(upbeat music) - Hello neighbors.

Welcome to "Look for the Helpers: Portraits in Community Service."

I'm your host, Cynthia Tyler.

For as long as people have lived together, there have been those who have been inspired to give freely of themselves in order to make people's lives better.

Volunteers have provided the creation and foundation for so many nonprofit organizations and groups, truly becoming the beating heart of the community through their tireless and selfless efforts.

Today, we take time to honor and learn about two of our many local volunteers.

Barbara Perez is an avid volunteer with Scouting America where she enjoys working with today's youth.

She's also the Executive Director of Watertown's Habitat for Humanity.

Aileen Martin volunteers her time at many different organizations, including Literacy Volunteers, Volunteer Transportation Center, North Country Prenatal Perinatal Council, North Country Library Services Outreach Council, and much more.

That's all in addition to her position as Executive Director of the Northern Regional Center for Independent Living.

Please join me as we celebrate our local volunteers.

I'm here with Barb Perez, Scouting America volunteer and Executive Director at Habitat for Humanity.

Thank you so much for being with us today, Barb.

- Absolutely, Cindy, happy to be here.

- Wonderful to have you.

So we're gonna just get right into it.

You are absolutely all about volunteering.

Where did that start for you?

- Oh my gosh.

I am a product of the '80s, and we're at WPBS, so I have to say it started with" Sesame Street" and "Mr. Rogers" really.

And then as I grew older, I realized that volunteerism within your community is really important, but I didn't know that's what it was.

So as an Army wife, you sort of get plugged into all of the different volunteer opportunities within your husband's unit and within just wherever you are.

And that was really sort of my first introduction to volunteering, and then it kind of morphed from there.

And I think that I've done almost every volunteer position like- - Well, how marvelous.

- Anything out there.

- That you started with the ultimate volunteer position, Army wife, as we serve Fort Drum, we understand and we love our military families.

So thank you for your service.

And to grow from that, then you got into scouting, Scouting America, which is now both boys and girls, correct?

So tell us about Scouting America.

- So it's actually a great journey that got us started.

We were looking for something at the time, our youngest son to get involved in.

And I thought this would be a fantastic opportunity for you to bond with your dad.

So we signed up as a Tiger Cub, actually here on Fort Drum, we were stationed here and my husband was already to volunteer with the Tiger Cubs because you stay as a parent then.

And then my husband deployed.

And this cute little 6-year-old was really excited about scouts and wanted to continue going.

So I was like, okay, I guess we're doing scouts.

And honestly we just ran from there, and we sort of followed his career progression with the scouts.

He's now an Eagle Scout, his younger brother's an Eagle Scout.

We have a 13-year-old daughter who is also with the unit.

She's got her Tenderfoot working on her second class currently.

- Amazing.

Absolutely.

So it's literally all in the family.

Your kids grew up because the scouting organization, the core of it is service.

- Oh, absolutely, absolutely.

- So there are lots of opportunities around here to join the Scouts, Fort Drum and locally like that.

What sorts of positions, other than if you're a mom and you can be in the organization, what kind of things can parents do to volunteer?

- Oh my gosh.

Parents can do everything to get involved in the unit.

We always need sort of committee members who are just kind of there to support the unit in whatever capacity that looks like.

They have Scoutmaster positions, Assistant Scoutmaster position, Cubmaster, Assistant Cubmaster.

So the younger kiddos are still Cub Scouts, the older kiddos are Scouts.

So that's sort of the differentiation between the units.

But you can get involved as a Lion parent just volunteering to, I don't know, bring cupcakes to the blue and gold.

Or you can volunteer for bigger things and be responsible for like more stuff, whatever you want to do.

But the key in any unit is a lot of times, you see sort of 80% of the people not doing something and 20% of the people doing something.

The key in the unit is to get all of your parents involved in doing something and responsible for something because then it's a whole family affair.

And everybody's involved and everybody's excited to be there.

So you could be, again, the cupcake parent, or you could be like the Oreo parent who brings the snacks for after the meeting because those are super important.

- [Cynthia] Absolutely, you gotta have a snack at a meeting.

- And then obviously you can sort of kind of go up the ranks and be like responsible for the whole unit as a Cubmaster, a Scoutmaster.

And I've served in both of those roles and hands down best position ever because it's so great and so much fun.

But I currently serve in my daughter's unit as a committee member.

And just that sort of voice of like, here's what would be a really great idea that we could do versus somebody else, you have to kind of come up with all of the ideas.

So it's really great to be able to support the unit.

- And be creative in that position and to just have that influence on those kids.

That's really fantastic.

Obviously philanthropy and volunteering are a huge influence in your life, and that has now led you into Executive Director at the Habitat for Humanity.

