 Good afternoon and welcome to the 13th annual unsung heroes program. My name is Stuart Shaw. I'm the African American Center Librarian here at the main library. And I want to welcome you all to the program today. If you look at the program, it says that Linda Books-Burden will be doing the welcome, but her voice has kind of left her. So I'm here. I'm going to introduce our emcee board today, Veronica Dangerfield. Veronica Dangerfield is a performance artist with many talents. She is an experienced comedian, professional speaker and teacher for the last seven years. She has been televised nationwide and has won an award for her speeches. She, the worldwide traveler, have an experience over 25 countries, including Australia this fall. Veronica states the reason she is on this planet is to reach, teach and preach. And to make people laugh. She has written a one-woman play to be performed early in 2002. She has been married for 13 years and is a proud parent of two-and-a-half children. One-half, you see what that means when she comes up here. She is a patron and advocate of the San Francisco Public Library and has worked on many projects at Bayview Branch. Please give a heartfelt welcome to Veronica Dangerfield. Cousins, brothers, sisters, mothers, this is the day that the Lord have made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. How are you? Give yourselves a hand for the best crowd ever for the Unsung Heroes Awards because we know that every single one of you is a hero and I applaud you coming here. Now this is an event that is very serious, but this isn't a quiet event. This is an event where you get the opportunity to lend your voice in celebration, jubilation and joy. And we're going to do this together with the word ashay. Can I hear it one time? You know, I'm a little bit of hard here in this year. One more time. Ashay, let your ashays ring throughout the whole library. Thank you for joining us at the San Francisco. This is our 13th annual Unsung Hero Award. My name is Veronica Dangerfield, and I'm brought in his only black child. I ain't got my daddy's pocketbook. That's why I'm here. I especially want to thank you for braving the traffic and the inclement weather. But we know there ain't no bad weather because the sun is out all the time, right? Somewhere. But the sun will be shining in each of our hearts today. You will be touched and inspired by what you hear. Hopefully it will make each one of us look a little deeper inside of ourselves to see how we can help a child, a neighbor, and especially a stranger. In the past we've had these awards in February, but there's a special significance to having the award in November. November is Veterans Day. It is the month of Ramadan and that it's Thanksgiving. What does Thanksgiving mean to each of us? Yeah, we get to bring out the love that we have in our hearts and be gracious and gratitude for everything that's happened to us. Do you know how grateful I am to be here today? Because I could have been somewhere else. In fact, the little fella got a little rambunctious early this week, and I said, please let me just do the Unsung Heroes. I have such obedient children. I would like to make some acknowledgments and let you know what to expect this afternoon. The Reverend Cecil Williams will be in the house. Let's put our hands together and face the March Shades. For Reverend Cecil Williams. The Reverend will be bringing us a message later in the program, and our supervisor from the Tenth District, Sophie Maxwell, will also be addressing us at any minute. So let's put our hands together for Sophie Maxwell. Also, afterwards, since usually when we get together, we like to do that one thing, you know, eat. We will be having a reception right across the room in the Latin American, the Latino-Hispanic room. Now, I would like to bring our city librarian who would like to say a few words to our Unsung Heroes. Please welcome Susan Hildreth. Thank you, Veronica. What a great emcee, and she's a hard act to follow, but I'd just like to welcome everybody here today. I'm so impressed to see such a packed house for the Unsung Heroes Award. I'm just really glad you're all here and would welcome you to the San Francisco Public Library. I think that this year especially, the awards will have great meaning for all of us because we've recognized so many unsung heroes in our society at large. But I'm very glad to have you here today, and if you get shouting too much, I know I'm going to get a complaint upstairs. So you got to keep it down a little bit. It is a library, but have a great afternoon, and thank you for coming. Now, please join me in welcoming Russell, Reza, Kaliq, Gonzaga, for April Martin Chartrand, and immediately afterwards, Sophie Maxwell will be up. Hi, everyone. Peace. As-salamu alaikum. This is a great pleasure. Very, very happy to be introducing April Martin Chartrand to you all. I'm going to go ahead and read from my little notes here that I made. See, I wrote that I think that April Martin Chartrand should be acknowledged for her tremendous contributions and sacrifice for the community. She has helped so many of our people in so many ways at different levels, direct and indirect, personally and politically, educationally and artistically. Giving Miss Chartrand her well-deserved recognition would be of great benefit, not only for the African-American community, but most particularly for the women of the community. She has stood up and spoken out against domestic violence, and she continues to be a shining example of black womanhood and personal dignity. So, I mean, I kind of wanted the award to be changed for her to unsung she-ros, since she certainly is that. So I introduced you all April Martin Chartrand. This award is very, very handsome. If anybody could see this, it's very, very beautiful. I think it looks better than I do. And the flower is nice as well. I wanted to thank everybody here, and it was really, really hard to just weed down my list to like 17 people. After looking over my life from the time I started doing advocacy work, I can count at least minimally of 5,000 people I have to thank today. We don't have that much time, obviously. But when I think about the organizations, the people, and the places, the things, the animals even, it's been amazing that the people allowed me to come into the community. This award really is not about me, to be honest with you. It's about the people who allowed me to be a part of the community. Before I started doing work, I really didn't have a community per se, and I really didn't know how to go about doing it, but I decided to allow my personal experience with domestic violence to catapult me into participating with the community. So this award is basically an acknowledgement and to be given over to the community as a thanks to them for letting me become a messenger of the work. And being a messenger isn't always so easy, as most of you know. You're in the fire a lot of times, make a lot of mistakes, but the community is very forgiving, and I do thank you for forgiving me for the mistakes I've made, and also for welcoming me for the things that I've done that's been great. I was told to have about five minutes, so I'm going to make it very, very brief. And on behalf of the Domestic Violence organizations, as well as the mental health organizations, I would like to thank you for your bravery, because your bravery is no accident. And on behalf of the women of this