Jeremy Henley

Louisiana’s coast has lost nearly 1,900 square miles of land since 1932, increasing risks for local communities, including New Orleans, to flood and become hurricane prone. Coastal restoration is more important than ever for the Louisiana residents and the local, state and national economy.

Jeremy Henley, a student at the University of New Orleans, has been in service with the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana (CRCL) since 2009.

Since he started, Jeremy has helped restore dune habitats on Elmer’s Island and along the Cameron Shoreline, planted cypress trees along Bayou Segnette, restored bottomland hardwoods at the Louisiana Audubon Nature Center, planted mangrove trees on Fifi Island and re-established marsh at Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge.

Jeremy’s knowledge and studies also helped in assisting with research and reporting. After the 2010 oil spill released nearly 5 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, Jeremy acted as a volunteer leader, organizing and leading volunteers, providing information and interacting with the media in a time critical for the Louisiana wetlands.

Jeremy’s work with spill officials helped the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana to secure a work station inside the community center in Venice, Louisiana. Jeremy traveled weekly to Venice to provide information, perform site visits, monitor oiled wetlands, build partnerships and evaluate restoration opportunities.

Jeremy’s nominator for the Daily Point of Light Award, Natalie Snider, shares,

“during on-the-ground restoration projects, Jeremy’s enthusiasm and knowledge have complemented his undeterence in his volunteerism.”

Thanks Jeremy, for your dedication to our environment and Louisiana’s coastline.

21st Signal Brigade

Throughout the week of July 4, our Daily Point of Light honorees have included individuals and groups who serve our armed forces and their families. Today’s Daily Point of Light, however, is a group of U.S. Army soldiers.

While on-duty, the 21st Signal Brigade “The Edge of the Sword” out of Fort Detrick, Maryland has a mission to provide important communications support for the military around the globe. But when they are off-duty, this group is meeting the needs of the homeless in Frederick County at the Frederick Rescue Mission.

Frederick Rescue Mission, Inc. is a faith-based organization that provides a long term residential recovery program to the chemically addicted, food to the hungry, and clothing and furniture to those in need.

A champion for service in her military community, Fort Detrick’s Volunteer Coordinator Marsha Duncan said of their service…

“The need for the provision of meals to the homeless in Frederick County has grown tremendously over the past few years. Not only does the 21st Signal Brigade use their time to serve meals, they recruit new volunteers, are constantly attempting to look for food donations and will spend time visiting with those that are coming in for a meal.”

Members of the 21st Signal Brigade at Fort Detrick took on the task of providing meals every other Wednesday night at the Frederick Rescue Mission over three years ago. Despite limited off-duty time, they have committed to help those in need in a community that they will only temporarily call home. Soldiers are continuously moving so this type of long term commitment requires the continued support of the command group as well as continual recruitment efforts of soldiers to replace themselves before moving on to their next duty station.

Marsha shares, “Again, this group is special because they are serving in a community that belongs to others. They do not serve for recognition, only the satisfaction that they are making a difference for those less fortunate. These are soldiers, they have already signed up to give their lives for our country if necessary. To go above that and continue to give of themselves in the limited free time they have makes them a very special group of people.”

Ann Bowen

Amie Jones

Heather Dalton

Jeanine Aversa

As a lead in to this Monday, July 4th, Independence Day, we celebrate our nation and the American people who make up our nation. We thank those military members and families who serve our country. Today’s Daily Point of Light is a person who gives back to those who serve our country….

“We need to facilitate an atmosphere where service members can process what they have been through. If I can help military families learn what to expect when members come home from war and how to cope better, then I have made a difference.”

Four years ago, medical doctor, Jeanine Aversa began actively researching ways to give back. She came across Give an Hour, a non-profit organization that offers free mental health services for military personnel and their families, and immediately signed up. Today, Jeanine sees more military family members than ever. About 90% of her military patients have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

“Right now I’m seeing the spouse of a military service member who has PTSD,” she says, “What people don’t realize is that PTSD impacts the entire family yet at the same time mental health care providers, like myself, have to be careful not to allow patients to use the diagnosis as an excuse for bad behavior.”

Jeanine believes that the sooner a person affected by combat stress processes and integrates their experiences, the better off they are. It’s been less than a year since Jeanine started a new group practice in Downington, Pennsylvania. Already, she is instituting a free group therapy session on Sundays for military service members and their families that will focus on Post Traumatic Stress in its many forms.

“I believe in giving back to the community,” Jeanine says, “and for me that means one out of every ten clients should be seen pro bono.”

Jeanine continues to hold the same sense of duty and patriotism she has regarded since childhood.

Anna Kunkle

Getting tweens and teens excited about being of service to others can be quite a task. Anna Kunkle, Community Service Coordinator at Fairmont Preparatory Academy has done just that and more. In her role, she is not only responsible for promoting the community service program to students, faculty, and parents and providing service opportunities for students, but also promoting the program to the non-profit community. It is her duty to collect, review, and track student service hours. She is able to hold her students accountable and ensure they become more aware of needs within the community.

