The Salt of the Earth:  Missouri Honors Its Outstanding Volunteers

By Scanews staff

Columbia, MO -- A 161,000-pound salt drive. A free community clinic. A
high-school program called "Top Hats." What do they have in common?  All
touch a life in some way.  And all are the brainchildren of this year's Missouri
Volunteer Award recipients, honored by Lt. Gov. Joe Maxwell March 20, in
the Lake of the Ozarks.

The Missouri Volunteer Administrators Association, a non-profit
organization that promotes volunteerism, and the Missouri Community Service Commission, co-host an annual spring conference to honor individuals, businesses, volunteer directors and projects that contribute to humanity. This year, the city of Columbia accrued accolades in the "project category award" for its 161,000-pound salt drive to benefit sister city, Kutaisi, in the Republic of Georgia.  The lives of Kutaisi children who suffer from goiter because of a lack of iodine will be saved as a result of Columbia's massive volunteer
effort.

Saving lives here at home also earned Donald J. Allcorn, M.D., 67, the top
2002 Missouri Volunteer award in the "individual category for those aged 55
and older."  Allcorn established a free clinic in Sedalia three years ago after an influx of Hispanics challenged the city's health care system. He staffs the Community Free Clinic along with other volunteers and provides the equipment needed to run the operation.

Other 2002 Missouri Volunteer award recipients include published poet John
Daniel Rader, 15, in the "individual category for those aged 20 and under,"
for Rader's  volunteer service to Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre, the City of
Columbia's Heritage Festival, the Central Missouri Food Bank Pantry and
West Junior High School; Rachel Berbiglia, 31, in the "individual category for those aged 21-54," who recruited more than 150 new volunteers for Kansas City's Rose Brooks
Center, a comprehensive treatment center for domestic-violence victims, and increased volunteer retention by 65 percent; Pat Cundiff, in the "volunteer director award category," who is the Volunteer Center Director for the Heart of America United Way Volunteer Center, and helped mobilize over 300 businesses, non-profit organizations, government agencies, schools and more, in support of Kansas City's Promise - The Alliance for Youth, a program that gives kids access to caring adults, safe places to go after school, a healthy start and marketable skills; and, Missouri Employers Mutual Insurance, in the business category,  for its fiscal sponsorship of Gentry Middle School's "Top Cats" program, one that honors students for citizenship, participation, effort, academic achievement and participation in physical education and band.

Now in its 26th year, the Missouri Volunteer Administrators Association
(formerly Missouri Volunteer) provides training and support for those
involved in all aspects of volunteer management.