Once a month or so, Providence insurance agent Lorne Adrain and his wife take their three young children to Waterplace Park. They bring a few plastic bags and pick up trash. Though they have to keep an eye on the two-year-old — so she doesn’t put anything harmful in her mouth — they feel it is an important way to instill a sense of community responsibility in their children, he said.
As a further means to helping people, not just his children, do good deeds, Adrain is involved in developing an Internet site called VisionRI.org, which stands for Volunteers In Service In Our Neighborhoods. It gives people suggestions about organizing volunteer teams, raising money through fund-raisers at work, and highlights events and some local companies that run such projects.
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Earlier this month that involvement helped him win Northwestern Mutual Life insurance company’s top award in its Agent Community Service Award program, according to a company spokeswoman. Eighteen other full-time agents from around the country were also honored, but Adrain was named “Most Exceptional Volunteer.”
“I’m one of eight kids,” Adrain said. “Mom did Meals on Wheels for as long as I can remember, Dad was a Boy Scout leader — it was part of our family culture.”
For Adrain working on VisionRI and doing family projects, such as occasionally tidying Waterplace Park with his kids and wife, author Ann Hood, are an enjoyable routine.
“It’s just part of what makes my day a good day. I hope it’s a way of life that my children observe and adopt themselves.”
Adrain, who was nominated by local Northwestern general agent Michael Matone, donated the $10,000 award that comes with the honor to the Rhode Island Foundation. He hopes the money will be designated for further funding of the VisionRI site.
The ultimate goal is to turn VisionRI into a model that organizers in other communities can use to create their own non-profit Web sites, he said. In addition, he sees it as an easy way for families and individuals who might want to identify events to participate in.
Though there is a lot of original content on the site, there are also links to related sites. One of VisionRI’s main functions is to provide a central location for Web surfers to find information, Adrain explained. Brown University’s Howard R. Swearer Center for Public Service is a major link, which allows site visitors to use the center’s searchable database to find interesting volunteer opportunities.
Adrain said administrators and volunteers at the Swearer Center have been very instrumental in developing VisionRI and are working on honing the site design. For some non-profit organizations that are listed on the Swearer Center’s database, the Internet listings are invaluable.
Melanie Saunders, director of volunteers and membership with the American Red Cross in Providence, said this is the first year the organization participated in the database listing.
“Actually we’ve been really lucky this year. We’ve already gotten an entire Disaster Action Team from it,” she said.
Anywhere from two to five members of a Disaster Action Team will respond to house fires, when called by the local fire department, to provide uninsured victims with food, shelter and clothing.
“We’ve always had young people involved, but not to this extent. We’d probably had about five Brown students a year, now we have 22,” Saunders said. “It’s great. Instead of us going out to find people, they’re finding us.”
The VisionRI site has been in existence for awhile, but it recently got its own Web address. Previously it was hosted by the Swearer Center section on Brown University’s site, according to Adrain.
“Before, you had to go into Brown and sort of bump your way around (its Web site).”
An official ceremony was held to present the $10,000 check to Adrain and “unveil” VisionRI’s new Web address at the Rhode Island Community Food Bank on Nov. 10.
