Virginia Service

Business: Tenaska Virginia Generating Station, Scottsville
Even before the Tenaska Virginia Generating Station began operating in Fluvanna County, the company reached out to its new community with open arms. The relatively small group of 28 employees at the 885-megawatt facility has devoted more than 1,500 volunteer hours working with the Fluvanna County Public Schools. Volunteers provided tutoring and mentoring services to elementary students and science and math expertise to the middle school children. Their work with the high school students led the students to place 5th out of 46 teams at a robotics program and the team was awarded a “Problem Solvers Award” for their efforts. In addition to their tutoring and mentoring work, Tenaska volunteers served as judges at various science fairs, sponsored student tours of the power facility and participated in a county-wide United Way campaign. During the annual Day of Caring, volunteers from Tenaska helped make dramatic improvements to the grounds of the Fluvanna Middle School. The Tenaska Virginia Generating Station has also donated funds to support a scholarship and high school events. The employees serve on a variety of councils and committees – all with the goal of making their community a better place to live. Tenaska is an example to small rural towns of how well a partnership works between business and community and the positive influences they have on one another.

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Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Recovery: Becca Welsch, Sterling
When Becca Welsch began volunteering with the Sterling Volunteer Fire Company four years ago, she quickly discovered her passion for helping others. Despite her 5’4” frame, Becca isn’t daunted by the 70 pounds of protective equipment she is required to wear, not to mention the additional 30 pounds of tools and equipment she must carry into an emergency situation. She quickly mastered navigating the 25-ton ladder truck as well as maneuvering the various apparatus for pumping water and operating the aerial ladders. In addition to her hours spent volunteering as an operational firefighter/apparatus operator, she took on the task of revitalizing volunteer recruitment efforts. Becca streamlined the recruitment process and became directly responsible for bringing 55 new members to the organization within two years. She has also begun new recruitment campaigns at area gyms, high schools, shopping malls, cultural centers, and other locations where young adults and community-oriented individuals spend time. Overall, Becca spends 180 hours per month working as a firefighter and heading up the recruitment process. She recently made her passion a full-time career taking a position as a volunteer recruiter with Loudoun County Fire and Rescue. Even with this new full-time position, she continues to volunteer as a firefighter and volunteer recruiter for the Sterling Volunteer Fire Company, showing an unrelenting devotion to her community.

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Faith-Based Organization: PORT Winter Shelter for the Homeless Program, Newport News
The PORT Winter Shelter for the Homeless Program serves as a shining example of what can be accomplished when organizations work together with a common goal. Established under the direction of the Living Interfaith Network (LINK) of Newport News, the heart and soul of the program is its affiliation with faith-based organizations in the area. Now in its 14th season, the program provided shelter during the 2006-07 season for nearly 550 men, women and children through 100 churches in the community. PORT’s volunteers have contributed nearly 20,000 hours of service. Last year alone the program helped to place 127 persons into permanent housing, 88 individuals obtain birth certificates, 60 persons to obtain DMV identification and helped others acquire their social security cards, receive food stamps, get help preparing and filing taxes, receive eye glasses, attend job skills training classes, receive veterans benefits, and get the health and dental care they needed. While receiving assistance through PORT, 145 individuals became employed. None of this would have been possible without the hundreds of volunteers organizing, training, cooking, cleaning, clothing, transporting, and caring for those in need. Through the PORT program, the Newport News homeless population is given something truly beneficial – hope.

