2012 Award Winners

In cooperation with other city department leaders, Popik helped create Helping Partners, a formal program linking needs to available resources to enhance neighborhoods and the lives of residents, one home at a time.  Today, partnerships with Habitat for Humanity, faith-based and corporate groups, and schools help repair and preserve homes and neighborhoods creating safe, beautiful and valued neighborhoods.

Popik has been instrumental in filling community needs throughout the City.  A much needed Homework Center paired elementary school and high school students for tutoring in a neighborhood where many children were home alone after school.  VIP identified groups to run math tutoring programs in neighborhood libraries.  For ESL citizens, practice of conversational English offered in a safe and comfortable environment expanded from one library to five in just two years.

Popik is seen as one of the leaders in the nation on municipal government volunteer programs and regularly shares her experience and expertise with other communitities.  She is also a founding member of AL!VE the Association of Leaders in Volunteer Engagement.

City Manager, Tom Muehlenbeck, said in an interview of Popik, "You've been instrumental in keeping the volunteer flame alive.  I appreciate the incredible job you have done in growing and expanding the program over the years."

 

Volunteer! Decatur in Decatur, Georgia received the Innovative Program Award.  Accepting the award is LeeAnn Harvey pictured on the right.  Volunteer!Decatur partners with Decatur Preservation Alliance, a local nonprofit, to implement the Martin Luther King, Jr. Service Project, providing home repairs and yard work for low income senior citizens.  The goal is to help seniors live safely, comfortably and affordably in their homes.

The Service Project began 10 years ago as a half-day event with 100 volunteers making repairs and raking yards at eight senior citizens' homes.  The project has expanded over the years.  In 2012, 1,200 volunteers worked on one or more four-hour shifts during the three-day weekend.  They made large and small repairs to 22 homes as well as cleaning up the yards and/or removing unusable items from the property.  In addition, volunteers performed yard work and removed unusable items from 23 other homes, and completed yard work for 14 people living in the "Independent Communitites" apartments.  A total of 59 households benefited.

The project keeps growing to encompass more tasks and has the flexibility to modify goals as opportunities arise.  In 2012 the good weather allowed the landscaping committee to develop more intensive work plans for each home that resulted in longer-term improvements such as removal and control of invasive plants.  In addition, cleaning gutters appeared for the first time on the list of tasks that could be accomplished.

Many people bring their own tools, but over 900 tools were rented from the nonprofit Atlanta Community Tool Bank  for a nominal fee.  The local community center is the base of operations for the weekend and the nonprofit that runs it provides a celebratory dinner on Monday evening at the end of the project.