Tag Archives: volunteering

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Y Gives Three Families a Christmas

One of the greatest ways to honor our loved ones is to continue the good that they did after they are gone. That’s what the family of Sarah Tolbert did this holiday season, after she passed away unexpectedly earlier this year.

Mrs. Tolbert was a tireless volunteer for the Detroit Leadership Academy; principal Julian Roper was like an adopted son to her, and daughter Terri Mial leads programs for the Metropolitan Youth Y. Starting in 2010, Mrs. Tolbert asked Julian to choose a family or two that her family could adopt, instead of over-buying for the children in their own family. This year, as a way to honor their mother, the Tolbert-Mial family adopted one family on their own, and the teens from the MY-Y program adopted two others.

“I don’t know if people have some sort of inkling that there is a last thing they need to do before they aren’t here anymore,” Terri says, “This is something she wanted us to do and we wouldn’t have it another way.”

The teens raised money from a Christmas store at the school where students could buy gifts for their parents, and also through restaurant fundraisers and other activities. Members of Mial’s family also donated goods to the Christmas store to help raise money — her aunt created 10 holiday centerpieces, for example.

The Tolbert-Mial family adopted the Darden family. Not only is their mother working to overcome financial hard times, but she has taken other children into her home who were not being properly cared for. The other families that were adopted were the Anderson family, whose mother is a dedicated volunteer at DLA and very engaged in her children’s education, and the Johnson family, who lost their mother tragically this year and were taken in by their grandmother.

All three families were presented with their gifts at the MY-Y’s Holiday Harvest party, where  the teens and the Tolbert-Mial family could meet the families they helped.

Being able to carry on her mother’s work has been comforting to Terri during her first holiday season without her mother, who she describes as her best friend and the person who taught her about the importance of giving gracefully. “It means a lot to me — if nothing else she taught me to be a giver. She was really, really big on the idea that people who were less fortunate felt important too.”

Giving to others helps her feel connected to her mother, even though she’s no longer here, Terri says. “She was one of matriarchs of my family, and whatever she says pretty much goes,” she says. “I still know what the expectation is, if she’s there or not.  I just know she sees.”

 

 

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A Lifetime of Helping Others

Phil Lawicki is only 32, but he has spent much of his life helping others. It began when he was 13 or 14 and would meet his sister Jennifer, who has severe cerebral palsy, at the school bus. Both his parents worked, so he would come straight home after school, help get her off the bus and into the house, and sometimes even make her dinner.

“I just love her to pieces,” says Phil, who describes himself as very family-oriented. He even repeated his senior year of high school when his family had to move in order to get Jennifer into a safer high school. “I would do it again in a minute for her,” he says.

He did eventually head off to a technical college in Plainwell, outside Kalamazoo. However, a streak of bad luck combined with the recession meant he struggled to find a job he could keep. He needed something to do and dropped off a resume at the Livonia YMCA.

“Julie (volunteer coordinator Julie Allen) called, and it literally saved my life,” he says. He’s an important part of the Y now, helping with laundry and some maintenance tasks. “I started two weeks before Christmas last year, and I have never been happier,” he says. For her part, Julie says “When I thank Phil for his attitude and dedication, he thanks me.”

Phil still helps care for his sister, and enjoys watching hockey and working with electronics in his spare time. He’s also quite likely the only volunteer at the Livonia Y to have served lunch to Bill Clinton.

He took a cooking class in high school, as, he admits with a smile, a way to meet girls. During his reelection campaign, Clinton visited his school and had lunch there. Phil, with his outgoing personality, was selected to greet the president and serve him lunch. Clinton shook his hand and tipped Phil a dollar. “I told everyone, hey, he puts his pants on one leg at a time just like us,” he says, adding, “The difference is, when he’s doing it he’s running the country.”

Phil has found the Y a very welcoming place. “I love it…it’s a great place, and I encourage everyone to join,” he says.

 

 

 

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Y Achievers Alum Sets Shining Example

When you’re a kid in inner-city Detroit, it can be hard to see the path between where you are and the life you would like to live. Demetrious Broughton has walked that path with the help of the Metro Youth Y, and now he’s reaching back to help kids just like him find their own way. He was recently profiled on Fox 2 News’ Redefining Detroit series.

Demetrious found the Y Minority Achievers program (now called the Future Professionals Program) at a church in his east-side Detroit neighborhood. He had dreams of college and a career, but was  not sure exactly how he was going to achieve them. Finding his leadership skills at the Y helped him determine his path.

“What kind of changed my mindset around was that we did a lot of volunteering,” he says. “That really touched me, seeing the product from it and uplifting the community.”

