Eighth annual JOIN HANDS DAY awards announced.
OAK BROOK, IL – The National Fraternal Congress of America (NFCA) recognized this year’s 10 JOIN HANDS DAY Excellence Award winners. The 2007 JOIN HANDS DAY Excellence Awards were presented at the Celebration of Fraternalism Luncheon held during the 121st NFCA Annual Meeting, September 6-8, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The 10 awardees were selected from hundreds of volunteer projects that emphasized youth and adult partnerships on May 5, 2007. Each award-winning project received $1,000 and a distinctive glass trophy. The coordinating groups will choose how the funds are used. Some organizations donate the money to the beneficiary of the project or another benevolent cause. Others save the funds to use as seed money for the following year’s JOIN HANDS DAY event.
JOIN HANDS DAY, which promotes fraternalism and fraternal benefit societies, is the only day of service on America’s Season of Service national calendar that seeks to build youth and adult relationships through planning and participating in a day of volunteering. This signature event provides fraternal benefit societies with an opportunity to connect with other volunteer organizations to make an important impact on their communities.
In selecting Excellence Award recipients, the most important consideration is the quality of the youth and adult partnership in planning and conducting the event. Other criteria include the quality of the project to the community or persons in need, effectiveness of the mobilization group and the potential for relationships to continue after JOIN HANDS DAY.
“This is fraternalism’s day, a day when fraternal benefit societies and volunteer organizations reach out to people or communities in need, connect generations and develop relationships that would never happen otherwise,” said Michael Stivoric, Chair of the Join Hands Corporation Board of Directors. “Fraternalists ‘JOIN HANDS’ year-round, because fraternalism is not a one-day-a-year event. However, JOIN HANDS DAY provides all fraternalists and nonfraternalists alike with the opportunity to make a difference in their communities through helpful projects that connect youths and adults.”
Eight of the 10 winning projects were coordinated by fraternal benefit societies. The other two projects were conducted by local community groups and volunteer organizations.
2007 Excellence Awards—Fraternal Winners
Greater Beneficial Union of Pittsburgh – Operation Reach Out … “delivering a little piece of home to our troops” was held at the Greater Beneficial Union home office in Pittsburgh. Participating volunteers organized, packed and prepared collected items for overseas delivery.
Modern Woodmen of America – In Twin Falls, Idaho, a diverse gathering of four Modern Woodmen Camps, Boy Scouts, OWLS, the Latter-day Saints (LDS) Relief Society, two motorcycle groups, home schoolers and the Red Hat Ladies learned about the difficulties facing the homeless, then packed four kinds of kits for them: comfort kits, hygiene kits, activity kits and baby kits. They also packed personal care kits for U.S. military personnel stationed in Iraq.
Modern Woodmen of America – Modern Woodmen of America, along with Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, joined forces to clean up trash and debris at the Darwin Aman farm in Eureka, South Dakota, which had been struck by a tornado.
National Slovak Society of the USA – The National Slovak Society (NSS) sought out people in need throughout the city of Struthers, Ohio, to compile a list of multiple projects. On JOIN HANDS DAY, participating groups joining NSS included Knights of Columbus, the Boy Scouts, St. John’s AME Church, the National Honor Society, the VFW, Rotary, St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Church, Struthers Business Association, the police department and the historical society.
SPJST – SPJST, along with Catholic Family Fraternal of Texas, KJZT, and Catholic Union of Texas (The KJT), combined forces to update the Texas Czech Heritage and Cultural Center in LaGrange. They resealed decks, handicap ramps, a bridge and stairs; cleaned the storage room and landscaped.
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans – In Cape Coral, Florida, 350 volunteers bagged up more than 2,500 bags of donated sweet potatoes destined for more than 40 relief agencies in a project organized by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. Also participating were Boy and Girl Scouts, the Salvation Army and the Society of St. Andrew.
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans – Thrivent Financial Chapter #30323 of Alma, Missouri, working with baseball enthusiasts made structural and maintenance repairs to the local ballpark.
Woodmen of the World/Omaha Woodmen Life Insurance Society – Woodmen of the World/Omaha, Lodge #5, worked with the Chamber of Commerce and the Boy Scouts to plant 30 trees in Carlsbad, New Mexico.
2007 Excellence Awards—Non-fraternal Winners
Boy Scouts of America – Charles Park in Middleburg, Pennsylvania, was the site of a JOIN HANDS/Community Day in which nine groups came together to refurbish the park. The adults fixed the current equipment and erected a new climbing wall, while the youths scattered mulch and planted flowers. The park has been used heavily since the JOIN HANDS DAY.
Pleasant Valley High School – In LeClaire, Iowa, children from Cody Elementary School, youth from Pleasant Valley High School and adults from the PTA, working with all sizes of shovels and rakes, completed a large landscaping project at the elementary school.
2007 Excellence Awards—Honorable Mentions
Catholic Knights – Built a stronger sense of community between African refugee and immigrant families in Milwaukee and created a cultural exchange. They helped a newly formed nonprofit group (Pan African Community Association – PACA) to build relationships in the community so it can more effectively achieve its mission.
Davenport West High School Business Academy – The students and teachers cleaned, picked and trimmed the school grounds. Flowerbeds were weeded, raked and cleaned, and 200 bags of mulch were spread around the school’s trees and shrubs.
S.K.I.P. [Special Kids in Preschool] – Students joined the residents at Amber Ridge Assisted Living where the old worked with the young, planting 37 flower boxes and 16 flower pots together.
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans – Fraternalists made 22 quilts for children in need. Police and fire departments, hospitals and cancer treatment centers all over New Hampshire were given the quilts for distribution.
Woodmen of the World/Omaha Woodmen Life Insurance Society – Lodge members partnered with the Girl Scouts to collect and deliver personal-care items, such as shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrushes, hairbrushes and combs, to the High Desert Homeless Services in Victorville, California. Other items that were requested and included in the kits were laundry detergents, bleach, paper towels, Kleenex, suitcases, duffle bags, men’s toiletry cases and healthy snack items.
“Congratulations to the JOIN HANDS DAY 2007 Excellence Award winners, and we’ll see you out in full force next year, on May 3, 2008. Until then, join us in celebrating fraternalism by JOINING HANDS 365 days a year,” said Stivoric.
Sponsored by America’s fraternal benefit societies, JOIN HANDS DAY is the fraternal national day of service when youths and adults work together to plan and implement projects that benefit their local communities. To learn more about JOIN HANDS DAY, visit the Web site at www.joinhandsday.org or e-mail actioncenter@joinhandsday.org.
About the NFCA
The 121-year-old NFCA unites 75 not-for-profit fraternal benefit societies operating in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Canada. The association represents 10 million fraternalists in 37,000 local chapters, making it one of America’s largest member-volunteer networks. Fraternal benefit societies provide their members with leadership, social, educational, spiritual, patriotic, scholarship, financial and volunteer-service opportunities. Combined, the NFCA’s member-societies maintain more than $329 billion of life insurance-in-force and, in 2006 alone, contributed almost $410 million to charitable and fraternal programs, and volunteered nearly 95 million hours for community-service projects. These statistics demonstrate the commitment that fraternals make to those in need and exemplify the true meaning of the NFCA signature phrase: Joining Hands to Touch Lives. For more information, visit the NFCA’s Web site at www.nfcanet.org.