community, I'd like for you to all to know that exploring your unknown possibilities and breaking the chain patterns is something that is very, very, very, very brave thing to do. The people who have helped me break my chain patterns for Women's Inc, Family Violence Prevention Fund, the Riley Center, and also the status on the Commission on Women, which has now changed their name to the San Francisco Commission and Department on the Status on Women. If that's not a mouthful, I don't know what is. And these organizations are right here in San Francisco. They always need volunteers. They always need people to help bring out the word, and these organizations really gave me back my life. I don't think without these, specifically the women organizations I would be here. It would probably be six feet under somewhere, literally. And they really, really, really brought my life back. And back, and as far as the city and county of San Francisco, I have nothing but kudos and safe for the groundbreaking work that the city has done. The city has served as a vehicle for many, many, many, I would say models for different other communities to go back and to reconfigure what they have done incorrectly or maybe do correctly again. And also, I'd like to thank the San Francisco Mental Health Board, which I am now a member of and I'll be off the board in a couple of months because my stint is over now. They believe in what I was able to do. They believe that my knowledge of domestic violence and my advocacy of domestic violence was something of value. And they asked me to come on the board. I go, wow, you're asking me? What do I know? And I knew, obviously, I knew something because they wouldn't be asking. But that was very humbling for them to ask me to be on board. And also, I'd like to thank the San Francisco Arts Commission. They allowed me to have my art on display at City Hall. They believed in my ability to get across the image of women in a very positive way. And also, I'd like to thank the library. They allowed me to come here and also to give workshops and to talk to women and show my art here. And they really believed and they weren't afraid to talk about the subject. And also, as far as my spiritual path, I'd like to thank the Muslim community for acknowledging me as, I guess a messenger is also as a friend of the community. Also, the Zen Center of San Francisco, they allowed me to come in to meditate, to calm myself down. And I believe without that, I'd be kind of going around in circles. I'd like to personally thank Rashida Grenache for allowing me to talk to God. That was really, really important. Thank you. And also, I'm memorable. And lastly, I'd like to thank Russell Gonzaga for allowing me to speak my truth. My ancestors, all of you who are here and also the infinite wisdom of God without his voice or her voice or it as they sometimes call it, I definitely wouldn't have found you. Thank you. My name is Sophie Maxwell and I'm City Supervisor from District 10. And I met April, she came and she said, you know, I'm your choice for, I mean, I'm your appointee for the commission. And I said, oh, really? She said, yes, Barbara Kaufman had appointed me. And so I just, I said, oh, honey, thank you. Thank you, because that's one less I had to think about. And so we met and we talked and I said, you know, April, what about mental health services? And she told me about it and told me about all these great people. And I looked around, I had a meeting with all these very important people in my office with April. So she is not only a thinker, she's a doer. And I was so very pleased. And so from the Board of Supervisors, I'd like to give you this certificate of honor. And a lot of other people will get them, but you are very, very special. Like everyone else, one of those very favorite unsung heroes. So thank you very much. I'm supposed to say a few words, and I'm going to say a few words about unsung heroes. And all of you in this audience know so many of them. So many of those people that you never think but who do the phone calling. So many of those people you never think about, but say, hello, baby, how you doing when you really need it. And they say it to everybody. And some of those people that are teaching our children and who give you that special creative thing that's so very, very special. Unsung heroes are every day are right here in this audience. And it doesn't take a big thing. It takes some small things, some little bitty things that you do all the time like make buttermilk pies for people. And every time they look around, there's this Simpsons buttermilk pies. Unsung hero. Those people who do those things that we all sometimes take for granted until they're gone. And then we remember. We remember those things. And how did I get started in this anyway? Oh, yeah. I remember that somebody who said, girl, you need to go on and do this. That unsung hero. So we are all that and we all need to be an unsung hero to somebody every day of our lives because we can be. When you say hello and speak to a child, when you say, hey, young man, how you doing? Or, hey, baby, you don't have to stay long. Just do it in passing. The longer the pants, the more they need you to say it. The uglier they act, the more they need you to say it. And so we can all be heroes every day of our lives. We can feel good about ourselves. And sometimes you do those little things with those grandchildren like mine who gets up in the morning. I'd love just to give him cereal. But he wants pancakes and grits and scrambled eggs and all of this stuff. And I hate to say, no, I don't have time. So I had to say, OK, honey. So I remember my grandmother and I remember all those things. Those are unsung heroes. The teachers in the classrooms. So this is a great day. And every day can be a great day because you can be a hero and you can celebrate somebody else's heroism. So again, oh, bus drivers. I want to leave. But remember, bus drivers, you know, on September 11th, who do you think got people home from the office? Muni bus drivers. Who do you think when the people came outside saying, God, what am I going to do? There was a Muni bus. Prieta earthquake. There was Muni. And you think about, well, what about their families? But they felt that somebody, a policeman was going to be at their school looking after their children. And the bar people would get their wives home and a fireman would make sure that their wives or husbands or children got out of that burning building. And they were here for us. So remember, those people that we take for granted, like the person who crosses at the crosswalk with our children or a Muni bus driver that you think is being rude, but you don't know what happened the night before. You don't know how they may be feeling. So think about those kind of people, those unsung heroes. Have a great day and have a wonderful time. And thank you very much. All of you unsung heroes. Nobody does it better. So come on, y'all. Give some love to Sophie Maxwell. Nobody does it better. She represents our community. And we really, really appreciate her. Thank you so much. In April, thank you for all the hard work you do on women's services. April, another round of applause. Say hi to April. He's amazing. God bless you. Now it gives me great, great pleasure to introduce Miss Hollis Pierce. She is the children's choir director. Those beautiful little girls and boys who got up here and sang for us. It's no