Finalists make a difference

The Invest in Others Charitable Foundation and InvestmentNews will present the second annual Community Leadership Awards, honoring financial advisers who make a difference in their communities, at the Hilton New York tomorrow night.

Categories include the Volunteer Team Award, the Mentoring Excellence Award, the Volunteer of the Year Award and the Community Leadership Award.

The Invest in Others Charitable Foundation donates $10,000 to the charity designated by each category’s honoree. It will also donate $500 to each of the finalists’ charities.

The Volunteer Team Award finalists are: Katherine Foster, Chris Messick, Bill Stutesman, Mike Nelson and Gayle Waltman from Northwestern Mutual Financial Network in Dallas; Frank Martin, Todd Martin, Kristen Smith, Sue Massey and Aaron Kindig from Martin Capital Management LLP in Eckhart, Ind.; and Larry Rybka from ValMark Securities in Akron, Ohio.

Finalists for the Mentoring Excellence Award include John R. Brant from KBD & Associates in Ventura, Calif.; Wayne Brumm in the Crown Point, Ind., office of Raymond James Financial Services Inc. of St. Petersburg, Fla.; and Marc Turner of Renaissance Advisory Group in Chester Springs, Pa.

The Volunteer of the Year finalists are Richard England Jr. of Madison Wealth Management in Bethesda, Md.; Carl Bailey of Bailey & Beatty Financial Services LLC in Danbury, Conn.; and Marshall Gunn Jr. of Gunn & Co. Investment Management Inc. in Jacksonville, Fla.

Finalists for the Community Leadership Award include Elizabeth Verterano in the New Wilmington, Pa., office of Minneapolis-based Ameri-prise Financial Services Inc.; Betty Harris Custer of Custer Financial Services in Madison, Wis.; and Gus Petsas of Petsas & Hill, Certified Public Accountants Inc. in Richmond, Calif.

Proceeds from the awards dinner will go to the Boston-based Invest in Others Charitable Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3) charity that supports philanthropic and volunteer activities among financial advisers in the United States.

Nearly 500 nominations were received for this year’s Community Leadership Awards. Roughly 40% of the advisers nominated have been volunteering for the same non-profit organization for more than 10 years, and more than 10% of the nominees founded or co-founded the charitable organization they serve.

Education, housing, medical research, after-school programs and violence prevention are among the causes championed by the nominated advisers.

The finalists for the Community Leadership Award are:

ELIZABETH VERTERANO

Many volunteers would be delighted to see growth in a community service they helped to launch. But not Elizabeth Verterano, a certified financial planner.

“Our goal has always been to put ourselves out of business,” said Ms. Verterano, a founder of the Crisis Shelter of Lawrence County in New Castle, Pa. “We’ve hoped the community … would progress to the point that people wouldn’t be raping or battering women and children and our services would no longer be needed.”

Ms. Verterano, a financial adviser in New Wilmington, Pa., for Minneapolis-based Ameriprise Financial Services Inc. who has long been interested in women’s rights, began her crusade to battle domestic violence in 1979 after reading a report that revealed the growing problem in her community.

“I grew up at a time when many doors were closed to women,” she said. “As a young woman, I encountered [such] situations. But here were women in a far worse position than I had ever been.”

With Ms. Verterano’s leadership, by 1981 a crisis hotline and emergency shelter had been launched, staffed entirely with volunteers, including her. Now the shelter also offers transitional housing, counseling, court and medical advocacy, prevention education and intervention training.

Ms. Verterano’s commitment has never wavered. She continues to serve on the board and has championed fund-raising efforts, mentored women and helped establish an endowment fund intended to move the agency from governmental funding to self-sufficiency.

She also is vocal about her conviction that domestic violence should be viewed as more than just a women’s issue.

“We’ve had victims of sexual assault as young as a few months and as old as women in their 70s,” she said. “I believe that everyone has a responsibility toward helping to end domestic violence.”

C.N. “GUS” PETSAS

About 14 years ago, C.N. “Gus” Petsas was invited to a crime-ridden neighborhood in Richmond, Calif. In the midst of boarded-up storefronts and vacant lots, he found a place that quickly became his passion: The Bay Area Rescue Mission.

“There are lots of non-profits doing superficial work in the community, but this [group] is out there making a difference,” said Mr. Petsas, a financial adviser and president of Petsas & Hill, Certified Public Accountants Inc. in Richmond. “We’re proud of what we do and how we take care of our people.”

Since that initial visit, Mr. Petsas has been involved in numerous aspects of the mission, which provides emergency shelter, meals, drug recovery programs, spiritual counseling, job-skills training, youth intervention and mobile outreach. About 3,000 people are fed daily through the mission’s shelter and its warehouse; more than 200 people each night have a bed to sleep in because of the group.

