Michigan Blues Will Honor Six 'Angels' Nov. 10

Michigan Blues Will Honor Six 'Angels' Nov. 10

Outstanding volunteers to be saluted for helping children

DETROIT, Oct. 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network will honor six earthly "angels" for their efforts in helping children at a reception and awards program in Detroit on Friday, Nov. 10. A "Grand Angel" from among the six will be announced at the event.

Sponsored annually by the Michigan Blues since 1999, the Caring for Children Angel Awards is a statewide program that recognizes the good works done by individuals to enhance the lives of Michigan children.

Awards include a $5,000 contribution to the Grand Angel's designated nonprofit organization, as well as $1,000 grants to each of the five other Angels' organizations, including an under-age-17 "Littlest Angel" winner. In addition to the donations, all six Angels will receive engraved trophies.

Seventeen-year-old Detroit School of Arts senior Brandon Wilkerson will join WDIV Local 4 morning news anchor Rhonda Walker to emcee the program. The evening will include live entertainment by classical violist Jason Amos and violinist Marie-Elise McNeeley.

Following are this year's six Angel Award recipients, selected by a panel of judges that included community leaders from across the state:

* Edward Deeb of Bloomfield Hills wanted to show metro Detroit youth that the business community, government and school systems respected them. Together with those institutions, Deeb -- founder, president and CEO of the Michigan Food & Beverage Association -- helped found and still chairs Metro Detroit Youth Day. Since 1981, this free day of fun ranging from celebrity sports clinics to pie-eating contests hosts more than 30,000 children ages 8 to 15 on Belle Isle each July. It is the largest youth event in the state. More than 200 businesses and corporate sponsors support the event, and more than 600,000 young people have attended.

* Thirteen-year-old Rebecca Glasser of Orchard Lake is this year's "Littlest Angel" recipient. In 2004 and 2005, Rebecca, assisted by friends and family, assembled 450 age-specific gift packages for the Lighthouse of Oakland County's Adopt-a Family Holiday Program and more than 325 packages for seniors for the Lighthouse Adopt-a-Senior Program. She fulfilled a wish list for youths in Oakland County's Orchards Children's Services program, and created more than 150 Easter baskets for Lighthouse of Oakland County.

* Dearborn Heights resident Jane Schwyn retired from Wayne-Westland Community Schools after teaching for 32 years. She continues to work with children, now as both an Oakwood Healthcare System volunteer and a volunteer for Wayne-Westland schools. She is largely responsible for the school-based Lincoln/Jefferson-Barns Healthcare Center in Westland. The center provides medical services to students attending Lincoln and Jefferson-Barns elementary schools and their families in the Nor-Wayne neighborhood, and promotes health education.

* Michael Slack of Taylor is president of the Southwest Detroit Baseball Little League and also organized Kemeny's Pee Wee Basketball League. Thanks to Slack's efforts the past 22 years, more than 300 youth baseball and 100 basketball players have a place every year to have fun and learn the spirit of teamwork. Slack, an 18-year employee at DTE, also helps organize an annual season-ending awards banquet, and raises funds for equipment and uniforms each year.

* At age 80, Spring Lake resident and retired mechanical engineer George "Cal" Steele has devoted up to 20 hours a week through the Michigan State University Extension Journey Program in Ottawa County mentoring a 15-year-old youth who lacked a positive male role model. Since 2002, Steele's guidance has helped raise the teen's self-esteem, showing the youth the rewards of volunteerism and spurring him to even raise funds for the program. Steele also organized Journey's Adopt-A-Family Program, providing Thanksgiving meals for 12 families in 2005, and this year he hopes to expand it to 20.

* Donna Weaver of Trenton is founder and chairman of Teen Life Committee, stakeholders in Monroe County providing services for abused or neglected girls in foster care. The committee also provides educational and transportation services to after-school programs and weekend activities, tutoring, career preparation and mentoring to the teens. Weaver also began Gwin's Garden Gate, an educational foster home for abused and neglected teenage girls in Monroe County that has become a state model.

The Angel Awards event will take place Friday, Nov. 10 at the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Bricktown Auditorium, 500 E. Lafayette Blvd. in Detroit. The reception will begin at 5:30 p.m. followed by the awards program at 6:30 p.m. The event is open to the public. There is no admission charge, but seating must be reserved by calling 1-800-733-BLUE (2583).

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, a nonprofit corporation, provides or administers health care benefits to just over 4.7 million members through a variety of plans: Traditional Blue Cross Blue Shield; Blue Preferred, Community Blue and Healthy Blue PPOs; Blue Choice Point of Service; Blue Care Network HMO, and Flexible Blue plans compatible with health savings accounts. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network are nonprofit corporations and independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. For more information, visit http://www.bcbsm.com/ .

Source: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan

CONTACT: Helen Stojic, +1-313-225-8113, or Bill Semion, +1-313-225-7975,
mediarelations@bcbsm.com , both of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan

Web site: http://www.bcbsm.com/

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