mistake. Please give her a hearty welcome as she introduces Mr. Turner. She works with our children. That's just the biggest gift that we could ever have. There's a scripture that says, be not just hearers of the word, but doers of the word. That is the perfect description for the angel of mercy that I am about to introduce to you, Mr. Walter Turner. Mr. Turner, or Walter as the children affectionately call him, is one of those unsung heroes who just is. His smile and his laughter has lifted my spirit many days. I'm the development director at St. Paul's Shipwreck Catholic School. Mr. Turner is there every day serving lunch for our federally funded hot lunch program. Those little kids thought he was there all night cooking the food, preparing the food, and actually have never told him on a bad day, we didn't like that Mr. Turner said, don't fix that anymore. He is my parent volunteer of the year. In fact, I honored him in our newsletter last year because whenever I need a parent, I can always count on Mr. Turner. The choir that you heard, Mr. Turner is one of my chaperone parents. I let him off today because we were honoring him. But normally he'd be on the bus with me. He has traveled to the cathedral with the children, to revivals. He is just wonderful. I can't think of anyone more deserving from the Bayview Hunters Point area of San Francisco. I present to you Mr. Walter Turner. I'm very, very honored. I teach the kids that it's always good to say thank you. You know, they have to know that. Being an unsung hero, I've been working with kids for the last 11 years in my community. I was raised in that community and I want to give back to that community. But there's so many times that parents just take you for granted and think that you're just supposed to do this. When you're doing it for the love of the kids, because see, they're our future. It's not for us. It's past us. It's them. And if we don't show them the right ways and the right things to do, they'll get caught up and be doing things that their friends are doing on the streets, especially in the neighborhoods where we live at. There has to be someone who has to be a living example for those kids. I love those kids. They love me and I know that. And I want to stay with them. I'm going to keep working with them. And it's an honor to be here with such people as Miss Coleman. Miss Coleman taught my daughter when my daughter was in the third grade. So, what was it? Commodore Slope. Commodore Slope, you know? And she has always been there for kids. I get my inspiration from people like that. From Liz Bell, who served the lunches and feeds the homeless people over at our church. It's always somebody that you have to look up to and see and be able to follow those guidelines. With these kids here, all of those kids right there, those kids are being kept real well because I was appointed for this duty. It wasn't something that I said I wanted to do. This was my calling by God. And I know it to be the protector of these children. And I'm doing it very well. I'm going to do it the rest of my life. Thank you very much. Join me in welcoming Ruth Taylor, who is a good friend and colleague of Ann Austin for our next recipient of the Unsung Hero Awards. Put your hands together. Good afternoon. Woman extraordinaire, legend in her own time, Christian warrior for God, exceptional educator, putting on the full armor of love for all children. And the hardest working woman I know is my dear friend Ann Austin. If you don't know Ann Austin, then you are missing an experience that will put pep in your step, a twinkle in your eye, love in your heart, and determination in your spirit. This humble, gracious woman walks in the example of Jesus through all of her daily endeavors. She carries herself with dignity and conducts her business with authority and wisdom. Ann hails from the cotton fields of Alabama and is one of eight siblings born to Lemurl and Willie B. Motley. As she developed in character and personality over the years, she has served as special education teacher, business education counselor, and vice principal. She is currently serving as principal of Ida B. Wells Continuation High School. That there is good in every child and that every child can learn their firm beliefs of Ann. She brings her positive attitude to each session she has with children and youth. She works around the clock to provide a nurturing experience and uplifting learning environment and an excellent, relevant curriculum for young people attending her school. Her goal is to work with the total child, which includes working with parents, the teachers, the community, and any other faction which directly or indirectly affects youngsters. Ann has accompanied young people to college campuses, helped them to set up their living quarters in the dorms and other housing, seen to it that they have food and money to buy books, paid tuition fees from her own pocketbook, and picked up vacationing students from the airport. In this respect, she has often been a one-woman Harriet Tubman making sure that these young people do not get lost in the system. Ann is active in her Alabama Association, her Alumni Association, her sorority, and the San Francisco Alliance of Black School Educators. She works hard with these organizations to continue to provide educational excellence for our youth. It is impossible to list all of Ann's accomplishments, her strengths, her awards, and honors. That would take more time than allotted for this introduction. Let me just say that she is a one-of-a-kind woman moved by the Holy Ghost Spirit, blessed by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and destined to be an angel of nurturing love and determination for our young people. Ladies and gentlemen, let me present to you the Lady of Inspiration, the Wrapping Principal of San Francisco, Miss Ann Austin. Thank you, Miss Taylor. It's the long ways from the cotton fields of Alabama to the golden gates of California. However, I'm here because I've been blessed and have been inspired to do the will that God would have me to do. Certainly, I want to thank Miss Taylor for that inspiring introduction. I had to think who she was talking about. And then I want to thank my sister Vivian Gildner from my church, who nominated me for this award that I didn't even know about it. So thanks, Sister Gildner. Sister Gildner is a hero within herself. She should be up here getting an award because let me just tell you, it's over 80, and she goes all over the Bay Area picking up people, taking them to the doctor, taking them shopping. And she can hardly walk herself, but she can go and help others and hold them up. So she really should be the hero that's up here this afternoon. I want to thank my church family, and I want them to stand. St. Paul Tavernaca Baptist Church is in the house. And I want to thank them for coming to share with me this afternoon. I accept this award on their behalf as well as all of the students and staff at Ida B. Wells High School. Because without them I can do nothing. I can't teach 280 students by myself. I can't bring the students to school every day. But I can give the encouragement and inspiration that help them to make sure they succeed. So I accept this award on behalf of the students and staff at Ida B. Wells High School. I also accept this award on behalf of my sorority, the National Sorority of Phi Delta Kappa Beta Nu Chapter, which I am the basilisk. I accept this award