Winner - Individual Award, Barbara Buck
Cecil County Retired School Personnel Association (CCRSPA )
Photographs courtesy of Ms. Laurie De Witt, Pure White Images
Barbara Buck is a member of the Cecil County Retired School Personnel Association (CCRSPA) who volunteers almost 1,000 hours annually or 20 hours a week to her local association, other organizations in her community, and her church. Barbara is a member of the CCRSPA Community Outreach Committee where she helps collect and drive donated school supplies, clothing, and snacks to the school nurses across the county. As a member of the CCRSPA Nominating Committee, Barbara helps locate willing candidates for leadership positions in CCRSPA. Barbara also volunteers with Cecil Cares doing a community clean-up of Hollingsworth Manor in Elkton. She also serves as secretary of the Long Point Association where she takes minutes, delivers notices, and writes meeting announcements, emails, and other administrative tasks. Hundreds of hours are donated to the Wesley Church of Elkton as Barbara serves in various capacities like weekly children’s Sunday School and women’s Bible study, while also leading the vacation Bible School’s missions. Never afraid to work hard, Barbara also helped clean the Oasis House and the Church in preparation for missionary visitors. She also helps make and serve meals to the homeless at the Paris Foundation and helps buy and deliver holiday gifts for needy families and delivers toys and clothes to Deep Roots homeless shelter. Many hundreds more hours are donated to acting as Lay Leader of Wesley Church where Barbara attends Council and Regional Conferences, writes cards and letters to members, writes weekly service announcements and prayers, and counts the weekly offering. Barbara enjoys the appreciate shown by the school nurses and the gratitude and happiness her volunteer work brings to many others in her community and church community.
Honorable Mention - Individual Award, Virginia (Ginny) Brace
For nearly twenty years Virginia (Ginny) Brace has planted and nurtured native trees, shrubs, and flowers, worked to eliminate invasive species, and sought out grants to support the work in the 18-acre Waterford Park in Frederick, Maryland. Ginny and members of the non-profit organization she helped create, The Friends of Waterford Park, tend to the plants in the city park every week. With Ginny's labor and guidance, the group has provided a wide diversity of native vegetation, which has encouraged the return of native insects, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals. Ginny and other volunteers have also supplied interpretive signs for visitors to learn about the various species of flora and fauna to be found in Waterford Park. "
The park has been a great learning experience for me, and knowing that we are doing good things for the environment and the community allows me to be optimistic and satisfied that I am at least trying to make this a better world." --- Ginny Brace
The Community Service Committee will start taking nominations for Community Service Awards again in Spring 2025.
Local Association Project Awards
Winner (1 – 199 members) – Research Project Mid-1800 ‘til Today”
Dorchester Retired School Personnel Association (DRSPA)
This project was the result of a presentation by the DRSPA Archives Committee sharing the history of DRSPA. Members became interested in researching more about the county schools and teachers dating back to before there was public education in Maryland. Dorchester County’s rich history of providing education will now be preserved for generations to come following many, many hours of research by members, some also researching their personal history to assist in the project. DRSPA is working with the Dorchester County Historical Society which will now house the project to share with the community at large. Additionally, DRSPA collaborated with the South Dorchester Folk Museum and Dorchester Tourism sharing information that both can use to further their missions in the community.
Winner (200 – 899 members) – (No Submissions)
No submissions in the 2024 calendar year! Make your project count in 2025!
Winner (900+ members) – “Partnership with Assisted Living Centers" Anne Arundel Retired School Personnel Association (AARSPA)
This project began when a member of the AARSPA Community Service Committee asked the committee if they had seen the article in the newspaper about the elderly living in homes without enough money for toothpaste or shaving cream. What followed was research to find 120 small, assisted living facilities in AACO designed for low income residents, where most have less than $100.00 each month to purchase necessities. Next, the committee worked with the Department of Aging to identify the neediest centers and then held meetings with the center directors. Hundreds of items, including toiletries, books, puzzles, games, blankets, craft supplies, and even bird seed was collected from AARSPA members of the following months. Delivering the items was like a holiday as the residents selected items, laughed, and shared hugs. As the writer of the nomination said, “it was impossible to determine if the greatest joy was felt by the residents and staff or the committee delivering the supplies.”
2023-2024 Local Association Project Nominees: Allegany County (small) Making a Difference, Dorchester County (small) Dorchester County Schools Research Project Mid-1800 ‘til Today; and Anne Arundel County (large) Partnership with Assisted Living Centers
The MRSPA Community Service Committee thanks and congratulates all our member volunteers! We are so proud of all you do!