Mark Feldman
Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Mark Feldman. Read his story and nominate an outstanding volunteer you know as a Point of Light.
Mark Feldman, center, teaches at Youth Design’s Youth Designers Take Action, an annual poster design competition and series of workshops related to social issues.Back in 1988, as a young college graduate, Mark Feldman became the third employee of New York Cares.
The fledging nonprofit – which has since grown to become the city’s largest volunteer management organization – wanted to make it easier for more people to volunteer.
So Feldman helped launch an innovative, group-oriented volunteer model that has become the centerpiece of myriad volunteer centers throughout the country. People who had just a few hours to volunteer could participate in group volunteer projects that were done in a day.
“At a very young age I was creating hands-on service among professionals in New York,” Feldman says. “I was designing, implementing, executing and leading folks to do volunteering in the city. It was the beginning of the hands-on movement.”
Both on the job and as a volunteer, Feldman has spent almost three decades developing fresh ways to engage volunteers in the nonprofit, public and private sectors to create social change. Feldman went on to work at the Corporation for National and Community Service, where he helped launch the AmeriCorps national service program, and has since founded his own award-winning firm, Cause Consulting.
For the past five years, Feldman has been deeply involved with an organization called Youth Design. The Boston-based nonprofit calls on professional designers as skills-based volunteers to help prepare urban high school students for college and possible careers in design, from architecture to fashion design.
“It’s really about helping to tap into and spark the passion and interest in design for young people, and bringing that to life by giving them a wide range of opportunities,” Feldman says.
The young participants, who enter the two-year program as sophomores, are a reflection of the Boston public schools’ student body, with 78 percent from low-income households and nearly half who speak a language other than English as their first language.
During the first summer of the program, students attend workshops and mentoring sessions that help them learn about the design industry and allow them to practice their skills through project-based work.
Students also attend workshops throughout the school year. The sessions help prepare students for their summer internships and they teach the students life skills, including how to manage personal finances and how to eat well.
During the second summer, students are placed in paid internships with some of Boston’s top design firms.
In addition to serving on Youth Design’s board, Feldman has volunteered as a mentor and workshop leader, helping young people find their voice around issues that are important to them – such as crime, families, police, divorce – and then use design to visualize their thoughts.
Feldman’s efforts at Youth Design have benefited 200 Boston public school teens and 100 percent of them have graduated high school and gone on to college.
“The most powerful thing is the experience and the access to networks,” Feldman says. “The core part of Youth Design is connecting young people to both internships and with designers around the country that coach them throughout their journey.”
Making those kinds of connections – and supporting businesses that encourage and make it easier for employees to volunteer – drive Youth Design’s work and excite Feldman. His experiences in the nonprofit, public and private sectors have allowed him to see both problems and opportunities through different lenses.
“I continue to be inspired by the power of companies to create social change,” he says. “It continuously gets cooler, gets more innovative. That includes both application of business resources and expertise but also our people, human capital and volunteers. … We’re on an incredible journey in the service and volunteer movement.”
Judy Goldetsky
For twenty years, Judy Goldetsky managed the Minnesota-based medical staffing company, On Call Clinicians, which she also founded. It was through her work there that she began to see that long-term care facilities struggled to provide adequate dental care for their elderly, poor or disabled patients. Many of these patients relied on state programs for their medical care; programs which rarely cover dental care.
Goldetsky knows that oral health is often considered a window into one’s overall health. And so, in 2005, she started Doorstep Health Services (DHS), an organization that provides comprehensive oral healthcare services to residents of long-term and assisted care facilities in the Twin Cities.
The DHS clinic is mobile; every week day, they set up a working dental office on a rotational basis, in a local nursing home or long-term care facility. A dentist and an assistant provide services to those who are unable to travel due to poor health, dementia, physical handicap or mental instability. The clinic sees about 125 patients and more than 6,000 patients a year.
In 2010, Goldetsky expanded DHS to include a fixed site clinic that sees patients based on a sliding-scale—where the clinic fees vary according to ability to pay.
