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Sunday, January 05, 2003

By Cristina Rouvalis, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

For most of us, the notion of a good deed is helping out a friend or writing a check to charity. Then we get back to our harried lives.

But there are those people who somehow find time to tirelessly help strangers in need. They are the recipients of what is considered the Nobel Prize of volunteering -- the Jefferson Award.

These seven local volunteers will be among the pool of 2002 Jefferson Award honorees selected in 73 markets across the country. One of the seven will represent this area at a ceremony in the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., in June.

The southwestern Pennsylvania program is sponsored by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, AT&T Broadband and Eat'n Park Restaurants, with help from the United Way.

This year's Jefferson Award recipients were chosen from among 47 Community Champions, who were nominated by the public and the nonprofit sector. They were featured in public service ads last year in the PG and on AT&T cable stations.

The Jefferson Award winners will receive a medallion and $1,000 for the nonprofit organization of their choice. At 7 p.m. Jan. 23, they will be recognized at an awards presentation in Carnegie Music Hall, Oakland.

Here is a snapshot of the many ways in which the 2002 Jefferson Award recipients are helping others.

Follow the links in each summary below to the full story for each winner:

Helping youth and children

At an age when many students are me-oriented, Jessica Gipson, 18, has packed in hundreds of hours of volunteer work. (Go to article)

	Jessica Gipson

She has volunteered for America's Promise, the United Way Youth Days of Caring and has organized activities for the Pediatric AIDS Awareness Committee at Upper St. Clair High School and been a Big Sister. The teenager didn't just pad her resume with volunteer work to get into college. Now a freshman at New York University studying special education, Gipson is setting up a chapter of Caring for Kids 101, a program that lets college students raise money for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. "It's weird saying volunteer because I love it so much," she said.

The Grable Family Foundation is donating $1,000 to the Pediatric AIDS Awareness Committee of Upper St. Clair High School in Gipson's name.

Caring for the dying

Jean Robinson shows up at her volunteer job at Forbes Hospice at 7 a.m., two hours before many volunteers. (Go to article)

	Jean Robinson

"Nothing interferes with my volunteer work there," she said, referring to her 23 years of service with terminally ill patients. Robinson, a mother of three and grandmother of 13, bathes dying patients, changes their nightgowns and linens, and calms their fears. While many people might find this work depressing, Robinson finds a joy in reassuring and reaffirming people in the final stage of their lives. "She does it all in a spiritual way," said a Forbes administrator.

PNC Bank Foundation is donating $1,000 to Forbes Hospice in Robinson's name.

Improving the quality of juvenile justice

Whenever you read stats about juvenile justice in this country, chances are they came from the National Center for Juvenile Justice. (Go to article)

	Maurice B. Cohill Jr.

It's the Pittsburgh-based leading juvenile research center that Senior U.S. District Judge Maurice B. Cohill Jr. established in 1973. He's been the chairman of the board of this organization that crunches numbers, provides technical help for the nation's family courts and does legal research on juvenile issues. Cohill, 73, still volunteers there, putting in about 40 hours a month. Before he was appointed a federal judge, Cohill was a juvenile court judge, and he still has a soft spot for youth.

Reed Smith is donating $1,000 to the National Center for Juvenile Justice in Cohill's name.

Mentoring and job training for youth

Grace Robinson is the founder of Tomorrow's Future Inc., a mentoring, entrepreneurial and job-training program for teens. (Go to article)

	Grace Robinson

"The bottom line is we have to groom kids so they get a foot in the door," she said. To that end, the six-week program provides sessions such as communications, business writing and dressing for success. Robinson developed her youth program as a way to give back to the community after her own 10 years in business. She knows all about perseverance. She was the first African-American woman in Western Pennsylvania to own and operate a State Farm Insurance agency.

Duquesne Light is donating $1,000 to Tomorrow's Future Inc. in Robinson's name.

Helping incarcerated women and their families

Mary Harwick is known as the Eveready Lady at Lydia's Place, a Downtown nonprofit that works with incarcerated women and their families. (Go to article)

	Mary Harwick

That is because she is always ready to help. Harwick, 67, a Mt. Lebanon resident who is a board member and longtime volunteer for Lydia's Place, is a tireless ally and friend who teaches parenting skills and anger management to women who are in jail. She stands by them even if they falter when out and return to jail. At Christmastime, she coordinated a party for the 285 women in jail, getting them gifts that were put into envelopes, which her grandchildren colored since wrapped packages can't go into the jail.

FISA Foundation will donate $1,000 to Lydia's Place in Harwick's name.

Organizing history

Jonathan Halpern, a seasoned volunteer for a number of causes, started working at the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania in 1994, and has a heck of a history there. (Go to article)

	Jonathan Halpern

The 40-year-old Greenfield resident has set up databases, including one that helps the society track usage of its library and archives. He also has helped organize vast quantities of material, including the Samuel Musgrave photo negative collection, a project that took him 14 months.

The Jewish Healthcare Foundation is donating $1,000 in Halpern's name to the Western Pennsylvania Historical Society.

Helping Colombian orphans

The social unrest in Cali, Colombia, is a long way from the Duquesne University office of Richard Spear. (Go to article)

	Richard Spear

But Spear, the university's intramural director, has raised money for the 110 girls living in the Cali Orphanage for Girls. Spear spends at least 10 hours a week fund raising for the orphanage and has funded a dormitory, a bakery, three classrooms, a septic tank and other facilities. He cares so much about the orphaned girls that he travels to Colombia frequently.

William J. Green and Associates is donating $1,000 in Spear's name to the Cali Orphanage for Girls.

Cristina Rouvalis can be reached at crouvalis@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1572.