Governor Granholm Honors 2010 Michigan Volunteers

"Michigan's volunteers give of their time and talent without thought of praise or recognition," said Governor Granholm. "Volunteers are making a real difference in their communities. Recognizing them for their efforts is a simple way of thanking them for their commitment to service and honoring their accomplishments across the state."

The Chenille Sisters, one of the state's finest acts, joined the Governor and First Gentleman Daniel G. Mulhern in honoring the nominees. The Governor's Service Awards were made possible only through the generous contributions of corporate sponsors. The 2010 major contributors included: Acheson Ventures, Comcast, Comer Holdings, Consumers Energy, Council of Michigan Foundations, Delta Dental, DTE Energy, Ford Motor Company Fund, General Motors Company, Hagerty Insurance, Hudson Weber, MASCO Corporation Foundation, Mawby Family Fund, Meijer, Michigan Nonprofit Association, Oakwood Health System, Quicken Loans, State Farm Insurance Company, and W.K. Kellogg Foundation. 

In addition to the awards, Olivet College, a private liberal arts institution in south central Michigan, presented all five finalists for the Youth Volunteer of the Year category with a Community Responsibility Scholarship valued at $6,000 per year renewable for four years. This unique scholarship program is designed to reward students for responsibility, community service, civic engagement, and volunteerism.

The Governor's Service Awards recipients were selected from finalists in eight award categories.  Friends, relatives, and colleagues submitted more than 130 nominations to pay tribute to individuals, organizations, and businesses who exemplify the spirit of volunteer service. An objective peer review panel and the board of the Michigan Community Service Commission, the organization that manages the event, selected the finalists and winners.

The Governor's Service Awards are presented annually to individuals, businesses, and organizations to acknowledge their commitment to solving community issues through volunteerism. Eight awards were presented in the following categories:

, which is the most prestigious of the Governor's Service Awards, was presented to Kenneth Whipple of Bloomfield HillsGovernor George Romney Lifetime Achievement Award for VolunteerismThe The award honors an individual who has demonstrated a lifelong commitment to community involvement and volunteer service. Kenneth has served the citizens of Michigan for more than 50 years. The former Ford Motor Company executive and current CMS Energy chairman of the board began volunteering during the 1960s with the former United Foundation of Detroit (now known as United Way) - an organization Kenneth is still actively involved with today. In the 1970s, he helped increase Ford's employee giving campaign with United Way while in the 1980s he served with Business Leaders for Michigan, Detroit Public Television, and Metropolitan Affairs Corporation. During that time Kenneth also served with the Michigan Economic Education Council, the National Joint Council on Economic Education, and the Detroit Festival of Arts. During the 1990s, he joined the boards of Detroit Country Day School and Oakland Family Services. In the past few decades he has also dedicated himself to health issues; including serving with the Alzheimer's Association, the American Heart Association, and the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center. Kenneth has served on numerous boards and councils as part of his long-time service commitment and is focused on providing thousands of Michigan residents with better lives.

.

The Corporate Community Leader Award was presented to This award honors businesses that demonstrate excellent corporate citizenship by giving back to their community through corporate volunteer programs, monetary contributions, in-kind gifts, and employee-driven volunteer service. Coleman Engineering Company has improved the lives of their neighbors since they were founded in 1969. Employees have provided help to various community-based organizations and nonprofits in the form of in-kind services and volunteer hours. Approximately 50 percent of the entire company volunteers through blood and donation drives and service projects. Staff and company leaders are also actively involved in local planning boards and city councils and church and school boards. Noteworthy contributions from Coleman have included the creation of the Keye's Peak Ski Hill, the Veterans War Memorial in Iron Mountain, and Vision2020; a local community development program aimed at eliminating poverty and improving the livability of local neighborhoods through community action. This particular project has leveraged various resources, including grants and in-kind donations from other community groups.

.Coleman Engineering Company of Iron Mountain

The Mentor of the Year award was presented to Tyrone Burrell of Port Huron.

 Despite touching so many other young people's lives, Tyrone still makes time for weekly visits with Donta and their long-standing mentoring relationship. This award honors an individual who has made a significant difference in a child's life over time through mentoring. Tyrone is the founder and director of Save Our Neighborhoods & Streets (SONS) Ministry, which provides organized recreation, tutoring, counseling, and leadership training to members of the community. Through his organization, Tyrone also serves as a mentor to many of the area's youth, including Donta. A young man he met nearly five years ago, Donta came to SONS Ministry to join the basketball league and wound up with a mentor in Tyrone. Over the years, he has encouraged Donta to become a leader in the community, helped him pursue his education, and assisted him in his employment efforts. Tyrone has also impacted more than 200 Port Huron youth through SONS Ministry in a variety of ways.

The This award honors an extraordinary mentoring program or organization that provides high-quality mentoring with significant results for children in Michigan. CASA is a mentoring program that serves at-risk elementary school students during the academic year and throughout the summer. Launched in 1987 and located on the campus of Hope College, many of the program's volunteer mentors are college students. This relationship is two-fold as it provides the mentors with a high level of community engagement and provides the youth involved with a dynamic environment geared towards higher education. CASA matches, currently consisting of 123 mentors and 123 mentees, meet twice a week where they focus on academics and personal enrichment. CASA's collaboration with local schools, Hope College, and the community provides these children with the education, skills, and attitudes necessary to become successful students and leaders. The proof is in the outcomes; with program youth exhibiting an 80 percent retention rate from year to year and 91 percent of teachers indicating CASA helps their students do better in school.

