THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 21, 1996 TAG: 9604210059
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MATTHEW BOWERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long : 134 lines
Volunteerism and Diane E. Angelos go back a long way together.
She was interviewed years ago by TV news reporters in her native Phoenix for her work on a committee that helped younger students adjust to their new surroundings.
The interviewers probably had to bend way over - Angelos was still in elementary school.
Since then, a lot of other people have noticed the now-32-year-old office manager's contributions to the community, notably Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. The nationwide youth-mentoring outfit has named Angelos its 1996 National Big Sister.
She'll serve this year as a volunteer spokeswoman and recruiter for the 92-year-old organization.
Angelos was chosen because of her heavy involvement in Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Hampton Roads as a mentor, recruiter and fund raiser. Her other volunteer work was considered, particularly for Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters in Norfolk and the Samaritan House shelters for the homeless and victims of domestic violence in Virginia Beach.
``She's just a well-rounded individual,'' said Bev Dribin, a representative of the national office who interviewed Angelos. ``She just was very exciting and vivacious, and really communicated the message of Big Brothers and Big Sisters very well.''
Angelos and the 1996 National Big Brother, John Wells of Los Angeles - the executive producer of the hit TV drama ``ER'' - were two of the finalists from 11 regions and 100,000 Big Brothers and Sisters across the United States.
``It was a shock,'' Angelos said. ``It's quite an honor.''
Di Di, as Angelos is known to friends, can count on just one free night a week: Monday.
``I guard it with my life,'' she said, laughing. What does she do with the Big Night? ``Honestly? Laundry and my nails.''
The rest of her week is a little different. Angelos reluctantly talked about her volunteer work early one recent morning, sitting behind her desk at Commonwealth Claims, a little embarrassed by the bag of Fritos and the Big Gulp sitting in front of her. ``Breakfast of champions,'' she joked.
Tuesday nights she's at Children's Hospital, playing or reading with the young patients. Her mother, Violeta Angelos, business manager at Commonwealth Claims, said that often Diane dons protective clothing and enters isolation wards, sometimes just to hold a scared, lonely, seriously ill child.
Diane Angelos told her mother, ``Well, there might not be anybody there that day to hold them.''
On Thursday evenings, Angelos helps with a children's play-therapy group at Samaritan House, where she's also co-chairwoman of the fund-raising effort to keep the struggling shelters open.
She has also helped raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and worked with the Seton House for runaway girls. All of these things contributed to her being named an area finalist in this year's JCPenney Golden Rule Awards for volunteerism, and winner of a 1996 Jefferson Award for volunteerism from the American Institute for Public Service in Washington.
Being a Big Sister, though, is her main contribution. And her main joy, she said.
``I wanted to volunteer, but I wanted to do something one-on-one,'' Angelos said. ``There are a lot of opportunities to volunteer one-on-one with a child
``You get to develop a relationship.''
Indeed. Angelos has been a ``big'' for 11 years, and she still meets regularly with her first ``little sister,'' now 17 and out of the program.
Angelos is ``a big part of my life,'' said Celina A. Ripley of Virginia Beach. ``Ever since I was little, I've been growing up with her. . . . I think of her as my sister.''
Angelos' official ``little'' now for more than a year is Reba Bailey, a 10-year-old fourth-grader from Norfolk. As she did with her first ``little,'' Angelos goes far beyond the commitment guideline of five hours a week.
She visits Reba's home each Wednesday to help the girl with homework, sometimes continuing the studying over dinner at a nearby Burger King. They spend the better part of a day together each weekend, when Reba often spends the night. They visit museums, have picnics, ice skate and roller skate, go to the beach and movies.
Big Brothers Big Sisters is about mentoring and providing role models for children who are largely from single-parent families and poor backgrounds. In that vein, much of Angelos' and Reba's time together is spent just ``hanging out together.'' They shop. Bake brownies and cook manicotti. Rent videos. Talk.
Phil G. Curtin, a neighbor and manager of Wareing's Gym in Virginia Beach, where Angelos squeezes in lunchtime workouts a couple of times a week, said he often spots Angelos and Reba in the grocery store or in Angelos' car.
``I see her passing all the time, and there's that little head sticking up there, and I know she has that little sister,'' Curtin said.
Reba credits Diane with helping her earn better grades in school, as well as opening up more of the world for her. They're ``more like friends,'' Reba said, ``because - I don't know - we just do fun stuff.
``She's cool.''
Reba's mother, Kay Bailey, is raising three children and a nephew by herself. Her oldest son is seriously ill with cerebral palsy, and Bailey relies on government assistance. She said Angelos has helped Reba become more responsible at school, and also has provided support for the whole family.
On Easter Sunday, Reba had to have her appendix removed; Angelos spent most of the day at the hospital.
At Christmas, Angelos gave a party for Reba's family, including family gifts and ``I would say the biggest Christmas tree in Hampton Roads,'' said Laura J. O'Neal, a Big Brothers Big Sisters social worker.
``She's really become a member of the family.''
Angelos worries about the attention. There are lots of volunteers doing worthy work, she said. She spends more time with her past and present little sisters because she likes to, because she feels she gains as much as she gives. She doesn't want the time she spends to scare off prospective Big Brothers and Big Sisters from doing what they can.
She just fiercely believes in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, in trying to make a difference in a child's life, a child who's going to grow up and enter society with or without the influence of a positive role model. Better that it be with, she said.
``We're lucky,'' added O'Neal of the local Big Brothers Big Sisters. ``I wish we could clone her. She is just exceptional in every way. If we had about a hundred more like her, we'd be all set.''
Angelos insisted she's the lucky one.
``I can have a bad day at work,'' she said, ``or I can have something wrong with someone I'm dating, and I see my kids, or go to the hospital and, it's not that it doesn't matter, but it puts it in perspective.'' ILLUSTRATION: 25th ANNIVERSARY: BIG BROTHERS AND SISTERS
[Color Photo]
MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN
The Virginian-Pilot
Diane Angelos, 1996 national Big Sister, sits on the big chair at
the Virginia Children's Museum in Portsmouth flanked by her first
little sister, Celina A. Ripley, 17, and Reba Bailey, the
10-year-old who now calls Angelos her big sis.
KEYWORDS: PROFILE by CNB