By Ward Peck

Editor

    When Bobby Bassinet stood in front of a cafeteria
full of sophomores, he could have talked about the time he met several
Red Sox heroes like Jason Varitek and David Ortiz, or about the
retreats where he and a group of other students from around New England
met and learned team-building and leadership exercises.

    Instead, he spoke about the elderly people he has met at Portland’s Bayview Heights public housing complex.

    “Do you have a grandmother who always pinches you on
the cheek?” Bassinet asked his classmates. “Everyone of them is your
grandmother.”

    Bassinet was talking to the students to see if they
were interested in joining him in his volunteer work. Is so, Bassinet
said, “It’s cool.” If not, “that’s cool, too.”

    No one jumped out of his or her seat to join, but
Bassinet had a more modest proposal. Gift baskets would be set up in
each “home base” classroom, and students are invited to bring home
goods to contribute to the people of Bayview Heights. Canned food was
good, but also needed are the everyday supplies: sponges, soap,
toothpaste, light bulbs toilet paper– all the things an elderly low
income person may choose to do without when making difficult choices.

    Bassinet got involved with the people of Bayview
Heights when he joined “action Team, a partnership between the
Volunteers of America and the Major League Baseball Players Trust and
sponsored, in part, by TD Banknorth and through a grant from the
Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation. Action Team is a national youth
volunteer initiative created to inspire and train the next generation
of volunteers.

    Action Teams are a national effort. It began in 2003
with 900 Denver-area students contributing 1,400 hours of service.

    It has since grown to nine cities and states.

    Major League ball players contribute their time to
help teach the importance of community involvement and create student
leaders to encourage more widespread involvement.

    As an Action Team leader, Bassinet is charged with
communicating the importance of community involvement to his classmates
in an effort to recruit other youth to work with Volunteers of America
on volunteer projects. But he has been inspired by the people he has
met at Bayview, during get-togethers and parties. In addition to the
gift basket drive, which the team will deliver in March, Bassinet plans
to contribute to a landscaping project when the weather warms.

    Yes, Bassinet could have told his classmates about
going to Fenway Park and rubbing shoulders with world-class athletes,
but he was much more interested in the other people he met– not as
objects of charity but as people with wisdom and experiences that just
may be more valuable than fame.