Awards, Sep 07, 2000

The following awards have been presented for work in fund raising and volunteerism:

Direct marketing.

The Direct Marketing Association (New York) has awarded its 2000 Non-Profit Organization of the Year Award to Catholic Relief Services (Baltimore) for outstanding direct-response marketing techniques, financial performance, and ethical standards. In 1999, Catholic Relief Services’ efforts garnered $7.5-million in only four months to aid victims of the earthquakes in Turkey, and more than $100-million in revenue, with direct marketing bringing in 65 percent of the total.

Volunteerism and community service. In its first year of existence, Join Hands Day (Washington) received the 2000 Four Star Award from the National Council of Volunteer Centers. The award honors exemplary support of the Volunteer Center National Network, a coalition of volunteer centers that provide leadership and services in matching volunteers to projects. Join Hands Day, an initiative of America’s Fraternal Benefit Societies (Naperville, Ill.), coordinated the efforts of 70 local volunteer centers to involve thousands of youths and adults in projects to improve their neighborhoods on June 17.

The President’s Service Awards, which are sponsored by the Points of Light Foundation (Washington) and the Corporation for National Service (Washington) and honor volunteer service, were awarded to the following twenty individuals and organizations:

— Bayer Corporation (Pittsburgh), which encourages its employees to improve science literacy and teaching methods in schools through the “Making Science Make Sense” program.

— Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation, whose volunteer lawyers and paralegals help low-income individuals with civil cases.

— Olla Rae Chicola (Alexandria, La.), who turned her grocery store into Manna House, a project that serves meals to homeless and poor families, and who recruits donations from her contacts in the food industry.

— Gabriela Contreras (Tucson), now 14 years old, who has been volunteering since the third grade, including organizing a peace march at her school and starting an anti-drug club.

— Crayons to Computers (Cincinnati), which gives new and used supplies donated by businesses to teachers working at schools in poor neighborhoods.

— Patrick Doyle (Murfreesboro, Tenn.), a biology professor at Middle Tennessee State U., who has inspired his fellow faculty and staff members to recycle paper and cans and apply the money earned to scholarships.

— Earth Conservation Corps’ Salmon Corps (Portland, Ore.), a program that has put American Indians aged 18 to 25 to work repairing salmon habitats in the Columbia River Basin in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington State.

— First Union Corporation (Charlotte, N.C.), which sponsors an employee volunteer program that recruits workers to serve as mentors and tutors to young children.

— Linda Ginzel and Boaz Keysar (Chicago), professors at the University of Chicago who founded Kids in Danger after their baby was fatally crushed by a defective crib in 1998; the organization works to improve efforts to inform the public about child products that have been recalled.

— International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local Union No. 164 (Paramus, N.J.), which sponsors opportunities for its members to donate their time and skills to charitable construction projects.

— Jumpstart New Haven (Conn.), which uses young adults as mentors and tutors to prepare preschoolers for the first grade.

— Judith Lajoie (Woonsocket, R.I.), a former victim of spousal abuse who created the Haven of Grace Ministries as a transitional home and counseling center for women overcoming substance addictions or abusive relationships.

— Niko and Theo Milonopoulos (Studio City, Calif.), 13-year-old twins who started Kidz Voice-LA, which lobbies for gun control and has collected the signatures of more than 7,000 children calling for a ban on ammunition sales.

— Dikembe Mutombo (Marietta, Ga.), a professional basketball player for the Atlanta Hawks who established a foundation in his name to aid poor people in Congo, his native land.

— Publicolor (New York), which organizes students, parents, teachers, and other volunteers to paint public schools in impoverished neighborhoods.

— Retired and Senior Volunteer Program Experience Corps (New York), a program for people aged 55 and older who serve as tutors to elementary-school students in poor school districts.

— St. Joseph’s Carpenter Society (Camden, N.J.), which builds and refurbishes affordable housing for rent or sale to low-income families.

— Gerald Stoops (San Bernardino, Calif.), who founded the “Natural Beauty” program, which recruits teenagers from the San Bernardino County Juvenile Hall to take part in reforestation projects.

— Ruth Taylor (New Haven, Mich.), who began the Parent Monitoring Committee of the Association for the Macomb-Oakland Regional Center to send volunteers who are relatives or friends of people with disabilities to inspect group homes to monitor the quality of care their loved ones receive.

— Cleaster Whitehurst-Mims (Cincinnati), who created the non-profit Marva Collins Preparatory School 10 years ago to offer an affordable alternative to public schools.