Hi, my name is um Tony Huddle. I have been in the district for 34 years. I love what I do. I love being with the kids. I've been in all the schools in the district. I've worked um AC I started at Adventure Connection and um now I'm here at Justice Allen Page. Um I work during the school day and um I do an inclusion para and I love what I do. I'm with kindergarten and first grade right now and I have to say that's my favorite age group. They you see them grow so much especially with kindergarten. you know, kindergarten, they start and when they come in, they don't know how to stand in a line or how to, you know, um sit for a long period of time and and just seeing how much they grow and learn, you know, by the end of kindergarten, they're reading and and just it's so when they start, they don't even know their ABCs. So, that's the big thing um with kindergarten. I'm invited to a a student's wedding um that's happening in a in a couple weeks. So, you know, it's just seeing the change and how they grow. Um, building family, you know, friends and family through, you know, all the years that I've known people. I people say when I go anywhere, I always know somebody. And that's just being in the district and being part of that community. It's where I grew up, too. So, that makes a difference. in the summertime work, the summertime program for Adventure Connection, which is also one of my favorite things cuz you get to do so many fun things. That's that's the time you're playing with the kids and um we go on a field trip once a week and you go swimming and it's just I'm getting paid to do what I love so much cuz I I enjoy being with those kids and and the fun that we have. When I I when I found out I um won the award, I was extremely shocked. Um coworker Amanda came in and did a morning meeting and um I realized that it, you know, something was happening. What's happening? And then she read the letter and then she showed me what um Kurt had written. Um I it was emotional. I I cried. It was just such a wonderful feeling to be appreciated like that. I was just so excited and happy and proud to be able to let her know that she was receiving the heart of the community award. Um she really does embody the heart of the community. Everywhere we go, she knows somebody and I'm just so happy for my friend. The first summer I worked with her, I just I wasn't even at her site, but just watching her with the kids. My son actually went to her site and um I just I she was amazing. She's amazing with all the kids. Tony Huddle is just an allstar of Adventure Connection staff. She has so many years of experience and she brings that experience every day to making just a tremendous difference in the lives of the kids. It is an absolute honor to have her on our staff. uh and she's a tremendous example for all of the other staff to learn from in the work that they do with kids. The kind words that um were written and said um amazes me. It it I could cry all over again. I nominated Tony for the heart of the community award uh because she embodies everything that Adventure Connection is supposed to be about. She is a deeply caring staff person who works her hardest to have a positive impact on the life of the the kids in the program and does a tremendous job. uh especially with some of our more difficult students, helping them be successful uh in our program uh and preparing them for life as a whole. [Music] Hi, my name is Rosie Dicki and I started volunteering at the district in 2012, so it's been 12 years. Um, and I got introduced to the show choir because my middle child uh decided to join showquoire. And quite honestly, it's shocking to receive an award like this because I feel like there are so many people that contribute to these groups and um and it's really just quite an honor. Rosie is the president and she's also the treasurer and she's just taken care of everything for the parents, for the kids. And um without her, I just don't think that um they would have been able to pull off so much as what they've done. It's hard to explain the difference Rosie has made because this year's show choir season wouldn't have happened if she didn't exist. She learned how to sew so that she could sew costumes when they rip. We just have so many fun memories with Rosie being like the mom of show choir. She might be one person's parent in the choir. But it doesn't matter who you are, she will be that parent for you, too. Every student in show choir knows Rosie. They call her mama Rosie. They go to her for anything. They know that if they have a personal need, whether it's an emotional or physical need or a costume need, that she is there to help them. The most rewarding part of volunteering for me is the students, the kids. Having those relationships where someone can come to me if they're having a hard day, someone can come to me if they're excited or if they're scared or um all the range of emotions. My goal really is to remind the kids and to show the kids what it looks like to be a member of the community. Uh when I was growing up, I didn't have representation of that in my house. My parents were not involved in uh in my school career. And so I really um just try to be that that person for anybody who needs it. And that's just around to say you got this. You can do this. don't forget who you are and where you came from. One of our members like had a medical and like I had never experienced that before. So I like immediately turned around and it was like in a crowd of like cuz we're in auditorium. So it was like in a huge busy crowd and I immediately like called like Rosie because I like was super stressed. my voice cracked and she like without even knowing that it was us like she had already started walking down to go help whatever commotion. I'm proud to be associated with the show choir. I love these students. I love the energy that they bring. I love how real they are. We are raising our future leaders. Um and we're all doing that together. I like to be able to show them that by working together and communicating