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STAR Awards Winners

Pamela Roland

Pamela Roland remembers the struggles she encountered as a young girl and the adults who stepped forward and pointed her in the right direction.

So when she became an adult she felt a tug on her heart for girls she saw following a destructive path - taking drugs, dealing drugs, dropping out of school, getting pregnant - and she sought a way to reach out to them.

"My heart was just hurting because I saw so many girls making mistakes," Roland said.

In 1986, she began to bring young girls into her home and help them build confidence in themselves; she counseled them in morals and values, instructed them in good manners, and helped them work toward a healthy future.

They became a sisterhood. They worked together and played together. They supported one another. They even gave themselves a name: the Kalamazoo Junior Girls Organization.

Twenty-four years later, Roland has shepherded some 1,600 girls through the organization. She has loved them, lectured them and provided them with life skills.

Roland, 57, has won many honors and awards for her work through the years. At the annual STAR (Sharing Time and Resources) Awards breakfast scheduled this morning at the Radisson Plaza Hotel & Suites in downtown Kalamazoo, she was to add one more: the Irving S. Gilmore Lifetime Achievement Award.

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Bonna Perrin

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."

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Virgil Sanford

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."

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Jerry, Carol and Marybeth Ebel

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.

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Barbara Cole Smith

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

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Steve Terranella

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.

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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.

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Angelia Lane

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."

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K College Service Learning and Epsilon Xi Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Working with Community Advocates for Parents and Students

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.

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Ben Flaten

In 1998, when he was a senior in high school, Benjamin Flaten was assaulted, leaving him with a severe head injury that affected his ability to walk and process certain information.

Four years later, while still recovering from the injury, he was involved in a serious car accident. He suffered nerve damage. Doctors told him he might never walk again.

They were wrong.

He spent time in a wheelchair, then began using a cane and leg braces as he learned to walk again. He still endures bouts of pain, occasional seizures and is waiting for feeling to return to the thumb and index finger in his left hand.  But he is very much walking - and a whole lot more.

The setbacks that Flaten, 30, has endured in his young life might make some who went through similar circumstances think only about themselves. But the Portage man has turned his sights on others, spending the past several years volunteering at different organizations in the Kalamazoo area.

"I don’t feel pain when I’m helping others," he said.

For his service to the community, Flaten has earned a STAR Award in the category of Young Adult Volunteer.

Among many other organizations, he has volunteered at the People’s Food Co-op Harvest Fest, helped developmentally disabled kids with art projects at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts and assisted children at the Epilepsy Foundation of Michigan’s Camp Discovery, a summer camp for kids stricken with the disease.

But his true love is being outdoors and sharing his love of nature.

Flaten and his service dog, an American Bulldog named Pearl, are a familiar sight at the Kalamazoo Nature Center, where he volunteers in the sugar shack, educating people about how to make maple syrup. An artist, he also helps out at Nature Center events and festivals by painting children’s faces.

"To see the joy on a kid’s face is wonderful," he said. "I just love to experience that joy."

Flaten’s favorite thing to do at the Nature Center, however, is trudging thought the woods nearby to check on the eastern bluebird nest boxes. What he sometimes finds there gives him "a balloon of confetti of cheer," he said.

Sometimes, after opening a box, he’ll find a new sign of life; maybe an egg or, if he’s lucky, a tiny hatchling.

"There’s a new life, a new hope," he said.

A new life.

Flaten has been given one, and he’s using it for the betterment of his community.

"I hope my story inspires others to do good as well," he said

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Fatima Mirza

To say Fatima Mirza is an overachiever would be an understatement - she did more than 200 hours of volunteer work last year and has started several local organizations.

The 16-year-old Portage Central High School student credits her background as a Pakistani-American with inspiring her to do volunteer work.

"It kind of makes me step back and remember who I am. In Pakistan, they don’t have everything. They don’t even necessarily have running water all the time," Mirza said.

"Poverty is everywhere. Places where my parents are from (in Pakistan) face extreme poverty. It makes me even more aware of what is going on here. It makes me more sympathetic for people here,  just knowing that poverty is part of my heritage."

Mirza’s efforts to care for others have earned her a local STAR (Sharing Time and Resources) Award in the category of Youth Volunteer. She was nominated by Gulnar Husain, a Sunday-school teacher at the Kalamazoo Islamic Center, in this awards program sponsored by the Volunteer Center of Greater Kalamazoo and the Kalamazoo Gazette.

"It’s amazing to see such a passionate young woman - she does everything whole-heartedly," Husain said.

Mirza is from the East Coast - her family moved from Maryland to Michigan about five years ago.

"When we got to Michigan, it was just really different. Back in Maryland, I had the opportunity to volunteer all the time. There were huge cities nearby, but once I found the opportunity to volunteer here, I realized it was much more personalized in Michigan," Mirza said.

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Hackett Catholic Central Alternative Spring Break

"When you send 70 students and 10 adults to do physical labor, you can get a lot done," says Patricia Byrne, registrar at Hackett Catholic Central High School.

And that’s just what the students and adult leaders who participated in the school’s 2009 Alternative Spring Break did when they went to New Orleans to help residents recover in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

"They installed flooring, insulation, wall board, base boards and painted, and cleaned yards which still have debris left from the hurricane," Byrne said.

"It’s amazing to see how much you can do," said Hackett senior Tamsen Glaser, 17.

For their sacrificial work in New Orleans’ St. Bernard Parish, which was virtually destroyed in the hurricane nearly five years ago, Hackett Catholic Central’s Alternative Spring Break students received the 2010 STAR (Sharing Time and Resources) Award in the Youth Group category.

Yet the 2009 trip is only part of the story. Hackett students and their adult leaders have been spending their spring breaks helping to reverse the devastation from Hurricane Katrina for five straight years, from 2006 through this spring.

Many have made multiple trips, such as Dana Vandeveer, a 17-year-old junior, and Glaser, both of whom have gone there for three years.

For some people, it may be out of sight, out of mind, Glaser said, but even though New Orleans is no longer in the spotlight every day its residents still need help.

"After a few years, you don’t hear about it anymore, and if you don’t hear about it, it doesn’t exist (in some people’s minds)," she said. But the people who live there still "are trying to rebuild their lives."

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