Pickup Family Proves that Service Multiplies from Generation to Generation
Meet Daily Point of Light Award honorees The Pickup Family. Read their story and nominate an outstanding volunteer or family as a Daily Point of Light
Growing up as a military family, service and giving back to others has been an integral part of the Pickup Family’s life. With a fundamental truth that helping others is critical to raising caring and successful adults, parents Stephanie and Nate Pickup continue to seek opportunities for their children, Taylor, Abby, Olivia, and Nathan Jr. to make an impact in their community.
From handing out fresh produce, packing supplies for mothers in need to helping pack thousands of Thanksgiving meals, their eagerness to respond to the needs of their community cannot be ignored. With a “How else can we help” mentality, the family of six has volunteered countless hours to make an impact in the Greater New Bedford community. The extent of service that is deeply rooted in the Pickup family’s DNA is unparalleled, and will grow from generation to generation.
What inspires you to volunteer as a family, and when did your family start volunteering?
My husband graduated from West Point, so we’ve always been a military family and service-oriented. My service began before I had the kids, as a military wife supporting the military community and the loved ones of service members. Once we transitioned out of the military life, I felt a little lost and I didn’t know exactly how to channel and bring the energy as I had serving the military community into civilian life. But as the kids got old enough to volunteer, we jumped right into new avenues of service.
When they were young, we found age appropriate activities to do at home, like taking old jeans and milk jug to make templates for people in need to construct shoes with our church and friends. We’ve always wanted the kids to grow up being service-oriented. As they grew older, crafts at home turned into activities with United Way of Greater Bedford and other community organizations. I believe that helping others is critical to raising caring successful adults and builds character.
The Pickup Family members help assemble over one thousand Thanksgiving meals at the annual United Way Hunger Heroes’ Project. /United Way New Bedford
Describe your volunteer role with the United Way of Greater New Bedford, and any other organizations your family is involved in.
We are heavily involved in our local United Way of Greater Bedford, which is grassroots and locally run and solve issues at the community and local level. One of the kids favorite programs through United Way’s Mobile Market, which runs from summer through the fall, and donates fresh produce to low-income working class families. These families are doing all of the rights things, but just aren’t able to afford fresh produce. This program allows them to get locally grown organic products at no cost. The kids even got to volunteer at the farm to plant and harvest produce, and now help at distributional sites around the city.
We truly enjoy connecting with our community and meeting the families that we get to serve. When you have the hands on face-to-face time with the people that you are serving, it’s so much more rewarding. You really can see who you’re helping and how thankful they are. One bag of vegetables has such an impact and produces a reaction. It’s really creates perspective. It’s important for kids to see this and not take for granted everything that they have, like vegetables.
On the Saturday before Thanksgiving, our family also helps pack thousands of holiday meals with the Hunger Heroes Project. Volunteers usually grab a tin pan and go through stations of traditional Thanksgiving dishes to create full meals. These are wrapped, distributed and given out to families and local food pantries. Volunteer sign up slots filled up in eight minutes last year!
One of the other activities that our family looks forward to is Our Heroes’ Tree, a national initiative that honors the service and sacrifice of our nation’s military families. The kids help craft ornaments and help me set up local OHT events. We also help Baby Bundles Project drives where we collect baby items for local moms in need. We raise money for local school drives and supply classrooms with supplies they are in need of. We sell and design a T-shirt every year, and 100% of the proceeds are used to multiply any supplies list that a teacher needs by 25.
Our family also sponsors families during the holidays and puts together a bundle that matches their needs at the time. We are also involved in our church’s youth ministry events, youth mass, a Valentines Day card campaign and visits to the local nursing home.
How has volunteering impacted your family?
With technology, kids sometimes can be so disconnected. Volunteering allows them to have human face-to-face connection with other people. Volunteering is an opportunity to interact with people and understand the importance of community. We maintain this mentality, and really try to build relationships. I want to raise caring, compassionate and productive adults, and volunteering has been crucial to that.
Volunteering also puts actions to words. By volunteering, the kids are actually living out service. They aren’t just virtually supporting something; they are going into the community and making a real difference. It also helps us spend time with one another. Since our schedules are so busy and there’s usually at least one person missing, it makes us enjoy the moments of being together and be present.
The Pickup Family members help assemble over one thousand Thanksgiving meals at the annual United Way Hunger Heroes’ Project. /Courtesy United Way New Bedford
Describe a meaningful experience that you’ve had as a family volunteering in your community.
The United Way Mobile Market has become a tangible giving experience that really helps us connect to families. The moments when the kids see and realize how much other people struggle, and how difficult life can be for other people are special. There are so many moments like this that just keep us coming back for more.
It’s also special to see the kids take their service into the next season of life, like to college. Volunteering doesn’t just stop at home, and I see the effects of volunteering as a family grow as the kids take their service-oriented hearts into other communities. They’ve been raised to understand the importance of volunteering, and now they’re going into the world to volunteer while not being told to under supervision. It’s so awesome from a mother’s point of view. It’s a ripple effect. Giving will multiply for generations, and that’s the goal.
What have you learned through your experience as a volunteer?
It’s self-reflective. It shows me how much I can take for granted and helps me appreciate so many things like health, our home and my family.
What do you want people to learn from your family’s service story?
It’s so important for families to do, and it doesn’t have to be big acts of volunteering – it can start small! You can start right in your own living room and community. Find age appropriate things to do as a family. You don’t have to expect grand things with a four-year-old. We started with so many home based activities.
You also just have to make time for it. It’s easy to give the excuse of busyness, but only one or two hours anytime is still important to carve our for volunteering. You’ll fall in love with it and want to give it more and more time. We all have our own individual passions – channel them into your community and it will benefit so many people. There’s an opportunity for everyone.