Says Goldetsky of what this work means to her, ““This has been a large, challenging, and extremely gratifying part of my life… 95 percent of the patients we serve would otherwise go without care.”
Do you know someone like Judy Goldetsky who volunteers their professional expertise to affect change in their community? Nominate them for a Daily Point of Light Award here!
Jennifer Roman
Creating the Next Wave of SuperWomen
An agent of change in the community, Jennifer Roman always knew she wanted to be in a profession that helps people. As a Madison Fire Department captain, Madison College faculty member and 25-year Girl Scout volunteer, Roman decided to change the gender gap in the protective services one girl at a time.
Females comprise only 35 percent of EMTs, 12 percent of police officers and 3.4 percent of firefighters. Roman researched the influences on career choice and, armed with her newfound knowledge, assembled a group of protective service professionals and Girl Scout staff to create CampHERO, an experience for girls K-12 that helps them build courage, character and confidence.
“We’re helping girls challenge the common belief in society that they cannot be successful first responders. Working to change that perception and help girls build confidence in themselves is incredibly meaningful,” says Roman who added a mentor network to CampHERO that helps foster relationships and provide a way for girls and women to get guidance. This addition expanded the camp activities to include fitness programs, career counseling and college credit.
Girls from all over the U.S. attend the camp to learn skills, take part in simulated experiences and build confidence that they can take home and pursue careers as first responders in their communities. Some of the activities for younger campers include using a hose to fight a simulated fire and learning how to dial 9-1-1. Older campers use the ‘Jaws of Life’ to rescue a mannequin from a car in a simulated accident, get CPR- certified and diagram a crime scene, among other activities.
Roman mobilized over 120 volunteers to work with CampHERO and in the first two years, more than 330 girls attended the camp. Her fundraising efforts keep the camp affordable and accessible for all girls. And when it comes to bringing in resources to support her camp, she describes herself as never being afraid to ask for volunteers to pitch in. Through years of creating and sustaining relationships in her community – with firefighters, police officers, paramedics and others – Roman built up the currency she needed to recruit talented teachers, passionate about their work, who could make CampHERO a reality.
When she undertook this mission, her singular thought was, “what can we do to make girls believe they can do anything?” Roman believes her work is helping challenge a societal norm: that girls cannot be successful as first responders. She sees gender bias in fire services more than other protective services and points to a trend that fewer women work in fire services today than 10 years ago. For Roman, working to change that trend is meaningful.
Know someone making a meaningful change in your community? Nominate them for a Daily Point of Light Award!
Grace Burgess
Reading is a tool that can lead to so many possibilities for children. Today’s Daily Point of Light Award winner, Grace Burgess is using her passion for reading and children to ensure that no child goes through life without experiencing the joy of a magical book.
A foundation upon which many of life’s successes stem, literacy is a skill that many take for granted. And, for reasons ranging from a lack of parental involvement to insufficient reading materials outside of the classroom, it’s a right many children lack access to and do not have the opportunity to develop.
Today’s Daily Point of Light Award winner, Grace Burgess of Bartlett Tennessee, has made it her mission to ensure all children are given the gift of reading and that it takes them on a magical adventure through life. Burgess created ‘Ready, Set, Read: Encouraging a Love for Reading’ program to foster an interest in reading among children.
Grace Burgess has utilized her platform as Miss Tipton County 2015 to launch ‘Ready, Set, Read!’ a promotional campaign that exercises the natural curiosity of children to expand their imaginations and grow a strong love for reading at an early age.
“My junior year I stated volunteering with Shelby County Books from Birth, which provides books to children enrolled in the program, one book a month from birth to age five, regardless of family income. I raised a little over $1,000 for them, and that kick started everything,” Burgess recalls.
At Shelby County Books from Birth, Burgess served as a guest reader at Altruria Elementary School’s Family Literacy Night, taking place on Dr. Seuss’ Birthday. This event donates over 250 books to the FedEx Family House, and serves as an additional book drive for a new Boys and Girls Club in Tipton County. She has read some of her favorite books to over 2,500 children, sharing her love of reading.
