Volunteer Program

Howard County State's Attorney Marna McLendon last night asked permission from the County Council to create a volunteer program to make it easier to prosecute domestic violence cases -- even if the victims are reluctant.With a $28,149 grant already received from the state, McLendon said she could buy 100 Polaroid cameras and hire a temporary staff person for four months to establish the program.McLendon said that in the first quarter of 1996, 100 domestic violence cases made it to court in Howard County, but police received four times as many complaints.

Volunteer: Shawn Stevenson of Severn.Volunteer Work: Age worked against Shawn the first time she applied for North Arundel Hospital's Junior Volunteer program.She was only 13 and the minimum age for joining was 15.A year later, when the hospital lowered the age, she reapplied and was accepted.Shawn, a high school sophomore, says she is using her volunteer experience to pave the way for a career in nursing.Although as a junior volunteer she is restricted to clerical duties and support services such as reading or helping to feed patients, she is not limited to what she can learn by watching.

Diversity program slated for pupils The Carroll County public schools' Department of Minority Achievement and Intervention Programs and Carroll Citizens for Racial Equality will hold the seventh annual Middle School Multicultural Leadership Conference on Tuesday. The daylong event will be held at the New Windsor Conference Center with the theme "Embracing Diversity." Four workshops will focus on bullying, harassment, conflict resolution and respect. The goal of the conference is to prepare middle school pupils to be leaders.

From: Yvonne T. HicksDirectorSenior Volunteer ProgramOn behalf of the RSVP Advisory Council, staff and volunteers of the Retired Senior Volunteer Program, we would like to express our gratitude for the fine coverage of our program in a recent article in the Anne Arundel County Sun.The interview by Jennifer Keats and picture session conducted by your staff impressed our volunteers considerably.We have received numerous positive responses to the article, and it will aid us greatly in our public relations and recruitment efforts.

In full view of snaking ticket-counter lines and truck-sized explosive-detection machines, a cadre of volunteers at Baltimore-Washington International Airport spend their leisure time ministering to befuddled - even surly - passengers. Ever cheerful, in crisp shirts with a Maryland logo and their BWI pins shining, they direct passengers to the baggage claim, answer questions about flight delays and help travelers get where they're going. "Flying is a stressful thing, and people are demanding.

Attention all business owners, companies large and small, government officials and other interested parties.Change Inc. is looking for a few substantial volunteer situations for clients anxious to perform various services in their community.Change Inc. (formerly known as Carroll Haven), is a private, nonprofit organization in Westminster that serves developmentally disabled adults.Cindy Martin, community volunteer program manager for Change Inc., said she has been working to initiate a new volunteer program to help enhance her clients' quality of life.

With nonprofits stretching every penny to make ends meet, noncash resources have taken on a new allure.In-kind donations of equipment, depreciated furniture and rent reductions each play a part in an organization's survival nowadays. Still, the biggest help to charitable agencies comes in the form of bodies -- good, old-fashioned volunteer help.There's lots of talk in nonprofit professional groups these days concerning volunteers. The volunteer base has been shrinking over the past two decades, as women have returned to the work force full time.

WILLIAM Hubbard, 66, has been a volunteer tutor in the Anne Arundel County public schools since 1986. He volunteers through the RSVP (Retired Seniors Volunteer Program) of the county's Department of Aging.Born in Baltimore, Hubbard has lived in Arundel since 1944. He and his wife, Amy, married five years ago this February, the first marriage for each.When Hubbard retired from his family's business, Calvin B. Hubbard and Sons Inc., paper mill representatives, ''I contacted the Department of Aging, and that's how I got into its program, where I've been ever since,'' he says.

Every Friday morning, boxes of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, melons, grapes and other produce fill a stretch of sidewalk on West Washington Street, turning the city block into an impromptu farmers' market.But there is a difference. At this open-air market, there's no cash, no sales receipts, no profits. Just dozens of food-filled wooden crates -- all free to the city's neediest inhabitants.The weekly program is the only one of its kind in Anne Arundel County, allowing charities to stock their food banks with fresh fruits and vegetables donated by local merchants from the Maryland State Wholesale Market in Jessup.

In a converted classroom at the former Brooklyn Park Middle School, Ida Cockerham and Carolyn Schneider take their turns flipping through a black telephone card file and dialing the numbers of elderly homebound residents, just to check on them.Often, the clients of Anne Arundel County's Senior Lifeline program give them a quick "thank you," but many times they hear a grateful "God bless you.""That really touches me," said Schneider, 59, who is among 24 volunteers who take turns working in pairs to make the calls as part of the county Department of the Aging's free program.