White Hats is a program to honor volunteers and to publicize the many good things that are going on across the country in our schools and local communities.

Anyone who has performed community service through an established national agency such as the Red Cross, Salvation Army, Scouts or through local efforts to help children, the elderly, homeless, aids victims, environmental groups and so forth, is eligible to wear a White Hats lapel pin. Volunteers only have to fill out an application telling the Foundation the type of service they were involved with and the hours they donated. Their organization would be listed in an annual book and the "best" programs would be written up as a role model for others.

The Harry Singer Foundation hopes to eventually sponsor a conference where the best efforts in various categories would be displayed and hopefully, copied.

We have designed special student White Hat pins which we will provide to schools with White Hats chapters. Student White Hats seek out the good news in their communities and feed it to local media outlets and urge publication. They act as goodwill ambassadors, arranging banquets, picnics or other gatherings where they ceremoniously honor local "good guys" and dispense White Hat pins.

One goal of the White Hats program is to invigorate and inspire the general public--especially young people who are demoralized by a continual barrage of "bad news." This can be seen in the following excerpts gleaned from papers submitted by high school students to the 1994 Harry Singer Foundation essay contest concerning responsibility:

"I found throughout the course of my writing that it was very easy to depict examples of irresponsibility, yet it was very hard to find examples of someone making a difference in this society."
Ryan L. Moore, Carbondale High School, Carbondale, Illinois

"We cannot see a headline without noticing an irresponsible or immoral act."
Jenni Williams, Freeman High School, Rockford, Washington

"There are many other people in the world that are doing good things,but it seems that the bad things in life seem to be more publicized and emphasized."
Jeremy J. McCord, David Crockett High School, Austin, Texas

"We need to stop splashing out news of the unfairness and cruelty of our world and put more stress on the events that are beneficial to us. We can't ignore our problems but we have to stop focusing on them alone."
Jaime Black, Colby High School, Colby, Kansas

"Examples of irresponsibility can easily be found in government the media, business, medicine and everyday life. If you dig a little deeper, however, you can also find many good examples of responsibility in all of these areas."
Mara Bergeron, Deer River High School, Deer River, Minnesota

"It mas much harder to find examples of good thing happening than it was of bad things happening. That is a little bit sad. It shows how dysfunctional our system of government is when there [are] so many examples of situations where people get away with things that common sense tells us [are] definitely not right."
Kenny Curtis, Kiona-Benton High School, Benton City, Washington

Not all kids use drugs and belong to gangs, and relatively few American workers are lazy and unqualified. Everyone knows how hard family members and acquaintances are working, but most believe "everyone else" is uncaring and incompetent. White Hat student-members discredit this widely held belief by providing local TV, radio and newspapers with "White Hat examples". White Hats is a program whose time, we believe, has come. According to the comments reproduced below, many students agree with us:

"Let's start. . .a rewards program where people (regardless of age) are rewarded for helping other people."
Rebecca Reim, DeForest High School, DeForest, Wisconsin

"I believe if the young people today would see positive things around them they may start to have positive attitudes towards life."
Roxane Wentzel, Marion High School, Marion, South Dakota

"If more people were recognized for being responsible then society might have more people acting responsibly.All types of media should give examples of responsible behavior for others to model, instead of always telling people about the irrespon- sible behavior of others."
Brian Toon, Lexington High School, Lexington, Illinois

"Many people in the community are more than willing to help people that need it, but simply don't know how. I believe that the only way that we will be able to take care of the poor is to let the comfortable people know how they can help. Some organizations already use newspapers as well as TV and radio to promote their programs. If the opportunities to serve are made readily available to the general public,I believe that the response would be overwhelming. If we work together with obtainable goals in mind, nothing can stop us."
Robert A. Braxton, Armwood High School, Seffner, Florida

"The solutions to all of America's problems cannot be solved with acts of goodwill. Or can they? Getting involved with good- will projects is at the heart of saving America. This is not hard to do. Have you noticed how good it feels to know another cares about you? Have you noticed how nice it is when someone is helpful and courteous to you, instead of rude and uncaring? Have you noticed how goodwill spreads? If I stop and help a woman pick up her spilled groceries, hopefully she'll stop for the next person who needs a hand. It is a kind of repayment. It happens all the time on America's roadways. Joe stops to help Sue change a spare tire. So, when Sue's husband sees a person stuck in a parking lot with a dead battery, he is the first to offer his jumper cables and truck for a jump. All the program needs is a little bit of faith, and a lot of concern for the future of America...My solution may not be very original or complicated, but it's the easiest, and only God knows how far the network will reach."
Jennifer Artemis Carr, Aubrey High School, Aubrey, Texas

"Every week my local newspaper selects the persons of the week, usually one adult and one youth, based on the things they have done to make a difference in the community. This is a very motivating article. It gives everyone the message that they can make a difference and gives them ideas of what they can do."
Jenny Deppen, Conrad Weiser High School, Robesonia, Pennsylvania

"We have to believe that we can change if we want to achieve. If we could get volunteers to start in another state and keep extending this program, we could have a nationwide organization of everyone working together. This cooperation and building of trust and talking about problems could eliminate some of the irresponsibility of our nation."
Ramona Lazanis, Freeman High School, Rockford, Washington

"Believe it or not, America is not all bad. Positive things are happening. People are making an effort to build America up."
Julie Irion, Eureka High School, Eureka, Illinois

"Americans need to understand that each one of us has been put on this earth to not only strive to achieve our own personal goals, but to also contribute something to our society in return for the opportunities it has given us."
Karl Werner, Broken Arrow High School, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

"What we do in our community may not make a huge dent in the statistics fed to Washington, but if every small community was responsible for controlling pollution and protecting their environment, we would see change on a national scale. And though I've said it's the community's responsibility to protect its environment, each community is made up of a number of individuals like you and me. Therefore, in the end it is up to you, and to me, as individuals, to begin the process. We must clean up after ourselves, and when necessary, others. We, together, must do our parts to create a society and environment we can be proud of."
T.J. McNish, Seaman High School, Topeka, Kansas

"If we work together, we can achieve anything."
Amy Simpkins, David Crockett High School, Austin, Texas

We depend on our student White Hats to locate good deeds. The Foundation provides suggestions and direction in a manual, as well as lapel pins and national exposure for local efforts.

Too many people feel they are pushing a gigantic boulder uphill---alone! This can be demoralizing. The White Hats pin is an antidote intended to hearten "the good guys". Candidates for the White Hats pin must pledge to wear the pin as a witness and inspiration to others. Recognition and identification is the idea behind the lapel pin.

If seven people were standing in line at the supermarket today, none would suspect the others of being concerned citizens, working hard and making sacrifices in order to improve their communities. If the White Hats concept takes off, three people in that line might be wearing the identifying pin which would spark recognition and rejuvenate the resolve of each one. They might feel solidarity as individual members of an unstoppable spirited team with a common mission. Wearing the pin is both a duty and a privilege.

The White Hats program also reaches out to elected officials and government employees.

The general public has gotten the message that bureaucracy is too large and too costly, but they haven't heard about all the corrections and adjustments that are taking place within many government agencies. The Harry Singer Foundation collects and publicizes the exemplary in the public sector. Legislators and other government workers earn the right to wear, what we hope to make into the prestigious White Hats lapel pin, by providing examples of the innovative and cost-effective procedures they have implemented. The pins signify that these public sector workers are part of the solution, not the problem.

We invite you to participate in all aspects of our White Hats program--- school, public and private sectors. Please open the other White Hats icons and then contact us via E-mail, voice phone, fax or surface mail. We CAN make a difference!