Mentors, Tutors, and Teachers Among ‘Points of Light’ Honorees

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:

1750. Operation Jumpstart, Wichita, Kan., a mentor program for at-risk youths organized by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Sedgwick County and Communities In Schools.

1751. The Manateen Club, Bradenton, Fla., a program organized and conducted by Manatee County teenagers that provides leadership-training workshops, assists and befriends elderly people, and administers more than $30,000 annually in small grants for service-learning projects.

1752. Leon Oman, Minneapolis, community-education specialist at Andersen Schools, who organized and oversees several after-school recreational and educational programs, including Cool Kids, which provides academic assistance in a small-group format to at-risk youths.

1753. Partners For Youth Program, Philadelphia, a program sponsored by the Red Cross designed to teach at-risk youths leadership and social skills through community service; the participants develop and execute their own community-service projects, including assistance for the elderly, vandalism prevention, and food banks.

1754. Jason Fenwick, Indianapolis, who began serving as a mentor for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Sedgwick County (Wichita, Kan.), and surpassed the normal expectations of the program when, after moving to Indianapolis, he continued to assume the role of parent, friend, and mentor for a boy in Kansas who had lost both parents.

1755. The Non-Violence Project, Miami, which provides positive alternatives to gangs and drugs including art, sports, and technology programs, conflict-resolution training, and Talk It Out, a program in which people affected by violence discuss their experiences with at-risk youths.

1756. Eastman Chemical Company, Kingsport, Tenn., whose Research Development and Technology Service department fixes and maintains the Red Cross’s local chapter building, provides mentors for children through the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, and provides disaster-relief information.

1757. Pamela Trefler, Boston, who established a foundation that assists public schools and the nonprofit organizations that serve them; she requires its volunteers to actively participate as mentors, tutors, and teachers in the programs sponsored by the foundation.

1758. Volunteer Services Department of Hackensack University Medical Center, N.J., which administers a program that enables youths to participate in the routine functions of a hospital, as well as the Pet Therapy Program, which provides trained pets to sick children to assist in the recovery process.

1759. Soldotna Elementary Foster Grandparent Program, Ark.,whose volunteers teach children how to read as part of the America Reads program.

1760. Tecumseh Public Schools G.I.F.T. Program, Mich., which organizes youths in first grade through high school in service-learning projects developed in school, including the maintenance of local buildings and grounds, creation of a recycling center, and building bird houses.

1761. Urban Mission Ministries, Steubenville, Ohio, which provides a soup kitchen, food pantry, and a homeless shelter for area families.

1762. Volunteens of Volunteer Baton Rouge, La., a summer volunteer program for teenagers that includes programs to aid abused children, elderly people, and at-risk youths, and also assists the local food bank and soup kitchen.