Delegation Heads for Volunteers Conference

Pano Rezinas, a retired engineer, has devoted more than 5,200 hours of his time over the last six years to helping children with science projects ranging from a model car equipped with electronic chips for guidance to a working telegraph system.

A new coalition of community leaders is hopeful that there are hundreds, if not thousands, more Orange County citizens like Rezinas who can be recruited for a new national crusade to promote volunteer efforts on behalf of children.

The crusade, being kicked off in Philadelphia today at the Presidents’ Summit for America’s Future, is being promoted by President Clinton, Gen. Colin Powell, and former presidents and first ladies.

An 11-member delegation from Orange County will be there to meet with other delegates from across the country to brainstorm and swap ideas about volunteer programs that will benefit America’s young.

Upon their return, the Orange County delegates, who include Supervisor William G. Steiner and UC Irvine Vice Chancellor Manuel Gomez, will convene a similar summit of community leaders here to kick-start local efforts.

“We risk losing a full generation of children to neglect,” said Steiner, a former director of the Orangewood Children’s Foundation. “We’re all expected to step up to the plate.”

The fight to save children from illiteracy, gangs and substance abuse is seen by organizers of the national summit as the next major challenge facing America.

“The summit is aimed at issuing a call to action to America on behalf of its 15 million at-risk kids,” said Joe Rutledge, a summit spokesman. “The crisis that confronts America [at home] is equal to any crisis we’ve faced abroad.”

Rutledge said that America has a unique opportunity to tackle the problem now. The economy is strong, and the country is not preoccupied with a foreign conflict.

The national summit’s goal is to ignite the volunteerism that could improve the lives of 2 million at-risk children by the year 2000.

According to summit organizers, the presence of an adult mentor dramatically decreases the chances of drug and alcohol abuse and other social problems among adolescents.

In Orange County, mentors could help the county’s 265,000 residents who are 10 to 17 years old.

Orange County delegates, who are paying their own way to the Philadelphia summit, hope to launch a countywide campaign to recruit mentors upon their return.

“The hard work, the follow-through will be at the local level,” Steiner said.

Rezinas, who has been honored for his work, vouched for the need for more volunteers.

He works with the Future Scientists and Engineers of America, and said the organization, which has approximately 130 chapters nationwide, would like to open more.

The holdup?

“Like anybody else,” he said, “our major problem is not enough volunteers.”