Every month, Anna offers group service projects and students strive to help those less fortunate in any way they can. The kids have fun while performing beach clean-ups, serving meals to the homeless, fundraising walks and runs, tutoring younger children, packing and sorting donations. Her dedication to make sure her students understand how rewarding service can be is demonstrated year round as Anna makes sure there are ample opportunities for student involvement.

Annually, students participate in events of a larger scale in California, such as Anaheim Childrens Art Festival and the Kristie’s Foundation Family Festival, to name a few. Monthly drives include donations of canned food, toys for the holidays, blankets for senior citizens, Halloween and Easter candy for local Boys and Girls Clubs, clothing for homeless teenagers, and Dr. Seuss books and toys for terminally ill children in local hospitals. Anna continues to strive to instill rewarding values and a sense of character in participants, fulfilling the purpose of the program: “helping students become exemplary citizens of the world.”

Ryleigh Katstra

8-year old Virginia native, Ryleigh Katstra was inspired by a food drive project founded by a 16-year old in her hometown of Charlottesville. After Ryleigh’s mother read Ryleigh a newspaper article about Nicole Muller’s national food drive, Neighbors-4-Neighbors, and this teen’s quest to raise 5 tons of food for her hungry neighbors, Ryliegh told her mother that she was going to help Ms. Muller get that food and feed people less fortunate than she is. Ryleigh wrote up her own flyers and distributed nearly 4000 with the help of her two older brothers and her mother, asking people to donate canned goods to Neighbors-4-Neighbors and she would pick them up at their driveways at the end of the week. She was relentless in reaching almost every house in the multiple areas of her sub-division.

Because of this little girl’s unrelenting commitment to help another youth’s fight against hunger, the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, serving multiple counties in Central Virginia has benefited greatly. In the 18 months since she became involved in the Neighbors-4-Neighbors national food drive initiative, Ryleigh personally has collected over 3,300 pounds of food and fed over 2,500 of her neighbors-in-need. She continues to be an integral part of Neighbors-4-Neighbors with more food drives planned this upcoming year.

Ryleigh Katstra is outstanding in her endless desire to aid those around her that are less fortunate than she is and she does this at such a young age. She truly is a point of light in a world that sometimes can seem quite dark.

Ross Baldari

JPMorgan’s technology team came together to volunteer their time and expertise at Bushwick Leaders High School in Brooklyn, NY. Ross Baldari, an Engineer Lead at JPMorgan Chase, lead the team in building a library and research center over 18 months, overseeing it from concept to execution. Ross and his team transformed a space with dilapidated walls and floors that were deemed unfit for students into a full fledged functioning library and media center.

The project, which began in October 2009, is now a vibrant learning center benefiting approximately 300 students. The library, which includes a scanner pad to check in/out books, a smart gate, computer workstations and bookshelves replete with literature donated from a local nonprofit organization has an adjoining interactive multimedia room features a SMART board, a DVD player and a plasma TV built with theater seating for added cinematic experience for students.

Not only did Ross see an opportunity to give back to the community using his expertise, he connected with the student body to inspire them to learn how interesting and fun technology can be. He has kept these students interested in technology and encouraged them to ask questions, pushing the student body to get involved by picking out the colors for the library, weighing in on the architectural design and helping with the finishing touches of the room.

Ross has used innovative solutions to fill an education need while building a strong rapport with the students and staff of Bushwick Leaders H.S. With information more accessible to students, Ross’ hope is that students will be able to broaden their minds and continuously engage in lively, informed discussions.

Rebecca Ackerman

Autism is a neurological disorder that affects 1 in every 110 children and families, characterized by significant deficits in communication, play, and social interaction. Having a twin brother with severe autism, 15 year-old Rebecca understands the huge personal, educational, and financial challenges that families face on a daily basis.

In 2005, when Rebecca began asking serious questions about her brother, the future, and autism, she wanted to know about research, causes, treatments, and a cure. She learned that the causes are unknown and that public and private research funding is significantly less than the funding for many less prevalent conditions.

Rebecca loves her brother with a fierce loyalty, and she was deeply disturbed by the lack of attention to autism research and the isolation of children with autism. Rebecca formed a team, Doing It for Dave, and recruited fellow students to join her effort. The team ran a series of bake sales and lemonade stands, wrote letters to families and friends, and raised $4500 for autism research. Since 2005, Rebecca has organized a team each year, raising increasing sumsfor a current fundraising total of over $55,000. In addition to direct fund raising for research and services, Rebecca raises community awareness about autism and promotes an inclusive community. She contacts businesses in the community to promote autism awareness and autism research and even started a small business, Cakes for a Cause, which provides custom cakes and bake goods while donating all proceeds to Autism Speaks and spreading awareness about the disorder. She is certainly a teen with a mission.