because they too put forth effort every week working with young people to make sure they succeed. I accept this award on behalf of my friends and family who encouraged me to continue to move forward. Even though I take up a lot of their time and their effort, especially my husband who is my chauffeur, he really has been a help to me and inspiring to continue to work in the field of education. Education is not just a job for me. It's a mission. And it's a mission because I know that without education nothing can happen. And I want to make sure that every child that come into my school or I come in contact with have the encouragement, the effort and the zeal and the will to know that they can succeed even though they may have failed. So I want to thank you, you and you because without you we can do nothing. So we need each one's support and effort to make sure that it happens. And I think they want me to do a rap. I don't have my music and I don't have my backup so you will be the backup. And you will also help me do the rap and the rap that I'm going to do which I do one occasionally when I'm opening up my assemblies so I can get my students' attention and then I tell them what I want them to know and usually I get their attention that way. I do have a CD out with 13 raps on them and they all are positive raps and they are raps to give an encouraging word to the students and to help them to know that they can succeed and that they can be the best and they will rise and they will be motivated. And so that's what the raps are about. The one I'm going to do with you today is called Family Affair because I feel that this is a family engagement. This is a family affair. So you are going to say I know that's right when I do like this and I would do like this I would cut you off and do the verse and then you come back and say I know that's right and I would tell you when to do it. I would need your little music to get started. I got a family over here I know that's right I got a family over there I know that's right I got a family right here I know that's right I got a family everywhere Families are the greatest resources on high How thick to offer that money can't buy Give your strength and courage when you're feeling down Feed you when you're hungry without a frown Offer praise and love both day and night Weed your hands hot and say I know that's right Come on and read your hands hot and say I know that's right We're making history today I know that's right But it's a family affair I know that's right With friends who care We shout each other with love I know that's right We gain strength from power above I know that's right We keep our culture intact I know that's right We teach our children how to act I know that's right We feel proud and warm and in man I know that's right That's right That's right That's right That's right That's right That's right That's right That's right That's right That's right That's right That's right Family reunion shouldn't mean so much More than family keeping in touch, should help support the young and the old. Provide shelter for those out in the rain and cold. Shared of scholarships for those seeking knowledge. Help all families who wish to go to college. Recognize those who have paved the way. For us to accomplish what we have today. Should give those deserving a little recognition. No one in the family should be in competition. Try to keep peace with all our might. Let's get together and feel all right. Come on and let's get together and feel all right. Come on and let's get together and feel all right. I said that family are fair. We shout each other with love. We gain strength from power above. We keep our culture in touch. Teach our children how to act. We be a pride in women and men over here. Our next recipient of the unsung hero award is Miss Beverly Ann Taylor. And we have, we have Shareen McSpadden here. Please give her a hearty welcome. Thank you. Miss Beverly Ann Taylor doesn't know the meaning of retirement. Perhaps no one has told her that in American culture, retirement is supposed to mean golf relaxation and travel. But I suspect it's because Mrs. Taylor knows that there's much work to be done. And she knows that much of that work requires someone with the skills that she has required acquired throughout her life. I first met Mrs. Taylor at a meeting of the residents of the southeast sector 10 years ago. I was immediately impressed with her obvious commitment to the Bayview Hunter's Point community, to the local church and to senior citizens. I asked her to become part of the Network for Elders where I was working and still work. She informed me that she was much too busy working as a high school teacher for Oakland Unified School District but that she would contact me when she retired. I assumed that like most of us she would forget. So imagine my surprise a few years later when Mrs. Taylor showed up at Network for Elders at my office and informed me that she was ready to serve. She quickly became one of our most committed volunteers helping frail elders in any way she could. Not long after that she was elected to the Network's Board of Directors. As a board member she was instrumental in reaching out to the local churches and garnering community support for our program. But it was as director of Project Voice which stands for Volunteers Offering Information and Companionship to Elders. The Network for Elders Interfaith Volunteer Caregiver Program that Mrs. Taylor has truly found her niche. She took over the program in 1995. Since then she has recruited over 20 member congregations to work together on the needs of the Bayview Hunter's Point seniors. She has found trained and supervised scores of wonderful volunteers who provide telephone reassurance, friendly visiting, transportation, yard work, and home repair to seniors who would otherwise go without these things. She has organized activities for our network volunteers, trips to the garlic festival, Giants Games, and of course for anybody who knows the senior community Casinos. She's expanded the Network's membership of seniors and volunteers from approximately 40 seniors to over 120 members. Mrs. Taylor is available 24-7 for seniors who need her and believe me they call her all the time. Mrs. Taylor still finds time to be a loving wife to her husband Bernal, to be active in her church, to sing in the choir, and to work in her garden. Mrs. Taylor, we salute you for all that you do for Network for Elders, for senior citizens, and for the Bayview Hunter's Point community. Come on up. I am truly humbled. I cannot thank you enough for this wonderful opportunity. Truly it is because of no purpose of my own, but because a supreme being saw fit many years ago to give my mom a servant, and this is what he made me. Because I am his servant, I serve everyone else. He sustains me to do whatever I do, and I do it because I love you. I started working with children over 40 some years ago, and when the need came, I saw that I needed to step further, and I decided to work with seniors since I am a senior myself. I saw the need for someone to give frail seniors some caring spirit to let them know that they're not alone. For churches were not doing what they should have done, and let's face it, they were the foundation for the churches, but many churches were forgetting they had seniors in the home. And so I felt like it was time for me to do what the Lord wanted me to do, so that the