IRVING S. GILMORE LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Jack Hopkins
This man may be retiring in July after 25 years as president and CEO of Kalamazoo County's leading philanthropic organization, but he's not retiring from the Kalamazoo community. And that's one of the blessings we can add to our list today.  For 30 years, he has given his time, talent and treasure to more than 30 local organizations. He and his wife serve meals at Ministry with Community, a downtown day program for the poor and homeless; he provides his expertise and leadership to the boards of the Local Initiatives Support Corp., a community-development organization; Downtown Tomorrow Inc., the real-estate-development arm of Downtown Kalamazoo Inc.; and the Southwest Michigan Innovation Center, a life-sciences-enterprise incubator at Western Michigan University's Business Technology and Research Park.  Economic and community development have been significant priorities during his years living, working and volunteering in the greater Kalamazoo area. "He firmly believes that this kind of work is a long-term avenue to solving many of the community's social issues," said one of his colleagues. Since 1986, this award has gone to "a person whose dedication and breadth of service has profoundly influenced the community over their lifetime. "It's named for the successful Kalamazoo businessman who founded the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation in the 1970's to provide funding to support the arts and agencies that help youth, the homeless and the physically challenged. Gilmore died in 1986. At the end of 2006, the foundation he started had more than $220 million in assets. St. Thomas More Catholic Student Parish has benefited from Hopkins work as a fund raiser. He was a leader of the parish's capital campaign three years ago that raised $2 million for new facilities. The organization will move into the new space in June, said the Rev. Ken Schmidt. He also is active as a parish liturgical minister, helping out with church services. Hopkins also has volunteered with Junior Achievement of Kalamazoo, the Greater Kalamazoo United Way, the Irving S. Gilmore International keyboard Festival and the Kalamazoo Public Library, among many other organizations. As noted in the letter that nominated him for this honor, "One day you will see him sitting in a nonprofit board room and the next he is in Bronson Park reading to a child as part of the library's Ready to Read program." "The whole spirit of philanthropy is very special in Kalamazoo County - and more so than in most communities in the country," he says. He would know. In fact, he's something of an expert on that.

COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP

Richard Atwell

People catch more than 3 million rides to work, stores, doctors' appointments and elsewhere on Kalamazoo Metro Transit buses and vans each year, but very few could tell you anything about Richard Atwell. No one else over the last decade has given the same level of volunteer leadership for public transit here as this man, who also has played a key role in setting the course for expanding public transit's reach across Kalamazoo County. "He led the process of establishing the Kalamazoo County Transportation Authority from an idea into reality," said Carol Fricke, who chairs the Kalamazoo Transit Authority Board and nominated him for this award. "He understands the benefits that it brings to the community." This man volunteered more than 1,300 hours in 2007 to merge the city's Metro Transit System with the Kalamazoo County Transportation Authority in creating a public transportation system for the whole county. "It's a critical quality-of-life issue," he said of public transportation. He chaired the Metro Transit board from 1998 to 2005 and the county transportation authority from 2006 to 2007, before stepping down this January. He also worked to get a millage passed in 2006 for the county wide transportation system that will be launched next January. "Most people didn't think we could get it done," he said, "because no other transportation system in the country has done this." Fricke says the new system could become "a model for the rest of the country," and gives this volunteer a large measure of the credit for that. "I have never seen anybody with so much passion and enthusiasm," she says. "I'm so glad he's getting the recognition he so richly deserves."

CAREER VOLUNTEER 

Fred Davis

This volunteer is a man who likes to share his talents. He's an all-around volunteer handyman at the Comstock Community Center, Borgess Fitness Center and First Presbyterian Church in Richland. As a World War II veteran who served as an infantryman in the South Pacific, he also talks about his wartime experiences at the Kalamazoo Air Zoo, where he also does some carpentry work.  And he volunteers at blood drives for the American Red Cross. All of this he does at the age of 84 - and after undergoing open heart surgery about eight years ago. "I enjoy doing something for others," he says. "It just makes me feel good inside." Last year, he devoted 1,605 hours to volunteering. "He volunteers every day for someone," said the human resource manager and volunteer coordinator at the Air Zoo, where Davis has volunteered for six years. "He's a really dedicated and conscientious person who tries to help out." "I just stay in the background and do what I can to help," he said. "A 'thank you' is good enough for me."

FAMILY VOLUNTEER GROUP

Oram-Proudfoot Family
He had just undergone open-heart surgery and was suffering from lymphedema, a buildup of fluid in the soft tissues of the body. Bandages and other medical supplies were scattered about the family's home in Portage as he recuperated. Looking at all that stuff led his wife to a thought - a thought about the needs of American troops serving in Iraq. "I told myself, 'I'm sure there's a medic or hospital over there that can put them to good use,'" she said. That was when the seeds were planted for Operation: Comfort. They found an Army nurse in need of supplies in Iraq on a Web site that sends care packages to troops. Their daughter, a cosmetologist, suggested writing letters asking businesses for donations of hair-care and skin-care products. To the family's surprise, 32 cartons of products arrived at their doorstep.  The response from companies was "mind-boggling," they said. The family spent hundreds of hours putting together more than 1,000 packages of snacks, medical supplies and hygiene items for troops in Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan and the United States. A Viewpoint published in the Kalamazoo Gazette on Aug. 26, 2007, generated an outpouring of help from the community to defray the cost of mailing all those packages. The response to their efforts from the troops was unexpected. They've gotten cards, T-shirts, pictures, newsletters, e-mails from everywhere. They never expected to hear from anyone. One soldier, Major Jennifer Lorilla of the 31st Combat Support Hospital in Camp Bucca, Iraq, even took time to come and visit the family during leave. From this family's perspective, helping out the troops was the least they could do. "These people gave up so much from their own lives to protect ours," they said.

