For the Love of Literacy
Escambia Retired Educators Association Committed to Lifelong Learning by Kathleen Varner, EREA Vice President and Escambia County School District Senior Volunteer of the Year
A small band of retired educators quietly works to promote their career long belief that education is empowerment regardless of your age. EREA motto: Committed to serving the community The Escambia Retired Educators Association (EREA), established in 1953, is a vibrant and active force in the county. Nearly 200 members strong, their professional public service continues into their retirement years through EREA, which is affiliated with state organizations FREA and NRTAAARP. The community benefits from their volunteerism – in the years before the pandemic, the unit, the largest of the 4 units in District 1, posted over 11,000 volunteer hours, 2000+ working with youth and about 1/3 of it focused on literacy. Even during the pandemic, retired educators found safe ways to serve our community, including forming a phone tree to check up on their isolated elder members, delivering groceries, taking meals, shopping and notifying friends about vaccine availability and sites. These retired educators have now returned to their work in schools,
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churches, civic and fraternal organizations, community non-profits, hospitals and many more locations. They host a non-partisan candidate forum in election years, helping the community to better understand the issues and the election process. They support school district and education union functions and are actively involved in education issues locally and at the Capitol in Tallahassee. Once a teacher; always a teacher! While EREA members work in many facets of education, their greatest love continues to be literacy for all – a continuum from “cradle to grave” as they refer to it. They have connections and partnerships with public education in the Escambia County School District, Pensacola State College and the
University of West Florida, in addition to Gulf Coast Kid’s House, and The Children’s Trust, Ready Kids (formerly ECare-Every Child a Reader in Escambia) for preschoolers, Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) and the FREA fifth grade Essay Contest – all for elementary students. They are also involved in the Escambia/Santa Rosa Spelling Bee and History Fair for elementary through high school-aged students. Along with EEA, they support two Little Free Libraries for children and adults. Through a partnership with UWF, the EREA has plans to develop opportunities for middle and high school students as well as a festival project called Storyfest that they hope to launch in 2023. Retired educators serve on the board and tutor adults at Learn To Read Of Northwest Florida, which has educated thousands of adults over the years. One of Learn to Read’s founders and most ardent supporters, Margaret Poppell, was an active member in EREA. To promote her legacy, EREA collects children’s books to disseminate to organizations that cater to children and families.
Because of their dedication and tireless work, FREA units across Florida now have similar projects in Margaret’s memory. Their efforts in all these areas span the generations — bringing full circle to EREA’s ‘cradle to grave’ mission. Teachers become students when they support lifelong learning themselves These active seniors believe in their own continued education; like many others, this overhead and filmstrip projector brigade learned how to use Zoom during the pandemic, missing only two scheduled meetings. They’ve also used their smartphones and email to share their comments on education-related issues with legislators. They fill their time with travel and exploration in their backyard and beyond with planned excursions to local sites such as Weeks Bay Estuary, Baker Block Museum, historic Pensacola sites (some on Segways), WSRE tours, Leisure Learning classes through UWF, a trip to Biltmore Estate, trips to Ireland, Spain and Portugal, China, Japan, Iceland, Venice and cruises to the Caribbean and Alaska. Most recently a group enjoyed the Lewis and Clark Snake and Columbia Rivers cruise. Most activities are open to friends in the community who share the same love for learning.