seniors know that somebody cared, and Jesus does care. And so he sent me, and I'm on that mission, to make sure that my seniors are not left alone, because they started, and we're here to take over where they've left off, because we would not be where we are today if it were not for seniors. I want to first thank my husband who put up with my long hours of neglect, because I am most times gone. I want to thank my brother and his family, who stands by me at all times, and I can call them any time for support and encouragement. I want to thank my pastor, the Saint Paul Tabernacle Baptist Church, under Reverend Arthur Javahart, for the membership who throw their arms around me, and support me in whatever endeavor I have for the seniors. And I want to thank my seniors who so diligently got together and came out here today to recognize me. Seniors, would you please stand for me? I also want to thank my church members, and I'd like for Saint Paul to stand, because truly my father being a Baptist preacher, my mother being a Baptist missionary, I was raised in a Baptist church, so I know what it is for the church to stand behind you and give you that push, not that little nudge, but that push that says that you are going to be what you're supposed to be, and if it had not been for the push that I got many years ago, I would not be standing here today. I thank the Lord, and most of all, I thank you for coming out to see this beautiful program this evening for me, but without you I would not have it. Thank you so much, and I love all of you. Please give a warm welcome as we introduce Joelyne Richards up to the stage. She gives our fifth nominee, Edna Coleman, her Unsung Hero Award. To commend Edna Webster Coleman for the Unsung Heroes Award. Ms. Coleman has been a mentor for the San Francisco Big Brothers and Big Sisters program. Ms. Coleman has been held by her students and her peers as a great and effective teacher. She has 38 years of teaching, working mainly with at-risk, difficult, academically challenged students. Ms. Coleman has given timeless hours in energy, dedication and determination, commitment staying after school, seeing that these underachievers and achievers excel. She was determined that her students learn and be prepared to move on into the middle and high school and on to college. Her interest in education and in her students make her stand tall among a whole field of teachers. She is dedicated, sincere, strict incapable, but a caring and loving teacher for all students. Ms. Coleman not only gives of her time and energy, she sees that her classroom is equipped with the necessary equipment and tools for learning by using her own money many times to purchase supplies. She recently took a group of eighth graders on a rewarding educational historical adventure to Washington D.C. where it was important for Ms. Coleman to take her students to visit Howard University. As a United States history teacher, she knew the benefits that they would receive from such a trip. So she engaged in several fundraising drives to raise funds for the students to take the trip. She not only taught in the schools, but she has been of great service to the community as a whole and as a woman to be praised and honored. As one of her students wrote in a letter, this letter is to thank you Ms. Coleman for teaching me and my peers about history. Anyway, I just want to thank you for what you did and I think you should get an award. In the 1960s, Ms. Coleman marched in the Civil Rights Movement. In New Orleans, Louisiana, she was arrested for sitting in at the lunch counter at F.W. Woolworth. Ms. Coleman volunteered and taught in the schools of Malawi, Africa in the secondary schools and also in Muller College. After 30 years of commitment leadership dedication determination and education, Ms. Coleman will be retiring from the San Francisco Unified School District at the end of the year, June 2002. I commend you again, Ms. Coleman. Thank you, Ms. Richards for nominating me and as well as Annie Havel. It's a great honor to receive this award. Has Dr. Mary McCleod-Mathoon says not to leave any child behind and as a teacher and educator, we are not to leave anyone behind. We believe as teachers that every child can learn. Every child can learn at their best potentials and abilities and we are to motivate that child to bring them up to their best skills. We are to mold the young child's minds and build their self-esteem. Throughout my 38 years of teaching, I have to teach the at-risk kids, slow learners, but they excel. When they came to Ms. Coleman's class, they learned. They learned how to read, how to write. They passed the C-T-B-S test, the star nine test, and all academics. They knew Ms. Coleman was firing. I started teaching in Head Start in the western edition. From the Head Start program, went into the elementary school, cannot go on through fifth grade, then middle schools, sixth through eighth grade, and high school. I worked with the GED program, a reading resource teacher, also worked in the Department of Defense, military schools. I also went into high school at one high school level, then taught college. I took a sabbatical leave one year and worked in Africa, taught school in Africa, Malawi, under Dr. Leon Sullivan program. Dr. Leon Sullivan just recently passed away. My teaching experience goes back many years. I worked also with ESL students. Many of them came from foreign countries. When they first got here, they could not speak one word of English. When they left Ms. Coleman's class, they were doing great. Okay. I suppose my kids from the Bayview Hunters Point area, out of this area, took them to Washington, D.C., went into Howard University, went into the White House, in many other places. So we have to make our kids learn to excel them. We also have at our school at Dr. King School many programs that we started under the direction of Ms. Coleman. So in my, I tell my at-risk students that when I teach them, I said I did not march in the civil rights movement in the 60s, in vain, because when you come in here, I do want my work. I want to see you pass high school and go in and go into college. I did not get arrested for nothing. I did not meet Dr. King and walk down Cornell Street in New Orleans. And at war work, got arrested three or four times. So it's my great opportunity to work with those type of students, and it was a challenge. So I will not thank the people for coming here like the YLI. Let's please stand and also our Lady of Lords, our church members, and also Ms. Annie Harvelle, who nominated me. Thank you very much. I had a great opportunity to work also, Ms. Walton, Turner's daughter, Nyota. Right, she was in my class, and she's going on to Tuskegee Institute. So I thank you again for this great honor. Reverend William has enacted his theology by consistently standing with the pouring outcast. I know that's right, and he is champion justice for all people through the force of faith, passion. Please welcome Reverend Williams up to the stage. Oh, you're right. It's good being here, and I want to thank you for the invitation. I was announcing at the church this morning that Jen would be speaking over at the Civic Auditorium, the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, this week to about 3,000 young people. Doug Fitch, whose minister at Glade also will be speaking tonight at Metropolitan Church, but I was coming to the library to a very strange group of people. Now