Brother and Sister Duo Create Change through Origami and Service
Meet Daily Point of Light Award honorees Alexander and Allison Wu. Read their story and nominate an outstanding volunteer or family as a Daily Point of Light.
When kids and teens have a desire to make a difference, service becomes contagious. 17-year-old Alex and 15-year-old Allison Wu build lasting connections to their Lexington, Massachusetts, community. For more than eight years, the brother and sister team has used creativity to raise funds for those in need.
After the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan affected the lives of thousands of people, Allison, six years old at the time, turned her origami-making hobby into a symbol of hope and healing. Hundreds of cranes were constructed, donated and company donation matched. From there, Alex and Allison began doing good as a duo. From selling origami at local farmers markets to improving the lives of people experiencing homeless with Housing Families Inc., they consistently find ways to help their community through creativity.
What inspires both of you to volunteer?
Allison first learned how to make origami cranes at her school, where the students made cranes to help Japan recover after a Tsunami. One company donated one dollar for every crane made. At home, Allison made one hundred cranes, realizing that a fun and simple paper craft could help so many people in need.
We are inspired to volunteer because of our family values and helping others. We looked for an organization that would let children help children. Housing Families Inc., an organization that provides shelter and services for homeless families, invited us to events and gave us the privilege of working with some of the children. Our first experience was making origami cards with the children at their holiday party. We loved every moment spent with the kids – from meeting the boy who declined supplies because he wanted to make sure there were enough supplies for others, to the girl who was enchanted by the concept of double-sided tape. Getting to know the families motivated us to begin volunteering and do more.
How did you become passionate about helping people experiencing homelessness?
Because we started Origami4Kids as children, it was particularly important to us to help children, specifically those in families facing homelessness. The more we got to know children served by Housing Families, the more passionate we became about trying to make a difference. At a breakfast event, we sat next to a nurse who became homeless after the birth of her daughter with a severe chronic medical condition. She couldn’t keep her job because her daughter was frequently sent home from school and had multiple medical appointments. If a nurse could become homeless, anyone could.
Alex: For the past three years, I have tutored children experiencing homelessness in an after school program and served as a counselor in the summer camp. I appreciate that the children feel safe in the Housing Families after school program and can play in a nurturing and understanding environment. From the joy of Maddie, an 8-year-old who sang Frozen songs during breaks with me to the heartache of Jimmy, the fourth grader who was upset that he missed basketball tryouts because his mom was unable to drive him, I feel privileged to be in these kids’ lives. My experiences with the kids made me passionate to do more.
Allison: I have loved working with the children who receive support form Housing Families at the annual holiday party and in the summer camp. At the most recent holiday party, I took photos of the children with Santa Clause and printed them out. Seeing the joy on the faces of the parents and children when I gave them their printed photos gave me tremendous satisfaction as I learned that many of the families did not have any framed photos. These experiences have motivated me to want to do more. Now that I am in high school, I am looking forward to being a tutor in the Housing Families after school program.
Alex and Allison set up their Holiday Boutique at the 2019 Housing Families holiday party. /Courtesy Alex and Allison Wu
Describe your volunteer role with origami4kids, the Holiday Boutique and other activities you are a part of.
Leading up to December, we spent days organizing donations from drives at our school and community, as well as items purchased with the money we make from selling origami cards. We add price tags to every toy or decoration and put them in bins to bring to the Housing Families holiday party to set up our Holiday Boutique. The Holiday Boutique allows families and kids to shop for free gifts, holiday items, and toys. Each family and child receives “pretend” money that they can use to buy various items. In addition to the holiday boutique, the families enjoy a night full of food, music, Santa Claus, and crafts. New this year, Allison added printed pictures with Santa. Families were able to get a framed picture to keep and cherish.
Origami4Kids has continued to make origami products and sell them at a local farmers market and online. All the proceeds are donated to Housing Families Inc., whether in the form of a check, cleaning supplies, back to school supplies, or Birthdays2Go boxes. Birthday2Go was created with Origami4Kids proceeds, allowing homeless families to pick up a box with all the basic birthday party supplies.
At Housing Families Inc summer programs and holiday parties, we teach the children how to make their own origami cards and we organize drives at our high school. The most recent one was a great success for collecting teen holiday gifts and gift cards. Since we are both teenagers, we are particularly sensitive to not forgetting about the teens. We’ve noticed that in general, people prefer to donate gifts to school-aged children rather than teens.
Allison:When I was a middle schooler, I started Card Making for a Cause, where we made Valentine’s Day and holiday cards. They were sold to teachers and students, with proceeds being donated to Housing Families Inc. Additionally, I recently donated origami cards to the Hand+HeART Auction at my school. Students, faculty, and families bought the cards and other auction items with over $500 going to Housing Families. Besides volunteering, I am a level nine competitive rhythmic gymnast.
Alex: After seeing first hand the benefits of providing supportive services to enrich the lives of children experiencing homelessness, I wanted to help sustain this program financially. I raised $5,000 by writing grants and $8000 through a fundraiser where I hiked 70 miles of the Appalachian Trail. Besides volunteering, I love running cross-country and track.
What’s been the most rewarding part of your work?
After working with Housing Families for many years, it’s been incredibly rewarding to watch the children grow up. Through our experiences helping at the Housing Families holiday party, seeing the smiles on everyone’s faces means the world to us. We’ve build lasting connections and memories with these children and we truly love every moment of it.
What have you learned through your experiences as a volunteer?
Our experience has taught us that all children have the same basic needs regardless of their material possessions, race, gender, or family make-up, and seeing life from different viewpoints is important. Although many of the children lack material possessions and stable families, they are typical children who need attention, nurture, and fun.
Alex and Allison sell origami crafts at their local Lexington, Massachusetts, Farmers Market through Origami4Kids./Courtesy Alex and Allison Wu
Why is it so important for young people to be engaged in volunteering and service?
