2007 NRTA With Our Youth! Award Recipients
The NRTA With Our Youth! program is a volunteer service initiative implemented by retired educators associations and open to 50+ adults nationwide. Volunteers work with children and youth to provide meaningful educational and life-skills support. NRTA With Our Youth! was formed in response to the 1997 Presidents' Summit for America's Future, at which the NRTA network made a three-year pledge to provide 45 million volunteer service hours with 1.5 million youth in 2,000 communities. Since 1999, it has reached more than 2.5 million youth in over 42 states.
The NRTA With Our Youth! program continues to grow and expand. Through these efforts, youth have been inspired to reach their full potential because an adult took the time to be a part of their lives.
The Eighth Annual NRTA With Our Youth! Awards were presented in Boston, Massachusetts on September 10, 2007 during NRTA's national leadership conference. Award recipients included:
State
Alabama Education Retirees Association, Inc.
Excellence Award
Bayou La Batre is located on the Gulf Coast of Alabama. Known for its shrimping and shipbuilding industry, the population is representative of the American melting pot including African-American, Asian, Caucasian, Hispanic and Native American families. On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated the area with storm surges reaching 16 feet. Twenty-three shrimp boats and a cargo ship were blown ashore. Homes were lost and schools were flooded.
Despite widespread news coverage about the hurricane, Bayou La Batre, where about one third of the residents lived below the poverty line before the hurricane, did not receive much attention. The Alabama Education Retirees Association pulled together a group of volunteer leaders for a first-time statewide community service project. The committee selected four schools and carefully researched what was needed. They rallied local units to collect funds and partnered with AARP Alabama, corporations and associations. In just eight months, the committee contributed almost 1,000 community service hours and raised cash, grants and in-kind donations totaling nearly $60,000.
Students at two elementary schools now have uniforms, additional clothes and new library books. At the local high school, students are wearing much-needed jackets. And at the local middle school, the principal received funds to purchase specific library books and to rebuild the science lab. AERA members from across the state collected so many books and supplies that students were also given items to take home. Thanks to the dedication of retired educators throughout the state of Alabama, members of the school community of Bayou La Batre can continue to rebuild a bright future.
North Dakota Retired Teachers Association
International Outreach Award
North Dakota has the highest per capita number in military service of all states in the U.S. SSG Jay Sheldon, was a North Dakota elementary school teacher deployed with the National Guard in Afghanistan. He appealed to the community through a newspaper interview to support schools in Afghanistan. The North Dakota Retired Teachers Association responded to his call for involvement.
NDRTA volunteers invited students to participate by collecting school supplies to ship to Afghanistan. They set up collection tubs at a county fair and at a supermarket. American Legion and Lions Club responded with funds for shipping. Friends and family donated funds for supplies and shipping. And the project extended into classroom learning opportunities involving research, worksheets and speakers to help the children of North Dakota understand the realities of life for their peers in Afghanistan.
The results were astounding: more than 2,300 pounds of school supplies were donated, sorted and sent to Afghanistan. Imagine the impact of this effort on the education of children in a country that has suffered from continuous civil war and foreign interventions since the late 1970s.
Thanks to North Dakota retired educators, many young people now have items we take for granted: paper, pencils, erasers, markers, binders and so much more.
Vermont Retired Teachers Association
Innovation Award
In 1987, the Vermont legislature presented a challenge to the prison system: create teacher-lead schools within the system to help inmates receive high school diplomas. For guidance and assistance, the education program director reached out to the Vermont Retired Teachers Association. The retired teachers accepted the challenge, created a committee and went to work.
VRTA members established classrooms, helped to hire qualified paid staff, acted as tutors and advocated for mandatory attendance for anyone under the age of 22 without a high school diploma. They also advocated for funds to support this huge operation.
Today retired teachers all over Vermont are serving as tutors, education advisory board members, mentors to released young people, guardians ad litem and reparative board members. Some are teaching crocheting to inmates who in turn donate their crafts to nursing homes. Students in the programs have planted gardens, shared produce with their communities, and made toys and other items in woodshops for various local programs.
