VOLUNTEER WITH A PASSION : NURSE STARTED DURING CIVIL RIGHTS ERA.

Byline: Sherry Joe Crosby Daily News Staff Writer

Carol Tavares discovered her calling during the height of the civil rights movement.

It was the summer of 1965 and she was a 21-year-old nursing student educating the poor in Tuskegee, Ala. At the time, she was trying to save babies who were dying of a mysterious illness. What she was found was a spirit for volunteerism that continues today.

A registered nurse with training in child psychiatry, the Valencia woman volunteers at the local American Red Cross where she teaches baby-sitting and first aid courses. Since 1977, she has taught more than 1,000 students how to save a choking victim and properly diaper a wiggling infant.

``I really want to teach kids when you baby-sit, you have someone's life in your hands,'' said Tavares, who teaches preschool at the Santa Clarita United Methodist Church.

In 1986, Tavares helped establish the Food Pantry, a private, nonprofit organization that provides food for the needy in Santa Clarita.

Tavares credits her volunteer spirit to her experience in the Deep South, where she was part of an ambitious federal program that involved 900 college students who tutored high school students, dropouts and adults in 11 rural counties of Alabama.

``It goes back to this program,'' she said of the now-defunct Tuskegee Institute Summer Education Program. ``There's a need in every community to give something back.''

When Tavares joined the program in 1965, two years had passed since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and civil rights activists were holding sit-ins, marches and voter registration across the South.

During her three-month stay, Tavares lived with a family of African-American sharecroppers. Home was a wooden shack where newspapers covered the walls and the bathroom was a snake-infested outhouse.

Meals were ham hocks, grits and biscuits.

``I had culture shock,'' said Tavares, one of 65 white students in the program. ``There was no one around me except people from another culture.''

As part of the program, Tavares taught families about hygiene, prenatal care and first aid. It was an assignment she relished.

``I wanted to change the world,'' she said, smiling at the memory. ``When you're young, you think you're going to change the world.''

And she did. One of her most challenging assignments was discovering the cause of a rising infant mortality rate among sharecroppers. Babies who were drinking formula were getting sick and dying.

After experiencing severe stomach cramps, Tavares discovered that septic tanks were leaking into wells from which mothers drew water to make their infants' formula.

``It came down to teaching people how to boil water,'' she said.

She also helped create a health clinic for the needy. But Tavares' good deeds weren't welcomed by some - including members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, civil rights activists who saw her as an interloper.

``Riding in these cars with U.S. government logo on the side made us a target of everyone in the community,'' said Tavares, who worked out of a medical van with the name of the summer program on the side. ``All I was trying to do was teach health, hygiene and safety.''

Thirty-one years later, Tavares still teaches health and safety. As an American Red Cross volunteer, she teaches teen baby sitters how to handle emergencies, supervise children, feed and diaper infants and select safe toys and games.

Over the years, she has become known for her unusual teaching methods. To give teen-agers an idea of what it's like to feed toddlers, she has them feed each other spaghetti.

``It really relaxes them,'' said Diane Hill, office manager for the American Red Cross in Valencia. ``It also teaches them to feed little kids, but in a fun way.''

For Tavares, volunteering begins at home.

``You don't have to go 1,000 miles away to volunteer,'' she said. ``You can always find a place in your own community and volunteer.''

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1--color) Carol Tavares, right, monitors Sarah J ohnson's diaper-changing exercise.

(2) In 1965 photo, Carol Tavares and Lee Norrgard educated poor people in Alabama.

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News