We think it’s important for young people to volunteer because the world should know that anybody can help and make a good impact on other people. Even small efforts can be helpful and large benefits for people in need. Whether it’s volunteering or donating some money, we are the future and should help future generations to come.
Are there any future partnerships, programs, or events that you are excited about?
As always, the Housing Families holiday party is one of the highlights of our year because it gives us a chance to see all of the families at once. In addition, Alex is looking forward to the Housing Families summer program, where he serves as a camp counselor, because he enjoys playing with the kids. Allison is looking forward to tutoring in the after school program as she is now in high school.
Why do you think it’s important for others to give back?
Giving back to your community is one of the best ways to meet new people and learn compassion. Through our experiences, we have felt we are the lucky ones to be able to participate in the lives of these children. We have also learned that almost anybody can end up homeless, so you never know when you will be the one who will need help.
What do you want people to learn from your story?
We are children wanting to make a difference. If we can make a small difference, anyone can.
Through Community Garden, Teen Helps Provide Food to Families in Need
Meet Daily Point of Light honoree Abby Yoon. Read her story and nominate an outstanding volunteer or family as a Daily Point of Light.
During the summer before Abby Yoon began high school, she began looking for opportunities to give back to her Greenville, N.C. community as a way to pay forward everything she felt her community had done for her. She ultimately decided to volunteer with Love a Sea Turtle, a marine and ocean conservation awareness nonprofit that encourages students to become leaders and engage in environmental stewardship through several year-round service projects. Now 16, Abby is the student leader for the organization’s Greenville Community Garden, which distributes healthy produce to local families in need, as well as promote nutrition education. Throughout the years, the Community Garden has donated to nearly 400 families in the area.
In addition to helping to run the garden, Abby also developed one of Love a Sea Turtle’s programs — Holidays for Hope, which collects canned goods for families in need. Aside from the programs she leads, Abby also participates in the nonprofit’s other volunteer-led programs, which range from creating art through recycled materials to donating free bikes to local youth in order to promote healthy lifestyles.
Describe your volunteer role with Love a Sea Turtle.
Love a Sea Turtle is a local nonprofit organization that is dedicated to marine conservation awareness as well as youth leadership development. I regularly serve as a volunteer and a youth leader. Because I lead the Community Garden that Love a Sea Turtle has adopted, I work with other [Love a Sea Turtle] officers. I work with their directors and their youth to plan and organize programs together.
What do you do for the Community Garden?
Three years ago in 2017, Love a Sea Turtle adopted the Greenville Community Garden. I recognized its potential to serve as a medium for nutrition education and also to distribute healthy produce to families in need. I offered to serve as their student youth leader and now the Community Garden regularly donates healthy produce to local families in need. It also serves as a place where the community can gather together and engage in service.
Abby Yoon stands in the Greenville Community Garden that she helps lead through the Love a Sea Turtle organization./Courtesy Abby Yoon
Why is it important for low-income families in your community to have a source of fresh produce and healthy food?
Typically around this area, there’s a variety and abundance of food, but it’s not necessarily always healthy food. In low-income areas, typically they have access to all the food that’s available in markets, but usually the healthy, nutritious foods are inaccessible to them because they don’t have the financial means to buy vegetables or foods that actually have nutritional value. Issues like hunger and malnutrition continue to be perpetuated because they aren’t properly nourished. I thought it was important to open up access to healthy produce and nutritional foods so we could tackle hunger by preventing poor nutrition in families.
Can you describe Holidays for Hope?
Six months into joining Love a Sea Turtle, I recognized issues that were reality for low-income families. Among those issues, I found that food insecurity was very common not only in my county, but also worldwide. I decided to adopt a program that Love a Sea Turtle was leading then. The program was called ‘Joy Maker’ and it was a gift exchange event that Love a Sea Turtle was leading. I spoke with the directors and offered to reinvent it into Holidays for Hope, which then was a year-end reflection event for Love a Sea Turtle as well as a food drive. Guests and Love a Sea Turtle families attended the events, donated to Love a Sea Turtle and also collected canned goods. Since then, Holidays for Hope has grown.
Why did you want to get involved in this organization?
Before high school had started, I was really looking to give back to my community. As I was growing up, I benefited greatly from my community, whether it was my church or my school, so I felt compelled to give back. I thought that Love a Sea Turtle offered great opportunities to volunteer in my community.
As I volunteer with Love a Sea Turtle, I find that much of the environmental issues we hear about — whether it’s in the news, media or at school — are known, but rarely do we take action to help mitigate environmental problems that are prevalent and relevant right now. Love a Sea Turtle I found took that action by utilizing their resources and also youth in the community, and engaging them in service and environmental stewardship.
Are there any future partnerships, programs, or events that you are excited about?
With the Community Garden, we have a tasting or food demonstration at our garden. During that day, we are also going to help plant and harvest some vegetables that we are growing at the garden. Once volunteers arrive at the work day, together we’re going to help grow the vegetables. Afterwards, my partners and I are going to hold a food demonstration and allow our volunteers to pick vegetables and see how they can apply kitchen skills to vegetables at home as well. We usually host these events monthly.
Abby Yoon helps transport food donations to families in need, a project she volunteered for with the organization Love a Sea Turtle.
What’s been the most rewarding part of your work?
When I first began with Holidays of Hope, I had the opportunity to transport the food and canned goods that I had collected from my community to a local community development center. After school one day, I had gone to the community development center and we met some of the community members that were taking my collected goods and donating them to local families in need. When I visited the community center, I found rows of food on the side of their building. I saw the product of their own hard work and dedication to helping our community. I felt really inspired to continue giving back.
Why do you think it’s important for others to give back?
I feel as citizens and members of our community, we benefit regularly from everything our community offers us, whether it’s in school or at church or other community organizations. We benefit greatly from them and I feel like it’s important to give back and especially help those who are in need of volunteer services, and help other community organizations also flourish and dedicate to their own work.
