2010 STAR Awards College Volunteer Group: K College Service Learning and Epsilon Xi Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Working with Community Advocates for Parents and Students

Photo by Jill McLane Baker
Story by Michelle Ireton
Kalamazoo Gazette

Sometimes good things come in groups – like the college students working in the Community Advocates for Parents and Students Academic Enhancement Program.

The group is made up of about 28 students from the Kalamazoo College Civic Engagement Scholars and Western Michigan University’s Epsilon Xi Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha.

The college students work with K-12 students in the Kalamazoo Public Schools. They work individually and in groups with the students to help prepare them for college.

In recognition of their efforts, the group earned a STAR Award in the category of College Volunteer Group.

“It’s all in connection with The (Kalamazoo) Promise,” said Klissa Jarrett, a K-College senior who has worked for the program for four years.

“These kids have a great opportunity; we just need to prep them so that they can take advantage. We are just working to get these students ready for school.”

The creation of The Kalamazoo Promise in 2005 means almost every KPS graduate receives an automatic, four-year scholarship to any Michigan public college.

To help ensure all students get the opportunity to take advantage of The Promise, the college students work to provide assistance to families who don’t have familiarity and experience with college.

“I have known some of these kids for four years. They are all very bright kids – they deserve a chance” to go to college, Jarrett said.

Alexander Plair II, a junior at Western, said the connection with children is why he plans to remain with the program until he graduates from college.

“I fell in love with the program and I fell in love with the kids,” Plair said. “When you see their faces every week, they start expecting you. Just seeing them progress is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Plair said he started tutoring students last November when Harvey Myers, one of the program coordinators, told him about the opportunity.

“I was seeking community service and he told me about the program – I was immediately interested,” Plair said. “I saw kids that fell off the map because they didn’t have the family support. I get the chance to support these kids so that doesn’t happen.”

For Plair and other students serving as mentors, it isn’t just about community service.

“We are creating relationships with these kids. It’s a great feeling,” Plair said.

2010 STAR Award College Volunteer: Angelia Lane

Photo by Kalamazoo Gazette

Courtesy of the Kalamazoo Gazette

Between her full-time studies at Michigan State University and a summer job as a camp counselor at the Kalamazoo Nature Center, Angelia Lane somehow managed to fit in about 260 hours of volunteer work last year.

The 19-year-old Comstock High School graduate logged 200 volunteer hours at the nature center, in addition to her camp job there, and another 60 hours at the Kellogg Bird Sanctuary. The efforts won her a local STAR Award this year in the category of College Volunteer.

Lane said her school, camp and volunteer commitments leave her little free time, but she’s not complaining.

“My work as a camp counselor and educator at the nature center was something I loved doing, so it didn’t feel so much like work in the way a lot of people may think of work,” Lane said.

A sophomore at the East Lansing university, Lane hopes to earn a degree in fisheries and wildlife, an area that complements her adoration for birding and the outdoors. She said it was the closest program to environmental education that the school offers.

This summer she will return to the nature center and serve again as a camp counselor, a job that frequently requires a 60-hour work week.

Jennifer Metz, experiential education director at the Kalamazoo Nature Center, nominated Lane for the STAR Award. The STAR Awards program – honoring people and groups for Sharing Time and Resources – is sponsored by the Volunteer Center of Greater Kalamazoo and the Kalamazoo Gazette.

In her nomination form, Metz noted that she was impressed by Lane’s commitment to excellence, her willingness to learn new skills and her passion for teaching people about nature.

Metz said Lane’s help with the nature center’s “Birds of Prey” program and its summer-camp series was crucial.

“She enabled us to provide an awe-inspiring experience to our visitors, which often leads to a deeper involvement in our organization,” Metz stated in Lane’s nomination form.

Metz noted that Lane’s devotion to the raptors opened the door to further work at the Kellogg Bird Sanctuary. It was there, Metz said, that Lane spent her free time caring for and feeding the sanctuary’s birds.

Lane, meanwhile, concedes that what she does as a volunteer at both facilities is often hard work and time-consuming, but she talks about her duties with a fervor that’s difficult not to notice.

“I’ve always loved birding. I know performing the health checks is important, and teaching people to respect nature and the environment is something I’ve been doing long before I got involved with the nature center,” Lane said. “I don’t know where this field will take me after I’m finished with school in a couple of years, but I’m excited to find out.”

2010 STAR Awards Adult Group: Kalamazoo Deacons Conference Direct Response Servants

When the Kalamazoo Deacons Conference Direct Response Servants was formed in 1968, its mission was to help people in need of furniture, clothing, food or paying a utility bill.

More than 40 years later, the goal of the agency based on Kalamazoo’s north side has not changed. Demand for its assistance, in fact, remains especially strong, said Teresa Johnson, volunteer coordinator.

