
DATE: Friday, October 31, 1997              TAG: 9710310640

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B12  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:  116 lines

VOLUNTEERISM BRINGS OUT PEOPLE'S GOOD NATURE, NORFOLK PARLEY TOLD

Andrew Calhoun III learned something about the power of volunteerism while serving with the Navy in Hampton Roads.

He discovered that troubled sailors would change their lives for the better after volunteering in the general community.

``It gives people hope and aspirations and also brings out citizenship - the good nature of people to do something positive for somebody else,'' said Calhoun, who was a lieutenant commander on the nuclear cruiser Bainbridge for three years before the vessel was decommissioned.

Calhoun, now community-service coordinator for the Coast Guard in Milwaukee, Wis., was among the panelists Thursday at the International Conference on Volunteer Administration, at the Waterside Convention Center. He helped lead a session on military involvement in community projects.

The conference, sponsored by the Association for Volunteer Administration, continues through Saturday with more than 750 participants from around the world.

When Calhoun came to the Bainbridge in 1993, the ship had many morale and discipline problems, including more than 20 cases of spouse and child abuse and many sailors skipping work or arriving drunk or hung over or hurt after fighting in local bars.

The ship's officers had to ``spend a lot of man hours on things like that. We were spending so many hours on those things that we couldn't do our regular job.''

But morale improved after troubled sailors were assigned to community service and other crew members stepped forward to volunteer, Calhoun said.

For example, he said, several young men were assigned to install donated air conditioners in the homes of elderly people with serious kidney illnesses.

``One young man,'' Calhoun said, ``told me that one woman . . . was really so thankful, with tears in her eyes about what they had done for her.

``He said, `It really made me see life totally different.' ''

As such experiences increased and spread among the 550-member crew, ``the number of disciplinary cases went down,'' Calhoun said. ``But the only thing we were doing different was community service.

``I think it puts something back into the individual.''

And for the crew, community service led to the Bainbridge receiving 17 major military and community awards and more than 300 individual commendations, including 135 national medals.

The trend also is blossoming in other locations and in all branches of the military, said other speakers.

In Pensacola, Fla., the Navy is experimenting with a ``Boys to Men'' mentoring program to help juvenile delinquents restore good relations with their parents and return to the good graces of the community, said Honor M. Bell, director of community service and Outreach. The base also hosts a ``Military Lights'' effort that has sailors volunteer to cook for and socialize with the homeless.

The conference, though, was more than a sharing of experiences. Its main purpose was to improve the skills of people who organize and lead volunteer efforts.

``This can be a very lonely profession,'' said Katie Campbell, director of the Virginia Office of Volunteerism, and co-chair of the conference.

``When I come to this conference, I feel like I'm coming home, I'm coming to a place where I don't have to justify what I do, where everybody understands why the work we do is important.''

Volunteerism no longer is a simple endeavor, especially in an era of governmental budget cuts and growing public cynicism.

``It's a sad fact that in the times of budget cuts, it's sometimes the volunteer coordinator position that's the first to go,'' Campbell said. ``At the same time folks are looking for more volunteers to compensate for staff cuts.

``But we don't want volunteers going to organizations saying `I'm here, I want to help' and having a bad experience of not being utilized effectively. We need people in the position of leadership who know how to put them to work effectively, how to keep them motivated and how to reach out to folks in the community who may not be ready to step out on their own, and pull them in.

``All that takes skill.''

It is difficult to re-motivate a turned-off volunteer, Campbell said.

She acknowledged the complaint of many would-be volunteers for public schools who find themselves assigned to baking brownies for fund-raisers when they really want to help in the classroom.

``Many teachers are very open to it and are having wonderful experiences . seriously as an integral part of how the school operates,'' Campbell said. ``You can't just tack it on the side and expect to have volunteers involved.

``What it takes . . . is support from the top. The principal has to want to make it happen.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

ABOUT THE CONFERENCE

The International Conference on Volunteer Administration

continues today and Saturday in Norfolk's Waterside Convention

Center on downtown Main Street.

It has attracted about 750 participants from around the world and

is sponsored by the Association for Volunteer Administration.

Organizers and managers of volunteer efforts are learning to

improve their skills.

They also are wrestling with growing challenges in society,

including:

Governmental funding cuts which result in the call for more