I was telling them that I was thrilled to come and be with you today. You are practicing what is commonly called the unsung heroes of a given time, a given community, and a given circumstance. And I guess you are giving out awards, is that right? To the unsung heroes. May I add another word to that? The unhung, the unsung heroes, and the unsung heroes. That's Maya Angelou's word, shero. And so I'm going to use it today, the heroes and the sheroes, because there wouldn't be no heroes if it wasn't for the sheroes. I can see right now I got a good amen corner. You know, it's interesting that we get to honor people to say to them, a job well done. We say that because that's exactly what unsung heroes and sheroes have done. They have done a job well and many times don't even know that they're doing a job that measures up to some honoring on the part of people surrounded by the work of the person, our persons, engaged in making sure that people are honored because of their commitment to whatever the issue may be. You know, there are a lot of things that we have to face. Some bad news and some good news. I shall never forget when the drug culture, some 12 or 15 years ago, where Cracko Cain became such a prominent force in the poor communities and especially in the African-American community. And I remember how some of the young people came to me and said, we are owned something that is driving us to the curb that was there that jogging the curb, meaning that it is awful, it is dangerous. It is something we don't really know about and we certainly don't know how to stop it. And when they said that to me, I began to try to put some things together. And what we came up with just in the initial stages was just give people an opportunity to talk, to talk about what they're going through. And that's what we did. We started a group and people would come to the microphone and speak from the microphone to others. And the interesting thing about it, as we reported, as we told our stories, that's what we came out calling it, telling our stories. When we would tell our stories, the interesting thing is if anybody got up there and they were still on their buzz or tweaking or whatever you call it, the people in the audience would know it. And somebody would get up there and start lying like, well, I stopped yesterday. You know, when do you stop yesterday? We talked about today. Did you stop today? You know, that's the important thing. And what happened is the people who were on it themselves, or had been on it themselves, corrected the persons who got up in front of them. And out of that grew a number of sharp and smart young men and young women. And they became unsung heroes and sheroes because they got up and told the truth. And because they wanted to do something about the disease that they had, they wanted to do something about the fact that they needed to get off a crack cocaine, because it is a very dangerous drug. It takes you to the lowest bottom, the lowest bottom. And many of us have had those experiences, I'm sure, in working with young people and probably even with young people, either in our families, in our communities, in our schools, and in our homes. I think the critical thing, though, that I'm saying that out of struggle, out of the most sometimes horrifying experiences, out of facing serious problems that we have to deal with one way or the other, can come the great joy of people who say, we're going to do something about that. See, that's what unsung hero or shero does. First, they say, we are going to do something about that issue. We're going to take that on. We're going to show those who are going through that, that they don't have to go through it long and hard. And they don't have to spend a lot of time. That one way or the other, we're going to get it worked out. Maybe not now, but one of these days, it's going to work. We're going to have a victory. We're going to solve that problem. And so, first and foremost, an unsung hero or shero, what they do is they take it on. Take it on with commitment. Take it on with compassion. Those two C's are very important, commitment and compassion. Commitment means that I am going to make my stand. I'm going to, I'm going to stand here. I'm going to do what I need to do right now at this moment. And I may not know all of the ramifications about how the healing process takes place or what we can do to make it work, but I'm going to give it a try. So give it a try. Making a commitment, in other words, dedicating ourselves to spend time, energy and effort to make sure that something happens with the problem we're confronting. And then compassion. You can't solve any problem. I don't care who you are. I want you to hear this because it's very important. Take this home with you. Put it in your pocket or wherever you want to. But take it home with you. You cannot solve. We cannot solve any problem unless we have compassion. We have to have something that says the persons are the person that I'm working with. These people are important. So important that I respect them and that I love them and I will show them. Did you get that? Respect them, love them, I will show them. You see, we are a people who have come through many trials and tribulations. We are a people who have, who have cried all night long. We are a people who have weaped and mourned. We are people that have been through some of the big issues of life. But we, the people, have come through also in ways by which we would never have our backs broken. I remember my grandmother used to say to me, we say, oh, mama, don't, we're just trying to hold up her back. She said, boy, you ain't got no back. Yeah, well, we got her back, y'all. And the important thing about the back that we have is that we've had to endure. And in enduring, we've had to make sure that we did not fail, that we went on and on and on. I remember when I was getting ready to go to to graduate school, I didn't have a cent. In fact, I never had very much money. But anyway, and especially during this crisis, you know, they tell me, somebody was telling me, oh, the stock is so it's going down. I said, what stock? You know, what stock you talking about? But, but, but I can remember, you know, how my family used to pinch pennies. You don't know what I'm talking about. But anyway, I'm from the south. I'll have to tell you about it. All right. Oh, you know about it. Some of you know. Oh, yeah, you know about pinching pennies. Like me, like making ends meet. You know about how to make ends meet? Well, I remember one time, you know, we grew up in Texas and and I'm don't come from Texas. Okay. I'm a Texan myself, but I got out of Texas as soon as I could. Because everybody brags down in Texas. Like, you know, we are some, we are Texans. We don't brag now that we've got the president president, but anyway, anyway, to make ends meet, I remember how my mother used to cook whole cake, cook whole cake. And we would get those whole cakes like about that big, you know, and cut between them and put some butter between that whole cake, those cake whole cakes, and then get you some syrup. You know what I'm talking about? Serp, huh? And put that syrup over those whole cakes and some salt, Joel Baker. You are, that's right. You don't really know about that one. I'll do it. Put that stuff on the table. It's the best meal you ever had. But that made ends meet. And we survived because we had whole cake, syrup, and sometimes we didn't