But ‘Ready, Set, Read!’ isn’t Burgess’s main focal point. The campaign aims to provide parents with information to help encourage their children to read and show their children that reading is fun. The campaign emphasizes to parents how crucial literacy skills are at the development stage of a child’s life. Burgess however, doesn’t just focus on the parents.” ‘Through Ready, Set, Read!’ I travel to different schools and have book readings at least once a week. It’s so much fun!”
Burgess has recently launched a website for the campaign, www.readtn.org. This allows the community to contact her to request group readings, a book drive or any other activity that may be helpful in encouraging children to read. She also maintains social media sites, and in both cases, provides helpful links for local and national resources for those seeking free reading material. All while still working on fundraisers with Shelby County Books from Birth.
“With Ready, Set, Read! I get to see tangible results. I get to see a little child’s eyes light up when they read a book or find that interest. And I get to see how it impacts them and makes them feel special. Seeing the joy they get from opening a book, or having a book of their very own is most rewarding.” Too many children go through life without experiencing the joy of reading. Burgess hopes to instill a passion for knowledge and imagination in children at a young age so they are prepared for what comes ahead.
If you know someone like Grace Burgess working to ensure opportunities for young children, nominate them today for the Daily Point of Light Award at https://www.pointsoflight.org/programs/recognition/dpol/nomination
Phyllis Sudman
Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Phyllis Sudman. Read her story and nominate someone you know as a Point of Light.
Phyllis Sudman attends a Simon’s Fund heart screening.At just 13 weeks old, Phyllis Sudman’s second child, Simon, died in his sleep from sudden cardiac arrest in 2004.
Urged by Simon’s pediatrician, Sudman got her heart checked and discovered she had a heart condition called long QT syndrome, which is linked to up to 15 percent of all sudden infant death syndrome deaths.
“No parent should ever have to bury their child,” Sudman says. “And we knew we were going to do something. So my husband and I started Simon’s Fund.”
The fund’s mission: to raise awareness about warning signs and conditions that lead to sudden cardiac arrest and death in children.
Drawing on her background as a marketing executive, Sudman has helped craft and implement a free screening program in the Philadelphia area. There are few programs like it in the United States.
To encourage research, Simon’s Fund also launched HeartBytes, a national youth cardiac registry.
“It will be a resource for researchers to prove that everyone in this country should get their hearts checked,” Sudman says.
Under Sudman’s leadership, Simon’s Fund has raised more than $1 million and has screened more than 10,000 children and teens, helping detect more than 100 potentially fatal heart conditions.
Simon’s Fund has also pushed for passage of the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Prevention Act, which has passed in six states and is pending in several others.
The organization’s accomplishments stem from the dedicated and passionate work of volunteers and supporters. Hundreds of medical professionals have volunteered their time to check hearts and potentially save lives.
“I am so blessed to be a part of this movement to make life safer for kids,” Sudman says. “To know that Simon – who lived for three months – has had an impact most people don’t have in their lifetime is huge.”
Sudman was recognized by L’Oréal Paris and Points of Light as a 2014 Woman of Worth for her extraordinary volunteer work. Nominate an inspiring woman who is creating change in her community to be one of this year’s Women of Worth at www.womenofworth.com.
Corinne Cannon
Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Corinne Cannon. Read her story and nominate someone you know as a Point of Light.
DC Diaper Bank founder Corinne Cannon, left, confers with Heather Foley, the organization’s board chair.When Corinne Cannon had her first child, Jack, in 2009, she felt the way many first-time parents do as they try to make sense of parenthood: beleaguered by late nights when the baby won’t sleep, anxious about the expense of childrearing, inexperienced.
But she realized those feelings were magnified exponentially among families in the Washington, D.C., area who had far less than her family.
She thought of the “heartbreaking decisions” those families faced: “Do you keep that child in a diaper – when you know it should be changed – so that your other children can have dinner?”
Cannon began to reach out to nonprofits in her community asking how she could help, and they all voiced a similar need for one item in particular: diapers.
