Washington PAVE Proudly Announces
You Make a Difference Awards 2007 Winners!
People enjoy hearing meaningful stories about others who have made positive contributions. In ancient Greece, fables were stories told to teach a useful lesson. The following fable, Making a Difference, taken from the Niemann Pick Newsletter, January 1996, provides the meaning behind this award:An old man walked up a shore littered with thousands of starfish beached and dying after a storm. A young man was of him picking them up and flinging them back into the ocean. “Why do you bother? The old man scoffed. You are not saving enough to make a difference.” The young man picked up another starfish and sent it spinning back to the water. “Made a difference to that one”, he said.
The Winners of the 2007 You Make a Difference Coin of Excellence Awards
Wendy Christiansen, Teacher
Wendy is the youth leader for the Community Inclusion Program along with the many other hats she wears. She is a teacher at Peninsula High School, a mother, and a Person Center Planning facilitator. She leads, mentors, and models youth with and without disabilities to become leaders in their own communities.
Her contribution has a large impact on the students she teaches and mentors. Wendy is an investment in our future for youth with and without disabilities to be able to grow into confident, healthy adult leaders of tomorrow.
Dot Workman and Susan Bradley, Parents
Dot and Susan are cousins and friends since they were children. These two women are both dedicated moms and advocates for children with disabilities. Of the 11 children between them they have adopted 6 with disabilities. They support each other in advocating for their children in the educational system, as well as other service delivery systems, and have gone on to mentor others in advocacy techniques.
Dot and Susan educate community service providers in Lewis County and have sacrificed countless hours of time and energy in changing a rural school system to meet the needs of children with disabilities. They understand it benefits every child in the community.
Michaela Duggan, Youth
Michaela is trustworthy, honest, hard working and a great role model to her fellow peers with and without disabilities. Michaela goes that extra mile and volunteers as a member of the leadership team to help plan youth activities and 3 friendship events held in the Peninsula community. She has donated many hours of her time to her community by providing support to young people who experience disabilities; she will make time to provide support for a friend. She is so trusted by her peers, they have asked her to attend important IEP meetings, and to help with presentations as a member of the Youth Leadership Team.
She has shown strength as a leader through her ability to facilitate and coordinate at planning meetings, as well as sharing ideas and her ability to think things through. Michaela’s can-do attitude inspires confidence to her fellow team members, and she is usually first to step up and lead a new activity or volunteer to plan and create events that are welcoming to all abilities.
Anita Hawks, Community Person
Anita is an active volunteer Community Liaison and Chapter Leader for PAVE in Vancouver/Clark County. In those roles Anita helps children who have disabilities by working with families to help them obtain appropriate educational services for their children.
Anita provides workshops and meetings for families and others, and she advertises the availability of various workshops and conferences. She is highly involved in the Autism Society. Anita is a strong asset to the Parent Training and Information Program, ably providing support in the family-school district partnership.
We would like to honor the people who were nominated for this award
Making a difference is the “gift” given or received that touches another person’s life. It could be the teacher who has found a way to include a student without making it a big deal. It could be a listening ear for someone who needs to talk. It could be making a dinner for the family who‘s child is in the hospital, or explaining to a person how to use People First Language.
Touching a life in a positive way -one person at a time- can make a lasting difference. These stories are the ones we need to hear and share; they can be very powerful and can make us stronger to continue the quest for better tomorrows for all of us.
Please nominate someone for the “You Make a Difference Award” 2008 by sharing the story about how that person made a difference for you or for others. Share these true stories. Who is that person for you? Who do you know, who has reached outside their own comfort zone to help someone? Many people don’t even realize what they have done to help a life of another person. Each person has a choice in making the world better. It could be something as simple as a smile for the person standing in line at the grocery store, or offering a helping hand to a fellow community member in need.
Up to 3 nominees will be awarded the Coin of Excellence at Washington PAVE’s You Are The Expert Conference 2008.
For more information, please call 253-565-2266 (v/tty) or 1-800-5-PARENT (v/tty) or Click Here for the nomination form