What do you want people to learn from your story?
I hope they know that their volunteer service is truly meaningful. Giving back to the community is one of the most compassionate acts someone can do, because it ends up benefiting someone and helping someone in ways that you can’t imagine.
Whenever someone reads my story of my own service, whether it’s youth or an older community member, I hope that he or she understands how important service and youth is. With the community garden, my partner and I regularly recruit youth volunteers to help harvest and grow vegetables and donate the healthy produce to families in need. As an engaged youth, the youth also become inspired to act and address issues within the community and they also learn about extremely important issues within our community. I think it’s critical to engage youth in service and I encourage others to do that as well.
Special Needs Advocate Creates a Supportive and Compassionate Network for People with Disabilities
Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Deborah Jaffe. Read her story and nominate Daily Point of Light Award an outstanding volunteer or family as a Daily Point of Light.
There is an immediate spark in Deborah’s voice when she starts talking about Friends of Children with Special Needs, which is a private Facebook group. She’s received many accolades and recognition for creating a supportive, nurturing network where people with disabilities can share resources and offer help. But listening to her talk you know right away helping people with special needs gives her joy and purpose. Deborah has been working on and off with special needs students for ten to fifteen years in various education roles and has developed an affinity for students who have disabilities.
On her 50th birthday, Deborah decided she didn’t want a big party or gifts. Her birthday happened to fall at the same time as her school’s 50th Day of Service Anniversary so she asked her friends and family to donate to the school to help out the kids. She created a GoFundMe page and two Facebook support groups for people with disabilities. After her birthday, Deborah says the Facebook groups continued to build traction and take on a life of their own.
“They started getting so big I consolidated them and turned them into Friends of Children with Special Needs,” explains Deborah. Now the group has 3,200 members on Facebook. That number represents 3,200 people who have connections and easy access to support whenever they need help.
Deborah Jaffe with Alyssa, a young girl who has Tourette Syndrome. Deborah facilitated Alyssa’s appearance on a local radio show called “Everything Special Needs,” where the young girl performed an original song that she wrote. Photo Credit: Deborah Jaffe
Deborah says the experience of watching her Friends of Children with Special Needs group grow has been surreal. Her members are people who have disabilities or are parents, siblings, or friends involved in the life of someone with special needs. She also has a large community of people who are special needs specialists who can assist other members. Friends of Children with Special Needs create connections. If a member needs a support group, legal advice, or assistance, Friends of Children with Special Needs facilitates that service. It also acts as a forum for people to ask questions. Sometimes, Deborah shares articles about products or legislation to keep her members informed.
“I’ve had members say to me that they’re so grateful for my group because it’s helped them and it’s been a real source of comfort and information. People have taken advantage of some of the things that I’ve shared that they weren’t aware of until they saw it on Friends of Children with Special Needs. As the interest grows I feel like I’m touching more lives. And that’s the purpose.”
Deborah acknowledges that it can be very isolating for parents who have children with disabilities. Those parents are more concerned with therapy sessions and doctor appointments, and they don’t have time to nourish relationships.
Friends of Children with Special Needs offers an oasis. “I’ve had people say that the group is the one place that they can go and feel connected to other people.”
The Facebook group is the very tip of the iceberg for Deborah. She was also involved in the movie One Little Finger. The concept of the movie was to promote the message of ability and disability. Most of the actors were real people with disabilities. Some people played themselves because many of the events happened to them in real life.
“It’s a very heartwarming story because it addresses the bullying aspect of having a disability. It’s a very positive message because it shows how they overcome a lot of obstacles.”
Deborah got involved because of her outreach work with children with special needs. Originally, she was only supposed to have a spoken word part on the soundtrack. However, much like her Facebook groups, her role grew and she took on a PR role. She’s now trying to have the movie shown at schools and in communities. One school wants to use it as a teaching tool for first responders.
The movie and the Friends of Children with Special Needs group work together for Deborah’s goal: to create awareness about disabilities. “I think a lot of bullying comes from ignorance, from people not understanding people fear what they don’t know and what they don’t understand,” says Deborah. “For me, it’s about spreading the word. For me, it’s about getting the word out that it’s not something to be fearful of—you can’t catch a disability. It’s not something to be fearful or look away. There should be some respect and there should be more understanding. If you make people more aware, you educate them about some of these things, and they’ll be less fearful and more understanding.”
Deborah has made spreading awareness about disabilities not just a priority, but a calling. She describes herself as a shy person. You would never know it when she advocates for special needs children. Her Facebook group continues to grow and she currently is a guest on the talk show Everything Special Needs.
In honor of her late son, Virginia mom starts volunteer organization to bring joy to sick children
Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Kelley Kassay. Read her story and nominate an outstanding volunteer or family as a Daily Point of Light.
Mason was just five years old when he was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma, a very rare type of childhood cancer. He fought the good fight for several years, but ultimately, life was unfair and Mason passed away at the young age of 11.
His death devastated everybody, but none more than his mom, Kelley Kassay. To help cope with her loss, a friend suggested that Kelley bring toys to kids in hospitals. She didn’t think it was the greatest idea at the time, but now that act of kindness has grown into a full-blown organization called Mason’s Toy Box.
Every holiday season, Kelley and a group of volunteers dress up as elves and bring donated toys to children’s hospitals in Virginia, hoping to bring a bit of warmth and happiness to cold hospital rooms.
Tell me about your son, Mason.
He was five years old when he started limping and telling me that his back hurt so I took him to doctor after doctor and nobody could figure out what was wrong with him. So finally, after three or four weeks of going to multiple doctors, he was granted an MRI and that showed a tumor on his right adrenal gland, but it had already spread to his bone. It was stage four neuroblastoma, which is a rare childhood cancer. He passed away when he was 11 in 2011. He was a really generous, funny, quirky kid. Always joking on people and giving away his presents. One time he asked me for a video game and it was like $50. A couple of days later, I gave him the game, I found a way to get it. And a parent called me and said, “I just want you to know that Mason gave my son this brand new video game.” And I was like, “What? I just bought that for him.” So when I asked him where it was, he said he thought that kid needed it more than him.