Today, there are 17 schools in Vermont for incarcerated youth under the age of 22. Nine are behind "walls" and eight are within transitional communities. Over 3,000 students have attended classes with a daily attendance of 350-370 participants.
Last year, 143 individuals received diplomas, 107 received trade certificates, and another 29 earned their GED's. Scholarships are also offered to students who want to further their education.
Local
Appling County Retired Educators Association
Georgia
Excellence Award
Eighty members of the Appling County Retired Educators Association served 13,844 students in a myriad of roles providing local youth with the opportunity to excel. Research shows how important it is for students to read by the third grade. Through their "dictionary project," Appling County Retired Educators provide a dictionary to every third grader in Appling and Bacon Counties. They also volunteer in the classroom to read to students, tutor in the "Wild About Learning" after school program, teach specific classroom units and create learning opportunities that include a special program honoring Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
When students enter an essay contest, compete in a spelling bee or in a science fair, retired educators are there to serve as judges, present awards and do the behind-the-scenes work that make these programs possible. They help with book fairs and create unique programs such as the Savasaurus Club which partners with the local credit union to help students learn to save. Graduating seniors qualify for two $500 scholarships provided by donations from all 114 members of the association.
Students also have the opportunity to give back through fundraising efforts led by volunteers to benefit sick children at the local hospital. Through the Secret Angel project, retired educators provide needy children with gifts during the holidays. And several volunteers are specially trained court-appointed special advocates (CASAs) for children navigating their way through the foster care system.
Franklin County Retired Teachers Association
Ohio
Excellence Award
The Franklin County Retired Teachers Association serves as an integral part of the Charity Newsies, a local agency which clothed 13,360 children during the 2006-2007 school year. Members have made generous financial donations and six key volunteers contributed 3,150 volunteer hours helping with virtually every step of the process. Using their skills as retired teachers, they work in the Charity Newsies office, take written applications from each parent or guardian and make one-on-one home visits to verify applicants' needs.
One hundred percent of the 1.2 million dollar budget goes to clothing needy schoolchildren. Retired teachers serve on the buying committee which is responsible for ordering and keeping an inventory of all new clothes. Their work includes unloading semi-trucks full of clothing and distributing new clothing and shoe vouchers. They have even added a backpack and dictionary for each child. Carrying on the long-held tradition, each year on the second Saturday of December, Franklin County Retired Teachers Association members join with Charity Newsie volunteers throughout the county to raise funds by selling the special edition newspaper.
A mother wrote, "Seeing my children in a new outfit going out to school fills my heart with hope and assures me once more that there are really people out there who still care." Charity Newsies and retired educators continue to make a tremendous impact on the lives and in the hearts of needy schoolchildren in Franklin County, Ohio.
Lincoln Area Retired School Personnel
Nebraska
Excellence Award
Lincoln Area Retired School Personnel volunteers held their first used book sale in 1980 and the profits were $352.48. Last year, the total profits of the Annual Used Book Sale were $14,647.41.
The book sale is so popular now that volunteers accept books year round. This success has necessitated renting a storage facility. And when the annual sale date nears, there's an ongoing caravan of ten vehicles to transport the books to the Westfield Shoppingtown Mall where multitudes of retired school personnel are busy carrying, loading and sorting books that will be sold on two different levels of the mall. About 80% of the volunteers are between 70-80 years young.
The popular event offers area readers thousands of books that range in price from about $1.50 for a hardback to 50 cents for a paperback. The association invites local agencies and schools to collect a portion of the books for free to augment their libraries.
The profits are used for philanthropic endeavors. They co-sponsor the "I love to write" summer workshops for fifth graders and award four $1,000 scholarships to area graduating high school seniors pursuing a college degree in education. They donated to numerous groups, among them, Dawes Middle School, Lincoln Education Association, Child Advocacy Center, Foundation for Lincoln Public Schools, Lincoln Children's Museum, Lincoln Children's Zoo, Food Bank of Lincoln and an orphanage in Zambia. The headline from the local paper said it best, "Book sales speak volumes about generosity of Lincoln Area Retired School Personnel Group."
