Dallas Woman Who Designed Way to Help Children’s Caseworkers Among ‘Points of Light’

Following are the people and organizations that have most recently been named to receive President Bush’s Daily Points of Light Award. The Points of Light Foundation, a Washington charity, assists the president in making the choices and carrying out the award program. More information about the award winners and the program is available at the foundation’s Web site, http://pointsoflight.org, or by contacting the foundation at 1400 I Street, N.W., Suite 800, Washington, D.C. 20005; (202) 729-8184.

The recipients:

1888. Ronald Mecham, Smithfield, Utah, who became an advocate for blind and visually impaired individuals after his own deteriorating eyesight forced him to retire; Mr. Mecham has served on the Utah Blind Consumer Council, the Orrin Hatch Committee for Persons with Disabilities, and the Advisory Council to the School for the Blind.

1889. Brett White, Frametown, W.Va., a high-school student who founded the West Virginia Youth Service Initiative and coordinated a statewide food drive.

1890. Bonnie Harlow, Forney, Tex., who for the last 10 years has volunteered as a librarian at the Notre Dame School for children who have developmental disabilities.

1891. Broward County Association of Student Councils, Plantation, Fla., which sponsors student community-service activities such as Beach Clean-Up Broward and Babes in Bookland, a campaign to collect books and donations for low-income families.

1892. Sister Sharon Rambin, Shreveport, La., who led the Sisters of Our Lady of Sorrows’ effort to establish the Renzi Education and Art Center for after-school youth programs.

1893. New Birth Baptist Church, Dallas, whose members have conducted a Bible study and discussion group at the Dallas County Juvenile Department’s Detention Center for 10 years.

1894. Hedy Martin, Phoenix, who has taught literacy skills and English as a second language classes and has prepared students to take high-school equivalency tests through the Literacy Volunteers of Maricopa County since 1989.

1895. Thomas Duffy, Scranton, Pa., who sat atop a billboard for 24 hours to promote a fund raiser for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and the group Families of SMA; more recently, Mr. Duffy spent 36 hours on the JVC globe in New York City’s Times Square to raise funds for and awareness of the disease.

1896. Carol Christopher, Monroe, La., who founded, directs, and volunteers for Our House, a safe house for runaway teenagers.

1897. Operation: Leadership Bootcamp, Tucson, an after-school program in which Air Force instructors from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base lead middle-school students in community-service activities designed to build self-esteem and instill youngsters with a sense of purpose.

1898. Emy Lou Baldridge, Dallas, whose service at the Chance Center for Abused and Neglected Children from 1987 to 1995 led her to create the Dallas Community Partners, which offers programs and support to ease the caseload of children’s caseworkers. At the request of thenTexas first lady Laura Bush, the program was duplicated in 1996 at the state level as the Greater Texas Community Partners.

1899. Rachael Opdyke, Shawnee, Kan., who created Project Hope and Enrichment, an intergenerational program that brings elderly and young people together for social activities and events such as dances and fishing contests.

1900. Inner-City Arts, Los Angeles, a project supported by local businesses and educators that provides bilingual arts-education classes to 11 schools.

1901. Drug Intervention Community Educators, East Providence, R.I., a group of high-school juniors and seniors that organizes programs and events designed to steer youths away from drugs and crime.

1902. Star Night Volunteers, Kansas City, Mo., a group of employees from the Kansas City Star who serve as tutors and mentors in an after-school program for at-risk youths.