In addition to serving as a board member for the last 14 years, five of which were spent as chairman, Mr. Petsas offers hands-on help. He’s done everything from serving meals to the hungry and assisting with toy giveaway programs at Christmas to providing financial expertise to the group and arranging for one of his clients to donate a building to the mission.

One of Mr. Petsas’ greatest joys is seeing the transformation in addicts who enter the mission’s drug recovery program, which boasts an 85% success rate. Many of them show up with wild eyes and a sense of hopelessness; a year later, he said, they’re smiling.

“It’s amazing,” Mr. Petsas said. “The mission transforms people from the inside out.”

BETTY HARRIS CUSTER

While driving her daughter to ballet lessons more than 20 years ago, Betty Harris Custer was saddened when she passed a low-income housing complex. She wondered what hidden talent was undiscovered there, due solely to its residents’ inability to finance extras like dance lessons.

“I realized that not only are the children missing out on opportunities, but we as a society are missing out, too,” said Ms. Custer, managing partner of Custer Financial Services in Madison, Wis.

Her concern led to involvement with the Wexford Ridge Neighborhood Center, located in the heart of the community that had caused her distress. The center provides services including academic support, instruction in the arts, health and fitness, community service and leadership development.

Ms. Custer began helping in various capacities, ranging from working in the center’s food pantry to financially supporting the center.

Five years ago, she and other volunteers began planning a facility to replace the three cramped, renovated apartments in which the group has been operating for nearly 30 years. When it became clear that a capital campaign would be critical to raising the $4.5 million needed to build the new center, Ms. Custer agreed to lead the charge.

Much of her motivation arose out of love for a friend, Jane Buffet, who had succumbed to cancer. Ms. Custer knew that Ms. Buffet, a tireless advocate for the center, would have eagerly volunteered to chair the campaign.

“So I agreed to do it,” she said. “And I truly feel like Jane has been sitting on my shoulder along the way.”

In September 2007, ground was broken on the new 12,000-square-foot center, dubbed the Lussier Community Education Center.

Finalists for the Volunteer of the Year Award are:

CARL BAILEY

After nearly a decade of financially supporting the Redding, Conn.-based Connecticut Quest for Peace, Carl Bailey decided in 2005 to gain a first-hand understanding of the group’s passion for sending humanitarian aid to Nicaragua.

In simple terms, he wondered why Nicaraguans would leave everything behind them to come to America to live in crowded apartments and work around the clock.

These immigrants “can be living here in deplorable conditions, so I wondered how bad could things be for them to leave everything behind to come here,” said Mr. Bailey, president of Bailey & Beatty Financial Services LLC in Danbury, Conn.

His curiosity led to a three-week trip to the slums of Managua, Nicaragua. Mr. Bailey’s experience answered his own question. He was dismayed to discover dire poverty, abominably depressing conditions, widespread drug use and crime.

Since that visit, Mr. Bailey has increased his support of the Quest for Peace by providing many amenities for the people of Managua. Among his gifts have been computers, a library stocked with more than 1,800 books, an athletic field, repairs to the infrastructure at a local school and milk for about 500 children in need of daily nutrition. Mr. Bailey also has taken U.S. dentists to the community to serve patients who have no access to dental care, and has raised nearly $300,000 to fund his projects.

Additionally, he established the Bailey Family Nicaragua Fund to help students focusing on Latin American Studies at Fairfield University in Fairfield, Conn.

“I suppose I could have picked anywhere [to help],” Mr. Bailey said. “But we’re making a difference in thousands of lives [in Nicaragua] instead of just tens of people here.”

MARSHALL GUNN JR.

Marshall Gunn Jr. already was an active volunteer in his hometown of Jacksonville, Fla., when he decided he wanted to learn more about a non-profit group located two and a half hours away, near Orlando.

With the help of a client who was the founder of the group, called Give Kids The World Inc. in Kissimmee, Fla., Mr. Gunn visited the non-profit and was hooked.

“I immediately fell in love with it,” said Mr. Gunn, a CFP and president of both Gunn & Co. PA and Gunn & Co. Investment Management Inc. in Jacksonville.

Give Kids The World is a sprawling 70-acre resort that provides a weeklong, all-expenses-paid vacation to children with life-threatening illnesses. The children and their families receive tickets to local theme parks and attractions, and meals and accommodations at the village. Since its inception in 1986, the non-profit has hosted more than 88,000 families from all 50 states and more than 65 countries by working in conjunction with wish-granting organizations.

Even though he was already volunteering with several Jacksonville-area charities, Mr. Gunn’s reaction to the resort led to his immediate involvement. Not only has he been serving as a board member, but as current chairman of the board of trustees, he’s poised to become chairman of the board of directors next May.

Moreover, every few months Mr. Gunn taps his list of potential volunteers and organizes a weekend trip to the resort. While there, he and other volunteers dedicate their time to helping kids experience a magical vacation by serving meals and ice cream, hosting rides on the carousel, celebrating birthday parties and driving trams, among other things.

