5 minute read
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, 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.
Passionate people get involved for the good of education
Education has always been a community effort, but never did we see the impact of educators more than during the pandemic. They were lauded for the tremendous work they accomplished, in only days, to adapt instruction for a virtual classroom first, then hybrid classrooms and finally in-person instruction again for children who had missed months of focused learning. Teachers, active and retired, rose to the challenge – to fulfill the charge that is public education, which is to use taxpayer funds to educate all levels of children in the skills that society deems necessary to prepare them for participation in the world as it is now, not a world that once was or one that may be created. And this task takes a community working together— educators, families, businesses, nonprofits—with one goal.
So educators hope you’ll understand that while some are in the classrooms, others, now retired, defend their younger colleagues, speak out for the children they teach and mentor and grandparent, by flooding the legislature, by marching on the Capitol, by trying to protect the pensions that 85 percent of Floridians believe teachers deserve, by advocating against the use of public funds for parochial and for-profit charter and voucher schools that are not held accountable, as public schools are, for their curriculum or the use of those funds. This quiet little band of active volunteers has learned to raise their hands, to use their words, to stand up for what our democracy has deemed to be right for the education of its citizenry.
As any teacher can attest, growth occurs in a classroom when everyone does his/ her part. Likewise, everyone benefits when a community comes together to help each other. These educators give because giving is in their nature and because they love being a part of the big picture. But they also receive blessings from the gifts they give in the assurance that remaining active and challenging their minds is healthy, in the feelings of satisfaction and accomplishment and in the knowledge that they are helping the community in which they live, even if it’s in a small way. These seniors believe they still have much to give.
To learn more about the Escambia Retired Educators Association, visit them on facebook @EREAGO.
Spring!Hello(fromthe)
Adopt-A-Manatee®
to support manatees and their aquatic habitat savethemanatee.org 800-432-JOIN (5646)
