Finalists see duty to help others

Date: June 20, 2007
By: Julie Edgar
Source: Detroit Free Press

GOVERNOR REWARDS VOLUNTEERS' EFFORTS
Awards ceremony tonight in Detroit

Gov. Jennifer Granholm will honor citizens tonight who have given back to Michigan by volunteering.

The annual awards dinner starts at 7 p.m. at the Fox Theatre in Detroit.

Four individual awards, a corporate award and three philanthropist awards will be given.

"Nobody does this to get recognition, but it's nice to be recognized," said Mary Grill, director of communication for the Michigan Community Service Commission.

Eight metro Detroit people have been nominated for individual awards. The Free Press profiled four of them on Tuesday. To read about them, go to www.freep.com. Here are the remaining local finalists for the individual award:

Teen helps at hospital

In the gift shop at Oakwood Heritage Hospital in Taylor, Bridget Gaitor spends part of her weekend volunteering when others her age would rather spend the day hanging out with friends.

The Taylor teen not only volunteers at the gift shop, but she also canvasses doctors' offices for donations of magazines to give to patients.

"I wanted to go out and help people -- not just the people I knew, the people in the community," said the 17-year-old recent graduate of Harry S Truman High School in Taylor who is nominated for the youth volunteer award. "I believe you're supposed to give back."

One of her earliest acts of helping others was organizing book drives when she was a student at Nolan Middle School in Detroit.

Bridget donated collected books to the school library and the Detroit Public Library.

In the past, she has worked with young children at the Boys and Girls Club in Romulus and spearheaded Drug Free Taylor Day through the Oakwood Taylor Teen Health Center.

Last year, she served as president of the African-American Teen Leadership Council at her high school. Her advice to other teens who may be considering volunteering: Do it.

"They should really get into it," she said. "It fulfills a lot. You get to meet a lot of new people, learn a lot of new things."

By Cecil Angel

Senior was helped himself

For more than half his life, Herman Dooha has been a volunteer.

And the 84-year-old from Detroit continues to do so.

For at least 50 years, he has given his time to social welfare and economic organizations. Currently, he is board president for the Citizens for Better Care, a Detroit-based nonprofit with offices around the state that advocates for long-term, quality care for people who need it.

He said giving back is important to him because of all that he received as a teen living on welfare during the Great Depression.

"I think I have an obligation to do what I can to assist people" and "to motivate people to fulfill their full potential."

For most of his life, Dooha has worked in the accounting field for companies and organizations such as New Detroit and the Detroit Economic Growth Corp. He also is a board member for Simon House, a Detroit nonprofit that provides housing for homeless women who have AIDS and their children.

Dooha, nominated for the senior volunteer award, is the widower of former Detroit City Councilwoman Maryann Mahaffey, who served the city for more than 30 years until 2005.

By Bowdeya Tweh

Idea catches on with others

A conversation with her daughter sparked an idea in Clarkston resident Kimberly Viazanko: Create a program so children, even those as young as 5, can help the community through service projects.

"I was born to do this," said Viazanko, 44.

And now, four years later, the program -- Serving Our Community Kid Style, or SOCKS -- has resulted in her nomination for the Exemplary Volunteer Service Award, something that embarrasses and pleases the full-time mom of three.

SOCKS debuted in Independence Elementary School -- which all of Viazanko's children attended -- and has spread to the rest of Clarkston Community Schools and even to schools in Ohio and Colorado through word-of-mouth.

Some SOCKS projects include baking 1,200 muffins for Meals on Wheels and making fleece blankets for Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak.

It was supposed to be a small, one-time thing, but Viazanko said that after the initial SOCKS effort in 2004, it was so popular that it continued to grow.

So far, more than 2,300 students and teachers have participated. Viazanko estimates that more than 2,500 people in the community have benefited.

By Korie Wilkins

Committed to her cause

For her hands-on commitment to many social causes, particularly her work on behalf of people with Alzheimer's disease and their caregivers, former WKBD-TV (Channel 50) newswoman Amyre Makupson has been nominated for the governor's Exemplary Volunteer Service Award.

Makupson, 58, a Southfield mother of two, was nominated by the Alzheimer's Association of Michigan, where she has served on the board for 20 years. The organization helped her when her mother was diagnosed with the disease.

"I've been fortunate my entire life," Makupson said. "For some reason, I knew it and I always reached out," she said. "If I have time, what's wrong with trying to make it easier for someone else?

"On the selfish end, I believe there's a heaven, and I believe I'll be rewarded."

By Julie Edgar