That demand is met in large part by a core group of about 16 Direct Response Servants, a team of volunteers who show up regularly at the Deacons Conference and lend a hand with everything from folding clothes and organizing items to greeting guests in the entrance area.

“There’s no shortage of things to do here, but we depend on our volunteers for so many things…we’re blessed to have their help,” Johnson said.

For their volunteers’ devotion and the agency’s positive impact on the community, this year’s STAR award for an adult group was awarded to the Kalamazoo Deacons Conference Direct Response Servants.

Some of the core volunteers have been a part of the group for up to eight years, according to Johnson.

“We have all ages of people volunteer here, but most are retired and they’re just everyday people who have the time and – like volunteers elsewhere – they’ve decided they want to give back to the community,” said Johnson, who has spent her professional career in banking before joining the agency last year.

The Direct Response Servant team in 2009 met with 4,666 guests. The Deacons Conference provided free clothing to 2,209 adults and 2,077 children last year and aided 673 people with more than $42,000 in financial assistance. Also, 824 people received free furniture and appliances, while about 500 people were given basic household items such as bedding, dishes and personal-care items.

But beyond such tangible things, the Direct Response Servants provide something that can be just as important to those they serve, Terri Thomas, the agency’s administrative assistant, said in nominating the for the STAR Award.

“They have distributed more smiles, hugs and cheer than can be counted,” Thomas stated. “This team has also served as ambassadors of the poor to their social circles, their churches and the Kalamazoo community.”

The Kalamazoo Deacons Conference and its volunteers have provided rides to doctor appointments, assembled and distributed back-to-school backpacks, collected and passed out Christmas gifts. They have given a bed to a mother regaining custody of her children, provided furniture to create a home for parents securing housing and paid funeral expenses for a family unable to cover the cost.

The compassion the demonstrate daily can only be described as huge,” Thomas said.

2010 STAR Award Adult Volunteer: Steve Terranella

Photo by Mark Bugnaski
Story by Chris Killian
Kalamazoo Gazette

The Kalamazoo community might want to thank Steve Terranella for retiring early.

During a 27-year career as a project engineer at Kellogg, Terranella had little time for extracurricular activities. He traveled a lot and worked even more. His free time was spent with his family.

But after taking an early exit from his job in December 2005, the 60-year-old turned his focus to the needs of his community – and kids in particular.

“We’ve got some problems in this community with education,” he said. “This is my small way of giving back. I don’t know, it’s just something I feel I need to do.”

Terranella is in his fifth year volunteering at Kalamazoo Central High School, where two days a week he tutors students in math and science. A ” Promise Promoter,” he pushes the importance of college on students and urges them to take advantage of The Kalamazoo Promise scholarship program.

He is so dedicated that he takes course textbooks home with him so he can study up on subjects and be a better tutor and has developed learning resource binders for each subject on which he tutors students.

It’s not that uncommon for students at the school to think that Terranella, or “Mr. T” as many of the call him, is a teacher. He sets high expectations of the students, but is always there with encouraging words.

For his efforts, Terranella has been named a STAR award winner in the Adult volunteer category.

When it comes to volunteering, “you don’t see the fruits of your labor like you do in business,” he said. ” But I see kids I’ve helped and I see the hope they have.”

Terranella also serves as president of the West Main Hill Neighborhood Association, a neighborhood where he’s lived since 1977. He’s attended to neighborhood concerns, supported neighborhood businesses and energized the area when shared concerns arise.

In addition, he is a Big Brother with the Big Brothers/Big Sisters mentoring program.

But it all comes back to education for Terranella. The empowerment, opportunity and success that come with education are all hopes he has for the students he works with week in and week out.

“When you click with a kid and that light goes off in their head, it’s encouraging,” he said. “That’s what it’s all about. When the kid goes ‘Ah, I get it.’ That’s such a great feeling.”

2010 STAR Award Senior Volunteer: Barbara Cole Smith

Photo by Adrian Johnson
Story by Dave Person
Kalamazoo Gazette

Playing the waiting game at the West Michigan Cancer Center while her first husband was undergoing treatment there wasn’t for Barbara Cole Smith.

“I felt I needed something to do with my time,” she said.

Maybe she could recruit volunteers – those who had experience with cancer – to be there for cancer patients and their caregivers, she thought.

A former banker and human resources director, Smith took her proposal to Terry McKay, president and chief executive officer of the Cancer Center.

“The program I talked (with McKay) about was a mentoring-type program,” Smith said.

“She said, ‘When can you start, tomorrow?’”

Smith brought her proposal to McKay in 1997. By early the next year, Smith was the center’s first director of volunteer services, a job of about 20 hours a week with the pay being the peace of mind or maybe a smile her volunteers bring to patients and their caregivers.