SENIOR VOLUNTEER 

Chris Bartley

It was a sign of her love for Woods Lake Park as she marked the native plants she'd planted with a lime green ribbon. As she walked the footpath along the lake, she also picked up trash and pulled garlic mustard, a non-native plant that grows abundantly around Woods Lake. This volunteer has spent the past three years restoring Woods Lake Park. But she isn't just cleaning up and improving the park for herself. By making it more beautiful, she hopes it will attract more people. "I really want people in Kalamazoo to know this park is something special," she said. "I really feel that it's essential for people to connect in the community." The park has been a favorite of hers since she was a child. Her father took her swimming there a little girl, and now she swims there with her granddaughters. Her involvement in Wild Ones, an organization devoted to preserving and restoring native plant communities, has helped her reintroduce 70 native plants to Woods Lake Park. Along with an organization called Friends of Woods Lake (FOWL), she has recruited family members, volunteers and groups to come out and help with the improvements. "Working together on a park is a really good way to make the community alive," she said. Last year, she gave 250 hours to Woods Lake beach Park.

ADULT VOLUNTEER 
Ann Maguire

Westwood Little League was broke. Its coffers had been drained in 2005 and 2006 by a former board member who later went to jail for embezzling nearly $18,000. The league was $12,000 in debt and the 2007 season was in doubt. So this parent set about making certain a 51st season for the Kalamazoo league would come off for the children. "She really took the whole thing on her shoulders," said a league board member. "Without her, I doubt the Westwood Little League would even be here." She organized teams, found coaches and sponsors, and had uniforms made. She repeatedly asked for volunteers and, if none came forward, she did the job herself. She dedicated about 1,000 hours in 2007 alone to making that season a successful one. "I wanted to make sure we are doing everything the right way, the Little League way," she said. "Little by little, we're continuing to improve." She doesn't take all the credit for the league's rejuvenation. "It took a group effort to make all of this work," she says. But her leadership not only saved the league, it made it more special. In the letter nominating her for this award, it reads: "Every organization has leaders who stand out among their peers. The hard work, late nights and a true desire to leave things better than she found them make her just such a leader."

ADULT VOLUNTEER GROUP (In 2007 two outstanding volunteer groups tied and both received awards.)
Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes

Last year, this group of volunteers delivered one million pounds of food to the pantries of 20 faith-based organizations and other agencies that provide fresh vegetables and non-perishable items to families in need. The group was founded 26 years ago and has 375 volunteers who logged a combined 10,900 hours in 2007. They take donations of both food and money, and the community's response to its annual fundraisers is consistently generous. They are especially proud of their backpack program with the Kalamazoo Public Schools. On Friday afternoons, about 400 children pick up backpacks at school filled with enough food to last through the weekend. The backpacks are then returned to the group the following Monday, filled over the week and shipped back to the schools for another Friday pickup. "The demand is there - programs and services rose to record levels in 2007, up approximately 21 percent in most areas over 2006 numbers," said the group's executive director. She noted that some of their volunteers have had their own personal experience with hunger - and have themselves received food from the pantries stocked by their group. Other people who volunteer for them simply want to make the community a better place for all. "Through many motivations," she wrote in her nominating letter, "the right of every person to have access to adequate, nutritious food every day as a basic human right shines through."

COLLEGE VOLUNTEER GROUP

Drive Safe Kalamazoo

Every Thursday through Saturday from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m., these volunteers take calls from Western Michigan University students who need rides home. While their drivers are out and about until the wee hours of the morning, anything can happen. They might have trouble finding the person who called for a ride, occasionally the passenger gets sick in the car or something is said that's downright funny. No matter what happens, they get their passengers home safely - and they keep their memories jotted down in a "drunk-and-sober quote book." "It's absolutely the funnest volunteering you'll ever have in your entire life because you never know what you're getting yourself into," one of the volunteers said. This group involves about 100 WMU students who gave 775 hours of their time in 2007. In his letter nominating these volunteers for this award, their adviser said they have facilitated safe passage for nearly 35,000 students, reduced the incidence of drunken driving and lowered the number of drunken-driving arrests among students. It is one of just seven university groups like it in the country. "It's been the best experience of my life," one of the volunteers said. "I don't know many people my age who can say they ran a nonprofit organization." As many of you know, running a nonprofit isn't easy. To add to the challenge, this school year the group had to move into new headquarters, overhaul its phones and computers, integrate a GPS system into its cars, continue to train volunteers and work to receive a $20,000 grant from the Kalamazoo Community Foundation. This group has received numerous accolades on behalf of state and local organizations. They are even counseling other universities about implementing similar programs.