On Saturday, some of the Every Child Is Ours folks went to Birdsong, Ark, to see Mayor Robert Johnson and friends. We have been going to Birdsong for over twelve years.
Gary Phillips of Blytheville donated a refrigerator to the Mayor for his office. ECIO led by Steve Roley, collected drinks and supplies for the Mayor’s Office. It is twelve miles to the nearest place to buy anything.
The Mayor told the group stories about his life. I always lean something new. This time he told us about riding the bus to D.C. to meet President Johnson. He waited a day and a half, but finally got to meet Lady Bird Johnson and secured her support for Birdsong. He is truly and American Hero. I just wish we could document his life stories.
Riding home, JD, Edna, Jason, and I had a “concrete”. You know….. FROZEN YOGURT… Just what a fat girl needs!

Hope all is well with you! Thursday, Barbara and I attended the Northeast Arkansas Food Bank Conference in Jonesboro. We loved seeing everyone and were so glad that they didn’t have the get-acquainted mixer they had last year. It was all based on age and as more and more left the game we realized that we were the oldest there. Finally, I was dragging women back saying, “Now you know you’re older than that.” Yes, Barbara, Edna, and I were the oldest there! Some of those folks didn’t even smile when I questioned their age!

ECIO got a grant for a big new freezer and a thermal cover for our food transportation. We are so grateful for all of the assistance that we have received from the Food Bank. We feed so many families and seventy children on the week-ends. Thank you, Northeast Arkansas Food Bank!

Friday, Barbara, Lucy Be, and I attended the State Hunger Alliance Board Meeting in Little Rock. They are also wonderful partners that meet the needs of so many Arkansans. They have given ECIO several grants to help feed our people. Our thanks go out to the Hunger Alliance of Arkansas as well.

I live to go to Community Bakery in Little Rock. We stopped and bought a few items to take home. Don’t you wish you had what was in those bags on the table?

Let me hear from you!

Jan

We celebrated our fall festival. Tracey Soden cooked her heart out. She and her assistants fixed that traditional Southern favorite “Boston Butts.” She dry-rubbed them with spices and then cooked them with brown sugar and apple juice. Do you get the picture? They also had catfish that would melt in your mouth. One of our favorites “Dub” wasn’t feeling well so I was worried about the catfish. I found I shouldn’t worry, I think “dub” had passed on his secrets! All the money from the food went to the Tuckerman Police Department to help with expenses.

There was a dunking booth where you could pay to dunk our principals. They were good sports about the multiple dunkings they received.

My son, Jason, raised peppers so hot that it is hard to believe. He is making and selling pepper sauce guaranteed hot enough to curl your toes or burn them off. Did I mention that these are organic? I think you will love the video (coming soon). Big talkers were crying after several bites.

Lucy Be Antonovitch, Jake Antonovitch, and I spent the entire day at the Every Child is Ours table. Lucy Be is the best…so organized! She signed up five people for our Literacy Program. Our Betsy Penix, our web-master and Lucy’s sister made ECIO magnets for your refrigerator. I have known their family forever and here we are a team again.

Lucy is going to tell you about our latest push on literacy:

As Every Child Is Ours is “expanding its horizons” we hope that the Jackson County Literacy Council will also pick up momentum in the coming months. We are currently exploring incorporating computer training into the program, and are looking into grants to obtain software and equipment. At this time, we can offer limited computer training on the equipment we have on hand.

We have currently enrolled 6 adults into this new program and hope to start the training in the very near future. There are also plans to combine the computer training with adult literacy in hopes that this will make those who need help more receptive to what we have to offer.

In addition to computer training and the computerized literacy program, we will also be offering assistance in preparing and improving resumes and further assistance in completing forms. Notices will be distributed when these programs are in place.

Let us hear from you!!

Jan

Saturday, Edna Earl Cooper-ECIO Treasurer and I met Kay Goss-ECIO First Vice-President and former Associate Director of FEMA during the Clinton administration to attend a meeting held by Karen Garcia on Emergency Preparedness in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Betty Smith, the State 3rd Vice President of the Arkansas Democratic Women was also in attendance.

Karen is the state treasurer of the Arkansas Democratic Party and 2nd Vice President of the Arkansas Democratic Women. She is most of all a concerned citizen who understands that every one of us needs to be prepared for an emergency.

Kay is the best speaker! She is so full of knowledge that she always stops speaking before you want her to finish. She has travelled the world helping others prepare for disasters that we hope never will come, but do.

ECIO is currently preparing to open our college offering an Associate Degree in Emergency Management in Kanana, South Africa. This school will be dedicated to Mary Dlamini, a lifetime educator during Apartheid in South Africa. Almost all of our ECIO officers had the opportunity to know Mary through her daughter, Dr. Zodwa Dlamini, our South Africa director.

Mary was a magnificent woman that had a big heart plus amazing abilities. I remember sitting out in her front yard in the black township of Kanana. Everyone who walked by stopped to thank her, ask her a question, or inform her of their progress due to her or the other retired teachers’ efforts.