“I get so much enjoyment out of it, seeing how much the patients get out of it and, in particular, seeing how much the volunteers get out of it,” said Smith, 72, who is this year’s Senior Volunteer STAR Award winner. “They (volunteers) all say they get so much more than they give.”

When she first started going to the Cancer Center, Smith said, the volunteer support amounted to two women and a coffee cart.

Today, the center has more than 100 volunteers, although that number includes the Cancer Society drivers who are not under Smith’s charge, she said.

Smith said volunteers, especially cancer survivors who “want to give back,” generally come to her and ask to volunteer. “So there’s no recruitment,” she said.

Smith’s volunteers work in four areas:

• Personal coaches – These volunteers either have had cancer themselves or have been a friend or family member of a person who underwent cancer care. Coaches meet with all new patients during their first three treatment days.
• Patient-to-patient – These former patients, upon the request of a current patient with a similar diagnosis, call them to share experiences, answer questions or listen to their thoughts and concerns.
• Greeters – These volunteers greet each person who enters the West Michigan Cancer Center and direct them to the appropriate area.
• Coffee cart – Still an integral part of the volunteer program, these volunteers offer coffee and cookies as they travel the three floors of the Cancer Center.

Smith interviews and schedules all of the volunteers who perform those duties.

She also works with other volunteers such as clowns and, most recently, a Reiki master who specializes in the Far East spiritual practice of “palm healing.”

“Terry has been very receptive to doing anything we felt would benefit the patients,” Smith said.

After the death of her first husband, Smith remarried 10 years ago, and is currently supporting her second husband as he undergoes treatment for cancer.

“Barb’s dedication has helped to make a difference in the lives of literally thousands of people – cancer patients and their caregivers,” McKay wrote in her nomination of Smith for the STAR Award.

“Barb understands firsthand the physical and emotional rollercoaster ride that can overwhelm a patient’s life because she was there when here first husband was sick and now is caring for her second husband,” McKay wrote. “I am continually amazed at the level of commitment that Barb puts forth and her willingness to revisit what has to be an emotionally painful place.”

Smith, however, is quick to deflect any praise.

“I couldn’t have done any of it without those other volunteers, so they deserve most of the credit,” she said

2010 STAR Award Volunteer Family: Jerry, Carol & Marybeth Ebel

Photo by Adrian Johnson
Story by Jef Rietsma
Kalamazoo Gazette

Jerry and Carol Ebel may be retired, but the amount of time the Portage couple devotes weekly to volunteering typically exceeds the hours put in when they were working full-time jobs.

And although their 30-year-old daughter, Marybeth Ebel, is overseas teaching, she also was a part of the 1,200 combined hours the three volunteered in 2009. Their efforts benefited eight area agencies and earned them a STAR award in the category of Family Group.

Carol Ebel said the family’s volunteerism stems from a basic belief.

“If it’s something that is important to us and we believe in, then why not make the time to help?” she said, citing Loaves and Fishes as an example of an agency that provides one of life’s two basic necessities – food.

“Everyone has a right to have something to eat, and what I think a lot of people don’t realize about volunteering is that it’s never as difficult of a job as you might think,” said Ebel, 61.

Besides Loaves and Fishes, the family volunteered with Kalamazoo Communities In Schools, RSVP – Your Invitation to Volunteer, Portage Senior Center’s Sunshine Club, Portage Police Department’s Neighborhood Watch program, St. Catherine of Siena’s Knights of Columbus, the Salvation Army and the Kalamazoo Public School’s VISTA program.

Those who recommended the Ebels for the award noted their positive attitude and unselfishness.

Anne Lipsey, executive director of Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes, praised the Ebels for their versatility and dedication to community service.

“Their tireless efforts and can-do attitudes make a significant difference in improving food security in Kalamazoo County,” Lipsey said in her nomination. “If you express gratitude for the Ebels’ service, you will hear, ‘It’s our privilege,’ delivered with a beaming smile.”

Jerry Ebel, 62, said he and his wife – they have been married for 39 years – usually have a commitment every day of the week. Their schedules require two calendars, he said, which are posted on their refrigerator.

Dinner conversation always tends to center on the next day’s events and schedule, he said.

“There is a great deal of organization necessary…we’re busy people, but it’s really not that difficult to find time to spend even just one or two hours helping out,” he said.

He recalled that as a child he served as an altar boy in church, sold raffle tickets and got involved in a number of organizations. Before she left for South Korea to teach, Marybeth Ebel was heavily involved in Loaves and Fishes and frequently joined her father in delivering lunches to meals-on-wheels recipients.

Reflecting on the family’s volunteerism, Carol Ebel posed a question:

“If you feel your life doesn’t have meaning, why not do something to make you feel good and to help the community become a better place?” she said.

2010 STAR Award Career Volunteer: Virgil Sanford

Photo by Adrian Johnson
Story by Kalamazoo Gazette Staff

Early in his life, Virgil Sanford admits he did some things he regrets.

