Wednesday, January 14, 2004

By Adrian McCoy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Courtrooms can be emotionally charged and stressful places, especially for children. That's why the National Council of Jewish Women/Pittsburgh Section established several children's playrooms in the Downtown civil and criminal courthouses, so that kids have a safe and stress-free place to wait while their families deal with court-related business.

	Joan Levy reads to a youngster in the Children's Waiting Room for juvenile/family court. (John Beale, Post-Gazette)

Joan Levy has donated countless hours as chairperson of the Jane B. Lobl Children's Waiting Room in juvenile/family court. She works there two days a week, and is a reassuring adult figure to kids whose lives are often in chaos.

For her long-term commitment to an often challenging project, Levy is among this year's Community Champions being honored with a Jefferson Award. The prize is given by the American Institute for Public Service and is considered the nation's top award for volunteers.

Levy has devoted her career to young children. She taught kindergarten in the Pittsburgh Public Schools for 25 years at Arsenal and Madison elementary schools.

A native of Steubenville, Ohio, Levy moved to Pittsburgh in 1951 when she married and raised a family -- she has two grown daughters, one son, and seven grandchildren.

"We're a family of volunteers," she says.

	This is the sixth of seven profiles of Jefferson Award winners. Previous articles Larry D. Davis: His fathering instincts set a precedent (1/13/04) Alice Kulikowski: Ex-nun brings discipline, heart to construction projects (1/10/04) Dr. Randall Kolb: Tending to homeless is rewarding to doctor (1/8/04) Terri Watson: Hard-working volunteer isn't slowed by disability (1/7/04) Holly McGraw: Her creative ways made Duquesne students achieve (1/6/04) The 2003 Jefferson Awards: Seven winners honored for their public service (1/4/04)

Her husband, Maurice Levy, is a volunteer at the Carnegie Library's Music Room, where he has worked on an oral history project devoted to Pittsburgh music and musicians.

Joan Levy's domain, the Juvenile/Family court children's Waiting Room, is a kind of an oasis in the middle of the court system. Tots run around the spacious rooms, which are decorated with bright colors and kids' artwork.

Allegheny County provides the space and some funding for the playrooms. But the driving force is the NCJW, which established the project, collected the toys and other donations, and runs the day-to-day operations. As part of the Jefferson Award, the Jewish Healthcare Foundation is donating $1,000 in Levy's honor to the NCJW project.

The Children's Waiting Room for family court opened in 1979 and a second room opened at the former juvenile court building in Oakland in 1990. In 2000, when juvenile court moved Downtown, the two combined, moving to a larger space in the Court of Common Pleas. Since then, two smaller children's rooms have opened in criminal court and Municipal Court.

Named in memory of Jane Lobl, one of the project's first co-chairs, the family court playroom is open weekdays when courts are in session. Parents don't have to pay a fee for the child care. There are toys and games, a play kitchen and arts and crafts activities. For older children, there are computers, video games and books; the multimedia room was funded by a grant from the late family court lawyer Earl Cohen.

The kids get lunch and snacks, and at the end of their stay, each is given a book suited to his or her age group to take home.

The rooms accommodate a wide age range -- from infants to teens. Some days there are as many as 35 to 40 kids, others only 10 or 12. The number depends on how many judges are hearing cases that day.

In the early 1980s, Levy read an article about the opening of the family court room and thought she might like to volunteer there one day.

"When I retired, people said to me, 'You'll never want to go back to being with kids again.' And I said, 'There's no way I can stay away.' "

She started in 1991, volunteering one day a week. She was soon offered the chance to be chairperson for the project. She initially turned it down.

"I thought it was too much responsibility. However, here I am, 12 years later. So I'm hooked on it."

It's an unpaid job but a complicated one that requires skill and discretion as well as love for children. Most of the families are involved in dependence and delinquency cases in juvenile court, or custody and child support disputes in family court.

"It's a very volatile kind of situation. Everyone isn't always able to react as they normally would," says Children's Room director Ellen Siegel. "The staff and volunteers are trained to handle these kinds of situations."

Those situations echo with the children. The challenge for Levy and the other volunteers is to create a happy and secure place for them.

"Some of them want to talk" about what's happening in their families, Levy says. While volunteers don't counsel, they can listen -- which sometimes is all the child wants.

Like any good volunteer, Levy says that what she gives is returned to her many times over.

"I've been able to provide a comforting situation for these children. I go home with a warm feeling if I can handle a child who didn't want to come in here. I always tell the parents to give me 10 minutes. Most of the time, in 10 minutes, I have that child playing."

"Joan embodies the qualities of the ultimate volunteer. She is conscientious, committed and humble," says Florence Schneider, a child therapist and former volunteer coordinator who nominated Levy.

Levy also donates time to other worthy causes. She's a volunteer at Family House, which provides housing in Oakland for families who need to stay long term to be near relatives in one of the area's hospitals. She's active in Race for the Cure and NCJW's Silent Witness project, which raises awareness about domestic violence and provides women with information on how to get help.

She does manage to have spare time, in which she enjoys knitting, reading, theater and regular aerobics classes.

There's often turnover within volunteer-driven organizations, but Levy has been a constant presence for more than a decade, says Siegel.

"She's a wonderful sounding board when we discuss things that go on," she says. "I trust her judgment implicitly."

Anyone interested in volunteering in the Children's Room can call 412-350-4588. Staff and volunteers are required to have state clearances to work in the playrooms.

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