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- Union Recognizes Gardner for "Making a Difference"
- Videos Highlight Volunteer Efforts of AFT Members
- Health Fair Aims To Improve the Health of Teachers
- QuEST Insights
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| QuEST award winner Chris Gardner, left, with AFT secretary-treasurer Nat LaCour. |
Union Recognizes Gardner for "Making a Difference"
Chris Gardner, whose rise from homelessness to ownership of a major brokerage firm is the subject of the movie "The Pursuit of Happyness," received the AFT's "Making a Difference Award" during the closing session of the QuEST conference, July 15.
A longtime friend of the AFT, Gardner has sponsored a cash award for winners of the AFT PSRP division's Pioneer Award, and provided funding for the union's "Hard Work Pays" booklet.
Employing a mix of humor and heartfelt stories, Gardner offered his thoughts on the movie and his autobiography of the same name. He opened his remarks, however, with an acknowledgment of his mother. "Anything good or positive that I'm doing happened because of the mother that I had." One particular scene in the movie captures what his mother always told him, Gardner said. "She would tell me 'don't ever let somebody tell you what you can't do.' That's something I'm telling young people every day."
Gardner, whose book spent 25 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, admitted that at first he was uncomfortable with the idea of an autobiography. "I had to be willing to relive a whole lot of stuff that was very, very painful," he explained.
"People have told me that I was too open in the book, that I didn't have to tell the full story," he recalled. "But I put it all down—the good, the bad and the ugly."
Gardner, who speaks frequently to groups of educators, businesspeople and other influential people, said the plight of homeless Americans really hit home for him during the making of the movie. "Part of my mission now is to help raise the issue of who is homeless and why."
According to Gardner, 12 percent of homeless people in this country have jobs and go to work every day; 23 percent of all homeless people in the United States are military veterans; and 500,000 children under age 4 are homeless.
AFT secretary-treasurer Nat LaCour introduced Gardner, who was the best man at his wedding four years ago.
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AFT union summer volunteers. |
The QuEST closing session on July 15 included two videos highlighting volunteer efforts by AFT members, one focused on New Orleans and the other on South Africa. The most recent AFT effort to help New Orleans and its schools recover from Hurricane Katrina is "AFT union summer," which involves dozens of AFT members from across the country coming to the city to work on projects such as painting schools, helping rebuild houses and tutoring in summer school programs.
"United Teachers of New Orleans is very much alive and active," AFT secretary-treasurer Nat LaCour said of the AFT affiliate, which represents teachers, paraprofessionals and secretaries.
A video on the AFT volunteer project in New Orleans is available online.
The other video, produced by AFT Connecticut, highlighted an effort by the AFT state federation there—working with a group of labor, education and community partners—to collect books for a school in South Africa. About 10,000 books were collected in New Haven and sent to Mmonkeng Secondary School in Kanana, where AFT members from New Haven traveled to help set up a library that was named in honor of the late George Springer, a longtime AFT leader in Connecticut and an AFT vice president and regional director.
More information on the South Africa project is available at http://www.aftct.org.
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| Cholesterol screening was one of the health services provided at the fair. |
Health Fair Aims To Improve
the Health of Teachers
The Concourse at the Hilton Washington was turned into a lively work and health fair on July 15, the final morning of QuEST. Participants could visit separate tables to get information on asthma, breast cancer, fitness and nutrition, stress and voice disorders. The fair also featured chair massages—which attracted by far the longest line—blood pressure testing, and cholesterol screening, as well as an ergonomic specialist to consult with members about how to set up their computers and work stations. Some of the more energetic attendees participated in yoga and aerobics demonstrations.
The work and health fair was organized by the AFT's health and safety program. The information presented is designed to address some of the common chronic health problems—respiratory infections, leg and feet disorders, and more—that teachers develop, often as a result of their jobs. The union's health and safety program is hoping to work with locals interested in holding similar events to help their members stay healthy on the job and at home.
QuEST Insights
Ten teachers from around the country who serve on the AFT's t-source advisory committee are attending this year's QuEST conference, many for the first time. We asked the teachers to write about their experiences at QuEST. Here are two of their final contributions:
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| Holtgrewe |
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| Champion |
AFT Online coverage of the QuEST 2007 conference is prepared by the AFT editorial department. Photographs are by Michael Campbell.
