 90 volunteers from schools, churches, and other organizations his community to help with the clean-up the trash and debris which took three weeks.
Working with his Boy Scout Troop, he has dedicated time to City of Refuge, a 1950’s motel that has become a home for veterans. He and his fellow scouts were charged with helping other organizations build new cabins, and demolish parts of the old hotel.
He has helped veterans even further through a program called “Remember Our Veterans”. He and his fellow scouts went to the homes of sick or disabled veterans, and helped them repair and maintain their households. They also visited the homes of their widows.
Corey has also setup a Crime Prevention program for his fellow teens. The program focuses on teaching teens about tobacco and alcohol use, sexual predators, sexual abuse, child abuse, teen driving and accidents, shoplifting, and illegal drug use. He organizes the meetings and provides snacks.
Another project Corey had a major hand in was the “Smoke Alarms, Home Inspections, and Fire Safety” In years past, the local fire department had run the project to inspect the homes of senior citizens for fire safe. However, they could no longer afford to provide their homes with smoke and CO2 alarms. Working with banks, the VFW, American Legion, and other local organizations, Corey raised the funds for the alarms. He and the fire chief made a list of senior members of their community, and made sure their homes were prepared in case of a fire emergency.
Corey’s work in the community has impacted many. People who visit Edgerely Cemetary no long have to worry about trash and debris when visiting loved ones. Veterans and their widows are living safely and securely in their homes. He has even helped teach his fellow teens about crime and how it affects them and their community. Acting alone or with a group, Corey found a way to lend a helping hand into the hearts of his community.
Leadership Southwestern
Leadership Southwestern is one of three service learning organizations at Southwestern College in Winfield, KS.
Leadership Southwestern addresses many needs for the Winfield community. It is a true student-lead endeavor that provides students with a combination of class work and service projects. The team also takes a service trip each year, rotating around different needs for various communities, outside Winfield. Local partnerships play a key role in meeting community needs in the organization’s servant leadership practice. Some of the lasing partnerships include: Big Brother Big Sisters, First United Methodist Church, the Health Department, Winfield Recreational Commission, and the American Red Cross. The service projects depend on the need of the community and the passions of the leaders involved.
Each member of Leadership Southwestern is committed to making a positive difference and leaving an impactful legacy. By recognizing the power of service they accept many responsibilities and in fulfilling these responsibilities, they are loyal to and respect each other as they strive to obtain their personal missions.
Peri Pezzano
Kindness Counts
Kindness Counts is a hands-on service organization located in Conneticut in which middle school students volunteer their time to help homebound seniors, local homeless shelters, residents of rest homes, challenged neighbors, and many others. The organization reaches out to at risk children who are struggling with school, homelife, etc. and teaches them good manners and the value of giving back to the community.
Members of Kindness Counts have faciliated a unique program called "Darien a Darien: un solo mundo." This initiative was designed to build a virtual bridge between the children of Darien, CT, and the remote, sparsely-populated, and severely disadvantaged province of Darien, Panama. The organization has put on several benefit events donating proceeds to building a library and fully-equipped computer lab for the local school they sponsor, La Escuela Nicanor. Funds raiesed by Kindness Counts also went toward remodeling the schools kitchens, dining hall, and classrooms. La Escuela Nicanor is now connected to the internet and able to video conference with the students in Conneticut. The students in Panama are very thankful to Kindness Counts for the opportunity to see the world around them through the internet.
Kindness Counts is the only service group to facilitate “good manners and gracious behavior” training to the children before venturing out to help others.
Project READ
Joshua Schara is a member of St. John’s Evangelical Church in North Freedom, WI. His program, Project READ (Reading Equipment for America’s Defenders) is the largest volunteer undertaking for a teen in the area.
Josh was worried that people were becoming complacent about supporting our troops. So in March of 2007, he contacted the local National Guard unit to see what he could do for them. They told him that troops were in need of reading material to help them stay connected to their families and so they won’t feel so homesick. He then designed and set up camouflage collection boxes around town to collect books, magazines, local newspapers and books on tape or CD. He placed one of his boxes in the back of the church and made announcement after church to inform everyone of Project READ.
The response from the community has been overwhelming. The donations have now expanded to consist of personal letters of encouragement, chapstick, gum, hard candy, stationary, Frisbees, sunflower seeds, playing cards and bug spray. He spends each day after school and work collecting the mountainous bags and boxes of donations from businesses and individuals. He then fills each box as full as he can of the donations.
Unfortunately, each small box that the United States Postal Service provides costs $8.98 in postage. Josh had over 100 boxes ready to be shipped when he realized that he would need some financial help. Josh started a part-time job to help pay for the $900 worth of shipping that he needed. Then he decided to meet with the local media to publicize Project READ and his goals. Almost instantly, strangers started calling and asking how they could help and donations for the shipping started to come in. Josh was even asked to attend a local VFW meeting so that they could recognize Project READ and donate $300 to help ship the boxes.
Josh has received phone calls and emails from people that are moved by Project READ and what it means to them; that our younger generation is compassionate and has a social conscience that can be overlooked in today’s media coverage of youth.
