1993-1994 Harry Singer Foundation National Essay Contest

White Hats: People Who Are Trying To Make A Difference
Teacher: Jerry McGinley

DeForest High School, DeForest, Wisconsin

1st Melissa Wendt   2nd Adam Parker    3rd Jessica Moen 3rd Sherri Koltes

"My brother drinks at least twice a week and sometimes everyday. He drinks to get high or when he is really upset. My father taught him how to do this. A friend of mine has a cousin who got arrested when he was eighteen for drunk driving. Unlike my brother, he killed someone. He was sentenced to ten years in prison. Laws do not kill an addiction." Anonymous, DeForest High School, DeForest, Wisconsin

"If one generation suffers from a lack of money, hopefully the next generation should realize the importance of an education, responsibility, and getting a job." 
Travis Jacobson, DeForest High School, DeForest, Wisconsin

"Many people will argue that drinking is not something the government should be involved in regulating. Maybe they are right, maybe it is the individual's responsibility. But, as I see it, since we as a society have refused to take the responsibility to drink responsibly, then someone must enforce this responsibility, unless we want this tragic problem to continue. We have forced the government to take action through our refusal to do so."
Diane Damnstreet, DeForest High School, DeForest Wisconsin

"[I]t has been found that in some large states, all welfare benefits together food stamps, housing subsidies, AFDC, Medicaid, and school lunches can put a family's tax-free income on a level exceeding official poverty-level wages. How does this reward the worker who toils endlessly in a low-class job to stay off of welfare? It doesn't."
Ben Opps, DeForest High School, DeForest Wisconsin

"A single mother living in New York City with her two children had been supported by welfare, and still lived in poverty. So she forced herself to get a job. She then earned too much to receive welfare funds, but eventually improved their living conditions. However, she still did not make enough to afford both an apartment in a better neighborhood and child care; so she had to leave her two young children alone while she worked. It is people like this who need welfare benefits as a means of additional support." 
Anna Hang, DeForest High School, DeForest Wisconsin

"One program aimed at reform is Oregon's Measure 7. This program consists of pooling the AFDC and food stamp funds to pay wages in lieu of those benefits. These jobs would pay $4.28 an hour, 90 percent of Oregon's $4.75 an hour minimum wage. Welfare recipients would be required to take these jobs and, despite forgoing AFDC and food stamps, would still receive Medicaid and child-care assistance. Charles Hobbs, a consultant to the Oregon program, says a welfare family of three, on average, would receive about $560 a month in AFDC and food stamps, but by working at the $4.28 rate, it would get $740 in wages. The most encouraging aspect of this program is the fact that it is projected to save $90 million over three years."
Ben Opps, DeForest High School, DeForest Wisconsin

"Some states have introduced a program called Learn-fare (first developed in Wisconsin) to ensure that more teenagers on AFDC complete high school or its equivalent. AFDC teens aged 13 through 19 who do not attend school regularly may be sanctioned (i.e., their families' monthly AFDC benefits may be reduced). Learn-fare benefits include child care and transportation funding, alternative education funding, and case management."
Laura Zynda, DeForest High School, DeForest Wisconsin

"Recently I attended a week long seminar on homelessness. I had the opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C. and New York City. There I learned more about poverty and homelessness. I had a chance to interact with homeless people. I went to several shelters and served meals. I attended church services with them and I ate with them. I learned that they are normal people just like you and I. They have the same wants and needs as us. The majority of the people tried to get back up on their feet, but no one was willing to care enough to help. It was so sad seeing adults and children literally sleeping on the sidewalks. Their faces were dirty and their clothes were rags they had been wearing for years. Some would ask for change, some would sing for money. They would do anything just to put a little food in their stomach. It was a wake to reality! I also volunteer at area shelters in our capital city, Madison." 
Carrie Laninberger, DeForest High School, DeForest Wisconsin

"In 1990, it was estimated that 25 percent of the nation's homeless were mentally ill. Ð That meant that the non-violent mentally ill (those that weren't thought of as dangerous to others) were often released from long-term confinement. Many communities intended to have programs to treat those released, but only 800 of the planned 2,000 [treatment facilities were ever] built. Many of these people were not able to provide for themselves, so they ended up on the streets. Shelters and soup kitchens often do not provide treatment for these people."
Sara Pippert, DeForest High School, DeForest Wisconsin

"In Cleveland, a volunteer group provides weekly tutoring. It is called project Learn. ...Another group working for literacy is called Literacy Action, Inc. This program in Atlanta reaches out to help those adults and children who have not learned to read, or those who have not learned very well. It was founded by Mrs. Mary Hammond in Virginia, when one of her children could not read. The goal was fairly simple; they would provide a tutorial service in reading to those who could not afford it. They get people started...and then point out tools for people to go beyond the program and further their literacy."
Louis Van Alsfine, DeForest High School, DeForest Wisconsin

"David Kenney and his friend were playing with David's father's gun. The gun went off killing David. Since her son's death, Susan Kenney has been working to educate schools around the Naugatuck area. She also teaches community adults about firearm safety. She has started GRIEF---Gun Responsibility In Every Family."
Joe Parker, DeForest High School, Deforest Wisconsin

"Individual volunteers are also very special people in the homeless community. ...Carrie Laninberger, a fellow student is one of those special people. Carrie volunteers her time in the various shelters around the Madison area. She has also done community work in both New York and Washington, DC, through her church. Carrie has also attended several conventions and workshops to do her best in ending the problem of homelessness." 
Kelly Gradel, DeForest High School, DeForest Wisconsin

"In 1981 a self-made millionaire named Eugene Lang strode to the podium of the Harlem elementary school that he graduated from a half-century before, to deliver a commencement address to the assembled sixth graders and their families. As he tells it, he impulsively threw away the bootstrap bromides he had prepared, and instead offered to pay the college tuition of every student in that class who went on to finish high school. This offer inspired 50 of the 51 student to graduate from high school. This also inspired other benefactors to step forward as well." 
Adam Parker, DeForest High School, DeForest Wisconsin

"Alcohol Education Program (AEP) is an organization which uses high school students as teacher assistants. Student receive training during the summer to become peer leaders. These trained students then [conduct] after-school discussion groups with other students [in which they] discuss fears and questions they have about alcohol and drinking."
Sherri Koltes, DeForest High School, DeForest Wisconsin

"Christ House is located in Washington, D.C., and is a live-in medical convalescent home for the homeless, where patients can stay as long as it takes for them to get well. Christ House provides counseling and support groups, and also ensures stable loving conditions after the patient has been discharged." 
Kelly Gradel, DeForest High School, DeForest Wisconsin

"This country has hotline organizations such as Briarpatch, to help troubled persons, yet the suicide rate just isn't diminishing. It is not that people aren't trying to help people deal with...problems, it just is that it is almost impossible. It really makes you think. We can't get rid of suicide, until we change the mind set of those craving suicide."
Amy Holler, DeForest High School, DeForest Wisconsin

"The Good Disciples go around policing the suburbs and take charge of the streets. They are granted some authority by the state to arrest and imprison gangsters who break the law. The group members are aged eighteen and upwards; it is in effect a gang trying to stop a gang, without the guns and violence."
Justin Lewis, DeForest High School, DeForest Wisconsin

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