Diapers cannot be purchased with food stamps or through WIC, the federally funded health and nutrition program for women, infants and children. There were no diaper banks in the area. So Cannon stepped in to fill the void for struggling families, starting DC Diaper Bank on her son’s first birthday.
In the past four years, she has grown DC Diaper Bank into an organization that distributes more than 75,000 diapers to 2,600 families monthly, with the help of hundreds of volunteers. The bank has given out 1.5 million diapers since it opened.
Working with community service providers in the D.C. metropolitan area, the organization, under Cannon’s guidance and leadership, has served thousands of families in need.
Cannon says diapers are a “gateway resource,” getting hard-to-reach families in the door for other social services. She and her network of volunteers provide a way to engage families and become part of a social safety network. DC Diaper Bank recently opened a baby food pantry, and it also distributes formula, and baby and mom hygiene items from its own warehouse.
“I often say DC Diaper bank is not about diapers, it’s about families,” Cannon says. “They go in because they need diapers. But then we’ll direct them to one of our partner agencies; they end up receiving medical care, food and a host of other services. And that’s really the goal.”
The diapers themselves have a direct positive effect on the health and well-being of babies and families. Beyond the obvious hygienic benefit of a clean diaper, research has shown that being able to provide necessities for their children lessens stress on parents and leads to more stable families.
Cannon gets choked up when talking about how thankful people are to receive the diapers and other necessities.
“They shouldn’t be things that families need,” she says. “We need to step up, and we need to take care of these babies.”
Cannon was recognized by L’Oréal Paris and Points of Light as a 2014 Woman of Worth for her extraordinary volunteer work. Nominate an inspiring woman who is creating change in her community to be one of this year’s Women of Worth at www.womenofworth.com.
Mary K. Hoodhood
Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Mary K. Hoodhood. Read her story and nominate an outstanding volunteer you know as a Point of Light.
Mary K. HoodhoodServing the Grand Rapids, Michigan, area as a social worker and food bank volunteer, Mary K. Hoodhood was generally aware of hunger in the community, but not among children.
She learned that local kids were going home from school every night with empty cupboards waiting for them. In her fact-finding about the issue, Hoodhood heard a school principal talk about a student digging in the trash after school to find dinner she could bring home.
“The thought of a child looking through the trash, looking for food to take home to her family, is just so sad,” Hoodhood says. “Kids should be thinking about what they’re doing after dinner, not where their dinner is coming from.”
In 2001, she helped found Kids’ Food Basket in coordination with local schools. At its inception, Kids’ Food Basket provided a take-home evening meal to 125 kids at three schools.
The organization now serves 6,300 kids each weeknight at 32 schools in Grand Rapids and Muskegon – with the help of 200 volunteers – seven days a week.
Kids’ Food Basket provides a nutritious Sack Supper to children who attend schools where 80 percent or more of the student population receives free or reduced-price breakfast and lunch.
Each Sack Supper includes a sandwich, a serving of a fruit and vegetable, a fruit juice box or dairy product and a healthy snack.
“If kids don’t get the right nutrition, especially until they are 12 years old, their brains won’t develop properly,” Hoodhood says. “So that’s why we’re concentrating on kids under 12, to make sure those kids can thrive.”
Kids’ Food Basket empowers kids of all backgrounds to help each other, creating the next generation of advocates and leaders. Young people are coming in larger numbers to volunteer with Kids’ Food Basket and help their peers; a quarter of the volunteers are younger than 18.
One of the unique ways that younger and older volunteers get involved when they cannot do heavy lifting is by decorating the paper bags that hold the Sack Suppers, using stickers and crayons to draw pictures and write inspirational messages.
Hoodhood tells the story of a home visit by a social worker who met a boy who received Sack Suppers from Kids’ Food Basket: The social worker saw the boy had taped all his Sack Supper bags onto his bedroom wall, each bag decorated with stickers and drawings made by volunteers.
When the social worker asked the boy why he posted the bags on his wall, he answered, “Because they are mine.”
