The Pinnt Family

The Pinnt Family is one of 10 service-minded families being recognized by Points of Light and Disney in honor of Family Volunteer Day, Nov. 21.

When Noah Pinnt was just two years old, his mom, Danielle, brought him to a senior citizens’ home to pass out Valentines. “He was so social and so cute, they just loved him,” Danielle recalls. “And he ate it up, too. It was all in the positioning — a lot of it was me just talking with him and about the people there and excited they would be to have someone visit them.”

As an accountant at Disney, Danielle has long taken advantage of what she calls the company’s “robust volunteer effort” to find opportunities for the family (including her husband Kevin, Noah, now 16, and second son Xander, 11). “I try to make sure that they’re actively engaged in a volunteer project at least once a quarter,” she says. “It’s a great reminder to them that they’re pretty fortunate and that a lot of others aren’t.”

Noah at a generationOn Block Party

Through the Disney program, the Pinnts have done everything from beach cleanups to tree plantings. They also seek out volunteering opportunities through the Boy Scouts and through their church.

Danielle acknowledges that finding the time — and the will — isn’t always easy. “As the boys have gotten older and developed their own schedules, they can start groaning a bit,” she says. “But I try to explain to them why it’s important to fit service in and that sometimes it’s hard to see that these choices can also benefit them personally.”

Xander at a generationOn Block Party

For instance, when Noah delivered meals and clothes to the homeless for Thanksgiving one year, he found himself assuming a leadership role. “All of a sudden, he started organizing and assigning tasks,” Danielle says. “He took ownership and I was so proud of him for getting out there and taking charge. I like to remind him of that, and I think about it a lot myself when I wonder if these experiences are having any impact on their characters.”

She realized the answer to that question was a resounding ‘yes’ after Noah had set a goal to save $75 so he could buy a video game. “I will never forget when I heard him tell my husband that he was going to donate the money instead to tsunami relief. It’s at those moments that I say, ‘Okay something’s sticking,’”

Danielle at Disney VoluntEARS event

As the boys grow older and find other hobbies, Noah in sports and Xander in animals, Danielle says she tries to find projects that will appeal to those areas of interest. “I have to be mindful of the dynamics of siblings,” she says. “As brothers, they already spend a lot of time together. So I look for opportunities where they can each work separately and get a chance to shine. We did a Books on Bases [a program that brings the power of reading to military children] over the summer and I had them each do a different task. Noah was working on imagination; he’s really good with kids. Xander helped with the book distribution and finding the right books for various kids.”

Day to day, Danielle and Kevin can plainly see how volunteering has improved their lives together as a family. “With our busy schedules, the together time helps us to bond while making us more appreciative,” Danielle says. “It helps us as a whole build our family unit because we’ve made this a priority.”

The Yamaato Family

In honor of Family Volunteer Day, Nov. 21, Points of Light and Disney are recognizing families with the Daily Point of Light Award. Meet today’s winning family, the Yamaato family of Atlanta, and nominate someone in your community.

The Yamaato family, parents Brent and Joyce, and siblings Ansley and Jack

Many families who volunteer together spend time interacting with the people they serve. They may visit a nursing home and talk to residents, perhaps, or read to children at a local library.

But for the Yamaato family of Atlanta, focusing on global issues makes that aspect of volunteer service more challenging.

“It’s different than if we were sorting cans at a food bank,” says mom, Joyce. “So we all have to work a little harder to come up with relevant experiences.”

At school, for instance, her daughter Ansley, 12, and son Jack, 9, spent time carrying water upstairs and around the basketball court to get a sense of the travails many people around the world must undertake to find and transport clean drinking water.

The exercise hit home with Jack, who aspires to become an engineer. “I want to find innovative solutions to help people use transportation to get to water,” he says.

Siblings Jack and Ansley Yamaato participate in a UNICEF event in Atlanta.

After he learned about potable water issues in poor regions of the world, Jack and two classmates sold home-baked cookies to raise money for a nonprofit that helps children in Africa gain access to clean water.

Now, Jack says, “I want to build a filter system for my own home so we can reuse dirty water.”

“The experiential part is really important,” says Joyce. “Taking a concept and giving it some practical aspects really drives their desire to help.” And, she adds, it can show kids they have the power to make changes.

