Three DeKalb residents will be honored on Nov. 17 for their volunteer work with the YMCA Academies of South DeKalb in Lithonia and Decatur and the East Lake YMCA.

Dr. Nzinga Harrison, Arlas A. Roman and David Matthews will be recognized as 2008 YMCA Volunteer of the Year at the Y's annual Volunteer Recognition Dinner at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta.

Harrison, a psychiatrist, chairs the Academies's parent advisory council, has been a volunteer at the YMCA Academies of South DeKalb in Lithonia and Decatur for two years. She says she is able to work full time because she can drop her kids off there.

"The teachers obviously love and care about them," she said. "My volunteering is a way to give back to the staff as well as the children."

Mathews, a volunteer at the Decatur-DeKalb Family YMCA, has been a Y volunteer for 20 years. He participates in many activities at the YMCA including beep baseball, the Happy Club, refugee soccer program, and the wheelchair basketball league.

Mathews, who is the director and owner of the David Mathews Tennis Academy, is also the YMCA's liaison to the Georgia Tennis Foundation.

He said it's the people at the YMCA who keep him coming back.

"Their enthusiasm and everything they do is from the heart and soul," he said. "It's a true and honest kind of care that everyone has for one another."

Roman, an eight-year volunteer at the East Lake YMCA, is actively involved with the Partner With Youth annual campaign, Impact Leaders, and is a youth football coach.

Roman says he gets a lot of fulfillment from being involved with an organization that provides so many opportunities to our youth.

© 2008 CrossRoadsNews