Hoodhood knows the difference her work is making for low-income families who often have to make hard household decisions, such as whether to get the car fixed at the expense of buying medicine or food.
In 2010, President Obama recognized Hoodhood’s service with the Presidential Citizens Medal. It is the second-highest honor a civilian can receive; it recognizes Americans who perform exemplary deeds of service for their country or fellow citizens.
Hoodhood, who became a quadriplegic after a car accident in 1980, says that despite daily challenges that require patience, good humor and a great deal of pluck, her physical limitations have never prevented her from contributing to the community.
“For me, attitude is everything,” she says. “I wanted to help others, and I identified an unmet need in the community to address child hunger. If I can do this, able-bodied people can do a lot more.”
Hoodhood was recognized by L’Oréal Paris and Points of Light as a 2014 Woman of Worth for her extraordinary volunteer work. Nominate an inspiring woman who is creating change in her community to be one of this year’s Women of Worth at www.womenofworth.com.
Shaaron Funderburk
Shaaron Funderburk knows what it feels like to regain consciousness and not remember what she was doing before she took drugs. She knows what it feels like to be in a jail cell and see a loved one pleading with her to change. She’s turned her life around after having been a homeless, drug-addicted prostitute. And now she’s helping other women do the same.
After beating addiction in 1994 and getting herself off the streets, Shaaron realized that there were not many support options in Gaston County, North Carolina for women like her with no children. Shelters filled up quickly and the street tempted many recovering addicts.
Shaaron began her community service story by driving through local neighborhoods, distributing free condoms to prostitutes. Then she offered them meals. Next, she opened up her home and started Off the Streets, offering a transitional counseling and recovery program. Shaaron’s work is important in her community because there is no other shelter like it. Other programs provide services, but are not geared toward the combined issues of sexual abuse, substance abuse and alcohol addiction.
Up to six residents in Shaaron’s group home participate in daily education and support groups that assist in their recovery and empowerment process, addressing topics such as life skills, health and wellbeing, relationships and self-esteem. And the volunteer team that leads Off the Streets programs is made up primarily of women who have been through Shaaron’s tough-love programs.
Over the past 12 years, Shaaron has helped more than 750 women develop marketable skills, reunite with family and become productive citizens. Her Off the Streets program boasts an 88% success rate with helping women recover. Graduates of Shaaron’s program have secured jobs, started businesses or returned to previous careers and have renewed parental rights.
In addition to the day-to-day operations of the shelter, Shaaron supports the community and her residents by advocating for residents, becoming a certified Foster Parent, working suicide hotlines and supporting women through the court system.
“I can do this with the least amount of effort,” Shaaron says of the calling she feels that led her to start her volunteer program. “I motivate women easily because I have been there.”
Shaaron was recognized by L’Oréal Paris and Points of Light as a 2014 Woman of Worth for her extraordinary volunteer work. Nominate an inspiring woman who is selflessly creating change in her community to be one of this year’s Women of Worth: http://www.lorealparisusa.com/en/women-of-worth.aspx
Rachel R. Jackson-Bramwell
Rachel Jackson-Bramwell was a 25-year-old single mom and full-time college student trying to keep her head above water. She described feeling empty and searching for a purpose. There had to be more.
Many mornings on her drive into work, she would see homeless people asleep on the side of the road. The sight would make her think how grateful she was for what she had, and how she could offer compassion for the people outside her window. Rachel admitted she didn’t make all the right choices with her life. That could have been her out there. So she started Project Compassion in 2005.
As Rachel explains it, “I thought to myself, ‘I’m not rich. I don’t have a lot. But I do have a little … What if I could give what I had to help others?’”
This project began as a small act of kindness. Word of Rachel’s work spread like wildfire after being featured on The Tyra Banks Show, people started calling and Project Compassion quickly grew into a much needed community-based organization designed to reach homeless and low-income women and children in East St. Louis.