have maple syrup or whatever that burr rabbit syrup, burr rabbit, you know, but what we had to do is cook some, some sugar and some water and that became our syrup. You know, you know what I'm talking about? Yeah. Well, anyway, to make ends meet, unsung heroes and unsung heroes know how to make ends meet because we've been there. And if we didn't get it, then we got it later on because our parents, our godparents passed it on to us. So now my brothers and my sisters, it's important to know how to make ends meet. But that's not the only thing. It's important, it seems to me, to understand that in our community, we showed our compassion by sharing, by sharing. If somebody needed something in our community, we shared it. I got tired of the neighbors knocking on our door asking, did we have any extra eggs? We had a chicken. You know, we had a lot of chickens. And those chickens, thank God, they laid a lot of eggs. So the neighbors all knew about it. And every day somebody was knocking on our door trying to get some eggs. And we tell them, wait till the chickens get through laying eggs, will you? You know? But the critical thing was the fact that we shared. We survived. It's an old African adage. I've been to a number of African countries and I discovered that what they do is they share, share. That's part of their survival. That's part of our survival, sharing with each other. We don't do it as much as we did then, but we need to get back to sharing more. You see? And so unsung heroes and unsung heroes share. Sometimes you share your, whatever it is you got, the last egg or the last bucket of whatever you've seen. Now what I want to say is the modern day unsung hero and the modern day unsung hero are people who find themselves constantly looking at the bigger picture. The bigger picture may be an entire community. The bigger picture may be an entire group of people. The bigger picture may be people who are trying to find their way, people who are trying to put something together, like trying to better education in their communities, get better education for the home, the children. The bigger picture may be people who are trying to live in an area where they can in fact have at least adequate housing, affordable housing, or better than affordable housing. But the important thing is unsung heroes and heroes always are able to look at the bigger picture and the bigger picture has to do with making things count on a bigger plane with more people. Finally, my brothers and sisters, I want to say to you that perhaps we're at a very important time because for the first time in the history of America, my history that I know about, what happened on September the 11th affected everybody. See there was a time that racism just affected African Americans and some of the southern whites and other folks kind of got around it and got away from it if they could, didn't want to face it. But now we have an issue that people cannot escape and that has to do with the twin towers coming down. This was the bastion of of the economic structure of America. And when that came down, everybody was affected and still affected. Some have to go to war. Some have lost loved ones. Some have survived. All of us got to see it on television and were affected by it one way or the other. I think the most important thing though is that all of us have imprints of what developed. We have pictures, if you please, of what developed. We saw danger. We saw hurt. We saw pain. We saw death. And it was not easy to digest, but we will always have unsung heroes and sheroes who will go and make sure that whoever is affected by something of the magnitude of September the 22nd, we will begin to realize that no matter how big the picture that all of us can participate in our own communities, I want to congratulate the unsung heroes and sheroes. And I want to say to you, you are really taking on something that's called humanity. May humanity be strengthened. May your desires and wishes and work continue. And may we always be aware of the fact that courage means standing up at the right time in the right place with the right people and winning the battle, no matter what the circumstances. God bless you and God keep you. We have Joseph and Elba Lambert, Don Watts, John and Paula Hackett. We have Teresa Flynn, Neva Holland, Diane Ray, and LaRue Brown Watson. Every single one of these persons nominated, Ms. Taylor. Every single one of them. So I would like all of the person that I called, or anybody else who would like to say anything about her to come up to the stage right now, please. And her award will be accepted by her son Marvin Taylor. Good afternoon. My name is Elba Lambert, and I'm going to say a few words from the statement that my husband Joseph and I made when we nominated Altonese. My husband Joseph and I had the pleasure of meeting the late Altonese Taylor over a decade ago when she walked on the floor of our retail record store. Ironically, we had just seen a piece about Altonese, who's the founder of the organization Bright Moments Music Lovers Club. And some of the kids were also that she mentored were on this piece that we saw on channel seven. We were so impressed with her and her work. We were even more impressed with her in person. She was soft spoken, but very convincing and persuasive. Altonese command of the art form of jazz, blues, and gospel was simply amazing. She invited us to participate and support the Bright Moments projects and the kids she so lovingly nurtured. We were instant disciples of Altonese and the club. We felt her passion for the art form and her mission to connect this great American music to kids of all races, ages, and gender. Apropos to the name of Altonese's club, whenever you were around Altonese, you couldn't help but experience Bright Moments. Whether it was working with her on a project or watching her work a room, she would have known all of you by the time you left here. She made contacts and connected with people on all levels and elements of the music industry and beyond. All types of retailers, chain stores, musicians, record label representatives, managers, media folks, and radio and TV personalities. All in the name of creating and accessing resources and supporting and support for the kids she so lovingly nurtured with respect to music, particularly jazz. Ms. Altonese, as many of us refer to her, often conducting herself as a committee of one, went to schools from elementary to universities, from concert halls to jazz clubs with kids either putting on performances or establishing venues for future projects for her students. She was responsible for the tremendous self-esteem and confidence these kids achieved as a result of their experience with Altonese. Her loss is impossible to calculate because she impacted so many people on all levels. She was a unique lady, a precious and rare jewel in so many ways, who gave us so much of her, who gave so much of her time unselfishly. Altonese expected no personal gain rather than to be helped in her efforts to save the kids from the cold mean streets and expose them to real music. She was one of the most loving and nurturing individuals that we have met in our lifetime. It is without hesitation that we obviously submitted this Altonese's name for the Unsung Hero Award and she will always live in our hearts as a gentle giant who touched so many of our lives and lifted our spirits with every bright moment we spent with her. Those are