Joyce, 43, has understood that power herself since her time in AmeriCorps, a federal program that engages more than 75,000 Americans in intensive service each year at nonprofits, schools, public agencies, and community and faith-based groups across the country.

“Teaching reading to immigrants and refugees really made me aware of global issues,” she says. Her year of service led to a career in corporate philanthropy.

At home, she and her husband, Brent, 44, encourage the kids to consider the same questions that a corporation might examine when making funding decisions: What is happening? Why do we need to care? What can we do?

“I think because we’re a multicultural family – my husband’s family is from Japan and mine is Filipino – and the kids attend an international school, global issues are a natural priority,” says Joyce.

For United Nations Day at the school, when the children dress up in the native costumes, their parents make sure that “we go beyond talking about the respective cultures and emphasize the rights that all children have,” Joyce says. “We discuss the right to live without war, the right to have access to clean water.”

Looking to the future, Joyce has another global goal in mind: “We’d love for us all to go as a family to volunteer in another country.”

See how your family can get involved on Family Volunteer Day at www.generationon.org/fvd. 

The Denk Family

The Denk Family is one of 10 service-minded families being recognized by Points of Light and Disney in honor of Family Volunteer Day, Nov. 21.

The Denks would be the first to say that there isn’t anything particularly remarkable about their family.  Joellen, 37, is a librarian at a Cleveland-area middle school. Her husband Tom, 39, is a strategic analyst for Bank of America. Sons Thomas, 7 and Benjamin, 6 are well-adjusted and happy little boys.

But for the past three and a half years, since the boys were toddlers, the family has logged 143 hours of community service with HandsOn Northeast Ohio, with more than 50 of those hours clocked by the kids. And that commitment to service doesn’t even include the many ways the family has given back in their own neighborhood and church communities.

While both adults were geared toward giving back, Joellen mostly at church and Tom often working as a coach at community events, something shifted when they had kids.

“My main goal, something I feel strongly about, is to get the kids used to giving, to thinking outside of themselves,” says Joellen. “So we made a commitment for us all to do something together at least once a month.”  Tom says his wife spearheaded the idea, which has paid off big time. “That was all Joellen. I wouldn’t have thought to start them so young.”

The family attends a monthly family volunteer party at HandsOn, where they address a wide range of needs, including homelessness, health, the environment and education. Joellen has also served as a committee member for the Homeless Stand Down, an annual event where about 1,500 homeless individuals and families come to receive winter clothing, food, personal hygiene products, medical care and haircuts, as well as getting the chance to connect with social service agencies.

Joellen encourages other parents to think young when it comes to spreading joy and offering a helping hand. “It can even start with your own family – having the kids send their craft projects to older relatives, making holiday cookies and delivering them to neighbors – you’d be surprised what an impact that can have. The boys know our elderly neighbors on a first name basis, so that’s easy. It’s just about making them aware that other people need cheering up sometimes.”

Despite their young age (or maybe because of it) and thanks to an almost endless supply of energy, Thomas and Benjamin, working with their mom and dad, have made a big impact. The Denk’s have participated in projects that sorted more than 19,300 pounds of donations, beautified more than 2,400 square feet of space, served more than 2,100 clients and created more than 400 items to be donated. They have attended 40 HandsOn events where they served dinner at homeless suppers, sorted meat at foodbanks, weeded nature preserves, painted schools and raked yards for the elderly.

Joellen agrees that the first couple of times volunteering, most kids may feel a little out of their comfort zone. “They may not know what exactly they’re supposed to do, or maybe it’s crowded and they don’t know a lot of people. But now, I can take them with me anywhere. I find the boys are more easygoing and open to different situations because of our volunteer work.”

A favorite for both boys is spending time outside, clearing a local creek of an invasive species of cattails or working in a community garden. “It’s fun,” says Thomas, who found some golf balls on a recent clean up. Benjamin likes getting crafty too, making art projects that are used for Send A Smile, a program Joellen created that pairs kids with homebound parishioners from their church.

From making toys for service dogs to visiting shut-ins and playing bingo at the local nursing home, the boys are involved every step of the way. “We started with simple things, nothing super exceptional,” explains Joellen. “The idea is to get them used to thinking that it isn’t all about them.”