Now he is doing his best to help young people not have those same regrets when they get older.

After retiring in 1999 from a 17-year career as a maintenance worker in the power plants at the Upjohn Co. and Pharmacia Corp., Sanford, 70, threw himself into helping area organizations and churches.
 
He volunteers at the Kalamazoo Air Zoo and for about 20 hours each week at Victory Baptist Church, doing everything from plumbing work to painting to teaching Sunday school. A deacon at the church, he regularly makes visits to area hospitals to minister to the sick.

“I help out wherever I can,” he said. “It keeps me young.”

But Sanford’s “true calling,” as he describes it, comes from his work with the area’s troubled youth, efforts that are fueled by his fervent belief in Christian service.

He volunteers at the Kalamazoo County Juvenile Home through the Kalamazoo Youth for Christ program, which connects trained adults with young people to help them make good choices and establish a solid foundation in life.

“There is a different life to lead than a life of crime,” Sanford said. “I sit with them, talk with them, pray with them. I try to help them realize that they have something positive to give the world.”

“I made mistakes in my life,” he said, “and I want others to learn from those mistakes.”

For his efforts, Sanford, of Kalamazoo, has earned a STAR Award in the category of Career Volunteer.

Sanford has befriended a 16-year-old through the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Kalamazoo program. In the more than two years they have known each other – Sanford says he’s like a grandson – the young man’s grades have improve significantly. Sanford helped him get an afterschool job and has served as a role model, including him in his family’s events.

“I don’t know if I’ve had much of an impact, maybe a little,” he said. “But I’ve seen how volunteering can help someone. It can accomplish a lot.”

Sanford said he didn’t really start practicing his Christian faith until he reached his 30s. That’s when he realized he had been given certain spiritual gifts, endowments that he says everyone has, but in his case, involves helping others.

“Being able to do something for others is what I feel I have to do,” he said. “I guess you could call it a calling, a true calling to serve.”

2010 Community Leadership STAR Award Winner: Bonna Perrin

Photo by Jill McLane Baker
Story by Michelle Ireton, Kalamazoo Gazette

When Bonna Perrin was told she had won a STAR Award in the category of Community Leadership, she was shocked.

“I was speechless; I had no idea I was even nominated,” Perrin said.

Perrin was recommended for her volunteer work in local agriculture activities, including the Kalamazoo County Fair.

Several different people nominated Perrin, each emphasizing she goes “above and beyond” what is required.

Sarah Hoagg, who works on the Kalamazoo County 4-H Leaders Council and also sits on the Kalamazoo County Fair Board, was among those who nominated Perrin for the leadership award.

“She dedicates her life to volunteer work – more than anyone else I have ever known,” said Hoagg, who has known Perrin for 10 years.

Perrin retired in 2005 from Pfizer Inc.  Along with her volunteer efforts, she also works part time as a bookkeeper for small businesses.

Perrin serves as president of the Kalamazoo County Fair Board and is treasurer of the Kalamazoo county 4-H Leaders Council.  She also is a member of the Kalamazoo County Parks Commission and one of the founders of the Pasture Golf Stampede, which helps raise funds for programs in Climax Township.
“She gives in so many different ways. She is very good at working with others – tha’’s why she is a great president,” Hoagg said.

Perrin said her volunteer work has been primarily based in agriculture. For the past 17 years, she has been volunteering  with the county fair – she has been with 4-H for 15 years.

“My husband and I are farmers – it’s been our livelihood for several years. Agriculture is the second largest industry in Michigan,” Perrin said. “I just think people need to know where milk comes from.”

The mission of the county fair is to promote and educate people about agriculture, Perrin said, making it a perfect fit for her volunteer work.

A few year ago, Perrin started an annual “birthday party” at the county fair for about 400 underprivileged children in Kalamazoo. Children who attend the party get a meal, cake and ice cream, and a free ride wristband, which allows them to ride carnival rides all day for free.

“It’s a good way to get kids who normally wouldn’t get to go to the fair a chance to come and have a good time,” Perrin said.

Perrin said the Pasture Golf Stampede is hosted every year on her family’s pasture, using paint cans for golf holes. Around 160 golfers typically show up and the money raised from the golf event goes to Climax Township.

“The golfing is just a fun way to raise money. It’s hilarious to be out there golfing right there with the cows,” Hoagg said.

Perrin said her reasoning for volunteer work is simple.

“I am just giving back to my community. It’s important to give back,” Perrin said. “I love to go and watch the kids have a good time at the fair. Mentoring youth is important – you need to set good examples.”

“She dedicates her life to volunteer work – more than anyone else I have ever known,” said Hoagg, who has known Perrin for 10 years.

2010 Irving S. Gilmore Award: Pamela Roland

Photo by Jill McLane Baker