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Four groups of Modern Woodmen of America volunteers were recognized by the National Fraternal Congress of America (NFCA) for exceptional volunteer projects on May 2, 2009 – Join Hands Day. Only 10 projects nationwide were honored as Excellence Award winners.

The 10 awardees were selected from hundreds of volunteer projects that emphasized youth and adult partnerships on Join Hands Day. Each award-winning project will receive $1,000 and a plaque. The coordinating groups will choose how the funds are used. Some organizations donate the money to the beneficiary of the project or another benevolent cause. Others save the funds to use as seed money for the following year’s Join Hands Day event.

Award-winning Modern Woodmen projects:
Davenport, Iowa
At Modern Woodmen Park, Modern Woodmen members were joined by Quad Cities River Bandits, Genesis Health System, Scott County DAV/Auxiliary, Cub Scouts, 4-H, Girl Scouts and St. Paul the Apostle School. More than 151 youths and 209 adults made 425 Jared Boxes – shoebox-sized containers filled with toys, games and crafts for childern that find themselves in hospitals, bereavement or trauma support.

Kimberly, Idaho
At the Kimberly project, nearly 200 volunteers came together from 16 Modern Woodmen youth service clubs, five adult camps, Red Hat Society chapters, the Area Office on Aging, LDS relief societies, Meals on Wheels Volunteers, Boy Scouts of America, OWLS members, Key Ag Distributors, Interfaith Volunteer Caregivers, Rock Creek Growers and Kimberly Construction.

The group chose to do a project for home-bound senior citizens. Volunteers found 200 shut-ins in need of attention. On Join Hands, the group planted 200 "Pots of Love", adorned with a poem written by a youth and phone number for the shut-ins to call when an act of service was needed. Adults, accompanied by youths, delivered each pot to the shut-ins. Follow-up calls have resulted in weeding yards, planting flowers, mowing lawns and trimming bushes. Overall, the project cultivated on-going relationships with home-bound seniors.

Dewitt, Iowa
The West Clinton County Chapter of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans and Modern Woodmen of America sponsored May Day in Lincoln Park. Volunteers spread mulch, pulled weeds, raked leaves, prepared flower beds, worked on the walkways for the new German hausbarn and prepared the park for summer use. Volunteers later went to a nursing home and did the same there.

Ottawa, Kan.
At the Ottawa project, a diverse group of volunteers came together from Modern Woodmen of America, Youth Action Council, Youth in Government, Ottawa University's Greek Life and the Ottawa Area Chamber of Commerce. Volunteers donated materials and worked with 25 seniors to construct rain barrels for their homes. A local cable channel taped the workshop and the video brought more support for the youths and their sustainability project. Other volunteers painted over graffiti in the downtown park in preparation for the kick-off of Famer’s Market season, and planted flowers at the Ottawa Retirement Village. In the afternoon, volunteers distributed cost-saving and environmentally friendly CFL light bulbs and reusable shopping bags to 120 households.

A panel of independent judges selected this year’s top projects. The judges selected the winners based on the project’s uniqueness, its youth involvement, recruitment, publicity and the value of the project to people and the community.

Sponsored by Modern Woodmen and America’s fraternal benefit societies, Join Hands Day is designed to bring youths and adults together to plan and implement volunteer service projects in their communities. As the generations work side by side, they learn more about each other, sparking a new level of understanding and respect.

“In its 10 years JOIN HANDS DAY has really come into its own. Communities developed this year’s events based on previous projects to further enhance the community and relationships begun a year ago,” said Joseph J. Annotti, NFCA President and CEO.

Since its conception in 1999, JOIN HANDS DAY has awarded 100 Excellence Awards. This is the final year for this award program.

The 123-year-old NFCA unites 65 not-for-profit fraternal benefit societies operating in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Canada. The association represents 9.3 million fraternalists in 37,000 local chapters, making it one of America’s largest member-volunteer networks. Fraternal benefit societies provide their members with leadership, social, educational, spiritual, patriotic, scholarship, financial and volunteer-service opportunities. Combined, the NFCA’s member-societies maintain more than $353 billion of life insurance-in-force and, in 2008 alone, contributed almost $424 million to charitable and fraternal programs, and volunteered nearly 94 million hours for community-service projects. These statistics demonstrate the commitment that fraternals make to those in need and exemplify the true meaning of the NFCA signature phrase: Joining Hands to Touch Lives. For more information, visit the NFCA’s Web site at www.nfcanet.org.

Founded in 1883, Modern Woodmen of America touches lives and secures futures. The fraternal benefit society offers financial services and fraternal member benefits to individuals and families throughout the United States.