Colorado Firefighters Among Recent ‘Points of Light’ Winners

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

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 Web site, http://pointsoflight.org, or by contacting the foundation at 1400 I Street, N.W., Suite 800, Washington, D.C. 20005; (202) 729-8184.

The recipients:

2121. Women’s Auxiliary to Goodwill Industries, Shreveport, La., who meet each Tuesday and Wednesday to make handcrafted items, the sale of which benefits employees of Goodwill Industries.

2122. Max Madrid, Irvine, Calif., director of gang prevention for Orange County’s Community Services Programs; Mr. Madrid also organizes the area’s annual Toys for Tots drive and Thanksgiving meals for low-income families.

2123. Shelter for Abused Women of Collier County, Naples, Fla., whose volunteers organize Peaceful Hands, a public education and outreach event that takes place regularly at local schools and parks; using the slogan “Hands are for helping, not for hurting,” the program employs finger painting and storytelling to teach children about positive alternatives to hitting and other forms of violence.

2124. Mark Miller, St. Louis, a donor to several local nonprofit groups and a board member at the Metropolitan School, where he helps raise funds for this school that serves children and adolescents with learning disabilities and atypical learning styles.

2125. Southeastern Community Oriented Policing Education (SCOPE), Knoxville, Tenn., which provides technical assistance and instruction to communities and law-enforcement agencies in Tennessee and seven adjacent states; SCOPE helps create “community policing teams” of representatives focusing on youth violence and other local issues.

2126. Jay Goldinger, Beverly Hills, Calif., who created Food on Foot, a mobile program that provides nutritious meals, clothing, and blankets to homeless and poor people in Los Angeles; in addition, through its Work for Food program, homeless people are given large bags to fill with street trash in exchange for $5 food certificates and job prospects.

2127. Jennifer Rixman, North Manchester, Ind., who has organized many charitable events and projects during her four years at Manchester College, including the Haunted Forest Halloween activity, a petition to end hunger, and a service project through which students raked leaves and sorted donated clothing at the Fort Wayne Rescue Mission.

2128. Gayle Crabtree, Bullock, N.C., who, in 1996, after she was raped and learned that her small town had no rape-crisis center, created HopeforHealing.org, an extensive Web site where survivors of sexual assault can get help and encouragement.

2129. Dawn Montaner, Waco, Tex., who created the Lifelines Foundation for Eating Disorders after her youngest daughter was diagnosed in 1998 with two eating disorders and the family discovered a dearth of available resources and treatment. In addition to providing support services, the group also advocates laws that mandate health-insurance coverage of eating disorders as a severe mental illness.

2130. James Rhodes, Camp Hill, Ala., who has founded several community-service and youth programs in this small rural town whose school system once ranked as Alabama’s worst; his volunteer efforts have included a tutoring program, a youth baseball team, programs for at-risk students, Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous groups, and veterans’ services.

2131. Eagle Volunteer Fire Department, Colo., whose volunteers assist low-income elderly and disabled residents by shoveling and de-icing walkways, raking autumn leaves, preparing their homes for winter, and carrying out other tasks as needed.

2132. Vaqueros del Oida (the Hearing Cowboys), San Antonio, a group formed by Blaine Smith, an audioprosthologist, through which audiologists and other volunteer professionals bring hearing aids and related services to deaf and hearing-impaired children in Latin America.

2133. Carlos Souza Jr., Milford, Mass., a volunteer at the Milford Exploring Law Enforcement Post who helps coordinate the KidCare Project — which photographs and fingerprints young children so their parents can provide the documents to law-enforcement officials if the child is missing — and who serves as educational-program coordinator at the Milford Youth Center.

2134. Keith Walls, Clarksburg, W.Va., a former U.S. Marine who spends approximately 30 hours a week conducting volunteer activities; his accomplishments include working with the Genesis Youth Center for troubled children and helping to create an inpatient program at the local V.A. Medical Center for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder.

2135. Stonehill College Into the Streets Program, Easton, Mass., through which more than 350 Stonehill College students volunteer at some 30 local nonprofit groups on a regular basis; their activities include teaching English as a second language, working with children at a homeless shelter, and delivering food and furniture to needy people.

2136. Helping Our Pupils Excel (HOPE) Tutoring Center, Arlington, Tex., which began as a neighborhood-outreach program of the Aldersgate United Methodist Church and now provides free tutoring services to almost 100 students in fourth through eighth grade.

2137. Staten Island School Reading Volunteers, N.Y, a 41-year-old program operated by the Staten Island Mental Health Society that engages more than 200 volunteers in tutoring sessions at 35 public elementary schools.

2138. Patti Neal, Clinton Township, Mich., who has volunteered since 1990 with My Friends Care, an organization that helps people in need of bone-marrow transplants, raising thousands of dollars and personally recruiting several thousand donors to the National Marrow Program Donor Registry.

2139. Ann Arbor YMCA Youth Volunteer Corps, Mich., a group that organizes various service-learning activities for middle- and high-school students in Washtenaw County, Mich., including staffing the playroom at a domestic-violence shelter, painting houses with Habitat for Humanity, and assisting nursing-home residents.

2140. Pat Morgan, Robinson, Ill., a retired university employee whose many volunteer efforts include collecting donated items for a homeless shelter, organizing fund-raising events for the Coalition Against Domestic Violence, assisting with bingo games at veterans’ hospitals, and raising money for a new girls’ softball field.