and accepting each other for who we are, that's what's going to make the world a better place. Thank you, Rosie, for everything you've done for me, for Northern Light Show Choir, and for every student that came through this space. [Music] My name is John Schlice. I'm the coordinator for Gifts for Seniors. I've been here roughly 3 years. Gifts for Seniors has been around for 31 years. We're in the 10ount metro area providing basic needs and other resources in the senior community. I'm um Jordi Teatu and I'm the adult and senior programs coordinator at Gladstone Community Education Center. And back in uh December 2023, I was just um looking online and found uh your website and uh Carolyn Deer put me in contact with you and then you sent me all the forms to get it started. And uh the previous weekend I was at Menard's and I remember seeing the blue barrels with that logo and I said, "Oh, that's that's you know that's what they're doing." So these are the barrels that go out throughout the uh 10 county metro area and most of the barrels that we have over a hund of them is where Jordy had found at Menards. And so this is where the donations come into. They go into the barrel. Uh we get a phone call saying the barrel is full. We have volunteers that go and pick up the items from the barrel and then bring them in. Then we get them back in the shelf so we can continue the shopping for the seniors. So, it was the on the holiday gift wish list that was just like a list of gifts and then uh the seniors could uh choose a first choice and a second choice. And I remember that actually one of our seniors uh was just telling me that her coffee maker broke down and then she saw that on the list there was like a small appliances, but she said, "I will never I'm never going to get a coffee maker. You know, it's way too big of a gift." uh and and and I so I encouraged her to actually put this as a first choice and put something else as a second choice. And then uh when she received the gift and opened it and found out that she actually was a coffee maker, she really burst into tears. Those are the testimonies that we like to hear because those are moments that we can share and everybody else can share and that's what brings everyone together because it only makes one person to make a difference and make everything a much better situation. So, so for the gift bags, we we do spring and then we do a fall, which is generally themed with a fall safety bag as well, just a different type of a bag. And then we have a holiday bag that that we do. And that's pretty much uh devoted more towards you know the meals on wheels program just because of what it would take to get the information we would need for you know for shopping and things of that nature. But this works. It makes it easy for them to distribute and then we're by having this we're able to reach out to more people where otherwise we wouldn't have that. And plus as well as getting the gift the meals on wheels it's just bringing another social visit you know to the seniors. So last year uh for our holiday program for which we're most known is November and December and we did over 8,000 gifts. Some of these seniors it might be the only time they would even get a gift from from anybody. And that that is you know those are the things that we hear. This is the only gift that I've you know that I received this year. Every gift that leaves our office has a personal card, a personal note in it and that makes a big difference. I just just wanted to read a note that we received back in August 2024. Uh, dear gift for seniors, I sure enjoy surprises. Your kindness in gathering gifts for us at the Gladstone Community Education Center is so appreciated. Incredible that you are able to match gifts to our interest. You are generous in giving time to collect all of the items. Please know it brought me smiles. Thank you. God bless you. And that's what it's all about. My name is Chris Feling. Um have four children married. Uh they're all adults right now. We have one that's special needs, so I know what it takes for care and you know, and another one that needs a little bit of help as well, one of our sons. So, one daughter, special needs, and three sons. I started with Meals on Wheels about seven years, maybe almost eight years now going on. Um, it uh came across as one of the volunteer requests and I thought this is something I can do. So, I've been doing it for quite a while, I guess, and I don't think I missed too many unless I took a couple vacations in between. I do it every week on Mondays. Uh, yeah, it takes anywhere from an hour. Um, at one point I think I had the longest route, but not it didn't bother me. I mean, it's all around, you know, the eastern side here in 622 school district and uh elderly, some are in apartments, some are in homes. Uh, so it's been uh very good for those that can't get out and are homebound. I like that the Meals on Wheels program also provides non-p perishables in the winter like toothbrush, toothpaste, canned goods. Uh they do that usually once a year as well so that uh the folks that receive Meals on Wheels can stock up on some of that too in case there's a bad snowstorm and some of the volunteers could not get to their place. I think the most rewarding and favorite part of Meals on Wheels is interacting with the recipients, the the folks that do receive a hot meal or frozen meal. Um when I told them that I was done volunteering, um a couple were in tears and actually gave me a hug and that meant a lot to me. Um you know, one I I recall one of the women that I delivered a hot meal to, she wanted to give me her Christmas list with some money to go buy her Christmas gifts and I said, "I would love to do that, but unfortunately I've got more hot meals in the cold car, you know, that I need to deliver." But um so yeah, I think they're anxious to have someone to just chat with a bit. Um I've had some of them give me lilacs, flowers out of their yard. I mean, it it's very rewarding just to be able to interact with the folks and