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Family: The Long Family, Mechanicsville
It was 1967 when a fast-growing neighborhood in Eastern Hanover County saw a need for a fire station in their community. The Long family was part of that first group of community members who went door to door to raise money to establish the station. Forty years later, the Long family continues to be a driving force to maintain the Eastern Hanover Volunteer Company. Brothers Olyn and Will Long, who helped to establish that first fire station, have passed on their tradition of service to other family members. The extended family of volunteers now includes Olyn’s wife, Mary Cornelia; their son, David and his wife, Dianne, and their two children, Courtney and Tracey. It also includes Will’s wife, Audrey; their son, Ditto and his wife, Laurie. Together, they have contributed hundreds of hours annually, including construction, fundraising, training, and responding to fire emergencies. Each year, David, Diane and their children, make the Eastern Hanover Crab Feast a successful fundraiser for the fire station. The Long family has shown that service and integrity are guiding family principles that truly set an example for the community.
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Government: University of Virginia Health System, Community Outreach, Charlottesville
Each year, the University of Virginia Health System’s Remote Area Medical (RAM) Clinic reaches out to the rural mountain region of Southwest Virginia. This summer program served by volunteer providers is, for many, their primary source of health care. Last year, the two-day clinics treated more than 1,600 patients and saw more than 2,500 individuals. Medicine was distributed in the form of more than 1,100 prescriptions and 458 vouchers. Mammograms were given to 200 women and many other individuals received state-of-the-art care including ultrasounds and colonoscopies. Treatment was given by 161 UVA Health System volunteers – doctors, nurses, social workers, pharmacists, lab technicians, and other support personnel. Always striving to do more, the UVA Health System established two leadership positions to develop medical and nursing protocols and policies for medical personnel. This year, the program began assigning medical record numbers for patients so that their vital information could be accessed by physicians in the CareCast network. The program has also expanded to place physicians in a mobile clinic two days per month connecting patients to care more frequently. Without the support of the UVA Health System’s RAM program and its volunteers, the medical needs of many underserved Virginians would go unmet. Their commitment to providing the highest quality health care to the remote mountains of Virginia is making a difference to the lives of so many.

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National Service Individual: Sally Mank, Charlottesville
Sally Mank first began volunteering for the Virginia Insurance Counseling and Assistance Program (VICAP) in 1997 after her father began experiencing frustration and anxiety over his Medicare notices. The counseling services provided by VICAP provided an opportunity for her to serve Virginia’s seniors, intimidated by health insurance and in need of guidance. In 2006, Sally began volunteering with one of VICAP’s programs, the Jefferson Area Board for Aging (JABA). Working with JABA, Sally conducts community education, outreach, and one-on-one Medicare counseling to the elderly and disabled population of Charlottesville and the counties of Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa and Nelson. She was able to raise awareness of JABA’s services by communicating with the media and through presentations around the region. Through a grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service, partnerships were made with the Health Wise Program at Martha Jefferson Hospital, the local Senior Center, Inc., and the UVA Medical Center and TRIAD. As a result of these efforts, counseling services have increased from 30 per month to more than 100 per month. For those individuals struggling to understand their health benefits, Sally Mank is a compassionate advocate making their lives so much better.
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National Service Program: Petersburg Foster Grandparents, Inc., Petersburg
For 35 years, the Petersburg Foster Grandparents program has been a vital presence in the lives of youth in the region. Last year alone, program participants provided nearly 95,000 hours of service in public schools, child care facilities, homeless shelters, juvenile detention centers, institutions for the mentally challenged, and alternative schools. There are 109 seniors participating in the program throughout Southside Virginia – each serving 1,044 hours annually. For the children of the region, these seniors provide them with a great sense of security and important nurturing that they need to thrive. Their engagement has proven, over the years, to mean the difference between success and failure to many young people.

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Nonprofit Group: Historic Triangle Jamestown 2007 Host Committee, Volunteer Coordination Sub-Committee, Williamsburg
The success of America’s 400th Anniversary was brought to life by an army of volunteers. This army of volunteers was recruited and coordinated by the extraordinary efforts of the event’s Volunteer Coordination Subcommittee. Their efforts ultimately recruited, placed, trained, and thanked more than 3,400 volunteers donating more than 24,500 hours of service during the event. In an amazing networking feat, the Subcommittee was able to engage leadership within James City County, the City of Williamsburg, York County, Jamestown 2007, the federal Jamestown 400th Commemoration Commission, APVA Preservation Virginia, Colonial National Historic Park, the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, Colonial Williamsburg, Busch Gardens, Water Country USA, Kingsmill Resort and Spa, the College of William and Mary, the Greater Williamsburg Chamber and Tourism Alliance, and the Williamsburg Hotel Motel Association. The anniversary event credits its success with the volunteers from 20 states and from more than 120 communities in Virginia to make it not just a statewide celebration, but a national event.