How did Mason’s Toy Box come to be?
About six months after Mason had passed is when we started it. A friend of mine had suggested that we bring toys to kids in the hospitals to brighten up their holiday and to help with my grief. At the time, I didn’t think it was the greatest idea at all. But we went ahead and did that and the response from the community was overwhelming. We spent many of our holidays in the hospital and it’s really no place to be. It’s a very unhappy place to be. So to be able to help the families that were in that situation was very rewarding for me.
What kind of comfort do you think toys bring to children that nothing else can?
It provides them with something to occupy their time instead of looking at four walls all day. I think that knowing that other people care, people that don’t even know them is very helpful for these patients and families. A lot of families have come back and told us that was their last Christmas with their child. A lot of these children are dying so this may be their last opportunity to do Santa Claus or get a family photo with Santa.
Since its founding in 2011, Mason’s Toy Box has grown to bring toys to over 11 hospitals and has a volunteer base of over 300. /Courtesy Kelley Kassay
Do you only deliver gifts during the holiday season?
We deliver throughout the year based on birthdays and things like that. If there’s a child whose survival is questioned, we’ll get Santa to suit up in the middle of the summer and go to the hospital to see that child just to provide some joy.
How has your organization grown since it was founded in 2011?
It’s grown significantly. We started with one hospital and I think we have more than 11 hospitals and it just keeps growing. Our volunteer base is over 300 people and we’ve served thousands of people over the past eight years. We’ve actually given three families who can’t get their children to treatment, we were able to get vehicles donated for them. There was a teenage boy who was in a car accident and he became a paraplegic. So we went in with our volunteers and we got people to sponsor the items and we built him a smart room so he could have some sense of independence. So we’re always looking for ways that we can provide for the true needs of the families who are impacted by childhood illness and injury.
What’s been the most rewarding part of your work?
It’s a very tough situation that I’m all too familiar with. A lot of what’s rewarding for me is when those patients are in a better situation and they come back and volunteer. We’ve had several families do that and it’s amazing.
Do you think of Mason and have him in your heart at every fundraiser and event?
Absolutely. His picture is plastered everywhere and he wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s great to see so many people support and honor my son’s memory and I think that’s a major part of what helps me through this on a daily basis.
Are there any future partnerships, programs, or events that you are excited about?
We’re definitely expanding our hospitals and we’re looking into one now in South Carolina. We’re also looking into coordinating a black tie gala so we’re excited about that.
What do you want people to learn from your story?
I just hope that people remember to keep paying it forward and know that everybody’s going to face adversity and we’re all going to be in a situation where we’re going to hope that there are community members out there working hard to help other people.
Atlanta Pastor Shows Neighbors He ‘Cares’ By Helping Repair Homes
Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Justin Schaeffer. Read his story and nominate an outstanding volunteer or family as a Daily Point of Light.
As Atlanta faces a growing gentrification problem, causing many of the city’s oldest homeowners to be displaced, one neighborhood association is doing everything it can to help prevent their neighbors from being forced out of their homes.
Local resident and pastor Justin Schaeffer is one of the volunteers running Kirkwood Cares, a committee within the nonprofit organization Kirkwood Neighbors Association. Kirkwood Cares works to fundraise and organize critical home repairs for low-income neighborhood residents who cannot afford the repairs themselves, and are thus facing the possibility of being driven out of the homes that many of them have lived in for decades.
Justin estimates that within the past year and a half, the organization has put on 20 roofs, replaced three furnaces, rewired an entire house, built two wheelchair ramps, fixed dozens of plumbing issues, and helped two different homes that were facing code violations get back up to code. Eager to preserve the socioeconomic and racial diversity within his neighborhood, Justin continues to assists as many of his neighbors in need that he can.
Describe your volunteer role with Kirkwood Cares.
We provide critical repairs to low-income neighbors’ homes. I do everything that needs to be done. I do fundraising and social media and graphic design. I visit homes and I collect intake forms. I hire contractors. Sometimes I go out and do volunteer work if it’s something we can do. I coordinate volunteer meetings. I interface with our board for the Kirkwood Neighbors Association to ask for our budget every year and give reports on how we’re doing. I talk to the treasurer a lot because I have to get checks from him. I’m a chairperson of the committee, because we’re a committee of [the Kirkwood Neighbors’ Association].
When did you first get involved, and why was it something you wanted to be a part of?
I first got involved in January of 2018. Atlanta has a long history of injustice toward minorities in terms of lending and white flight, when masses of white families left the south part of Atlanta to move to the north. These neighborhoods were divested and banks wouldn’t invest here. Often the police wouldn’t come here. Now these neighborhoods have suddenly become cool, so people are moving in and the minority residents that have lived here for years often feel unwelcome. They get unsolicited offers on their home. Many of them are living off of $700 to $1,200 a month fixed income, and can’t afford repairs to their homes and might be pressured to sell or to leave. I desperately want them to stay and to feel honored and welcome. When I found out that our neighborhood organization wanted to form something like this, I asked if I could volunteer. As a pastor, I had a lot of time I was allowed to use toward this because my congregation let me do that sort of thing. I took it over and started running with it.
What do these house repairs mean for the residents?
