Almost everything good that has happened to Darlene Chorney Zamansky has been related to volunteer work.
“Friends, travel, individual growth, work efficiency-all have come through volunteer work,” says Zamansky, who is sponsor of the Oak Park and River Forest High School volunteer service club, We Make A Difference.
“I even met my husband while volunteering,” she adds, laughing.
Zamansky started the club six years ago with the help of her co-sponsor, Marge Tye Zuba, the dean of students. At the time, she was volunteering for Young Variety Children’s Charity, which raises money for children with disabilities and where she now serves as vice president and special events coordinator. Her work led her to think, “If I am getting this much out of volunteer work, wouldn’t it be a good thing to take to teenagers?”
Zuba had run a truancy program for the school, and she saw “the excellent progress made by truants who did service work.” The director of student activities knew of their ideas and suggested they talk to each other. “Out of that, the service program grew,” Zuba says.
“We have over 100 volunteers in the club now, and we are continuing to grow,” Zamansky says.
She says she believes the group should work for different causes. At the weekly meeting held before school, each student receives a form listing events and agencies for which the students can volunteer.
“Our kids fill out the form, circling what they want to do based on their interest level and time schedule,” Zamansky says. “Then I hook them up with the community agency that needs their help . . . and I do a follow-up” to make sure the students’ work is satisfactory.
Membership in the club is not mandatory. Students may choose the type of volunteer work to be done and the number of hours they wish to put in.
It doesn’t matter how much time a student has to give “because it’s the combined effort of everyone that makes service great,” Zamansky says.
Junior Tracy Kondla is a volunteer with the West Suburban Special Recreation Association, which provides programs for people with disabilities. Last summer, she volunteered at the agency’s summer day camp.
“I worked with one boy who was autistic and had severe behavioral disorders,” she says. “His goal all summer long was to be Camper of the Day, and all summer long there would be good days and bad days. When he had a tantrum or whatever, he would say, `I can’t be Camper of the Day now.’ It was really important to him.
“Then one day, we had our perfect day, and he became Camper of the Day. When I gave him his award, he said, `I didn’t think I could do it; thanks a lot for helping me.’ It was a very special moment for me.”
Senior Steve Booth volunteered for Students for Increased Involvement during his sophomore and junior years. The organization mixes students with teenagers who have mental and physical disabilities for school-related or out-of-school activities.
“We went bowling a lot; we went downtown shopping during Christmas; we went to a homecoming football game,” Booth says. “It was really good to be friends with these kids . . . to make them feel more mainstream.” Booth now volunteers for one-time projects.
Sophomore Janel Morales and senior Jessica Arendt volunteer for Hephzibah Children’s Association, where they work with neglected and abused children.
“We go in for two hours once a week and play with them and help them with their homework,” says Morales, who wants to pursue a career in which she works with children.
“Last year, I worked with one girl,” Arendt says, “and it was really great for me; she didn’t smile very often-she wasn’t incredibly happy-but when she saw me and came running to me smiling and shouting `Jessie!’ it made me feel special.”
Sophomore David Moline doesn’t volunteer for long-term projects because of schedule conflicts. “So I try to do short-term projects whenever I can fit them in,” he says. “I worked at the American Cancer Society Smoke-Out table-it was really fun-and I did a phone-a-thon for the Community Chest. It makes me feel really good to know that I can help someone else.”
Club members volunteer for other fundraisers such as the Animal Care League Walk-A-Thon, Hunger Walk, Lions Club Candy Day and Salvation Army collections. The club’s ongoing projects include a mentoring program, in which high school students and junior high school pupils do volunteer work together, and a peer tutoring program.
Supt. Donald Offermann, who also is school principal, says he believes that while students acquire knowledge in school, they acquire wisdom by helping others. “Wisdom, as I see it, is applying knowledge for the common good. And that’s what I think the service club is about: exercising one’s knowledge and ability for the benefit of others. No SAT or ACT test measures wisdom or humanity. But we have at least one place in our school where humanity can grow and develop . . . in the service club.”
During the club’s early years, Zamansky went to Roseville, Minn., near Minneapolis, and Bellingham, Wash., near Seattle, during summers to study with experts in school-service work.
From her early experience with the club, Zamansky developed a plan as a model for organizing such a club. The plan was submitted to the governor’s office for possible use by other schools and is available by request. It emphasizes the need to determine student interest, provide project choices, get student feedback, provide student recognition rewards.
Zamansky, 40, was born on Chicago’s North Side, and she and her husband, Jeffrey, still live there. She has a bachelor’s degree in elementary and special education and a master’s degree in learning disabilities and behavior disorders, both from Northern Illinois University, De Kalb. She began teaching in Somanauk, a small farm town 25 miles from De Kalb.
Zamansky, who has been at the school since 1978, teaches five classes: three in English for students with learning and behavior problems and two classes in which she teaches study and organizational skills to learning disabled students who take regular classes. As associate director of student activities, she oversees all the clubs and activities. “I have a busy day,” she says.
Zamansky’s philosophy is: “To be happy, you have to exercise in three ways: intellectually, physically and spiritually. You have to have a balance of the three. My work is my spiritual exercise-it helps me to keep my spiritual balance.
“To me, service has a life-fulfilling meaning. There isn’t anything comparable in terms of value. As educators, to see kids grow this way is what we’re in the profession for.”
