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Interview with Eleanore Pabarue
Eleanore is a volunteer for a number of non-profit organizations in the Philadelphia neighborhood, Mt. Airy. Interviewed by Michael Feagans on 02.07.00.
4npo: How long have you been involved with non-profit organizations?
Eleanore: Since I was 21 years old.
4npo: How did you become involved with volunteering?
Eleanore: I originally became involved by working for Mount Airy Day (an annual neighborhood festival). A good friend of mine was the Chair. It's sponsored by both the East Mt. Airy Neighbors and the West Mt. Airy Neighbors. My friend called me and asked me if I would be on the raffle committee. I said "OK" and it turned out I was the committee. I ran the raffle for Mt. Airy Day for two years, which was a fairly major undertaking. Mt. Airy Day attracts approximately 8,000 - 10,000 people.
4npo: What is the purpose of Mt. Airy Day?
Eleanore: Celebrating the diversity of Mt. Airy, it's wonderful.
4npo: Does it raise money for East and West Mt. Airy neighbors?
Eleanore: Not much, about $2,000. It takes 6 or 7 months to put together. I co-chaired the whole event in 1995.
I was invited to be on both the East Mt. Airy board and the Mt. Airy Learning Tree (MALT) board in 1995. I have been the chair of MALT for the last three years. Mt. Airy Learning Tree is a community, adult lifelong education organization. We offer courses from Photography, to Dream Analysis, to computers, to "How to Paint", to Oprah's book group... all the things you really wanted to learn about but you didn't want to take tests on. It's mostly for adults although there are some kids' programs: Origami, for instance, or some music things. Basically it's neighbors teaching neighbors.
4npo: Are you involved with any other organizations?
Eleanore: Yes, I am co-chairing the Mt. Airy Schools Committee. I was asked in January, '97. The Schools Committee is made up of community volunteers, not necessarily parents. It is a joint committee of East Mt. Airy Neighbors, of which I am Vice President, and West Mt. Airy Neighbors. It is run in conjunction with the four principals at our four elementary schools in Mt. Airy: Henry Houston; Lingelbach, Jenks; and Emlen; and faculty and staff from each of the four schools; and a parent representative from the Home and School Association.
4npo: What is the purpose of the Schools Committee?
Eleanore: To bring the community into the schools and the schools into the community.
4npo: What are some of the things the Schools Committee has done?
Eleanore: About three years ago we sponsored a "Don't miss the bus" program. Several of the districts in the city were inviting local people who were interested in schools to do a tour of the public schools. We decided that would be a good idea in Mt. Airy because that would be a way of getting people back into the schools and dispel some of these concerns people have about violence in public schools. Everybody has a conception of what public schools are like and we decided to show people what they are really like. So what better way than to invite people in and show them what's really going on. We showed them not only the good programs but also the areas where the schools need help.
We ran a bus tour out of Mt. Airy; we had four buses and they were all full three weeks before the event. We mailed out 20,000 invitations and over 100 people attended. We had to turn people away. If I say so myself, we did a bang-up job! We had speeches at the beginning from Superintendent Hornbeck, and others. Politicians, school board members and people from the district office all attended. We started with coffee and donuts and then we took people on a tour of two of the four schools.
4npo: Were the people on the tours people who might be interested in sending their children to public schools?
Eleanore: We tried to stay away from making it a venue for people to look at schools with the idea that then they could choose a school. We did have some parents but we didn't think that the thrust should be a "shopping expedition." So, we sent two buses to two of the schools and two buses to two other schools no one toured all four elementary schools. We were more interested in exposing both the good parts and the needy areas, with the idea that people would volunteer and donate materials and supplies.
We followed this up about two weeks later by inviting people to an event called "Come One-Come All." It was an evening program where we had an introduction of how to volunteer in the public schools. It is a program on mentoring and tutoring; and we also signed people up. We had over 70 people attend that evening.
The Schools Committee then brought in the "100 Book Challenge." The program is oriented toward children in K - 3. The program was invented by Jane Heilmann. Jane did a presentation at one of the elementary schools one afternoon. We had 70 - 80 teachers and administrators attend on their own time. The "100 Book Challenge" is part of the "Philadelphia Reads" movement which is a branch of "America Reads." The first school to be funded was Emlen with a grant of $10,000 from "Philadelphia Reads." We have just received a $10,000 grant for the Houston School to implement the "100 Book Challenge." We have two of our four schools started. Each school must apply and make their case for being accepted into the program.
The Schools Committee then started on a program to solicit funds for the other schools that had not been funded for the "100 Book Challenge." We raised approximately $8,000 and have distributed it to the schools. We did this by cold calling. We have also collected books from the people in the neighborhood and distributed approximately 3,000 books last year. We have also solicited, through the Mt. Airy Business Association, prizes for reading. We use them as incentives for the kids as they make certain milestones toward their goal of 100 books read. We had to come up with something for the kids who made it to 500 books because we weren't prepared for anyone reading that many books. We came up with buttons that said, "I read 500 books." The test scores have gone up in these schools where the "100 Book Challenge" has been implemented. We are attempting to measure the effect statistically, to determine whether there is a correlation with the "100 Book Challenge" and increased test scores.
We have done volunteer orientation programs to pull people in for the "100 Book Challenge." The kids require someone to read to, so we are there for that purpose. I go to Emlen School every Friday morning and the second graders get to read to me. I take my daughter Katie with me on her in-service days and the kids read to her also.
4npo: Are you involved in any other volunteer activities?
Eleanore: I teach Sunday School at Chestnut Hill Presbyterian Church.
4npo: On average how many hours a week do you volunteer?
Eleanore: About 20 hours a week. It's been wonderful because it keeps my brain going. It's been a vehicle for me to continue to have interactions with adults and make a difference in my neighborhood. One of the difficulties in staying home is that suddenly you're isolated. I didn't have any idea that that was going to be as hard as it is but you have to network, you have to find other people or else you're home alone. It's not like the 50's when all of your neighbors were home and you just hung over the back fence. I've used several vehicles to get to know people. I've been involved with nursing mothers, Chairperson for "Tot Lot," a 40 year old summer baby-sitting co-op in Mt. Airy. But it was really up to me to find out how to do it.
The Schools Committee also is involved in advocacy. We bug our legislators, we send people to Harrisburg to lobby. We also collect signatures for legislation for fair funding. We are a presence at all the Philadelphia Coalition for Children and Youth (PCCY) and all the citywide groups working for the public schools and the kids. We also try to increase the good publicity about the public schools by sending information to the editors of the local papers in our community.
We had a Halloween parade in the middle of Mt. Airy on mischief night "brought to you by the Schools Committee." It was all completely free. We solicited all of the candy and prizes, had judges. Between 300 and 400 children and parents participated. It kept them off of the street, while promoting the mingling among local parents and public schools children... creating a little bit more of a sense of ownership in the community.
4npo: Eleanore, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me.
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