“Our standard is [that a family’s experience] 99.5% exceeds expectations,” Mr. Gunn said.

RICHARD ENGLAND JR.

Mastery of Spanish led to something Richard England Jr. never anticipated.

Interested in using his Spanish skills to help others, Mr. England 15 years ago began serving as a mentor to homeless youths through the Latin American Youth Center in Washington. It wasn’t long before his volunteerism attracted attention and he was asked to serve on the center’s board. Today Mr. England is known as a “board member for life.”

“I’ve been on other non-profit boards, and I’ve never found one that’s better in terms of the enthusiasm and energy involved,” said Mr. England, a CFP and senior wealth adviser for Madison Wealth Management in Bethesda, Md.

The Latin American Youth Center serves more than 4,000 Latino, African-American and multicultural low-income youths and families through a variety of multilingual, culturally sensitive programs that encourage things like academic achievement, career skills, community involvement and healthy habits to avoid risky behaviors.

For the last 10 years, Mr. England has served as the board’s treasurer, which has enabled him to help with business office practices, preparation of the center’s budget and guidance with audits. He also has been a leading donor to the organization. When the center conducted a $3 million capital campaign for a new facility, Mr. England contributed and made sure family and friends did the same until the last dime was raised.

Most recently, he came up with the idea of creating a $5 million fund to help ensure the center’s financial health and stability. Through support from Mr. England’s family foundation and a personal gift, the fund was launched.

“It really makes me feel good to help those who don’t have the same [advantages] that many of us have,” he said.

Finalists for the Volunteer Team of the Year Award are:

CHRIS MESSICK AND TEAM

Chris Messick considers himself no different from others who have heard terrible stories about clients’ or colleagues’ family troubles and felt compelled to help.

In 2005, when Mr. Messick learned that Sam, the 4-year-old child of a client, had been diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, he was moved to action.

“I first thought I’d write a check, but then thought, ‘That’s too easy,’” recalled Mr. Messick, a certified financial planner and wealth management adviser for Messick Financial Solutions in Dallas. “I decided it was an opportunity to serve the family and do something special.”

The result, five months later, was the first Sam’s Family Fun Day, a fundraiser focused on providing fun for kids and their families through entertainment such as magic shows, face painting, obstacle courses and more.

Mr. Messick’s entire investment team administers the organizational and financial responsibilities to make the once-a-year fundraiser happen. All members are on its board of directors, and each member contributes time to make sure it’s successful.

“This [disease] has been really hard for me to get my arms around,” Mr. Messick said. “It’s not just terminal; it’s slowly debilitating.”

Proceeds from the fundraiser go to Middletown, Ohio-based Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy, a national organization that aims to improve the lives of those with Duchenne through research and advocacy.

On Oct. 25, the fourth Sam’s Family Fun Day will be held. The fundraising goal is $250,000. It’s a far cry from the $38,000 raised in 2005. Last year, the event raised $140,000. Not surprisingly, the event has become the largest grass-roots fundraiser for Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy.

FRANK MARTIN AND TEAM

After serving as a board member for a variety of non-profit groups in his community, Frank Martin decided a decade ago that the view from the ivory tower led him to miss what was going on in the trenches.

To get the ground-up perspective, he began mentoring at a local elementary school whose students come from disadvantaged backgrounds.

“I went into it thinking I’d bring light into the darkness, but the opposite happened,” said Mr. Martin, senior partner at Martin Capital Management LLP in Elkhart, Ind. “I found out that I didn’t know what it really means to survive at the lowest rungs of society. So [the students] became my teachers.”

The experience motivated Mr. Martin to launch DreamsWork Inc. in 2001 as a way to help underprivileged children. Other Martin Capital employees have been involved since its inception by serving as mentors or providing help in areas like computer consultation, office setup or general guidance.

DreamsWork selects up to 20 new fourth-graders each year to participate in the program. From fourth grade through high school graduation, participants receive weekly one-on-one mentoring along with enrichment activities such as museum trips, wilderness experiences and community service. The top 10 students from each class are then eligible for a DreamsWork college scholarship.

Of the original five students selected for the program during its first year, four are now in college.

“It’s all about helping kids and their families break the cycle of poverty through education and through learning character traits that contribute to being a responsible citizen,” Mr. Martin said.

LARRY RYBKA AND TEAM

At the encouragement of an acquaintance in 2004, Larry Rybka accompanied a group traveling to Jamaica to give away 650 wheelchairs to the disabled. When 12 chairs remained, someone mentioned that a local orphanage could probably use them.

What Mr. Rybka discovered at the orphanage, called the Westhaven Children’s Home, broke his heart.