Now how did that get started?

- I feel like all roads lead back to Fort Drum really.

So when we were here the first time prior to my husband's retirement, I worked with a board of directors member who said "We'd really love you to sit on the Family Selection Committee for Habitat."

And I said okay, sure.

And volunteered for that and was instrumental in helping to select families.

And this is way back in the '90s to help select families for the Habitat program and to just work with families that were in the program.

And then we left the area.

And then when I came back, I had a friend who actually served on the board and said, "We'd love you to come back on the board."

And I said, "I don't know, I think I'm gonna take it slow as we get sort of back into the North Country and get acclimated."

And that really took three months-ish.

And then I was back in with both feet, volunteered as a board member, and then our Executive Director gave his resignation.

And I said I can help out in that capacity.

At that time, I had a full-time job.

I can volunteer in that capacity and then we can sort of move from there.

And now here I am, full-time, paid capacity, it's wonderful, but still volunteer in a number of organizations here in the North Country.

- So let's talk about that.

Where else do you volunteer here in the North Country?

- The list is long now.

I am a current Rotarian at the Sunrise Rotary, which meets here, small plug, Thursday morning, 7:30 at the Hilton Garden Inn.

I still am with our daughter's scout unit as a committee member there.

And then I think that might be it.

- Isn't that enough?

- I think it might be.

- Considering the load that the Habitat Humanity goes out into the community and does now your position there, do you organize the people that come out and build?

Do you get all the contracting supplies?

What does that entail?

- All of the everything, Cindy.

So all of the everything.

So as the Executive Director, I coordinate all of our volunteer activities.

We have a Brush With Kindness program that is really sort of a grassroots effort to change homes within the community.

- Tell us about that, Brush With?

- Brush With Kindness.

And it's an awesome program.

So for instance, let's say you have your steps in the front of your house are deteriorating and you just don't have the funds to replace all of the steps.

If you meet our income guidelines, we're happy to come out and we do sort of a repayment plan with zero interest and bring all of the volunteers because that's really where sort of the crux of your money goes when you do a project on your home is to labor, not necessarily, a little bit now materials, but not as much materials as it is labor.

But we bring all of our skilled volunteers out to repair your steps, to replace your railing, to do your deck boards, to replace them.

- To make people's lives better.

- Absolutely, and then what we love with that program is while we're working on one property, almost sort of like scout the neighborhood and do some like basic landscaping if neighbors want to.

- That's amazing.

Now with all of the work that you have done in the scouting and Rotary and all of this, now sometimes that can be a lot and that can really bog you down.

And so if you're having a down day and you've got a blue moment, what's a very special memory that you go to that helps inspire you to keep going?

- Oh my gosh, I'm gonna go back to my kids, but when both of my boys received their Eagle Scout, it's a lot of work to get there, right?

Sort of your culmination of your scouting career is this project, right?

And with the project, you have to organize those volunteers that come out to help on your project.

You have to organize all of your fundraising and all of that.

So when both of my boys did that and to get to that sort of final place with them, it's really been a great intrinsic feeling of like, we did this and we did it together.

And just to give back to the community because that project gives back to the community that they're in.

- Excellent, excellent.

Now say you're walking down the streets and you see somebody who looks lost and they wanna reach out and they wanna help.

What do you say to them to inspire them to volunteer?

- Oh my gosh.

I think that something that my family and I have really strived to live for is to leave people, places, and organizations better than we found them.

And when someone's looking sort of lost and needing a place to get plugged in, I think it's really important to do that within your community, within the community that you live in, because it inspires others to give back as well.

So when people see you giving back, then they're more apt to want to give back as well.

- Wonderful.

Absolutely wonderful.

Now if anybody would like to get more information about Scouting America or Habitat for Humanity, where can they go?

- So super easy.

They can call me at Habitat, and the number is (315) 785-0308, or they can go to the Habitat website.

But if you're looking to join a scouting troop, you can go to beascout.org, put in your zip code, identify the age of your kiddo, boy or girl, and it'll give you all of the information that you're looking for.

- Fantastic.

Well thank you Barb so much.

We are so grateful for your service here in the North Country and everything that you've done.

And thank you for being with us today.

And we wish absolutely you all continued success in your future endeavors.

- Thank you so much.

(upbeat music) - I'm here with Aileen Martin, she is the director of NRCIL.

And thank you so much for being with us today, Aileen.

We really appreciate you being here.

So you have a very, very extensive history of volunteering.

I'm looking at the list that you've got, and it's absolutely phenomenal.

All sorts of boards and outreaches.

And where was the seed planted in your life that giving back was something that you wanted to do?

