VOLUNTEER AWARDS State honors 11 who went beyond call Home News Tribune Online 05/28/07 By MICHAEL RISPOLI GANNETT STATE BUREAU mrispol@gannett.com PRINCETON — When an exhausted Sayreville police search team was unable to find 10-year-old Manny Vargas in 2005, Eric Martin, coordinator for the Middlesex County Office of Emergency Management, brought in his team to relieve the police and was able to find the unconscious boy within hours. On Wednesday at Drumthwacket, the New Jersey governor's mansion, Martin, of Piscataway received the Volunteer Leadership award at the annual Governor's Volunteer Awards. The awards, 11 in all, are given each year to the state's most outstanding community-service volunteers. Martin, 42, was recognized for his 28 years of service in search-and-rescue efforts. Beginning when he was a teenager, Martin became interested upon learning rescue missions use detection technology developed during World War II to find German U-boats. Along with the science, Martin, 42, said the idea of "knowing you contributed to something much larger than yourself" gives him the energy and motivation for his work. Martin, who is also the president of the Search and Rescue Council of New Jersey, was sheepish about his own success — pointing out the "great work" of all rescue teams across the state. The award winners were chosen from a competitive field of volunteers, whose applications are submitted to the Governor's Advisory Council on Volunteerism and Community Service by friends, families and co-volunteers who recognize the recipients' extraordinary work. "New Jersey just really shows the best example of those people who really care about their neighbors, about their community and about those who need their services so desperately," said Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells, who presided over the ceremony. The winners were varied — from heroic stories of helping people in danger to everyday help in the community. After learning 13 million children in the United States go to bed hungry every night, Daniel Feldman told himself he had to do something. The 16-year-old form Linwood started "Kids Feeding Kids," an organization that mobilizes youth across New Jersey to work toward eliminating child hunger. The group has raised over $20,000 in the past three years and given out 14,528 meals. "When I learned about it and found how apparent it was in America, I picked up my effort because I just couldn't let that continue," said Feldman, a sophomore at Mainland Regional High School. Feldman received the Service to Youth award. The Education award was given to Linden High School's "We're Making a Difference" program, which renovates dilapidated areas in the community into gardens and playgrounds. Receiving the award in the health category were the volunteers from the "Music in the Atrium Program" at Morristown Memorial Hospital's Carol G. Simon Cancer Center. The group provides patients and family members with food and conversation in the lobby as professional musicians play relaxing melodies in the background. For many of the patients, it is a place to escape everyday realities, said volunteer Linda Wacks, who helped found the program back in 2001. "When you see the look in somebody's eye and they smile, or they are going for their first treatment and they're petrified, and they say, "You can't imagine what you've done for me' . . . that's what it's all about," said Wacks, 62, of Morristown. Kathleen Patrick, 45, of Jackson, won the Human Services award for her work in teaching members of her community how to protect themselves in the event of a disaster, as well as her advocacy for disabled children. She said through her work she has "got more back in return than I could ever give." Other winners: Arts: April Anderson of Whitehouse Station; teaches art to students in community. Environment: Agnes De Bethune of Jersey City; beautifies vacant lots in urban areas and creates parks in former wastelands. History: Dr. Joseph and Mrs. Anne Salvatore of Cape May; restore historic buildings and preserve historic sites. Long-Term Service: Joe Brown of Galloway; advocates for the disabled and works to advance legislation that benefits the disabled. Public Safety: Walter Niegisch of Watchung; has worked more than 25 years as an emergency medical technician and holds training classes for Watchung Rescue Squad. Service to Seniors: The Chore Handyman Service Volunteers, Bergen County; serve fellow senior citizens by making home improvements for residents in need. Michael Rispoli: mrispol@gannett.com