Kay, Zodwa, Edna, and all the rest of us that you will meet, dream big. We believe we can make a difference. We can and are making a difference for many.
You will hear more about this group. For example, Kay is going to Moscow next month. I can’t wait for you to meet all of our ECIO officers. I am so blessed to have these amazing friends.

It seems appropriate that today is my first post on our new blog. Not only is it my birthday today, but also I want to tell you about our group seeing President Clinton and other leaders from Arkansas last night.

Back in the 90′s, I worked for President Clinton. I was fortunate enough to be the Secretary’s Regional Representative for the United States Department of Education for the six New England states.  I had lived in New Hampshire for years and taught public school for twenty years. I already loved New Hampshire but I had the opportunity to fall in love with an entire region of the country. I visited over 3,000 schools during those eight years and felt like I was the luckiest person alive. I literally kissed or pinched cheeks from Vermont to Maine to Connecticut. I found that while I had loved my students from Ashland and Winnisquam and understood that they were mine, this was a whole new feeling.

I saw kids who had wonderful schools with everything you could imagine to enhance their chance for a successful education. Not ten miles away I saw children in buildings that needed repair and teachers and children who wanted desperately to find a way to meet their goals.

Guilford, Connecticut had magnificent schools. New Haven’s schools had tremendous needs. It is important for us to remember that the children who walked into these schools everyday were starting in very different places. If you have a nice, safe home and food to eat, you are starting way ahead of the child who doesn’t know where he is staying, if he will eat or see his parents. I believe that a lot of the time, we forget that all of those children belong to us! Therefore, the name, EVERY CHILD IS OURS is important to my story.

I made school visits daily.  It was almost always the same.  I would arrive, representing the President. All of the dignitaries would greet me. The Superintendent, the Principal, and the others were all there.  There would also be the perfect child.  This child was the most handsome, most intellectual, smelled great, and would never speak a bad word.  This was the child that I was supposed to talk to and learn about the school.  I would always look to the back of the room and lock eyes with the child I really needed to meet. As I said to the principal before we started our tour of the school, “Can that child come with us?”  The look of horror passed across his face. “Oh… I don’t know, Bobby or Mary may be involved in something already.”  I would say “Oh please, make that happen. That is the cutest child I have every seen.”

As I walked over to that child that nobody wanted me to meet, I believe I did see them with new eyes.  You know that I am an Arkansan and I had to hug them. For some of those kids this was shocking. I said for all to hear, “You are adorable and I want you to show me your school along with all the others.”  As I pointed to the “perfect” child, I wasn’t sure if these two could be more different but I knew in my heart that they were both mine.  I am still waiting for all of America to feel that.  I even did this in high schools from Lawrence, Mass. to Bridgeport, Conn.  Every day  I loved the children more and more, admired principals and teachers in an almost fiercely protective way and dreamed of finding ways to make it better for all of the children.

Every Child is Ours was born out of this. I discovered that many schools had books that they threw away every year while some schools had students who had never owned a book of their own.  Martha’s Vineyard School collected books from students that we delivered to an inter-city school in Boston.  On the day of the delivery, the students from Martha’s Vineyard had sent us case after case of wonderful books.  We were going to distribute them right after the assembly.  I saw a child steal a book and put it under his shirt.  He was all of nine years old.  I asked him why and he said, “I have never had a book before.”  I said your school has lots of books.  He said, “I wanted one of my own before you gave them all away.”  I wrapped my arms around him, escorted him back to the pile of books where he carefully replaced his book and took him into the fancy reception that the school had set up for us. I asked if he wanted any food.  He told me about his dad who took care of him and his two brothers since his mom left.  He told me how hard it was and this “tough guy” became a marshmallow in front of my eyes.  He got his books, but I received the best education in understanding.

Every Child is Ours is a result of seeing  the children and how alike they all are. They have the same hopes and dreams and we can help them realize them.

President Clinton came to Martha’s Vineyard and met with the mayors of New England and asked them to help ECIO collect materials and books and distribute them to schools that needed them.  The results were amazing.  We had the help of so many from our mayors to the Coast Guard and the AFL/CIO.  Of course, children benefited.

At the end of the Clinton Administration, we thought ECIO would continue as a part of government.  It didn’t cost money and it helped children.  Needless to say, that didn’t happen so Every Child is Ours is now a non-profit.  We hope you will find our efforts heartwarming.  I promise you will laugh and have a tear of two.

Last night was another night of coming full circle as President Clinton stood with many of our ECIO volunteers at a Blanche Lincoln rally.  I have been to so many Clinton Rallies where we have joined forces for the betterment of all. Seeing so many leaders, current and past, from my home state made me know that I had to reach out to all of you.   

We will show you our projects: the Delta of Arkansas; Acuña, Mexico; Kanana, South Africa; and wherever ECIO goes. You will see the common threads that weave through all of our lives.

Yes, Every Child is Ours!