It’s different for each person, but they often express to me how much they want to stay in their homes and how angry they are at the builders who offer them cash for their house all the time, how annoying it is. Oftentimes, because of that activity that’s going on in the neighborhood, and me being a white guy with a beard that looks like the people that are moving in and displacing them, it takes a while for me to gain their trust. But once I do, they talk to me about how this is their neighborhood and they’ve been there for 50 years or 40 years. Sometimes they’re raising grandkids here or they have a few generations or maybe someone else is down on their luck and they’re letting them crash on their couch. The house should be paid off — it is paid off a lot of times, sometimes they have a reverse mortgage to try to help pay the bills or something — but between their taxes and needing repairs, they just wouldn’t have been able to get [repairs].
Justin Schaeffer, right, volunteers as the chairperson for the Kirkwood Cares committee within the nonprofit Kirkwood Neighbors Association./Courtesy Justin Schaeffer
We took down a tree for a lady. It was a 100-year-old white oak. It cost us $8,000 to take the dang thing down, it was so expensive. There’s no way she was going to be able to afford that and that was a safety issue. They’re always so thankful. They want to stay. Their community here, and the people they know and have been around for 40 years, are dwindling whether they’re passing away or being displaced and moving off somewhere else. But this is their community and they still have neighbors who they know and love and they’re very thankful to be able to stay.
How do you find the residents you are helping?
Natalyn Archibong is our city council representative for this area and she has been for many years. She has a very good relationship with a lot of the seniors and a lot of the residents who have lived here for a great deal of time, so they reached out to her. … Oftentimes, residents used to reach out to her and she would refer them to us, but more and more now they reach out directly to us. … We just had an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution earlier in January and that sparked quite a few of our neighbors calling to ask if we can help them. Sometimes we’re on 11Alive, the NBC affiliate here. They come out to interview us when we’re fixing up somebody’s house and whenever that happens, people find out about us and start calling. We never knock on somebody’s house and say ‘Hey, your house looks like it’s in disrepair.’ We give people the dignity to reach out to us if they would like to.
A fantastic story — earlier this month, right after the AJC article, a neighbor reached out to me and said ‘Hey, I think our neighbor needs a new roof, he said it was leaking.’ And I said, ‘Ok, well if you would like to help him, here’s our intake form. If you could help him fill it out that would be great.’ He helped him fill it out and send it in, and then asked if he and his other neighbors could help fundraise toward the roof. It was a $6,000 roof, and just his immediate neighbors paid for the entire roof within like a day. They just sent us money. Really with almost no work on our part, we found out about the need, got the money to meet the need, and hired a contractor to put the roof on. I love stories like that.
Can you describe what the Kirkwood community means to you since you’ve been involved with this?
I have been here for three years. I love my neighborhood so much. Their generosity constantly amazes me and encourages me. Sometimes we’ve done GoFundMe’s that aren’t related to Kirkwood Cares because somebody needs a bill paid, and our neighbors will just give somebody they don’t know $2,300 to pay off their debt. It’s amazing. It’s really incredible. It’s very encouraging. I love the socioeconomic and racial diversity of my neighborhood and want to do everything I can. I’m not a millionaire, I’m not a politician, I’m not a real estate developer, so I want to do everything I can to try to keep it a racially and socially and economically diverse neighborhood, because I think that’s best for all of us. I think the neighborhood is great because of it’s diversity. It’s a wonderful place. It’s a place with a rich history. I love the businesses here, and mostly the neighbors are super generous and excited to help.
What’s been the most rewarding part of your work?
I’ve been in ministry for over a decade. The church that I’ve been apart of, we’ve talked a lot about what we believe and we really studied a lot and we’ve talked a lot, but we haven’t done much in the community. Now that I have my own church and I’m really involved in the neighborhood, it’s really rewarding for me to get an opportunity to do what I say I believe is what’s best to be doing with your time, which is serving others, considering others more highly than yourself and loving your neighbor. It’s also super cool that we’re in Atlanta which is where Martin Luther King, Jr. lived and was centered. His vision for the beloved community inspires me a lot.
What have you learned through your experiences as a volunteer?
The main thing is that there are people you can help no matter what resources you have — education, money, time — right outside your door if you would just look. You don’t need to wait for somebody else to figure out something for you. It doesn’t need to be complicated, it doesn’t need to solve all the problems at once. The problems of affordable housing and gentrification and displacement in Atlanta are overwhelming, and it makes me feel sick to my stomach and kind of sad to really think about the whole problem. But I couldn’t let that stop me from meeting my neighbors’ needs that I saw are right there. If everybody met their neighbors’ needs right out their front door, a lot of social problems would be solved right there. I think that’s the main thing.
The other thing is, you learn and are blessed, and as much as you bless others, by having the honor of getting to go into someone’s home and hear the stories of their lives, and the stories about their homes where they live, and having them as a friend who is looking out for you, and saying ‘hey’ to you in the neighborhood — I’ve really gotten a lot out of getting to know my neighbors and being inside their homes.
Do you want to make a difference in your community like Justin? Find local volunteer opportunities.
Behind the Camera, New Jersey Volunteer Captures Memories for Families Fighting Cancer
Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Jodi Crandell. Read her story and nominate an outstanding volunteer or family as a Daily Point of Light.
Jodi Crandell lost her father to cancer in 2009, but says it took a few years for the idea of using her photography skills to help other families battling cancer to come into focus.
Now, the 54-year-old Glen Rock, New Jersey resident is doing just that, going behind the scenes to capture priceless memories for families tackling childhood cancer, through the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund Foundation. The organization, named after football coach and executive Tom Coughlin and a former player of his from Boston College who died fighting cancer, supports families by providing comprehensive financial, emotional and practical support so that parents can focus solely on their sick child. Jodi photographs events and other activities for families designed so that they can briefly forget about cancer and other daily stressors.
A professional photographer by day who also volunteers for Momcology, an organization that provides peer support for families affected by childhood cancer, Jodi has connected with thousands of individuals through her volunteerism helping those in the fight against cancer.
What inspires you to volunteer?
I am inspired by the loss of my father. He died of lung cancer, and fought a total of four different cancers throughout his life. I decided to find an outlet after his death to help other people in situations like this.
