Creators of Heart Program and Cop Trading Cards Among ‘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 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 20005; (202) 729-8184.

The recipients:

1651. Mike Miyagishima, Las Cruces, N.M., a volunteer police officer for Las Cruces Police Department and the New Mexico Mounted Patrol who also serves as a New Mexico Park Ranger and a mentor to youths, one of whom assists him in undercover assignments to monitor retailers’ compliance with tobacco-vending laws.

1652. Civic Literacy Project, Bloomington, Ind., a statewide service-learning program that brings students together with local leaders in efforts to improve their communities, such as building homes for Habitat for Humanity and teaching computer classes to elderly residents.

1653. Ashley Peterson, Los Angeles, a high-school student who founded ReREAD, an organization that collects donated periodicals and distributes them to shelters for homeless and abused people; her group collects more than 5,000 magazines each month for more than 450 shelters.

1654. Michael White, Washington, N.J., who has spina bifida and volunteers at Matheny School and Hospital, which serves students with disabilities, including teaching cooking and driving skills and spending Christmas Day at this residential facility.

1655. Camp Care-A-Lot, Springfield, Ill., an all-volunteer organization that raises money to offer a free week of camping and emotional therapy to children from poor families in central Illinois.

1656. Dominican Adult Literacy Center, Detroit, which uses volunteers to tutor adults to achieve functional literacy in a neighborhood that had a higher rate of illiteracy than the national average; in its 12 years of existence, approximately 800 certified tutors have taught 1,800 adult learners to read.

1657. Robert (Tony) Huesman, Dayton, Ohio, a manager of a sporting-goods store who had a heart transplant in 1978 and later co-founded TenderHearts, a support group for parents of children with heart problems; he has written three books for children about cardiac health and organ donation and lectures students on these issues.

1658. Elma Ramsey, Poland, Ohio, who has volunteered for more than a decade at Hospice of the Valley, helping terminally ill patients and their families; she helped develop a system for recruiting, training, and placing volunteers with patients to provide stable and regular care.

1659. The Samaritans of Merrimack Valley, Methuen, Mass., a group that was founded by a teacher whose teenaged son hanged himself; it works to raise public awareness of suicide and promote preventive measures such as crisis hotlines and screening programs to identify individuals at risk of suicide.

1660. Scarlotte Deupree, Birmingham, Ala., who became a literacy tutor in 1997 and went on to coordinate several more programs in her area and found the Sylacauga Adult Literacy Council; she also volunteers with Alert, a program that teaches medical practitioners to recognize patients who are illiterate and serve their needs properly.

1661. Antonio Sosa, Sedro Woolley, Wash., who works in many forums to prevent youths from becoming involved with gangs and drugs, including becoming a school counselor and starting a bilingual radio show that discusses the consequences of substance abuse.

1662. Jason Crowe, Newburgh, Ind., a 13-year-old who at age 9 created The Informer, a newspaper by and for children that discusses issues such as intolerance and the environment and whose profits all go to cancer charities; he also volunteers with several local, national, and international organizations.

1663. John Wyseman, Slidell, La., a former geologist who became a high-school teacher who created programs to help students, including his classroom’s special-education students, obtain skills needed in the workplace and internships to prepare them to support themselves after graduation.

1664. Joy of Sports Foundation, Alexandria, Va., which provides physical-education programs to improve fitness and self-esteem in children from poor neighborhoods through after-school programs; one program, “Tennis Plus,” also has an environmental-education component.

1665. Ronald Shults, Dallas, who helped the Dallas Police Department create the “Kids and Cops Trading Card” program to promote positive interactions between police officers and children by allowing children to meet the specially selected officers on the cards, who then autograph the cards and take a photo with a child next to a police horse, helicopter, or squad car.

1666. Jamie Lynn Schoener, Telferner, Tex., an 18-year-old who puts her Christian faith into action by serving in several roles at her church and acting as a mentor to adolescents in her community to help them resist alcohol, drugs, and other dangerous activities.

1667. Blair Hornstine, Moorestown, N.J., a student at Moorestown High School who co-founded the Moorestown Alliance for Goodwill and Interest in the Community, which involves students, teachers, and parents in community service, and also co-founded the Tri-County Student Food Drive.

1668. Gertrude Hoffman-Peele, Jacksonville, Fla., a longtime volunteer for many groups that serve children and poor neighborhoods; she bought a building in a high-crime area and, with several non-profit organizations acting as partners, turned it into a community resource center.

1669. Michelle Craig, Decatur, Ala., an Austin High School student who volunteers at the Wheeler Wildlife Refuge for maintenance tasks and a fishing rodeo for young children and also is an active member of her 4-H Club.

1670. Retired and Senior Volunteer Program of Bergen County, Hackensack, N.J., which provides an interactive drug-abuse prevention program for third- and fourth-grade students; the program has reached almost 11,000 children since 1998.