The Turocy/Pepin Family

The Turocy/Pepin Family is one of 10 service-minded families being recognized by Points of Light and Disney in honor of Family Volunteer Day, Nov. 21.

If you’re fortunate enough to not have to worry about where your next meal is coming from, you may not be able to relate to the hardships associated with hunger. Malnutrition is a very serious issue plaguing many communities throughout this country. Whether it’s not having an adequate amount of food, or just a lack of healthy options, there are far too many people who suffer.

Tackling such an issue as hunger is not an individual effort, instead it takes more of a unified, collective approach. Together, The Turocy/ Pepin family is helping grow a healthy end to hunger.

The Turocy/Pepin’s at the Katie’s Krops Four Year Anniversary.

Feeding the community truly is a family affair. Using their gardening skills, Ty Pepin, his wife, Lisa Turocy, and their son, Alexander, works closely with Katie’s Krops.

Katie’s Krops is an organization aimed at fighting hunger. Their mission is to start and maintain vegetable gardens of all sizes and donate the harvest to help feed those in need.

In 2008, for a school project, nine-year-old Katie Stagliano planted a single cabbage in her front yard; seven years later the idea has flourished into a movement. Katie’s Krops now consist of 83 gardens all across the country, all maintained by the local children of the community.

“I could not have grown Katie’s Krops without the help of the Turocy/ Pepin family,” said Katie. “They give with all their heart and have provided healthy food to thousands of people.”

Lisa, who’s been an avid gardener since 1998, has been on hand to help Katie’s Krops since the very beginning. As a Master Gardner, she uses her experience, as well as provides personal guidance, to assist the children in maintaining the gardens. Whether she is sharing tips or out there helping plant herself, Lisa’s commitment has not wavered.

Alexander gardening in the Katie’s Krops Flagship Garden.

“I made the commitment to a little girl who had a dream, and that was important to me,” said Lisa. “It’s incredible that my training as a Master Gardener could in turn help someone else begin to make their dream a reality.”

While Lisa’s knowledge of gardening is necessary, it is her husband’s involvement behind the scenes that keeps the gardens functioning. From building a raised bed for the crops, to building the Katie’s Krops website, Ty’s do-it-all approach goes a long way toward fighting hunger.

Attempting to cure the sickness of hunger has truly been a family effort. For proof of that, look no further then future Master Gardner, Alexander. At just 5 years old, Alexander is no stranger to the garden. Ever since he can walk, he has been assisting his parents in the field. He is also an advocate for agriculture as he engages his classmates to assist with Katie’s Krops.

“I love working with Katie in the Katie Krops garden,” said Alexander. “Katie’s Krops is awesome,” he added.

Being able to provide for those less fortunate while nurturing the future leaders of tomorrow is an opportunity that Lisa and Ty truly cherish.

“One of the greatest gifts we can give is to encourage that love of the environment and the world to our children,” said Ty.

The Turocy/ Pepin family proves that family volunteering is effective. With a collective effort anything is possible. A unified approach trumps a singular effort, and with the help of like minded individuals, there is no goal that is unattainable.

“For those who want to make a difference in their community, I would tell them that you can truly accomplish whatever you have set your sights on and that you can do anything no matter how young or old you are,” said Lisa.  “Always believe in yourself and never give up.”

The Sjolseth Family

In honor of Family Volunteer Day, Nov. 21, Points of Light and Disney are recognizing families with the Daily Point of Light Award. Meet today’s winning family, the Sjolseths of McKinney, Texas, and nominate someone in your community.

The Sjolseth brothers, Merritt and Everett, help clean up a creek.

For the Sjolseth family, giving back is so, well, daily.

For the past three years, the family – Erik, 44, Sheila, 40, Everett, 9, and Merritt, 6, have made it a point to give something back and perform acts of kindness every single day.

“It’s not big acts of service that changes kids,” says Sheila. “It’s the small daily repetitive actions, that 20 minutes a day where we all think about something else other than ourselves. It’s a way to fight the sense of entitlement that so many kids have. It’s helped make us a happier family, and made them so much kinder, in general and to each other.”

Sheila and Erik share a lifelong commitment to service. But they didn’t want the kids to just be tagalongs.