Describe your role with the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund Foundation & Momcology.
Through The Jay Fund, I photograph children and their families at special events just for them so they forget about cancer for the day. In addition, we’ll make hospital visits to sick children with a special guest, an NFL player or Tom Coughlin and his wife, and take photographs with their families.
As a volunteer for Momcology, I participate in a special retreat the foundation holds just for moms of children who are battling or have battled cancer.
Jodi Crandell pictured photographing a cancer warrior./Courtesy Jodi Crandell
Share one personal story with me from your volunteerism.
There’s one family I continue to stay in touch with, their oldest child out of four has been fighting cancer for years. It just blows my mind to observe the strength and the power that this young lady demonstrates every single day with a smile on her face. To me, her tenacity is inspirational. I’ve gotten an intimate perspective on this family by photographing them, they let me into their lives, honestly.
What’s one way you hope to inspire others in your service?
Contribute whatever you can, even the slightest thing. I never in my wildest dreams thought the photography part of my work would be such an integral part of my life. Honestly I’d like to volunteer every day instead of being paid for a job (laughs). I become part of the family when I am photographing them.
What’s been the most rewarding part of your service?
Through my volunteerism for Momcology, I attend a retreat with the moms and conduct photo shoots with them. One year, I photographed a bereaved group of mothers and even though their child had just passed away, they were willing to go out and do a photo shoot. They all told me their stories about fighting cancer. Listening to what these families went through because of cancer was one of the hardest, hardest things I’ve ever experienced.
How does your volunteerism help to raise awareness in the fight against cancer?
It’s important for families to have photos taken along their journey, whether it’s at the beginning, middle or they are done with cancer. These pictures are all about capturing a moment in time that they’ll never get back. Whether that moment is a happy, sad or medium moment, we capture so many different types of emotions when the family is able to hit pause on the daily stressors they go through.
How can readers help?
The Jay Fund holds regular events. Please visit their website for more information about events and how you can give back.
Teen Volunteer Helps Deaf Children Realize their Dreams through “No Limits”
Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Sadie Sarkisian. Read her story and nominate an outstanding volunteer or family as a Daily Point of Light.
As a child, Sadie Sarkisian observed the challenges of everyday life and communication for a relative with a hearing impairment.
Combining her passion for helping children with her family experience, Sadie decided to volunteer with No Limits for Deaf Children, an organization dedicated to providing opportunities for children with hearing loss to improve their speaking abilities in a fun and non-academic setting.
A year-round mentor and the show director for the organization’s summer theater workshop, the 17-year-old Los Angeles, California teen has helped dozens of No Limits children to confidently move into the hearing world and be given the tools to believe in themselves.
What inspires you to volunteer?
Working directly with the people I am helping inspires me. Working with kids is something I’m so passionate about and seeing them grow and get stronger by improving their communication skills inspires me.
Describe your role with No Limits for Deaf Children.
I began volunteering as a workshop team member, supporting children in learning their lines for a show produced by the program. And most recently, I’ve been a show director, organizing all the volunteers and children and running the rehearsals and performance for the summer theater workshop. I also have fundraised for the organization, and serve as a mentor and tutor year-round for program participants. Through role-playing, cultivating creativity and developing public speaking skills, we are helping children to have the potential to realize their dreams.
Share one personal story with me from your volunteerism.
One summer, I was helping a kid in the theater program to learn his lines one-by-one, and I realized that even though he was able to say the lines back, he wasn’t internalizing what I was teaching him. I realized he didn’t know what the words meant. I began to explain what the story was about, and the words started to resonate with him. He started to memorize the lines more easily, and I felt that he grew so much just in that day. The next summer he had a bigger vocabulary, his confidence increased and that was a great moment for me.
What’s been your favorite production that you’ve put on through the summer workshop?
It was called “Mission Possible”, a play on words for “Mission Impossible”. The show’s lesson was all about empowerment and encouraged the children to believe in themselves. The three kids I taught were freaked out in the beginning because they had a lot of lines to learn, but by the end everyone was having so much fun and internalizing the lesson of the play.
Sadie Sarkisian pictured alongside No Limits for Deaf Children workshop team members and cast at end of culminating show./Courtesy Judith Weissman
What’s been the most rewarding part of your service?
It’s been so rewarding to see the kids grow up, gain confidence and communication skills. Talking and playing with the children and seeing them have a smile on their faces puts a smile on my face.
What have you learned through your experiences as a volunteer?
I was nervous going into the first year because I didn’t know what to expect. I learned a lot about myself through No Limits because of the positive attitude the kids had.
How do you hope to inspire others through your volunteerism?
I see each opportunity to engage deeply in my community as a gift and an honor. There is no better feeling, and I hope to inspire others to give themselves. Together, we really can change the world.
In one word, describe what volunteering means to you.
Commitment. Making a choice to be a consistently positive and impactful force in meaningfully changing my community.
When you’re not in school or volunteering, what do you do for fun?
I am currently in a show at school, I do a lot of theater and acting. I love it.
Helping Others is an “Easy Call” Through UMPS CARE
Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Deanna Reynolds. Read her story and nominate an outstanding volunteer or family as a Daily Point of Light.
As the volunteer coordinator for Major League Baseball’s UMPS CARE, Deanna Reynolds donates hundreds of hours of time each year to support their events. Deanna’s husband inspired her to be part of UMPS CARE. In fact, she has been with the organization since day one. UMPS CARE was started as a grassroots initiative to help Major League Baseball umpires and umpire families get back on their feet. The organization has since expanded beyond its original scope. When it comes to being a volunteer coordinator for UMPS CARE, Deanna says she is all in.
