Volunteers making a difference

By Jeremy Twitchell

Friday, May 1, 2009 | 1:34 p.m.

After volunteers finished putting together bags of food for needy children yesterday, the group’s leader reminded them that there was still a school carnival to put on today and the Susan G. Komen walk on Saturday.

After that, the Blind Center of Nevada needs shopping assistants on Tuesday and Thursday, and the Heaven Can Wait Animal Sanctuary needs help with a mailing campaign on Wednesday.

Off to the side, Mimi Tilton, whose Caring 4 Kids organization was yesterday’s recipient of the group’s help, smiled and nodded in Amlie’s direction. “This community could not survive without people like her,” she said.

Amlie is a member and assistant organizer for Acts of Kindness, a grassroots volunteer group that began in an apartment complex clubhouse in Henderson in September 2007 and has since grown to more than 900 members. Collectively, the group offers a helping hand to one cause or another nearly every day of the week.

Yesterday afternoon, 15 of its volunteers bagged 480 “weekend bags” with food that will be distributed today to elementary school children from homeless and low-income families around the valley to get them through the weekend.

Each bag contains a can of ravioli, some water, fruit juice and snacks that Caring 4 Kids has gathered and purchased through donations. The Acts of Kindness group has also come prepared with homemade cards offering encouragement to be slipped in each bag.

All recipients are on the Clark County School District’s food program and are referred to Caring 4 Kids by teachers and counselors.

For many of the children, Tilton said, the bag they receive will contain the only food they and their family have until Monday morning.

“These children have no option,” Tilton said. “If they don’t receive our food, they’re not going to be fed nine times out of 10. But if we give these children hope, by giving them food and showing them that someone cares, they continue going to school.”

Amlie said of all the recurring projects that Acts of Kindness coordinates volunteers to work, bagging food for Caring 4 Kids always fills up the fastest.

“Whenever we post this event, it fills up the first day always, because people are so sympathetic,” she said. “People say, ‘There are actually children here who don’t eat? What can I do?’”

As the economy has steadily worsened, Amlie said, Acts of Kindness’ membership roll has exploded. One reason for that, she said, is fairly simple: high unemployment means more people with more free time.

“Now, more than ever, we’ve had a definite increase in volunteers because there are so many people out of work,” she said. “They don’t have jobs, so they choose to volunteer. Some may be collecting unemployment and looking for a way to give back.”

Mary-Beth Zahedi, a New Hampshire transplant, said finding people like those in Acts of Kindness have turned her onto a compassionate side of Las Vegas that is often overlooked.

“There is a lot of caring, even here in Sin City,” Zahedi said. “So I’m not surprised that there are more people volunteering.”

Tilton said that while financial donations are down, she, too, has noticed an increase in volunteerism. Sometimes, it’s as simple as random strangers dropping by the Caring 4 Kids warehouse with a can of ravioli.

And the help is making a difference, she said. The foundation is working with counselors at the 13 schools where it hands out the weekend bags to monitor the grades and behavior of the children who receive them. Though the hard numbers won’t come back until the end of the school year, anecdotally, Tilton said, there is much to be excited about.

“The outbursts have lessened, the grades have improved,” she said. “We’re not talking about a D student going to the honor roll, but they’re turning in their work. Any improvement at all — that’s what we’re looking for.”