Home Away from Home program benefits out-of-town UNLV students

Lisa Ferguson

Tuesday, Sept. 16, 1997 | 11:34 a.m.

Las Vegas is a long way from the Grand Cayman Islands -- Zimiri Rochez's home.

When she left the tropical paradise two years ago to take advantage of the full-ride scholarship that awaited her at UNLV, she didn't know a soul in this booming desert town.

Rochez was a prime candidate for the university's Home Away From Home program.

Sponsored by the UNLV Alumni Association, the program matches students from other parts of Nevada, out-of-state and international students with local residents who serve as a community contact and, sometimes, as a second family.

But it turned out that Rochez didn't need Home Away From Home's help: She met a friend -- longtime Las Vegan Mannetta Braunstein -- on the plane ride over.

Braunstein, a '93 UNLV graduate who researches and appraises pre-Columbian art, and her husband, Mike, a local doctor, had been vacationing on the islands.

"We started this conversation," recalls Rochez, a 22-year-old hotel administration major. By the end of the flight, "She wrote me a three-page letter telling me what professors I needed to talk to and if I needed any advice or anything to call her."

Two weeks later, she did, and the women have been pals ever since. They chat on the phone, go shopping together and spend weekend nights watching movies.

"We're very close," says Braunstein, 52. "I have more contact with Zimiri than I do my own family members."

So why did the buddies decide, six months after they'd met, to sign-up for the Home Away From Home program anyway?

"We joined to lend support for a fine idea," says Braunstein, a member of the Alumni Association. "The program is affecting us, but in reverse."

Good enough for Sharlene Flushman. The Alumni Association board of directors member founded the Home Away From Home program six years ago, after her son left home for college at Arizona State University.

"I really became concerned," she recalls. "I thought, 'We don't know anybody in the city.' Many things happen throughout the school year. I felt if I was concerned as a parent, I'm sure there were other parents just as concerned."

Flushman approached UNLV with the concept for a pilot program in 1990. It was implemented through the campus' Interfaith Center the following year, when four students were paired with community members. The program was adopted by the Alumni Association in '94.

This year, more than 100 students were matched with almost as many local residents -- families, individuals, community service and religious organization members and UNLV staffers.

"What we ask of them," Flushman explains, "is that they see the student at least once a month. It can be as easy as having a soft drink at the (Moyer) Student Union or they can meet for a movie or a picnic."

And also, that they follow up with phone calls twice a month. "To answer any questions that they might have or to see how the student's doing. That's it."

But sometimes, the commitment grows much deeper.

"These families have helped students read (apartment) leases, they've helped students move," Flushmen says. "They've gotten them to doctors when there was an emergency. They've really taken them into their homes and their hearts and included them as extended family members."

In fact, Steven Riback, a Southern California native majoring in education, could probably change his name to Riceberg at this point.

"He's practically one of us," explains Janis Riceberg, matriarch of the Las Vegas family of five that Riback was matched with last year, and a special education teacher at Durango High School.

"The first time he called me," she says, "he said, 'Hi, mom. This is Steven.' That's the kind of relationship we have." They meet for dinner about twice a month, and celebrate birthdays and holidays together.

Ribeck, 21, arrived at UNLV after transferring from San Francisco State University at the beginning of his junior year and immediately looked into the Home Away From Program.

"I had been away from home for a year," he says, "but I was going into a new city where I didn't know anybody."

Like all participants, Ribeck was matched with the Ricebergs for specific reasons -- mostly because of Mrs. Riceberg's career in education. Last year, he visited her classroom and got some first-hand teaching experience.

"She loves what she's doing -- it's a great atmosphere," he says. "Going into the classroom with her, it changed my outlook. You get so much satisfaction from it and that's why I wanted to be a teacher. In the short time I've known the Ricebergs we've developed a bond that's really something neat. After the first month of the program ... it wasn't the program anymore. It was a family thing."

Ribeck adds: "The program turned into something I never imagined it could be. For me, it's gonna last a lifetime. When I get married, (the Ricebergs) are going to be sitting there right alongside my real parents."