- Well, I grew up in a small town in the Adirondacks, and if we didn't help each other, we didn't survive.

So there was always that expectation that people were participating in the community, that there was something for everyone to do, and that we all helped out.

- Absolutely.

I mean, it's obviously from your entire resume here, connecting the community has been a huge part of what you've been doing as serving on these boards I'm seeing here that's Literacy Volunteers, Volunteer Transportation Center, Fort Drum Regional Health, all of these on the boards connecting the pieces of the community.

So how valuable is it that the structures are all connected?

What does that do to enhance the volunteer experience?

- Well for me the question is what does that do to enhance the community?

So there's a lot of things that I can't do, but if I can connect the people who do know how to do the thing, something that somebody needs, then that is a good role as well.

So making sure that the community is connected, that people know each other, being able to introduce people to other resources is the thing that builds a community, that's what makes a community strong.

If we all stay in our own homes and we don't interact, then it all kind of falls apart.

So I think for me, that's been, like I said, an expectation from growing up that this is your responsibility.

- Excellent.

That's a very, very good point.

And now since you've moved to Jefferson County from the Adirondacks and you've been in all of this community work, how has this changed your life?

How has this really enriched you as a person?

- It's been fun, and I've been able to meet so many fun people and do amazing things.

I was serving on the Finance Committee for Seaway Trail Foundation.

And based on that volunteering work, I got to go to Savannah Dhu, which is Bob Congel's private retreat in Savannah, New York.

It's amazing the things that you get to do that you didn't see, you thought, you know, I'm just gonna go to my meetings and do my thing, but then these opportunities open up.

You're like, well that was cool.

I would never have been able to do that without this.

- We're gonna go now into your work with NRCIL.

What does NRCIL stand for, what does it do, and how did you get involved?

- NRCIL stands, N-R-C-I-L, Northern Regional Center for Independent Living.

I started work there as a part-time bookkeeper.

Again, finance committees, finance is kind of my background.

So that's the thing that I can bring to the table.

So part-time finance in 1993 and felt for the first time in my adult life like I was home.

This was a place I belonged.

I loved the people, I loved the mission.

The mission is to build an accessible community, to end disability discrimination.

And that spoke to me in volumes.

I had lots of other experience, and so working with this group of people who didn't see anything they couldn't do.

We were working together.

When I started there, it was five of us, so it wasn't really a big organization, but everyone had complete confidence that we can do this.

And we were fearless in our approach to legislators, understanding policy issues in our approach to the community.

We organized parades, we organized actions in our public education, and that was very fun to me.

So I just wanted to keep doing it and bring other people to it.

- That's extremely exciting because obviously disability is, everybody knows somebody who is disabled.

And it's such a huge issue here in the North Country, there's a lack of services, a lack of information people don't know, so going out into the community, what kind of impact have you seen in the disability community here with your volunteer work and through your work with NRCIL?

- Well, I can tell you that Watertown is a lot more accessible than it used to be.

The sidewalks and curb cuts, sidewalks, like any community, every component needs to be maintained.

So there's some sidewalks that have not been maintained in a while and any village or community tries to get to them as in a schedule.

So some of it's not always perfect, but it's so much better than it was.

Libraries are now more accessible than they were when I started in 1993, we did a lot of work with municipalities and libraries.

We did assessments back in the '90s, we would do assessments and deliver them to the municipalities.

Stores are more accessible.

It's hard in an old community.

I understand that as well.

And in a community, and we serve Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence Counties, and Lewis County, Laville is built on a hill.

It's hard to make that accessible.

I get that.

But people are really working at it and it has improved.

There's more accessible parking in Laville than there ever used to be.

So yeah, there's been a lot of changes.

- That must be so exciting and enriching to see the impact of your work over time here in the North Country.

That's really, really exciting.

Now if somebody wanted to come and volunteer for NRCIL, what kind of positions could they volunteer for?

- Well, our board of directors is completely volunteer.

And so we have up to 15 board members who serve three year terms.

And some people might think, "Oh, I can't do three years, that's a long time."

It flies by, and it is a fun board to be on.

So we also have volunteers in the building and at our events.

So if you just wanted to do one time volunteering, we do have lots of events that you can help us set up or help us tear down or staff a table for a day.

We have all sorts of opportunities like that.

But we also need day-to-day help.

We need help with mailings, we need help with organizing the office.

We've got in all of our offices, lots of people who are coming in and out, which is great.

We do try to create an environment of welcoming and warmth.

And so it's so nice to have people around, but that also means that we need some more help.

- Absolutely, yes.

That's fantastic that they can do that.

Now obviously working through all of these volunteer opportunities, everything in your work, sometimes that can get a little challenging, can bog you down.

