Apple Grower, Atlanta Reporter Honored as ‘Points of Light’

Following are the people and organizations that have most recently been named to receive President Clinton’s Daily Points of Light Award.

The awards, which are given to those who have done exemplary volunteer work, take their name from President Bush’s description of people who do community service as “points of light.” Some 1,020 people received the honor when Mr. Bush was in office.

The Points of Light Foundation, a Washington charity, assists the President in making the choices and carrying out the award program. More information about the award winners and the program is available at the foundation’s World-Wide Web site, http://pointsoflight.org, or by contacting the foundation at 1400 I Street, N.W., Suite 800, Washington 20005; (202) 729-8184.

The recipients:

1281. Teresa Talens, Appleton, Wis., a high-school student who established the “Bag-Up Hunger” program, through which 80 students each donate a grocery bag filled with food every month to the St. Joseph Food Program in the Fox River Valley.

1282. David Adamiec, Westbrook, Conn., a 14-year-old volunteer who assembles and distributes two kinds of supply packs for youths: one containing toiletries and clothes for victims of abuse who are on their way to foster homes, and one containing school supplies for children whose families are unable to purchase such materials.

1283. Reid Carpenter, Pittsburgh, who, as founding president of the Pittsburgh Leadership Foundation, has initiated and organized numerous community-service projects, including the Anti-Racism Institute and Houses of Worship, an effort to link churches and their congregations through the Internet.

1284. Shirley Brown, Sugar Land, Tex., who established the “Youth Expanding Service” program to help students log the volunteer hours required for acceptance into many colleges and universities.

1285. Aviano Air Base Mentor Program, Italy, a one-on-one mentorship program that pairs middle- and high-school students at the air base’s Department of Defense Schools with active-duty military personnel.

1286. Martha Dubuque, Hardwick, Vt., an elementary-school teacher who founded a mentorship program to benefit the 47 students in Hardwick Elementary School’s sixth-grade class.

1287. Earl Estwick, Sr., Trailblazer Memorial Fund, Paramus, N.J., which awards college scholarships to poor students who have established an excellent academic record and who have made positive contributions to their communities.

1288. Dane Dugan, Hamilton, Mont., a teen-ager who helped develop a program at his high school called “Youth in Action,” which teaches elementary-school students about agriculture.

1289. Martha Sandven Lock, Kansas City, Mo., founder and artistic director of the Chameleon Theatre Company, which enlists youths to help produce and perform productions that focus on such themes as violence, drugs, pregnancy, and truancy.

1290. Child-Family Mentor Program, Quincy, Ill., which links 119 mentors and 80 teachers with 195 students to work on their reading skills and to improve the students’ self-esteem.

1291. Patti Puckett, Atlanta, a reporter at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution who has volunteered over the past six years at the Hands On Atlanta Discovery Program, an academic-enrichment program for elementary-school students.

1292. Metropolitan Youth Program, Rock Island, Ill., which fosters leadership skills in youths aged 7 to 20 by offering them instruction in such activities as sports, music, photography, and computers.

1293. Greater Philadelphia Martin Luther King Day of Service, Philadelphia, which drew more than 12,000 volunteers this year to participate in some 300 community-service projects, including renovating houses and performing plays about non-violence.

1294. George Elle, Lubbock, Tex., a retired dean of agriculture at Texas Tech University who planted and maintains an apple orchard for the South Plains Food Bank; the orchard produced 59,000 pounds of apples last year.

1295. Friends of the Chicago River, Chicago, an organization that coordinates an annual “River Rescue Day,” which brought in 1,200 volunteers last year to remove trash and provide canoe trips along the river.

1296. The Grumpy Old Men, Terre Haute, Ind., a group of self-described curmudgeons, all retired, who construct homes for the Wabash Valley Habitat for Humanity; two of the “grumpies” also build and sell storage sheds to raise money for the housing organization.

1297. Chip Hunter, Los Angeles, founder and director of Art Share Los Angeles, a program to develop theater productions, gallery exhibits, and arts education that has been sustained by local businesses and Mr. Hunter’s personal savings.

1298. Pipeline Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, a program that pairs faculty members with middle-school students who are striving to be the first members of their families to attend college.