see that they're getting at least frozen meals for the week or a hot meal that day. When I heard that I won, I was kind of surprised cuz I know there's a lot of great volunteers out there and uh a lot of great folks. So, I was appreciative that Tim Douly, you know, nominated me, but I was also shocked that I'd be one of them to win. Um, you know, to me, it's not about getting special recognition. It was really about spending some time and it's a small commitment out of your daytoday life when you're not working and could give the time back to the community and to seniors. So, I think uh that was most important in in the years that I did the Meals on Wheels. If if you're looking for a place to volunteer, I think look at what you like to do, what you're kind of passionate about and I do like to interact with people. Um, but I think if you're looking to to do some volunteering, I'd highly recommend it cuz it's more rewarding than you think and it's not that big of an investment of time. That's where I would put my guidance and and go for it. I am here to recognize the BJ Hack Community Service Award winner who was nominated by the entire community ed advisory board. This year's awardee is the incomparable Jeannie Lans who exhibits these same values in our community education office and the 622 district in so many ways. So, let's count the ways. She's always there to help educate the staff, volunteers, and the community advisory board. Someone described Jeanie as a chat GPT before there was something called chat GPT. I had to look it up, too. Here's what a chat GPT is described as. A model which interacts in a conversational way to answer follow-up questions, admits mistakes, challenges incorrect premises, and rejects inappropriate requests. I think someone may have been watching Genie in action from the community ed office and the district when they came up with this model. Every office has that one person who binds everyone together. Right away when I started in community ed, I realized Genie was that person. I think we all kind of consider her the office mom even though she hates uh being called that. But it all comes from like a really endearing place of feeling like she really cares for you and she's genuinely like invested in um how you're doing, how she can help you, how we all can like work together to be the most efficient, but also like just be good people surrounded by good people. I think that's really important to her. Jeannie is one of the most dedicated and devoted people I know in her work with community education. She always goes above and beyond to help anyone with anything. Everyone adores her. I worked with Jeie the entire time that she was in the community ed department up until my retirement. And I will say there is nobody more deserving of this award than you, Jeanie. And you are the person that knows everything. you know every coordinator's job and you can help us all out with whatever questions we have. You you just know where everything is located, where to find the reports, who to talk to in administration if we need to. You you're the go-to gal. Anytime we need anything, we know we can call Genie. If we don't know who to call or what to do, we go to Genie. What would Jeie do is kind of our motto because she's kind of the glue that holds Community Ed together. Jeanie's just always been such a rock of stability. Uh any question I have, she's always there with the answer and and always willing to help. Uh she never um looks down on anybody for not having the answers. She's just always with a positive attitude wanting to help, whether it's figuring out a budget question or figuring out who to talk to. Uh she's always there, always the epitome of professionalism. Uh and has just been a great co-orker. Jeanie is the person who is 622. She's been here and knows all the ins, the outs, the the ways in which things work. She tells me what days are holidays so that I don't report to work on on those days. She is always willing to take time to listen to you, ask you illuminating questions to help you reach your own conclusion as well as ask you to look at a situation from all sides. She may even suggest a different way to frame a question so you won't create more problems than you intend. Some might say that she has a Dr. Lucy desk that you can come to at any time and you don't even have to have a roll of nickels to get the wisdom of Dr. Genie. And you best believe whatever you tell her, it isn't going anywhere else. When you realize Jeanie has been in the community education office for over 30 years, it's a testament to how much she loves the department and its people. She is the quiet presence that is always there, ready to recount the institutional history, to give a ready answer and help in whatever capacity is needed. She has supported at least three different directors at community education during their transitions and through the day-to-day work. She has educated countless community education advisory members and made allies throughout our district. When we ask people what are some of Jeanie's traits in the office and among the many who responded these are just the summary of who they said Jeanie is. She is detailed, a consumate professional, an excellent stacker of papers, loyal, trustworthy, but most importantly, kind. I feel so fortunate to work alongside Jeie. Community Ed is better because of her. Congratulations, Jeanie. You truly deserve this award. I can't thank you enough for everything that you do for me. You are my right hand, my left hand, my feet, and I couldn't do this job without you. You give so much and I just can't put it in words how much I appreciate you. So congratulations. Her friend BJ for whom this award is named would be cheering on this honor for the woman who may love community education as much if not more than BJ herself did. Genie, in case you didn't know, we love you. We honor you and we say well done you. Congratulations and thank you for being our little bit of magic in the community education office and throughout our district.