Individual
Leona Anderson
Nebraska Area Retired School Personnel
Excellence Award
Leona Anderson manages to volunteer and lead numerous community service activities that range from reading to children, to working on the local Cancer Relay for Life to serving as the State Community Service Chair for the Nebraska Area Retired School Personnel. She also works with a program in Hastings called, "The Bridge." The Bridge is a non-profit agency certified by the Department of Health and Human Services Division of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse which provides a residential environment and rehabilitation for young women.
Leona has provided clothing, toiletries, birthday cards and endless acts of kindness to the residents of The Bridge. Her "no-nonsense", yet caring and compassionate style has left an indelible mark on the lives of these young women, their children and their extended families. Many of these women are addicted to Methamphetamine which has been called "The Poor Man's Cocaine." And the Hastings Area of Nebraska is often referred to as the "Meth Capital."
Leona offers support and encouragement to the residents and their children by creating activities that help recovering addicts feel needed by their community. Participants have helped serve refreshments at the Nebraska Area Retired School Personnel state convention and at a local rest home. They also help with the Cancer Relay for Life. After volunteering alongside Leona, one of the young women remarked, "You know, they treated us just like 'regular people.'" It takes an extraordinary person like Leona Anderson to juggle so many activities and still touch individuals with the gift of belonging to a community once again.
Mary Turbyne
Maine Education Association - Retired
Excellence Award
Mary Turbyne asked the principal at North Elementary School in Skowhegan, Maine, whether the lunch some children received at school on Friday would be their last meal until they returned to school again on Monday. The principal said that Friday's lunch would be the last for the weekend.
Troubled by the outcome of her research, Mary teamed with the principal and formed a committee which created the Healthy Kid Pack Project. With the help of community partners, needy children are provided with a backpack filled with breakfast, lunch and snacks for the weekend. The backpack also includes an educational folder containing nutrition and physical activity information, books, a journal question and a family physical activity calendar. Parents sign an agreement which requires them to be active supporters of their children in the program and attend at least two family events during the project.
Skowhegan is part of Somerset County. Twenty-five percent of the county's families are on food stamps and 20 percent of the county's children live below the poverty line. Yet 15 percent of Maine kindergarten students are overweight and another 21 percent are at risk for becoming overweight. Children might not have enough food at home, and what food they do have, might not be all that healthy.
In Skowhegan, Maine, thanks to the initiative of Mary Turbyne, more than 375 children at North Elementary School are gaining the healthy, strong minds and bodies they need to be successful.
Suzanne Pratt Cash
All Arizona School Retirees Association
Excellence Award
Suzanne Pratt Cash embodies the attributes of the selfless volunteer. She has quietly devoted her time, expertise and knowledge to both students and educators. Since retiring in 1992 from a career as an earth science, biology and mathematics teacher at Cortez High School in Arizona, Suzanne has dedicated close to 8,000 hours of volunteer service.
She began assisting a former colleague at Cortez High School in the Business Department by volunteering in the computer lab. She then worked weekly in the science department, setting up, taking down and putting away the extremely large number of materials used in the Biology and Physics departments each week. She helped with grading, reading reports, developing better ways to do experiments and assisting in the classroom on lab days.
Her weekly work also reached the grade school level where she assisted with reading at Foothills Elementary. And Suzanne's interests extended, not surprisingly, beyond the classroom. She volunteered at the Arizona Science Center and gave training classes for the Arizona Site Stewards, a group that protects national archeological sites. Suzanne performed all of this volunteering despite a progressive, back ailment which took her from active walker to wheelchair dependent. The science chair at Cortez High School said, "She illustrates, by example, that a retired educator can still have a positive role in the education of our students."
Additional Information
- Submit a nomination for the 2008 With Our Youth! Awards.
- Become a With Our Youth! volunteer. Contact the NRTA national office at 202-434-2380 or email gruiz@aarp.org for more information.
- Additional questions about the winners? Please email rvillarreal@aarp.org or call 202-434-2380.
- Read about past NRTA With Our Youth! Award recipients: 2006 2005 and 2004.