What are some of the challenges that you've had to face in your volunteer work?

- So sometimes you take time away from your family.

I have always brought family with me, so that's not been a thing that bogged me down.

But I hear people saying that.

So when Rotary does the road cleanup, I always took our sons with us and said, "We're all doing this together.

This is a thing that you do in a community, you help."

And so, yeah, it's always been fun, and it always ends up to me more fun than I expected when I volunteer.

I volunteer because I think it's a responsibility.

And then I end up there and I'm having a blast.

- Aileen, tell us about your favorite event that you volunteered for.

- One of my favorite events that I volunteer for is with the Clayton Rotary Club, and it is the Anchor Comic-Con.

That is one of the most remarkably fun events to volunteer for.

Again, you're gonna meet a lot of people, you're gonna see things you've never seen before.

You get to, if you have any touch with pop culture, you're gonna see it live there.

One of my most memorable times in that event, so you give up a Saturday and you think, okay, I'm giving up a Saturday, and I'm gonna go help out with this event, whether it's a photo booth or monitoring the floor or working at a door, and all of a sudden, you're face to face with Bumblebee and you're like, wait a minute, wait, no, this can't be really happening.

- The Transformer Bumblebee.

- The Transformer Bumblebee.

Not a bumblebee, but the Transformer.

Or Optimus Prime.

I've got to meet some really outstanding people with remarkable character at that event.

That's one of my most favorite events.

I enjoy, of course, the road cleanups, that's always a good thing because my heart is also in the environment, and so taking care of the planet is important to me.

So yeah, that's another fun event for me is when we get together and we do the road cleanup.

- And those are through the Rotary, correct?

- Those are both Rotary events, and you can find Rotary in any community.

All communities have a Rotary near them or in them and their motto is service above self.

So that spoke to me when I joined them and have really enjoyed volunteering with them.

I've also volunteered with other organizations to do classes, to do trainings.

I volunteered with DPAO to teach kids how to shoot archery.

I mean, there's so many opportunities.

Whatever your skillset, there's an opportunity.

- That's so great.

When you can enjoy it, then it makes it better for everybody.

And you're teaching your family, you're helping the community, that's wonderful.

So even if you did ever have these challenges, what's a really, really special memory that, if you're having a down moment or a blue moment, there's a special memory.

Can you share something like that that inspires you to keep going with your volunteering?

- Well, Literacy Volunteers, which my first board of directors in Jefferson County, my first work volunteering.

And Phyllis Myers was the Executive Director and she was just so inspirational about the meaning of literacy and the importance of being able to read and the capacity that that gives people.

She inspired me to keep going here and keep serving on boards.

- That's fantastic.

Now just to wrap all of this up, what words would you use to inspire somebody to volunteer?

So say if somebody's hemming or hawing, what would you say to them to say go volunteer?

- It is fun.

It is fun.

And you will meet some of the coolest people you've ever thought of meeting.

And it is going to enrich your life so much more than if you don't.

If you do the get up in the morning, go to work, take care of your kids, go home, you're gonna miss out on so many things that are happening and so much fun in your own community wherever that community is.

- Oh, that's very wonderful.

Now where can they find information about NRCIL and volunteering and helping out?

- You can find us on our website, which is nrcil.net, nrcil.net, or on Facebook, we have a pretty active Facebook page and you can reach us through the Facebook page as well.

- Wonderful.

Do you have any exciting events coming up for NRCIL?

I know you just celebrated your 34th ADA celebration, Americans with Disabilities Act, which was fabulous.

We were there.

- Right, with help from PBS.

- So what's coming up?

- What's coming up next, well we also just yesterday had our open house for our office in Ogdensburg, and I think that there's a conference coming up for transition age kids in September.

- Okay, great.

- [Aileen] Check out the Facebook page.

- Yes.

Fantastic.

So that's for children with disabilities that might need assistance in schools and getting through the programming for that.

NRCIL offers help for families with disabled children in schools, correct?

Fantastic.

- So interesting thing about NRCIL is, it says independent living, nobody lives there.

We help people to live in the community.

So we do not rent housing, but we advocate for people to have whatever resources they need to live their best life in the community.

- Absolutely.

Fantastic.

Thank you so much, Aileen, for being with us.

We really appreciate it, and we wish you all success in your future endeavors.

- Thank you.

Thanks for having us.

(upbeat music) - It's a reminder that bears repeating.

No one achieves anything alone.

The world needs help, and even the smallest amount of help can change the course of a life.

We hope that you're inspired to go out into our world and become the helper that we all look for.

Thanks for watching.

(upbeat music continues) (gentle music)