Page 4 - July Rolling Stone

Page 4
Ed Waters; Making a Difference in our Community
100 Women Who Care Donate
$10,400 to the Freeport Art Museum
The Freeport Art Museum (FAM) is a non-profit arts organiza- tion that has been serving the community for over 40 years. As a privately funded museum, FAM does not receive any direct tax income for operating expenses and therefore relies on generous donations like the support from 100 Women Who Care in order to carry out its mission to promote an under- standing of the arts through its collections, exhibitions and education.
In recent years, FAM has been able to develop important programs like Arts Magnetism, which brings selected pieces from the museum’s collection directly into each 1st through 4th grade classroom at Jones Farrar Magnet School. Along with hands-on art activities that are designed to deepen stu- dent understanding of their regular curriculum, Arts Magnetism fills a gap in arts education in our community.
Additionally, FAM has begun a partnership with the Norman Sleezer Youth Home for disadvantaged and at-risk youth. This program brings the youth to the museum during the summer for an extended art camp that is devised with NCS staff to support their program goals.
The Arts Magnetism and NCS programs are just two exam- ples of the many ways in which the Freeport Art Museum is reaching out to our community through the arts.
This year, a private family foundation has issued FAM an exciting opportunity to further the educational programming with a $15,000 challenge grant. Matched dollar for dollar up to $15,000, these funds will help the museum sustain and grow a positive impact within the community. They have matched our donations with $10,000 of their own, taking the total dona- tions from the 100 Women Who Care-Stephenson County May quarterly meeting up to $20,400!
100 Women Who Care will meet again on August 11th at the Eagles Club in Freeport. It will be another great night when we decide as a group who will get the next $10,000+ donation. Visit our website www.100WWCStephensonCounty.weebly.com or like us on Facebook 100Women Who Care-Stephenson County or email us at 100WWCStephensonCounty@gmail.com
L-R Jack Smith, Business Manger, Ed Waters, Wendy Blair, Board Member.
The Senior Resource Center relies on a dedicated team of vol- unteers to support the services offered to seniors in both Stephenson and JoDaviess Counties. What is unique about many of these volunteers is that they often begin their volunteer work with a lifetime of skills and years of experience. We are thankful to have had Ed Waters as one of these volunteers.
Ed is a 35 year retiree from Micro Switch. He was an engineer and product planner. In his retirement he was looking for more to do when he was recruited by a good friend to help with the AARP Tax Aide program. It was operating out of the Senior Center, then located on Harlem St in Freeport. In 1999 he began his work there e-filing income taxes. The challenge at that time was that the tax program which was previously done by hand now needed to be done on the computer. Ed was instrumental in making this conversion, which is how our taxes are done today. The Tax Aide program continues to be a successful pro- gram serving over 1000 people each year.
Ed has volunteered at the Senior Center in other capacities alongside his annual tax work. He was a Money Management Program monitor since the program’s inception in January of 2000. He has served as treasurer for the Board of Directors and been a support in many other ways.
When asked about his volunteer work, he says that it was fun to work with great people in the staff and other volunteers. It was especially rewarding to him that he brought in other volun- teers for the Center who, like him, bring their experience with their service to seniors.
Ed doesn’t just sit at the computer. He and his wife, Pat, of 60 years have visited all 50 states. He drove to all of them except to California, Alaska and Hawaii. Ed’s favorite trips were a European River Cruise and a trip to Alaska which they took with some good friends. He enjoys golf and reading. He worked for many years as a treasurer at his church, Embury United Methodist.
Ed’s job brought his family to Freeport 53 years ago. Their 2 children, Steve and Stacy were just 1 and 3. They both now have children and Ed and Pat have 2 great-grand daughters!
Ed has made many contributions to this community and to the Senior Center these last 53 years. He is now retiring from his work at the Senior Center. There is a saying by an unknown author that goes like this “Volunteering is the ultimate exercise in democracy. You vote in elections once a year, but when you volunteer, you vote every day about the kind of community you want to live in”
Thank you, Ed for being a champion for the Senior Resource Center. Thank you, Pat for supporting him in his endeavors! We wish for you new opportunities and a joyful “second” retire- ment!