That's the success story of Dawn Alvarez, the May 1994 Achiever of the Month. It was May 11, 1993 that Alvarez first attended an orientation at Monroe County DSS and made an appointment with the volunteer services coordinator. She registered as a volunteer just one week later and two weeks after that having arranged for child care, she began her service as a local office volunteer.

By the end of May, she was volunteering 30 to 40 hours a week and by September she was a lead volunteer, keeping tabs on the monthly reports of up to 15 other registered volunteers. In January 1994, Alvarez enrolled at Monroe County Community College, taking classes in beginning typing and review of punctuation and grammar. She continued to spend 20 hours a week at DSS as a special volunteer assigned to the director's secretary.

Alvarez has now finished one semester of college and is working two jobs - one at a shoe store in a Toledo mall and the other with the Michigan State University Cooperative Extension Service.