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Senior Volunteer: Roy W. Brun, Virginia Beach
At age 87, Roy Brun is going strong and making a difference to others in the Virginia Beach area. As a volunteer with Angel Flight, a nonprofit organization providing air transport for patients to specialized medical facilities, Roy does everything from answering phones to recruiting and training volunteers. He is also actively involved with Lee’s Friends, an award-winning support program for cancer patients and their families, where he volunteers as a driver taking patients to doctors’ visits, radiation and chemo treatments, and other appointments. If that’s not enough, Roy uses his own car to take his neighbors to and from medical appointments on a regular basis. He is also an active member of his church community and even worked to raise more than $40,000 for the United Way at Westminster-Canterbury on the Bay, where he resides.

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Volunteer: Hilda M. Woodby, Ph.D., Richmond
While completing her dissertation in 1996, Hilda Woodby identified a gap in services for citizens who were experiencing family violence in the metro Richmond area. She then developed a funding plan and best practices model for treating families experiencing violence and obtained grant funding for a start-up program. In two years, the Family Advocacy Clinics, Inc. (The Clinics) opened their doors in South Richmond. The Clinics opened to provide free or low cost quality, comprehensive psychotherapy services to all members of the family engaged in family violence. Dr. Woodby volunteered 50-60 hours per week at The Clinics attending court with the victims, addressing perpetrators to earn their trust to receive treatment, and working with children to express their feelings in a confidential setting. In 2001, Dr. Woodby suffered a life threatening injury and was bound to a wheelchair. Upon recovery, she returned to The Clinics in 2002 ready to serve again. By 2003, she was again working her 50-60 hours per week resulting in services provided to 400 families – affecting not only those individuals, but generations to come.

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Youth Organization: Virginia State Parks Youth Conservation Corps, Woodbridge
The Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) engages young people to complete a series of environmental projects which, ultimately, allow them to serve their community and learn values and skills. The projects, which vary from park to park, include wildlife and environmental restoration and preservation, foliage restoration, water quality testing, removal of non-native plants and weeds, watershed work, nursery management, landscaping, mapping, surveying, recycling, and other community improvements. In 2007 alone, the YCC committed more than 69,000 hours to improving the state parks for visitors. Each crew member dedicated 120 volunteer hours to the parks, with crew supervisors serving 180 hours. The YCC targets a broad cross-section of youth, including the economically disadvantaged, college bound high school students, and disabled. Upon completion of the program, youth show increased work and organizational skills, interest in the environment, and citizenship. Since 2002, the program in Virginia has grown from six programs to 23 programs in 2007.

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Youth Volunteer: Kaitlin Gastrock, Mechanicsville
Kaitlin Gastrock, a junior at Atlee High School in Hanover County, has used her love of reading to touch the lives of others in her community. At the Ashland Branch Library, Kaitlin used the Always Reading for Fun (ARFF) program to create, acquire funding, and facilitate five sessions for children with lower than average literacy scores. Employing a variety of techniques -- including reading aloud, role playing, making crafts and singing -- she was able to engage the children and improve their skills. She also worked with younger children at Whitcomb Elementary School in Richmond through a program that focused on literacy and gardening. In addition to her literacy volunteerism, Kaitlin is also involved with her community through her church, serving with CARITAS, involvement with 4-H, and as a Beta Club member and Honor Society member at her school. By sharing her own experiences, talents, and enthusiasm, she has helped to open new doors for the children whose lives she has touched.

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