“Sheila came to me when the boys were 3 and 5 and said, ‘I’m going to do a community project with the boys every day,’” Erik recalls. “And I said, ‘OK, for how long?’ And she said, ‘Every day, forever.’”

Part of Sheila’s inspiration was born from tragedy. When a close friend lost her 21-month-old daughter Penny in an accident, Sheila felt humbled by her friend’s strength and love in response to loss. Sheila founded a nonprofit, Pennies of Time, which provides resources to help make serving reasonable and doable for children of all ages and their families. 

The Sjolseth family, from left, Everett, Erik, Sheila and Merritt

“A few minutes a day is just a penny of time, but it makes a big difference,” Sheila says.

The impetus to start Pennies of Time was also practical. “We found that most big nonprofits shut the door on having small children serve,” says Erik. “We didn’t set out to start a movement or even a nonprofit. We set out to do service with our boys and nobody was really out there doing it.”

From the beginning, the parents incorporated fun, dress up and play into their daily acts of kindness. For example, the boys dressed as ninjas and came to the local emergency room to tape bags of coins onto vending machines. 

“The point is to talk before and after,” recalls Sheila. “For them to understand that people who are hurt and in the emergency room don’t always have money with them and they get hungry and can’t get something to eat or drink. It’s critical to take time right after to reflect. OK, what went well, how did we help? That gets them thinking.”

Sheila understands that busy parents might feel overwhelmed at the very thought of trying to organize their kids into service projects. Which is why mindful acts of kindness can start at home.

Everett Sjolseth, left, brings flowers to a nursing home resident.

The Sjolseths have what Sheila calls compassion conversations at the dinner table. The topic may come out of a jar filled with little scenarios and questions. Something like – you saw a friend during recess tell another friend they can’t play with them and they walk away feeling sad. What do you do? “There are no right or wrong answers,” says Erik.   “But it’s having the conversation that gets everyone thinking.”

Then there’s the stealth Kindness Kangaroo, one of the boys’ favorite feel-good games.  The stuffed toy is the harbinger of kindness – whoever has him, does something kind – say, clean the kitty box for Mommy, and leaves the mascot as his calling card. Then it’s Mommy’s turn to do something kind and leave the kangaroo for the next person. And so it goes.

The Sjolseths’ younger son, Merritt, says his favorite way to serve is by cleaning trash from a local creek: “It’s better for the frogs that way.” Older brother Everett likes getting friends involved in projects and agrees that the weekly creek cleanup is fun. “It’s really muddy though,” he says.

What Sheila and Erik didn’t expect was what their boys were going to teach them about kindness. 

“There’ve been times when I was rushed, or we didn’t plan to make a stop, but they have really insisted,” she says. “Not every day is a golden day of helping out – sometimes we cut something short if it’s not working. But then there’s always tomorrow to try again.” 

See how your family can get involved on Family Volunteer Day at www.generationon.org/fvd.

Lily Brown

Though there are difficulties when it comes to teaching children, like getting and keeping their attention, the best way to combat it is to make their learning experience more enjoyable.

The Minnesota Children’s Museum (MCM) uses a fun, interactive approach as it relates to educating children. MCM believes that play is truly the foundation of learning. Through their Play Team program, visiting children are engaged and educated through imaginative, hands-on activities. One of the people on-hand to make a difference in these children’s lives is MCM Play Team volunteer, Lily Brown.

“I volunteer because I believe that service makes life more valuable,” said Lily.  “It is such a wonderful thing to do something just to make someone else happy. Their joy brings me joy.”

While Lily is currently a high school student, attempting to juggle both her school work and social activities, she still manages to sacrifice her time to give back to the children. When she is not facilitating activities, she can be found greeting and welcoming visitors, doing routine safety checks, or organizing supplies. Though she has been a volunteer at MCM for only 10 months, she has already logged over 100 hours of service.

Lily’s commitment consists of more than just punching a clock. It is not so much about the time she spends volunteering, but more about the impact she makes. Her efforts directly assist with the maturing and molding of young children. The fun and informative activities help the development of these children by enhancing their imagination, creativity and self expression.

