All posts tagged "Volunteerism"

DALZELL, Ill. — The 76-year-old man was sitting at his kitchen table one Tuesday morning in June when he lost consciousness and fell to the floor. A few blocks away, Alex Justi’s emergency pager went off. The 24-year-old firefighter and paramedic is one of only six people who make up Dalzell’s volunteer-run fire department, and one of only two who lives in the town of about 660 residents in north-central Illinois, near Starved Rock State Park. Justi raced to the station, jumped in an engine and drove, solo, to the man’s house. Once there, he quickly realized the man wasn’t breathing. Justi pla......

After the fireworks faded and the crowds headed down the mountain, volunteers took to Lake Tahoe’s shores for the 10th annual Keep Tahoe Red, White and Blue Beach Cleanup. To commemorate the tradition lasting for a decade, the organizers decided to offer something unique at each of the six pick-up sites. This included educational displays about single-use plastic waste and aquatic invasive plants, as well as opportunities to chat with regulars of the Tahoe Blue Crews. But the star of this year’s cleanup was found trawling the sands of Kings Beach, not afraid to get a little dirty for the cause......

DETROIT — Wynter Cole Smith's "heartbroken" relatives said they're planning a vigil for the 2-year-old girl whose body was found in a field on the city's east side Wednesday following a statewide search by police and volunteers after she'd reportedly been kidnapped from her Lansing apartment. The grieving family also called for tougher legislation to ensure that people convicted of violent crimes remain in prison, after the man police say kidnapped Wynter, 26-year-old Rashad Trice, was charged as a four-time habitual offender. Trice was arraigned Wednesday from his hospital bed and charged wit......

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Police on Wednesday afternoon were questioning a “person of interest” as part of the investigation into three recent stabbings in Davis that killed two men and seriously wounded a woman. Officers detained the person who was spotted near Colby Drive and Pine Lane, about a block west of Sycamore Park where a University of California, Davis student was stabbed to death Saturday night as he was walking home. Lt. Dan Beckwith, a spokesman for the Davis Police Department, said the “person of interest” was not detained and voluntarily went with officers to police headquarters for......

MIAMI — Voters headed to the polls on Saturday during the last weekend of early voting for Florida’s 2022 primary elections, with churches and community organizations focusing on Black voter turnout in Miami-Dade County. Through the noise of bullhorns, an obstacle course of campaign volunteers bombarding voters with fliers of their candidates, dozens of voters at the North Dade Regional Library in Miami Gardens participated in the years-long “Souls to the Polls” event hosted by the nonprofit organization Faith in Florida. “We have been faced with so much voter suppression, that the only way to......

NEW YORK — City and state employees who helped out at Ground Zero have three weeks to let their bosses know they were there — and help themselves with any future 9/11 compensation claims. New York’s deadline for completing a Notice of Participation in World Trade Center rescue, recovery and cleanup operations is Sept. 11, the 22nd anniversary of the terror attacks. Filling out the paperwork will create a placeholder for 9/11 first responders and any city and state employees who volunteered at the site who haven’t gotten sick from the toxic air that hung over lower Manhattan after the attacks —......