James Festi
On top of working two jobs to support his family James Festi volunteers at the Center for Women in Crisis whose mission is to provide a caring, advocating, safe, and educationally based environment for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. Unfortunately, because of the myths that revolve around rape and sexual assault, many victims suffer alone in silence and have no place to turn to for support. James helps both the primary and secondary victims by being that much needed support and by providing his time as a resource to the community. He helps educate the community about the issues of rape and sexual assault in hope that this will become more of a community issue instead of individuals suffering in silence.
As a member of the Utah County Rape Crisis Team, James is on call for a 48 hour shift once a month. During this shift, he is responsible for answering the Rape Crisis Hotline to answer questions and provide resources to victims. This Hotline serves as a resource to members of the community and professionals. If a rape or sexual assault occurs during his shift, James is responsible to support and advocate for the victim at the hospital or police station while they run through the process of reporting the rape. James also helps with community outreach and awareness events and has helped with the Rape and Sexual Assault Education classes that are offered in the community.
Working on the Rape Crisis Team can be emotionally exhausting. Helping people in crisis can be very challenging and difficult. It is also a huge time commitment. Just to be on the team, volunteers must go through 40 hours of training. The average stay of a team member is usually around a year. James is extremely committed to this cause and has been with the team for over 6 years.
James has become a role model to many people. Many individuals that choose to be on the team are female, but James saw the great impact he could have on the community through actively taking a stand against violence towards women as a male.
Due to the service that James provides, there have been hundreds, probably thousands of individuals that he has positively impacted. He has helped victims to feel understood, cared about and validated. He has helped guide victims to resources that are few and far between. He has helped so many victims and their loved ones find a safe haven in such a horrible time.
James nominator describes him, “He is extremely humble always trying to figure out ways he can be better. He continually is asking questions about up-to-date research and resources that are available to victims. He is very reliable and extremely proactive. He is emotionally compassionate, yet very logical. He provides such excellence support to victims in need. He goes above and beyond in all aspects. It is a privilege to know him. He is an amazing man.”
Donna Taylor
Back Pack Group
Gabrielle Custis
Lebanon Police Volunteers Johnson
The City of Lebanon Oregon functions through volunteer and paid police support. Volunteers gain appropriate training and are a valuable addition to the police department and the Lebanon community. The volunteers are trained to assist various departments and enhance the capacity of state and local law enforcement in providing public police services. The work that they do is priceless, anytime the community is in need, a volunteer is always willing to step forward.
Carl Vandee who has been a volunteer policeman for the past 4 years explains reasons why he serves: “I’m passionate about improving people’s quality of life.”
The volunteer program is aimed at providing a supplementary and complementary rol,e not designed to have the civilians replace professional staff, but. The purpose of having volunteers is to provide the police staff with a trained citizens to assist various departments in providing public police services. Lebanon Police Volunteers have had a significant impact on the community.
Volunteers are provided with a positive experience, with an opportunity to give back and gain from their community; to break down barriers; and to open doors of communication between citizens and the police and gain meaningful experience and knowledge.
Currently the city of Lebanon has 12 civilian police volunteers who do a variety of jobs that save the city a lot of money. Volunteers help with administration in the police department, support the municipal court, enforce disabled parking, and provide general help within the community to serve various requests. In 2011 volunteers logged in over 1700 hours to the community of Lebanon.
Carolyn Cotta
Jessica Brookshire
Tanya Tull ScD
Taryn Davis
Taryn was about to graduate from college in 2007 when her husband/soulmate was killed by a roadside bomb. At the age of 23 she became a military widow. She felt lost and totally alone. In a desperate need to find people in her own shoes, she set out traveling across the country to talk and listen to other women’s similar stories of lost loved ones and how they managed to cope and carry on with their lives.
What started out as a personal journey evolved into a lifelong commitment to help others in her situation through the American Widow Project. At a very young age, she was able to turn her grief into something positive to help others. She became the founder and executive director of the non-profit, the American Widow Project.
The American Widow Project is ” dedicated to the new generation of those who have lost the heroes of yesterday, today and tomorrow, with an emphasis on healing through sharing stories, tears and laughter; military widow to military widow.”
Because of Taryn hundreds if not thousands of young military widows now have a place to turn for emotional support. She established a website for military widows to share stories, ask questions, get help etc…Taryn organizes ‘get aways’ for the widows to try new experiences such as skydiving, to get out there and start enjoying life again.
Barbara Drake
In Salt Lake City seniors and retirees take an active role in shaping the community. Barbara Drake is one of these special citizens who volunteers for the Bridges Tutoring program, serving the educational needs of the community and changing the lives of youth.
As a city, Salt Lake is diverse and growing. Culturally, many of the community families are large, which puts an increased demand on the public school system. That fact, coupled with increasing immigration and shrinking budgets has created a crisis in education need vs. funding over the past two decades.
The Bridges Tutoring Program was begun in 1991 and has become a long standing solution toward this educational problem. The program places seniors and retirees in high-need schools to help high-risk students across five districts bridge the gap between failure and success. Bridges continuously identifies changing need and continues to adapt in order to best serve the community needs.
Barbara Drake has been a committed volunteer tutor at the Bridges program. Currently Barbara serves with 59 other active tutors working one-on-one with students to find and address deficiencies in math and language arts.
On average, Bridge program students make great progress–often by more than a grade level in one year. Overall, they self-report gains in self-esteem and teachers report that their behavioral attitudes change dramatically. Barbara and the other tutors track progress through state testing, self-esteem and behavioral testing modules. It is amazing what a little hard work, hope and personal investment can do for a child headed towards disaster.
The Bridges Tutoring Program is lucky to have such a devoted and caring volunteer like Barbara who works hard to get results. Barbara Drake changes youth lives through dedicated tutoring.
Her nominator says, “When you are changing the lives of children, it is hard to fully express the impact of changes–especially in the long-term. Changing the life of a child is really changing the entire world.”
