Today we’d like to introduce you to Catherine Neace.
Hi Catherine, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Since I was a young child, I always had the sense of being helpful. I would tag along with my Dad when he worked at his full-time job to be helpful (and honestly, to get out of the house). When I was a young teenager, I began volunteering to play with the neighborhood kids. Eventually, I found a volunteer spot at the local hospital. During that time, I helped organize and host a small gathering of other teen hospital volunteers where we began learning about leadership. By the time I reached college, my extent of volunteerism was limited with class load and working part-time. But I squeezed in whenever I had a chance, volunteered to check in people during a blood drive, road trash pick up, etc.
It was not until the birth of my children did the sense of volunteerism really took its hold of me. I began to see parents in similar situations as myself that had needed the support and camaraderie of each other. There were parenting support groups that needed someone to organize meet-ups and play dates, I eventually began to help organize those meetups to actually planning and hosting them.
As my children entered school age, I began volunteering at their school. I read to my children’s classmates, helping stuff folders for teachers, and eventually helping with the PTO. Through the PTO, I hosted the annual Fall Festival (community-wide event) and the spring walkathon that helped fund the physical education department. Our PTO was able to fund professional learning for teachers, dictionaries for classrooms, food for 5th-grade graduation ceremonies, dinners for teachers & staff. When people began to ask why I volunteer so much, I would reply, “Be that thing in the community that you wished was there.” Kids need a soccer coach? Done. Kids need a Girl Scout leader? Done. Kids need a Booster Club President for the swim team? Done. Scouts need someone to teach a class? Done. We did not want kids to miss opportunities because no one would step up, so my husband and I would always do so.
It was while I volunteered with the elementary PTO that I saw that public schools and teachers were under a tremendous amount of pressure and expectations. Most educators I have had pleasure of seeing teach pour not only their passion, energy, time, and money but a lot of themselves. Most educators and school staffers do this for little pay, gratitude, and empathy. I wanted to give back to these educators and school staffers somehow. If it was my time, they would receive my time (whenever it was available). If it was money, I would do my best to find the financial resources I could. If I needed to shelve books at the school library, I was shelving books in the school library. You may not have all the money to help but you do have a little time to help out.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It would be the easiest to say, “Money and time.” Money and time are always obstacles. But the biggest obstacle is the pressure I put on myself to continue to “Be that thing in the community that you wished was there.” I cannot be everywhere at once. I cannot serve all the corners of the community that need help. I can only serve what is within my schedule, energy, and knowledge and I always wish I could do more. I am not the type of person who only volunteers a little, I go full force. I love to say, “I don’t half-ass anything, I whole-ass everything.”
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Executive Director for the Foundation for Excellence in Public Education in Clarke County, Georgia. Through generous donations in our community, we celebrate and reward excellence amongst the teachers, school staff, and students in the Clarke County School District. We do this by giving out monetary awards for individuals and classroom grants. We also provide the monetary award for Clarke County School District’s Teacher of the Year and Support Personnel of the Year awards.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Organization, energy, willingness to do the small pieces of work to achieve the greater goal, kindness, and adaptability!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.athenffe.org
- Instagram: athensffe
- Facebook: Foundation for Excellence, Athens, GA
