Chris Rossi/The Gazette
Annette Cassanese, owner of Four Seasons Salon and Spa in Germantown, has donated gift certificates for haircuts, manicures, pedicures and other treatments to cancer patients.
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They are everywhere, but often overlooked — people who give of themselves, improving our communities and the lives of our neighbors along the way. As we embark on a new year, we share the stories of a few of those who made a difference in 2008. And as 2009 progresses, watch for more installments in our coverage of people who make a difference.
Annette Cassanese knows what a day of pampering can mean to women in treatment for cancer.
"Annette notoriously does not care much for doctors, but she was with me when I was diagnosed and at the hospital, and she was particularly impressed with my surgeon," said Williamson, 42, of Mount Airy, who became friends with Cassanese 10 years ago after meeting at church. "She decided to give gift certificates for patients who are having a particularly hard time and need a little bit of TLC."
Cassanese, 35, understands the feeling. She was diagnosed with dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans, a rare skin tumor, when she was 21 and working with her mother, also a hairstylist, at a salon in Lakeforest mall.
"It changed my life. At 21, most people are out partying and celebrating and I got a cancer diagnosis out of the blue," said Cassanese, who has been cancer-free for 14 years. "I was scared. My family was my biggest support."
Cassanese, of Edgewater, grew up in a small coal-mining town in Pennsylvania and moved to the county with her family in high school. After attending cosmetology school in Florida she worked at salons in Bethesda, Gaithersburg and Germantown but dreamed of opening her own business.
Cassanese, who was a hairstylist at Four Seasons for seven years, sees opportunities to give back in her work, Williamson said. She paid out of pocket to give one client, a woman who was the primary caregiver to her husband when he had cancer, a free manicure and pedicure, Williamson said.
"She's just a very giving person," Williamson said. "She knows her industry is a way to pamper people and make them feel better."
Cassanese, a Pittsburgh Steelers fan who enjoys playing sports and riding her motorcycle, agreed about a salon's potential to do good in the community.
"Life is just very, very short, and I just try to help out people any way I can," Cassanese said.
Building a foundation for Ghana's children
Even though Horace Dei is miles from his home country, that does not stop him from trying to ensure that the children of Ghana receive a good education.
Dei, 64, of Rockville, founded TQ Educational Fund, which aims to arm children in the rural towns of Ghana with a good foundation in the sciences at an early age.
"The key to reducing poverty is science education, which in most African countries government have neglected," Dei said.
"It came to me that if one is able to achieve education, then he or she will be able to feed him or herself," he added. "Science is a language that is universally spoken."
Dei said volunteers with his foundation have looked at models in other countries, like India, where students have a strong math and science foundation by the time they get to high school.
"Those are things society is looking for and they don't have that in Africa. By the time they get [to high school], they either drop out or don't speak the language [of science]," Dei said.
Dei started his effort nine years ago when he was visiting Ghana and his niece asked him for money. Instead of giving her a financial handout, he suggested that she work to earn money of her own to feed her three children by growing vegetables to sell.
"In America, we work hard," Dei told her.
Today, she continues to sell vegetables, such as carrots and cabbage, along with other women in her community.
"I'm so proud [of] her … helping all of the girls who are down and frustrated, saying, ‘You can do it,'" Dei said.
Two years ago, the organization opened a computer learning center with more than 30 computers in the rural town of Akuapem in Ghana, funded by the Hershey Corporation in Pennsylvania and the World Cocoa Foundation in Virginia.
The organization is building a Home Science Center with the help of church groups that Dei hopes will be completed by the summer. The center still needs a roof by the time the rainy season starts in June and the foundation need about $12,000 to accomplish that, Dei said.
Dei's foundation hopes to build more centers like that throughout Ghana and into other countries in Africa. The group's next big goal is to acquire a Terrabuilt machine that makes bricks out of ordinary soil so people in Ghana can build their own facilities. The machine makes 300 bricks per hour and costs $50,000.
Dei is seeking donations of manual or electric sewing machines and other sewing materials, science and math books and lab equipment, and used televisions. Those who wish to donate can contact Dei at 301-294-0348 or 240-426-5883.
Sundays in Olney bring people together
Janet Terry's vision for her community has added a new dimension to Sundays in Olney.
The Olney Farmer's and Artist's Market, which celebrated its first full season in 2008, is arguably the most popular addition to the community in recent years. A variety of vendors show up each week, patrons attend in large numbers, local restaurateurs have embraced the idea and area schools send their students to offer musical entertainment.
Each time Terry visited her daughter in Charleston, S.C., she found herself visiting a local farmer's market and wondering if it could be duplicated in Olney, where she has lived for 15 years.
"People spent hours mingling, enjoying fresh produce, fine arts and delicious food," she said. "I thought it would be great to have something like this in Olney."
When she brought up the idea during a meeting of the Greater Olney Civic Association in the summer of 2007, her presentation and enthusiasm were so well received that several people formed an exploratory committee that night.
So Terry began navigating the county's permitting process and was told that she should focus on opening the market the following spring, rather than that fall.
"That made me even more determined to get it opened right away, and I went the very next day to get it incorporated," said Terry, 57, who works as a producer for WUSA-TV.
Under her leadership, the Olney Farmer's and Artist's Market opened a mere three months after the concept was proposed.
"We wanted to make a difference by bringing the community together," Terry said. "We wanted to bring back some of that old-fashioned flavor by letting people enjoy local food, hear great live music and have a central gathering place."
The market returned for its first full season last April and continued every Sunday through mid-November.
Terry said she often sees families sitting on the grassy hillside enjoying the music.
"This is just what we wanted – for people to get to know their neighbors and for families to spend quality time together at very little expense," she said. "It's so heartening."
