These volunteers make up the heart of the Asheville City Schools community and exemplify what it means to support educators and students in our schools.
The awardees will be recognized at the Foundation’s signature annual event, Celebration of Champions, on April 16th at the Crowne Plaza Expo Center. The Champion Awardees were chosen from a group of over twenty community-selected nominees and include Volunteer Champions Alice and Arthur Helms, Community Agency Champion awardee The Asheville Chapter of Links, Incorporated, and Program Partner Champion Brent Skidmore.
Parent Champions were also chosen from each school and include Mike Hawks from Asheville City Preschool, Thomas Priester from Hall Fletcher Elementary, Julie Porter-Shirley and Christy Ramm from Claxton Elementary, Scott Fowler from Vance Elementary, Sophie O’Halloran from Ira B. Jones Elementary, Nick Haskell from Isaac Dickson Elementary, LeVette Campbell from Asheville Middle, LeNoir Medlock from AHS, and Gail Bellows from SILSA. More profiles for these parent and family Champions will be available on the ACSF Facebook page over the coming weeks preceding the Champions event.
Volunteer Champions Alice and Arthur Helms have volunteered at Asheville City Schools Preschool for over five years. Every Tuesday morning, Alice and Arthur make their way into the preschool classrooms and offer helping hands with whatever needs to be done. Nominator Christal Dunn had this to say about the awardees: “Quite a few of our children do not have the benefit of knowing their grandparents. Alice and Arthur have become surrogate grandparents to hundreds of our students. I truly believe that they see the worth in each of our children. They have encouraged and stuck with them even through the most trying of times.”
Community Agency Champion awardee The Asheville Chapter of the Links, Incorporated has been active in Asheville City Schools since 2005. Links, Incorporated is one of the oldest and largest volunteer service organizations of women who are committed to enriching, sustaining and ensuring the culture and economic survival of African Americans and other persons of African ancestry. The Asheville Chapter uses an integrated approach to close the academic achievement gaps that underserved students face through mentoring programs and scholarships. The Asheville Links are committed to leading the way as champions of change, ensuring that youth are academically successful and engaged in healthy lifestyles.
For more than six years, Brent Skidmore has mobilized the community to be involved in supporting ACS students through Teaching Artists Presenting in Asheville City Schools (TAPAS) and IRL afterschool programming. His work in the IRL and TAPAS programs has added resources to our schools through increased investment in ways that reach all children, but particularly those children most in need. Through the TAPAS program, Brent has increased community investment by connecting ACSF to more than $100,000 in funds. These funds have served as resources to increase excellence in teaching by integrating arts education in classrooms.
The public is invited to acknowledge the accomplishments of all nominees including community volunteers Ian Wilkinson, Nelson Sobel, Diane Amos, Hank Young, Linda Cooke, Molly Whatley, parent volunteers Karen Ostergaard, Heather Post, Kimberly Wall, community partners Goodwill Workforce Development Center, Buncombe Partnership for Children, Glass Foundation, and community faith-based partners Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville and Grace Episcopal Church. ACSF would like to recognize ALL of these volunteers who give so much of their time to Asheville City School students.
(Image: CHAMPION EFFORT: Community Agency Champion awardee The Asheville Chapter of the Links, Incorporated has been active in Asheville City Schools since 2005. Links, Incorporated is one of the oldest and largest volunteer service organizations of women who are committed to enriching, sustaining and ensuring the culture and economic survival of African Americans and other persons of African ancestry. Photo by Andre Daughtery.)