About Jay and Carolyn Kasmark

Jay Kasmark and his wife Carolyn reside for most of the year in Venice, Florida. Jay is the President and owner of D-Mark, Inc. which manufactures pollution control filters and other products for heating, ventilation and air conditioning industry. They have two children, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Both have served as Bigs in the Decisions To Win program at Venice High School, and they are BBBSSC Magic Circle donors.

How did you first become interested in Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Sun Coast?

Jaye Williams, (BBBSSC Decisions to Win Program Director) brought the project to the attention of the board of our church, Unity Church of Venice.  Each year the church chooses a project that’s called our “Noble Purpose” and for an entire year the members of the congregation work on that project.  For the past several years, Decisions to Win, Big Brothers Big Sisters drop-out prevention program for high school students, has been our Noble Purpose.  My wife Carolyn and I both got involved as mentors.

How was the experience for you and for your church?

It turned out to be a great project for the church.  Unity provided more than thirty volunteers and most of them returned to the program in the second year to mentor a new student.  The students referred to the program are considered at-risk of dropping out of school but most of them are great kids dealing with problems that you and I never dreamed of when we were their age.  The student I mentored was terrific.  He was very entrepreneurial.  He raised calves and showed them at the Florida Cattleman’s Association—he just needed encouragement with his academics.  But the student my wife mentored had a parent with serious health issues that really complicated her life.  In spite of everything both kids graduated.  It was a very satisfying experience.  The bottom line is that the program works—92% of the kids who go through this program graduate.

Are you continuing to mentor?

For a variety of reasons neither Carolyn nor I are mentoring now but we maintain our interest in Big Brothers Big Sisters and especially in the Decisions to Win program and we continue to support the program with our donations even though we are unable to volunteer.

Why do you and your wife choose to support Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Sun Coast rather than another charity, and why choose to donate to a specific program?

Decisions to Win addresses one of the most serious problems we face today—kids leaving school without a diploma.  In my day that was practically unheard of—everyone graduated—it was simply expected.  Without an education kids get into trouble.  They aren’t employable and they become a drain on society.  We’re fortunate in this community—we may have serious problems but their scale is still manageable.  We can still get our arms around them and that’s what Big Brothers Big Sisters is doing especially in the Decisions to Win program.

We like to see return on our investments.  Big Brothers Big Sisters is a proven commodity and they deliver real results.  That’s important to us.  We’ve seen the results of the Decisions to Win program with our own eyes.  The kids that get through that program become productive citizens, voters, good parents.  That’s the real hope that we have—that these kids will be able to realize their potential.  Carolyn and I will provide the funds needed to produce the training materials for the Decisions to Win program for the current school year.  We don’t think we could make a better investment in the future.