Normally a very shy person, Project READ has made Josh more confident in himself and what he can do. He was able to raise over $1,000 to ship over 1,800 pounds worth of supplies to our troops so far.
Rosa Griffith
Many of us make promises to God in times of crisis. But how many of us actually keep those promises? Look no further than 79-year old Rosa Griffith. In 1989 her husband died and in 2000 she suffered a stroke. During her rehabilitation, Rosa promised God that when she got better, she would visit people in nursing homes.
She wasted no time. As soon as she could in 2005, Rosa began volunteering at Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center and Hospital. She still needs a four-prong cane to get around and relies on public transportation to get to and from Levindale, but she never misses a Wednesday visit. Many people her age are deterred by bad weather, but not Rosa. Shortly after Rosa started coming to Levindale, a 292-bed nursing home and specialty hospital to visit residents, she met a young man who had suffered a traumatic brain injury. He was bitter and mean to the people closest to him. Rosa spent a lot of time helping him come to terms with his situation. She promised him that as long as she was able, she would always visit him. He has since moved to a new location and she still visits him every Friday. Rosa is kind and compassionate, but truthful. She doesn’t give people false hope nor is she condescending. She is truly comforting and very humble.
Before Rosa completed her first year at Levindale, she was asked if she would be interested in hospice care. Hospice volunteers visit the nursing home residents who have less than six months to live. It requires additional training and is often difficult for volunteers. Rosa embraced the idea.
After her training, the staff expected Rosa to continue coming to Levindale on Wednesday afternoons to be with the hospice patients, instead of her usual residents. However, Rosa now arrives at 9 a.m. so she can continue seeing the 20-plus residents with whom she had already established relationships. In her own words, she could not let down the people who were expecting her. In addition, she now has a caseload of 14 hospice patients.
Recently a hospice nurse said that Rosa’s most extraordinary talent is her ability to just be with a person. Hospice patients are often unresponsive, so Rosa reads poetry (which she does with the help of a magnifying glass) or the Bible to them. She just wants patients to know that another person cares.
Everyone looks forward to seeing Rosa on Wednesdays, not only the residents but the staff and other volunteers. So far, Rosa has spent over 500 hours volunteering at Levindale and she makes the most of every minute that she is here.
Bill Chaloux
All over the country, elderly are struggling to carry out their daily routines due to lack of transportation. Attending medical appointments, getting to their jobs and even running errands are challenging. Thanks to Bill Chaloux, and other volunteers within the About Care organization, the elderly in Arizona communities, Chandler and Gilbert, are able to be more mobile.
Bill has been volunteering with About Care and helping the elderly and disabled since the organization began in 2004. He volunteers approximately 30 hours a week by driving his elderly or disabled neighbors to their appointments, work, and anywhere else they might need to go. He caters to their needs, while bringing joy and hope to them at a time when they might feel discouraged. He supports those healing from lost loved ones and health problems, while enabling them to be active in the community.
Bill’s volunteer work doesn’t end with About Cares, his ongoing commitment to his community also led him to the fire department where he volunteers.
Bill admires his neighbors that have chosen to remain in their homes and retain their independence through hard times of loss. Their courage inspires him to continue giving back and helping them through About Cares.
Abigail Groff
Anne Marie Helbling
Anne Marie Helbling organized the Wounded Warrior Celebration for wounded soldiers and their families from Fort Sam Houston’s Brooks Army Medical Center. She also setup, numbered, hosted, and cleaned up behind 1,500 Parade Customers that raised $25,000 for the Paseo del Rio Association.
The Wounded Warrior Celebration provided opportunity for young people to serve, including college students and dozens of high school students, and mobilized the community to raise funds for the city’s top tourist attraction, the San Antonio Riverwalk. They also established and conducted ongoing relationships between the residents of San Antonio and the community of the Fort Sam Houston Brooks Army Medical Center.
Some things are different as a result of Anne Marie’s service. Young students have learned the fulfillment of servant leadership and giving back to the community, a relationship has been established between the soldiers and members of the community that will help the wounded warriors in the transition to jobs in the community, and funding for the maintenance and expansion of the city’s famed Riverwalk will continue to encourage the recovery of the San Antonio downtown core through tourism.
Annie Helbling’s community service event is a reflection of a lifestyle which fosters impressive accomplishments. She has tirelessly volunteered in countless events, such as the Holiday River Parade for ten years and has the distinction of earning the Ten Year-Ten Thousand Customer milestone. She has routinely delivered Meals on Wheels to the San Antonio senior citizens for years, surpassing the 1,000 meal delivery record long ago. Her summers are spent as a counselor at the Brooks City Base Challenger Center where she has volunteered to teach grade school students the wonders of the NASA Space Program and space exploration. Throughout the year she leads her high school Red Cross Club to numerous volunteer activities, always with the focus on servant leadership. She is a force multiplier, gathering scores of volunteers and motivating them through recognition such as the Presidents Volunteer Service Award where verified volunteer activities are tabulated and awards are presented to volunteers at set milestones.