Volunteer Memphis develops, promotes, and supports volunteerism.
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Volunteer Memphis Volunteer Memphis develops, promotes, and supports volunteerism. |
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Spirit of Giving Awards Winners and Finalists
Adult Winner - Peggy Russell for Stop the Madness, Inc. Peggy
Russell has a demanding full time job,
but she has also manages to devote 40 hours each week as a full-time
volunteer executive director and founder of the Memphis branch of an
organization serving at-risk youth. There are many organizations and
agencies in Memphis and Shelby County serving the many needs of young
people, but this outstanding citizen understood the power of collaboration
and the need to harness that power to stop the spiraling cycle of gang
violence that threatens to destroy our children. Within the first six
months of operation, this organization touched more than 100 young people
through mentoring, coat donations, Grizzlies ticket giveaways, and gang
intervention. She has established working
relationships with the Memphis Mentoring Partnership, Shelby County
Government, the Operation Take Back Coalition, and the Southern Christian
Leadership Foundation, and coordinates the Adopt-A-School partnership with
Hickory Ridge Middle School. She
has been recognized by a host of local and national organizations for her
service to the community. Senior Winner - Silvia Gayden - Memphis Literacy Council
Silvia Gayden became a volunteer with an agency that believes that
changing the life of one person changes our community and the world. Ten
years and 3,000 volunteer hours later, she has improved the reading skills
– and the lives – of at least 200 adult learners. She began as an
individual reading tutor and moved into classroom teaching when an
opportunity came about. Her works focuses on two areas necessary for every
adult in our society: reading to understand the world and reading for
enjoyment, a privilege that most adult readers take for granted. Adults
reading at low levels understand very few concepts of culture beyond the
borders of Memphis, and geography, history, philosophy, and science can be
foreign territory as well. In addition to teaching basic comprehension,
our winner began to tackle such subjects as 9/11, electoral votes in the
2000 presidential election, the space shuttle Columbia disaster, and a
host of events in the Middle East. Her point was simple: adults need to
know what is happening in their country and in their world to be able to
make decisions and fully participate in society. She made it her mission
to teach adults how to gain information themselves to increase their
independence and fluency in our culture and become well-informed,
knowledgeable adults. Because of her dedication to this critical effort,
she was invited to become a tutor trainer and pass along the passion she
has shown for this important work. In a city in which an estimated 130,000
adults cannot read or write well enough to fill out a job application, we
surely need dedicated volunteers like this. Youth Winner - Ivy DePew - Friends for Life Ivy
DePew took on a community issue
three years ago and expanded her involvement to reach teens across our
region. When her family took in a friend with AIDS, she began to learn
more about compassion and her interest in becoming a physician led her to
learn more about a disease that affects so many in our community –
including a growing number of young people. While
researching scholarship opportunities, she found an organization that
would combine her interest in the arts with her interest in community
service and give her the voice she needed to be heard. With
the backing from this scholarship organization, our winner took the
emphasis on youth volunteering to heart. She raised more than $1,200 for a
benefit for HIV/AIDS for Friends for Life and hosted their annual concert;
she champions the work of GIRLS, Inc. and serves as a positive role model;
she rolled up her sleeves and lead inner-city youth on a restoration
project at a Memphis charter school on the Martin Luther King Holiday; and
she has been committed to the work of Volunteer Memphis/Hands on Memphis,
promoting volunteerism in our area. Large Group: Wilson Hotels Management Corporation - St. Jude Children's Research Hospital The
employees of Wilson Hotels Management Corporation are truly bringing joy to children and families facing
difficult challenges far from home. The Memphis Grizzlies House is the newest residential
facility for patients and families of St. Jude Children’s Research
Hospital, offering guests a safe, healthy, and home-like place to stay.
After a day of tests and treatment at the hospital, families return to
Grizzlies House exhausted and hungry. Their options for dinner have
included the hospital cafeteria, pizza delivery, or a variety of vending
machines. However, there’s nothing like a home-cooked meal at the end of
a stressful day, so our winning volunteers decided to provide a hot meal
in a relaxing atmosphere where families could get together and share
experiences and encouragement. On the first Tuesday of the month, these
caring folks solicit donated food from local restaurants to provide dinner
for up to 200 family members. They develop menus based on the children’s needs, set up
the dining room, serve the meals, and clean up, conquering the challenge
to offer nourishing and safe, freshly-prepared meals to youngsters whose
immune system issues prevent them from dining out in restaurants or eating
packaged meals.
Small
Group: Our 2007 Small Group winners
truly show how a small group of individuals can make a really big
difference in the community with some ingenuity, hard work, and a lot of
heart. After witnessing the granting of a wish to a young child, four
police officers were so moved that they decided to organize a fund-raiser
to grant even more wishes. They created the “Fishes for Wishes”
crawfish boil in Southaven, an event that has become the “must-go”
party of the year. Board Member - David Waddell - RISE Foundation David Waddell became hooked on
the mission of an organization that addressed concerns he had as a
business owner. He was becoming increasingly alarmed at the state of the
Memphis and the growing number of individuals and families locked in the
shackles of debt and predatory loans without the financial planning skills
to move from subsidy to self-sufficiency. He joined the board on the
development committee and soon became the chair. He also helped develop the
strategic plan and new mission statement: To empower low-income residents
of Memphis and Shelby County to build and sustain assets. Although many Board members never
get an opportunity to serve “in the trenches,” our honoree taught
financial education classes and served as a mentor to program
participants. He spent countless hours helping clients develop budgets so
they could save enough to move from public housing into their own homes.
He also had the vision to realize that the organization need to expand its
mission to serve a larger number of citizens, developing a new program and
forming collaborative efforts with other nonprofits. All this takes funding, and our
winner organized an effort that raised $3 million in less than a year to
cover programming for the next three years. In addition to service to this
effort, our winner is a civic leader who was the founding president of
Mpact Memphis, a member of the board of Leadership Academy, MIFA, and the
Memphis Symphony Orchestra in addition to his position as President and
CEO of a wealth management firm. Agency
Winner The
winner of this year’s Volunteer Agency of the Year provides a variety of
community-based programs and services designed to foster positive family
values and reduce the stigma suffered by the forgotten victims of crime
and incarceration – the families – and especially the children. One-on-one
mentoring is one of the most effective youth development strategies and
rewarding opportunities to make a difference in the life of a child.
Mentoring a young person with an incarcerated parent is a special
challenge requiring very special volunteers. Mentors are recruited,
trained and supported in their work with their protégés and they are
asked to commit to a minimum of one year, spending at least two hours each
week with their mentees. They also participate in social and cultural
enrichment activities for two hours a month. Twice a year they take part
in community service projects, helping their youth to learn the value of
giving back. Media
Winner This year’s winner in the media category embodies the Spirit of Giving Awards in many ways. This organization has offered free ad space – and color ads, at that – during the busiest advertising season of the year to help their special non-profit agency. One of three media sponsors, this relatively small operation has offered selfless and enthusiastic support over the years, and especially for two new projects initiated this year. But the principals went beyond giving magazine space for promotional articles and providing tickets for concerts and shows. They also volunteer at many special events. They have become true champions for the children of Youth Villages. |
Volunteer Memphis
22 North Front Street, Suite 780
Memphis, TN 38103
Phone: (901) 523-2425 Fax: (901) 523-7107