He also did lots of workshops there that allowed him a glimpse into the world of professional work, and grew to know and look up to the staff. “My community there was kind of like a family,” he says. He was especially influenced by Jocelyn Boyd, whose own path to success was one he could relate to. “She was one who really believed in me,” he says. “If I didn’t meet her I’m not sure I’d have the the opportunities I had. She shared with us her life, and she provided me with opportunities to be able to shine and excel.”

After his freshman year at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, he got a call from his friends at the Y. Harman International, a maker of sound and entertainment systems for cars, wanted to offer internships to inner-city youth and asked the Y for help. Demetrious was asked to be the first one. “I knew I was in a  fish bowl …I had to keep moving forward, and I had to show up on time.” To that end, he caught the bus at 5 a..m. for his commute, which was two hours each way by bus.

“I knew the YMCA had trusted me to do this right, so then other kids were able to come and I was going to be a role model,” he says. “The other thing that fueled me was that I had to represent my home and my family well …mainly the people that drove me were my YMCA family, and being a new representation for a new generation.”

Harman was impressed, and eventually hired Demetrious as a software engineer. He is now married to his college sweetheart, who is a math teacher, and they have a baby on the way. He volunteers with the students in Future Professionals, where his example shows them how a kid just like them grew up to be a successful young man. But he doesn’t want them to be just like him; instead he wants them to define themselves, not be defined by what others think of their neighborhood, their city or their school.

“I want to give kids hope,” he says. “I tell them, ‘I don’t want you to be Demetrious, I want you to pass and surpass me,” he says.

 

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Volunteer Brings Skills to Y

Some people use retirement as an excuse to slow down. Not Lori DeMineo. The retired teacher and powerhouse Y volunteer was recently honored as the North Oakland YMCA’s Volunteer of the Year.

She’s been volunteering at the Y for about seven years now, she says. She originally came to the Y thinking she’d volunteer with wellness programs, but instead they put her right to work using her expertise as a high school business teacher to update and organize their files. To put it mildly, they needed her crack organizational skills, she says.

She’s done lots of other things, such as organizing the annual Halloween party, and has become an important source of advice and help for the business staff.

“They know if they ask me a question about business, I’ll give it my best go…I am performing something that they need …we need each other,” she says.

In explaining why they chose Lori as volunteer of the year, Y staff wrote, “She is the type of person who immediately lights up the room with her presence, smile, and willingness to greet everyone upon arrival. Her lists of accomplishments are just the tip of the iceberg, as she possess unlimited intangibles that express her true heart…a servant leader for people.”

She especially likes the young volunteers that come over from Oakland University, adjacent to the North Oakland Y’s building. As a teacher for so many years, she relates well to the younger people and enjoys interacting with them.

When she’s not at the Y, Lori is visiting friends, gardening, or cheering on the Tigers. She also takes tai chi and swims at the Y.

She’s a strong believer in staying as active as you can for as long as you can, and her energetic, open personality is a testament to that idea.

“I am 75 and still going strong,” she says, “I’ll be there as long as I can still stand up and get there.”

 

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Volunteering Broadens Teen’s World

To Meaghan Schiffler, the world is bigger than just her family, her school, her city. The high school junior from Holland has been volunteering with her family since she was very young. This past summer, she took it to a new level with two stints in the Plymouth YMCA’s Youth Volunteer Corps.

Meaghan had a personal connection to the program — her older sister, Ashleigh, directs the metro Detroit Girls on the Run program headquartered in the Plymouth Y.  Meaghan was visiting her sister this summer for a week, and Ashleigh wanted her to have something rewarding to do while she was working during the day. Youth Volunteer Corps was a perfect fit.

“I’ve seen Ashleigh go off into the Peace Corps, which I thought was really cool,” Meaghan says. “With YVC I got to go off and volunteer on my own too. It helped me see that I can make a difference myself.”

Meaghan worked with other teens at the Matthei Botanical Gardens in Ann Arbor, at a community garden in Detroit, and at a Gleaners warehouse. They also made recycled art pieces that will hang throughout Downtown Detroit.

Meaghan really loved the experience of volunteering for the first time in Detroit, she says, and it allowed her to broaden her horizons in a way volunteering around her hometown did not. “I think having that experience helped me advocate with other people to go somewhere new and not just stay in my little world,” she says.

She liked it so much, as a matter of fact, that she returned for another week later in the summer. She’d had hip surgery right after her first stint, and came back as soon as she was off crutches.

Meaghan said she met several people who had an impact on her, but found a true role model in YVC leader Heather Jones. A recent college graduate, Heather was old enough to have authority with the YVC group but young enough to relate to them, Meaghan says. “I loved her point of view on everything –she was very open and had a lot of positive energy.”

Meaghan wants to perhaps start a similar program in Holland — and she plans on coming back to volunteer with YVC next summer.