“Crippled kids started crawling out of cottages,” said Mr. Rybka, president and chief executive of ValMark Securities Inc. in Akron, Ohio. “The ones who [had use of their legs] ran to us just because they wanted to be held.”

Mr. Rybka’s then 8-year-old daughter, who had accompanied him on the trip, pointed out that more children were stuck in cribs in the cottages. Most of the home’s 80-plus residents have been abandoned by their families due to the children’s physical or emotional disabilities.

It was at that moment that Mr. Rybka realized how much more help could be provided to the orphanage, tucked away in the village of Copse, located in Jamaica’s western mountains.

Since then, he has organized an annual trip to the orphanage for ValMark’s registered representatives and their families. ValMark employees, along with their kids or grandchildren, arrive ready to do physical labor and provide support to both the orphanage’s residents and its workers.

Among the gifts that the orphanage has received through Mr. Rybka’s trips are a centralized kitchen and laundry facility, a special-education teacher, hospice care for terminally ill children, financial support to the Westhaven board and a handicapped-accessible playground.

“It started out as a one-time visit, but it’s taken on a life of its own,” he said.

Finalists for the Mentoring Excellence Award are:

MARC TURNER

When Marc Turner was 26, he accepted a part-time job as basketball coach at the Church Farm School in Paoli, Pa. It wasn’t long before he realized that the position provided him with the chance to do for others what had been done for him.

“There were people who had taken an interest in me, for whatever reason, and had decided to teach me about business, life and more,” said Mr. Turner, president and owner of Renaissance Advisory Group LLC in Chester Springs, Pa. “I’m just trying to do the same thing.”

Sixteen years later, Mr. Turner continues his role as coach on and off the court. Except for a few years during which he was an assistant basketball coach at Villanova ( Pa.) University, he has committed himself to the Church Farm School’s basketball players — many of whom truly need a role model.

Mr. Turner makes sure his players understand the importance of giving back to the community. After Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005, he mobilized 50 boys from the school to help the local Exton Region Chamber of Commerce collect goods for hurricane victims and pack five tractor trailers’ worth of goods to be shipped south.

After a day spent loading trailers, the boys were told their shift was over and they could leave. But when they looked at the mounds of goods remaining to be packed, they announced, “We’ll leave when Coach Turner leaves.”

JOHN BRANT

Like other financial advisers, John Brant often has many balls in the air. But every Thursday evening, he teaches others what it really means to juggle.

A regional vice president for Kipp Brant Drummond & Associates Inc. in Ventura, Calif., Mr. Brant has spent the past 10 years holding a weekly juggling class for kids who at-tend the Boys and Girls Club of Ventura, an affiliate of Atlanta-based Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

Through his juggling instruction, he has enjoyed forging relationships with his students and watching them blossom. Several times a year, Mr. Brant and his students participate in local parades to show off their newfound talent.

“What they really get out of it is self-confidence and self-esteem,” he said. “And that’s a huge thing.”

In addition to his juggling instruction, Mr. Brant has served as a board member for the club for more than 15 years and was the chairman of an annual fundraising campaign for the past decade.

Also, to celebrate his 50th birthday, he rode his bicycle 500 miles and raised $5,000 for the club. For his 60th birthday, which is Jan. 13, Mr. Brant plans to cycle 600 miles and raise $6,000.

Although he is involved in other local non-profits, the Boys and Girls Club holds a special place in his heart.

“During the time I spend there, I get so much more back than what I give.” Mr. Brant said.

WAYNE BRUMM

The way Wayne Brumm sees it, basketball is a microcosm of life. And as a volunteer coach for the Sport Youth Foundation in Merrillville, Ind., he puts his philosophy into practice.

“What we try to teach these kids and hope to leave them with is a road map to lifelong success,” said Mr. Brumm, a CFP and branch manager in Crown Point, Ind., for St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Raymond James Financial Services Inc.

For the past 11 years, he has spent much of his time away from work serving as a basketball coach for 15- to 17-year-olds at the foundation. His participation, however, extends beyond courtside.

Among Mr. Brumm’s duties: Driving kids to and from practice or tournaments, washing uniforms, tutoring, soliciting donations for the group, organizing travel arrangements for competitions and talking with college coaches interested in recruiting his players.

Under his direction, the team arguably has become one of the top amateur traveling basketball teams in the country.

Last month, Mr. Brumm said, the team snared third place in the Lake Buena Vista, Fla.-based Amateur Athletic Union’s national competition. In his players’ division were 154 teams from across the country.

But the rigorous training and game schedule are worth it for the kids, most of whom come from gang-ridden communities and chaotic home lives. Over the past 14 years, the foundation has watched 92.3% of its players go on to college.

“The organization started to get inner-city kids into college, through basketball,” Mr. Brumm said. “Some of these kids aren’t listening to their parents — if they even live with them — or their preachers or school principals, but they’ll listen to their basketball coach.”