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September 24, 1999/14 Tishri 5760, Vol. 52, No.4
Celebrated volunteer always leaves 'em laughing
TAMI BICKLEY
Staff Writer
Cancer is nothing to laugh about, but when Hope Ozer was diagnosed with breast cancer four years ago, the jokes started rolling off her tongue.
She recalls that, surprised by her attitude, her doctor told her flatly, "This isn't funny. You could die."
Ozer, who considers her illness just a "bump in the road," retorted, "No, I can't (die). I'm far too busy."
As she predicted, cancer did not halt her hectic life. Ozer's doctor recently informed her that her disease is in remission, which is a big plus for her, she explains: it means she no longer has to lug her lap-top computer and cellular phone to chemotherapy treatments, where she used to "sit when there were needles in (her) arm and do business."
Instead, she can move past that "real pain," as she calls cancer, and concentrate on her full-time volunteer career as chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Valley Youth Theatre (VYT) in Phoenix.
Others are shining the spotlight on Ozer's work as well. On Saturday, Sept. 25, she will receive the Hon Kachina Volunteer Award, Arizona's highest honor for volunteer service, presented by the Luke's Men and KNXV-TV Channel 15. The presentation will be at Marriott's Camelback Inn, 5402 E. Lincoln Drive in Paradise Valley. Channel 15, the Valley's ABC affiliate, will tape the event and broadcast it at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 2, and at 11 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 17.
Ozer is one of nine of the state's volunteers selected for this year's awards. She was nominated by a friend, and underwent several interviews before being chosen.
Other honorees include Sharon Ashby-Robinson of Homeless Outreach Program Inc.; Sally Brambach of Success Express; the Rev. Carl Carlozzi, a Catholic priest and chaplain at the Phoenix Fire Department; Gil Gillenwater of the Rancho Feliz Charitable Foundation in Scottsdale; Jim Jenkins of Children With AIDS Project of America; Fausty Madia of the Scottsdale Brown Bag Program; Dave McGhan of the American Cancer Society; and Bill Merritt of Foundation Aiding Children Today (FACT).
The winners "are grass-roots people who have made a significant impact because of their volunteerism," Ozer says. "These are not people of means, but people who have an extraordinary commitment to the community."
Anyone who knows Ozer recognizes that she falls right into that category, she admits.
"(Ozer) truly believes in (VYT), which I think exudes through her energy and her support of this organization," notes Bobb Cooper, managing artistic director for VYT. Yet she embarked upon the road to volunteerism quite by chance.
A native of New Jersey, Ozer, 55, worked as a public relations executive for El Al Airlines before moving to Paradise Valley in 1984 with her husband, Jay, and their then 6-year-old daughter, Courtney. One day, Ozer attended a function at Courtney's school, Cherokee Elementary in Paradise Valley, and "the next thing I knew, I was treasurer of the parent-teacher association," she says.
She served a second year as treasurer, then was elected president. Soon afterward, she was appointed to the joint legislative committee on Goals for Arizona's Educational Excellence. In that capacity, she lobbied the Arizona State Legislature and trained parents in education advocacy.
In 1989, Ozer discovered the then-new VYT in Phoenix, which stages several performances a year. VYT finds actors though open auditions for children and teens ages 7-19 from across the Valley.
Courtney had been involved with the Arizona Academy of Performing Arts, which closed that year. At the request of a director, Courtney auditioned for a VYT show, and Ozer decided to volunteer.
"I had an interest in theater," explains Ozer. "And I have always felt very strongly that performing arts are critical to the development of young people, both from the skills that they can learn while doing them, and from the nurturing of imagination and creativity."
In 1990, Ozer founded a board of directors for VYT. At the time, the theater's net total per season was $12,900. Today, VYT nets approximately $600,000 per season. The theater has "hundreds of volunteers as well as several paid (employees) in a given year," Cooper says. In her capacity as board chairwoman, Ozer says, "I beg and grovel for money."
The theater invests a percentage of its revenues in an investment account, to meet long-term goals, Ozer says. "This is a business, and we have to run the business part of it like a business. We're not just playing house. We will be in the Valley 15, 20 and 30 years from now," she says.
Ozer receives no salary. She says she is happy to perform her labor of love because the theater not only provides children with an appreciation of theater arts, but also reaches out to children who might otherwise become involved in gangs, drugs and other ills of society.
"Children's creativity has to be nurtured because life is so hectic now, and these kids are on incredible schedules," she notes.
VYT usually produces eight shows per season, up from four at its inception. Each year, about 800 children and teens participate - on-stage and behind the scenes as technical crew people, set builders and ticket-takers. The theater rented space at Tower Plaza Mall until last year, when it became "homeless" after a change in mall ownership.
It then rented space from Trinity Cathedral Church in Phoenix for office operations and rehearsals. The theater mounted just two productions last season, at the Herberger Theater in Phoenix.
Currently, VYT is leasing a former bakery building at First Street and Fillmore Avenue in Phoenix's downtown cultural district for rehearsals, office operations, set-building, and performances for audiences of up to 202 people.
Board members hope to build a complex of their own within the next five years, Ozer says.
Earlier this month, VYT won an AriZoni Award in the category of best children's production for "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown."
In addition to maintaining a hectic volunteer work schedule, Ozer says she finds time to nurture closeness with her family. Jay Ozer is a senior partner and CPA at the accounting firm Arthur Andersen in Phoenix. Courtney is a senior at New York University. The family are members of Temple Solel in Paradise Valley.
Jay and Courtney, along with Ozer's close friends, helped fill her craving for humor at a time she needed it most, she says. When she was ill and facing the prospect of losing her hair as a result of chemotherapy, her family and a friend who also has cancer "broke out the champagne and crystal" and threw her a headshaving party. They took pictures and laughed their way through a time that could have been very traumatic, but ended up being liberating, Ozer explains.
"It was a celebration that (even though something negative had happened), that doesn't mean that anything is going to come to an end."
To Ozer, whatever happens is just the beginning of something bound to become positive.
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