Award was presented to CASA - Children's After School Achievement in Holland. Outstanding Mentoring Program

The Outstanding Volunteer Program Award was presented to Kids' Food Basket in Grand Rapids This award acknowledges the importance an organization or club makes in community life. Kids' Food Basket strives to ensure children in the community don't go to bed hungry. Launched in 2001, the organization provides healthy, tasty, efficient, and cost-effective sack suppers to children who are nutritionally at risk. More than 3,000 volunteers help Kids' Food Basket achieve its mission, assembling evening meals, creating recognition projects for donors, picking up food, making sandwiches, performing administrative duties, packaging trail mix, delivering evening meals "sack suppers," and much more! In 2009 alone, volunteers contributed more than 23,000 hours of service to Kids' Food Basket - which allowed the organization to serve more than 2,000 kids each day. The program's volunteerism rate alone has increased by 45 percent in the past year, allowing more and more young people to be served every day. Kids' Food Basket believes no child should go hungry, especially during these difficult economic times and works hard every day to ensure that doesn't happen.

.

The Senior Volunteer of the Year    This award honors a senior citizen who has taken action to make her or his community a better place to live. Dorothy has devoted her life to ensuring all children, regardless of race, income, or family circumstance, are given a chance to reach their potential. She has done so both in her professional career as an educator and as a community volunteer. While working with Kalamazoo Public Schools for 35 years, Dorothy provided a safe, nurturing, and intellectually stimulating environment for her students. Now, as a volunteer, she has dedicated herself to such efforts as Kalamazoo Promise and Community Advocates for Parents and Students (CAPS) - a grassroots, volunteer organization that strives to enhance student preparation for college and career opportunities by providing academic support and promoting parent participation. Dorothy's involvement with CAPS has allowed her to work with countless public school youth to help them prepare for the future. On top of that, she has given additional time to Push for Learning, the Saturday Eves Book Club, the Northside Association for Education Advancement, and the NAACP.

.Dorothy Young of Kalamazoo ward was presented toa

This award honors an individual who strives to improve the lives of neighbors, friends, community, or congregation. Kimberly has had a long history of volunteerism - dating back to her years in high school and college. During that time she sought out volunteer opportunities, including donation drives and assisting at area nursing homes and physical therapy centers. Now as a 10-year employee of Comcast, Kimberly has continued to give back to the community. She has dedicated herself to her company's corporate volunteerism program, Comcast Cares, since 2001. She has served as a Comcast Cares Day volunteer coordinator; helping to implement projects benefitting neighborhoods, nonprofits, and/or schools. Kimberly has also given time as part of the annual United Way campaign team for Comcast, participated in the March of Dimes Walk America and March for Babies, served at the Shelter of Flint, and assisted with the American Cancer Society Notes to Neighbors Campaign. In recent years, Kimberly has given more than 1,350 hours of recorded community service and helped raise thousands of dollars for various causes. The Volunteer of the Year award was presented to Kimberly Vernon of Flint.

The Youth Volunteer of the Year award was presented to Donavan McKinney of Detroit.

This award honors individuals who are 21 or younger who have already begun making a significant difference in their community by volunteering. Donovan is a senior at Renaissance High School. This young man has committed himself to service, despite challenges faced in his own life - including living without the basic necessities he strives to provide for others. For the past few years Donavan has been actively involved with his school's buildOn program, of which he is now the President. buildOn is a nonprofit organization that runs after-school service programs aimed at engaging students in local projects. In the past two years, Donavan has split his time volunteering with buildOn and City Year opportunities in the Detroit area - contributing more than 900 hours in total. He has devoted hours to several other organizations as well, such as Detroit Veterans Center, Gleaners Food Bank, Hush House, and others. His service has afforded him many opportunities, including traveling to Nicaragua for an international buildOn project and representing the organization and City of Detroit on the Today Show.

received Community Foundation Awards for Philanthropy. This award honors an individual or couple for service as both a volunteer trustee and donor to one or more community foundations to help grow community philanthropy.Lucas Pfeiffenberger of Alpena and Richard Groos of HastingsTwo other special awards were also presented.

###

BACKGROUND

builds a culture of service by providing vision and resources to strengthen communities through volunteerism. In 2009-10, the MCSC is granting more than $8.5 million in federal funds to local communities for volunteer programs and activities. The MCSC is funding 19 AmeriCorps programs and 20 Learn and Serve programs. The Governor's Service Awards and Mentor Michigan are also premier programs of the MCSC. The MCSC is housed in the Michigan Department of Human Services, whose mission is to assist children, families, and vulnerable adults to be safe, stable, and self-supporting. The Corporation for National and Community Service grants the federal funding the MCSC administers.   The Michigan Community Service Commission

Photos of the winners receiving their awards will be available after 9:00 a.m. on Friday, June 25, 2010. Please contact Elyse V. Walter at (517)241-0063 (office) or (269)845-2227.