In her first year of volunteering at the MCM, Lily has already been promoted to Play Team Leader. She continues to be the perfect role model not just for the children she serves as a mentor, but to everyone she encounters.

Terry Corwin

On the long ride between Phoenix and her home in Trabuca Canyon, California, Terry Corwin hatched a plan.  It was the summer of 2004 and she had her two sons in the car, Spencer, who was going into seventh grade and Garrett, who was starting fourth.

“I started thinking that I was about Spencer’s age when I got involved in community service,” Corwin recalls. “And I wanted that for my boys too.”  Her captive audience wasn’t too sure what their mom had in mind, but if they could do community projects with their friends involved, that would be ok.

Corwin, bottom row center, and a group of young ladies ready to clean up the neighborhood.

But when she started looking into what kind of opportunities was available for her boys to give back locally, Corwin came up short.  “There was Boy Scouts, a great organization but more of a commitment than we could handle with sports and academic commitments. There were plenty of options for girls, but not boys.”

Being the kind of person who doesn’t sit back and wait for things to happen, Corwin started her own non-profit, Lion’s Heart, designed to give boys and young men options for connecting with people in their local community who need help.  “We started small,” she recalls.  Groups of three to 30 boys from the same grade, each with a parent coordinator, would meet and decide how to use their time.  The boys would agree to donate a minimum of 30 hours a year to service. 

“They elected officers and ran their meetings – I wanted it to also give them tools they could use in college, in their life,” she said.  There was no fund raising involved – the boys just gave of themselves and of their time. Each group would pick a project, a person, a neighborhood and make it happen, from mowing a lawn for a disabled neighbor or picking up trash at a local park to playing with kids at a homeless shelter.

Lion’s Heart has come a long way since 2004.  Now a digital platform for volunteer teens all over the country, Lion’s Heart is a national co­-ed organization with members that have served more than 390,000 hours of volunteer service to a variety of causes and organizations. Active membership includes some 2400 teens in 53 chapters across 10 states and is rapidly growing.

“We want these kids to become leaders,” she says.  “I wanted my own boys to be aware that everyone isn’t as fortunate as they are, to see the world as bigger than where they are living right now.  And that they could make a difference. Lion’s Heart grew from there and I’m so proud of that.”

Kate Fisher

This week, in honor of Veterans Day, we celebrate the men and women who have served our country and those who are striving to make a difference in their lives. Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree, Kate Fisher.

Kate Fisher, upper left, participates in a LEEK Hunting and Mountain Preserve fundraiser, joined by volunteers.

Military families understand the challenges that face veterans who are recovering from war-related traumas, visible or otherwise. Kate Fisher, whose husband served in the Army for 27 years, knew she could help, dedicating her life to boosting the confidence of wounded and disabled veterans through therapeutic outdoor activities.

Fisher’s family founded the nonprofit LEEK Hunting and Mountain Preserve, which leads wounded warriors on fishing and hunting expeditions on 278 acres in Oswayl, Pennsylvania.

As LEEK’s coordinator, Fisher operates under the principle that we should encourage our wounded heroes to focus on their abilities instead of their limitations, and to encourage them to discuss openly the issues that many of them face.

“I would not be able to do my work that I do for LEEK without the hundreds of people who work with me,” Fisher says.

LEEK’s volunteers cook meals, do building maintenance and provide transportation for participating veterans to and from the preserve, often directly from the medical facilities where their rehabilitation takes place. The volunteers take the vets on hunts, some of which last almost a full week and usually end in pheasant and venison feasts.

The vets who visit the property come from all over the country. One recent hunt included vets from Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina and New York.

Fisher spends most of her time doing outreach to garner support for the nonprofit. The group has started the first phase of establishing a multipurpose facility that will include a kitchen, a mess hall and a cozy meeting area.

Recently, Fisher was walking with her daughter behind a couple of new arrivals fresh from a hunt; the men were laughing and sharing inside jokes with each other. Kate began to smile, and her daughter asked her why. Fisher replied, “I’m smiling at the laughter, because the healing’s begun.”

LEEK has been healing to Fisher and the volunteers, too.

“I believe that human nature wants to help, we just don’t know where to go,” Fisher says. “When you find a cause, and it lights your heart afire, it’s a wonderful thing. You get joy out of it.”