In addition to organizing their signature fundraiser, the UMPS CARE Golf Classic in Arizona every January, she plans smaller fundraisers at area restaurants and stores, participates in monthly conference calls, assists with ordering new apparel and attends UMPS CARE events at ballparks across the country. Whether it is spending a few hours at Phoenix Children’s Hospital to distribute Build-A-Bears to kids undergoing treatments or making sure everything is set up properly at the Golf Classic at 5 a.m., Deanna makes things perfect for this amazing organization.
“Whatever is asked of me whether, by my husband or board member or staff member, I am willing to do,” she shares. “I look at this as not just that I’m volunteering, but it’s my passion – it’s my unpaid passion.”
Deanna coordinated her first event at the Phoenix Children’s Hospital. She had a group of volunteers and Arizona Diamondback umpires visit children with a terminal illness. They gave the children teddy bears and shared words of encouragement. During her first event, Deanna went into ‘management mode’ and helped coordinate everything between the volunteers, hospital, and patients. After having her own son the following year, Deanna had a whole new perspective on the impact UMPS CARE could have on other people’s lives.
Deanna and UMPS CARE volunteers delivering Build-A-Bear Workshop furry friends to kids undergoing rigorous medical treatment at Phoenix Children’s Hospital in 2018. Photo Credit: Amy Rosewater
“During that second event—that’s when it really hit me,” says Deanna. “This organization is going to do so many more wonderful things. I became more all in—not just because my husband is part of it. Now I truly want to serve these children, these families. I came home and looked at my two-month-old son and thought ‘Whatever it is I need to do, I’ll do it’ because I am so blessed to have a healthy child’.”
Now she’s been helping with the Phoenix Children’s Hospital event for ten years. Even after a decade, Deanna says her volunteer work still has the same impact on her. She describes her coordinator role as fluid, coordinating with hospitals weeks in advance to make sure everything is on point. She also helps out with various committees tied to the organization helping to brainstorm ideas. Deanna says that the hospital visits have a positive impact on the umpires too.
She remembers her experience with an umpire who was particularly scared and did not want to participate in the hospital visit. “I had to buckle down and coach him through it,” she said. “I even got him on some local TV stations to do interviews. By the end of the hospital visit, I had a moment to sit down with him and talk about his experience. He just burst out into tears when it was the two of us—because obviously we’re not allowed to cry in front of the children and their families—and said this was the greatest day of his life and he was grateful I made him stay.”
Deanna has been moved by how much the organization has grown since it started. They now serve 16 children’s hospitals, provide ticket programs to underserved communities, and expanded into minor league baseball. They’ve recently begun the All-Star Scholarship, which is open to children adopted at or after the age of 13 to provide increased opportunities for advanced education. Each year, they select one student who is eligible to receive up to $10,000 annually to go towards tuition, books, and other college-related expenses. They’ve also reached out to other sports organizations such as NHL, NBA, and NFL to have referees participate in their own CARE programs.
Deanna says the biggest takeaway she wants people to have is to not be afraid to put themselves out there. “It doesn’t matter your background, your experience, or your age, you can make a difference. Whether it’s five hours out on the golf course whether it’s two hours at this event – it doesn’t matter the time. It takes a village.”
Deanna is continuing to expand UMPS CARE through golf and hospital events.
Senior Serves Underprivileged Children with “Heart”
Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Judy Welch. Read her story and nominate an outstanding volunteer or family as a Daily Point of Light.
As a former school nurse, Judy Welch worked on the south side of Tucson, Arizona, where she met many students whose families were just barely scraping by. Realizing that some underprivileged families weren’t able to support education and provide resources for their children, Judy decided to serve similar children in need.
Volunteering since 2016 for Angel Heart Pajama Project, an organization which supplies pajamas and books to underprivileged children, Judy has been able to share comfort, love and the importance of literacy with hundreds of children across southern Arizona.
What inspires you to volunteer?
After I retired I was still looking to be involved in the community in some way. Volunteering for Angel Heart Pajama Project was just a natural step, because I’d helped children in my former career, and now as a volunteer, we make sure the neediest children are served. In providing pajamas and books to children, we are letting them know that someone cares.
Explain the story behind the Angel Heart Pajama Project.
A former colleague of mine is the co-founder of the organization, and their mission is based upon her mother’s story of survival. Her mother, who immigrated to the U.S. from Cuba with her two children to escape political, religious and economic distress, took care to find the money or means to purchase new pajamas and books for the children at Christmas no matter how much or little they had. Understanding that their Christmas tradition provided them with stability and a love for reading, the organization was created to share this family tradition with other families who are struggling to make ends meet.
Describe your role with Angel Heart Pajama Project.
As a volunteer, I pick up pajamas from donation centers and partners within Tucson and across southern Arizona. Additionally, I fold, package and distribute pajamas for donation. I also am a pajama shopper, I will spend hours shopping for pajamas when our stock is low, sometimes purchasing as many as 80 pairs of pajamas for children at one time. We package pajamas and books for children and then distribute them to partner organizations.
Judy Welch (left) pictured alongside Angel Heart Pajama Project co-founder, Maria Patterson. The organization supplies pajamas and books to underprivileged children./Courtesy Judy Welch
Share one personal story with me from your volunteerism.
We help children in shelters, foster homes or children that have been abused, but we’ll also help any family in need. At Christmas, we supply around 30 agencies with items that fulfill children’s wishlists. Each child receives a drawstring bag with their name on it, with a pair of pajamas and a book inside.
What’s one way you hope to inspire others in your service?
I want to inspire others through our advocacy for underprivileged families. Working in the school system as long as I did, I saw kids that could barely read at the end of elementary school because of instability in their lives. Service of any kind that helps growing children should be an inspiration.
What’s been the most rewarding part of your service?
It’s rewarding to see all the agencies pick up their orders and see how much they appreciate the donations. They sometimes share the reactions of the kids to our donations, some of the kids are so amazed that they have a book of their own that they can take home and don’t have to give back.