Rachel built ties with state and local agencies, establishing Project Compassion as a resource to support people where government services could not reach. Volunteer efforts involved visiting shelters initially to conduct classes and provide donated items for people trying to get back on their feet. Then, Rachel found a dedicated physical space for Project Compassion. The Compassionate Resources Center opened in 2011, offering classes, workshops and training to women ages 16 to 35, and girls in grades six through 10, that prepare them for successful outcomes by discovering their true potential.
Rachel's work has strengthened the East St. Louis community by changing one person at a time with no federal or state funding. Rachel’s leadership of Project Compassion has helped empower more than 45,000 women and children. Rachel has a volunteer base of more than 2,000 individuals, most of them teenagers. She has brought in troubled youth to volunteer, and through the experience has been able to deliver a stern warning: if you don’t make better choices, you might become a client here.
Through her work, Rachel recognized that underprivileged and homeless girls were in a precarious spot. They saw their mothers struggle and were at risk to either mimic the behavior they saw, or accept it as normal, perpetuating a cycle of hardship. She launched a self-esteem program, Empower-Me, and is working with two of the largest school districts, offering K-12 programming in a dozen schools in St. Clair County, Illinois.
Rachel meets those in need where they live and never allows anyone to judge them. Her approach to those in need is extremely compassionate. When speaking about helping young women, Rachel says she wants them to know and believe “no matter where you come from, you can change your world.”
Rachel was recognized by L'Oréal Paris and Points of Light as a 2014 Woman of Worth for her extraordinary volunteer work. Nominate an inspiring woman who is selflessly creating change in her community to be one of this year's Women of Worth: http://www.lorealparisusa.com/en/women-of-worth.aspx
Brittany Wenger
Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Brittany Wenger. Read her story and nominate someone you know as a Point of Light.
Brittany Wenger, right, gets a warm look from actress Julianne Moore during a photo shoot for L’Oreal Paris’ Women of Worth, an awards program administered by Points of Light.When Brittany Wenger was 15, her cousin was diagnosed with breast cancer. She saw firsthand the effect the disease has on a woman and her family.
“You’re watching the whole process of losing hair and having to get poked 20 million times for diagnostics,” she says. “And you’re just thinking that there must be a better way.”
Wenger set out to find that better way.
By combining medical research and a passion for computer science, she created Cloud4Cancer. The cloud-based computer program helps doctors diagnose breast cancer.
One of the goals is to make fine needle aspiration (FNA) a more viable option for breast cancer diagnosis. During that procedure, a doctor sticks a fine needle into a palpable breast mass and extracts cells for testing. The cells are stained and examined under a microscope.
But while this biopsy method is the least invasive – akin to getting blood drawn – and less expensive than more commonly used procedures, it is also the least conclusive.
“I decided I wanted to help revive the FNA and get it back into hospitals when I was 15,” says Wenger, now a 19-year-old Duke University student. “Since then, I have worked tirelessly to build the software that can make this dream a reality.”
Through her computer program, Wenger found a way to make fine needle aspiration a more useful diagnostic tool. Cloud4Cancer uses an artificial neural network – artificial intelligence – that can detect patterns too complex for the human brain to spot.
The more information it receives, in the form of breast tissue samples, the smarter it gets at identifying whether the cells are cancerous.
Through a series of 7.6 million trials, Wenger’s program diagnosed more than 99 percent of cancer patients correctly. Today, it is being tested in hospitals, which can use the program for free.
One in eight women are diagnosed with breast cancer. Wenger says they deserve to know if a mass is cancerous quickly, accurately and with minimal invasion.
Wenger sees immense potential for computer science to further advance medical science.
And she hopes she can use her program to set an example and help attract more girls to computer programming. She volunteers with Google’s Made with Code to show young women what they can do with coding.
One of the lessons she teaches: persistence.
“Most of what I built didn’t work the first time,” she explains. “You learn from mistakes and it makes the finished product better.”
Wenger was recognized by L’Oréal Paris and Points of Light as a 2014 Woman of Worth for her extraordinary volunteer work. Nominate an inspiring woman who is creating change in her community to be one of this year’s Women of Worth at www.womenofworth.com.