our comments and there are some other comments. Good evening. My name is Neva Holland. Thank you. Altonese was my dearest friend. I had to get up because if she was here she'd say get up you got a big mouth you like to talk. Everything she wanted me to do I had to do it. If I thought it she assured me that I could do it. And being around Altonese and the children I learned to sing whether it sound like singing, dance whether it was a dance and whatever she wanted me to do to entertain the children. She truly truly loved our community and our children and in that she had me to entertain them when she got ready. She had a way of doing it that no one would ever ever be able to do. She would say oh I'm cooking a blackberry pie you want some? She knows that I like to eat. She would know to call me and say the children need someone to entertain them and make them laugh would you come? And I said oh Altonese I can't do that. Why can't you do that? You can do anything you want to do just go ahead and do it. Okay Altonese and then the next phone call would say uh we need somebody to come up and dance for the children you need to dance can you come and dance for the children? Dance? Me? Now there you go again. You can dance if you want I was wrong with your feet. But anyway I lost a dear friend. We are going to miss her in our neighborhood. Our children are going to miss her because she truly truly was a children person. Altonese loved all of the community and their children and all the children of the world and she worked with them diligently. Hi my name is Diane Ray and Altonese Taylor was a friend, a teacher, a mother, a local hero and a blessing to this world. Her love of children and deep concern in giving them a constructive musical alternative to hanging out in the streets was her driving ambition. I first met Altonese in 1987 when I was managing a record store in San Francisco. She wanted support in organizing a jazz event at a local jazz club to help local children and what struck me most about her was her strength of character. She was extremely polite, soft spoken yet had a quiet determination about her that deeply impressed me. I knew that this person meant business that she believed in what she was doing and that she would not take no for an answer. At the same time she had a way of making you want to help her to make her make you a part of her dream. That day the store donated a handful of CDs and Altonese and I began a relationship that would enrich my life forever. The Bright Moments Organization was a way for Altonese to bring together the local community toward a common goal. She befriended local record stores, music venues, restaurants, musicians and through their donations of time and goods would provide a means for children to experience jazz music in an effort to inspire them. She repeatedly remarked that you couldn't just tell kids to stay off the streets, that you must provide them a safe place to go and activities to keep them inspired about life. She chose to reach them through her own passion of music. Of her many gifts were the ability to connect with children as well as her powers of persuasion when approaching adults for help. She knew how to work us all yet she was able to do it with a kind spirit and dignity. She was selfless and had the honor and grace of an angel. Altonese Taylor enriched the lives of many children, the community around her and has touched my life tremendously. She's greatly missed although I feel her spirit with me always. I would like to present this award to Marvin Taylor. He's the son of Altonese Taylor. Not really. I am from Los Angeles and I began a relationship over 25 years ago when Altonese called me and said to me I have a wonderful 13-year-old female pianist. What are you going to do about it? So I sent for the pianist and that was the beginning of a wonderful relationship. She was instrumental in providing scholarships to children, to feeding them, clothing them, planting vegetable gardens, seeing that they went to concerts, seeing that they had shelter. I miss Altonese, but she left a legend for us and we're all going to carry on in her name. Thank you. That was, um, Drew Brown, Clifford Brown Jr.'s mother. I have to throw that in there. I'd like to thank everyone who came out today, not only for my mother but also for all the other unsung heroes. And as we stated earlier, you know, the divine order of things and it's amazing how it's Veterans Day time period. So we have fallen heroes, just like we are giving credit today to the unsung heroes who are still with us. But in this war of trying to get things to go better in other people's lives, you know, sometimes we do fall, you know, and God has this infinite wisdom about these things. So one of the things that has occurred in my life since my mother's death is a lot of revelations come after tribulations, you see. And as Reverend Williams messaged, so divinely inspired once again, because he talked about crack cocaine. And for those of you who don't know, my mother was tragically killed here by my brother who was on crack cocaine, you see. And so when I got here and over right after Labor Day, it was on the headlines, you know. And but what happened to me was this, that when I got the call, you see, I was already being ministered and God was already working his divine plan. I had Yolanda Adams on my cassette and she was ministering to me already. And after I hung up the phone after receiving the word, I was able to say a little prayer for myself and my brother and my mother, you see. When I got here, you know, doing those things that we have to do right before the services, the World Trade Center situation occurred, you know. And so that again, a lot of people who want to do certain things, wasn't able to do certain things. And and there again, I had to kind of step up in the sense. And when people are saying how, well, I'm handling things, I was simply saying that, you know, you can judge a tree by its fruit, you see. And the fruit always contain parts of the tree. And so what I'm standing for today is what my mother has inspired within me, you see. Because, you know, I'm from the Bayview and a lot of folks that I grew up with is no longer here, you see. And so once I got to town and found out what had occurred and whatnot, continued this though, you know, pray to God and eventually my brother was captured and he confessed. And so now they just brought him back here in town. And the first thing that I conveyed to the police officers when they went to go get them was to convey my thoughts that, you know, I'm here practicing the forgiveness, you know, and the healing that must go on now. You see, I live by a simple creed and it was stated a few thousand years ago, a very simple sentence. Father forgive them for they know not what they do, you see. And out of that, the blessing continues to pour out. You see, I find out that in life, you get what you put into it. So I've been pouring out more love than I ever have before. And as a result, I'm receiving more love than I ever have not before. So now my life always, you know, obviously has been transformed from my unsung hero stuff that I do back in the community while I live out in Virginia. So now I'm up here doing speeches and interviews and everything else. But there again, you know, I do this in tribute, you know, to my mother, because that's what she instilled. And many years ago, or a couple of years ago, there was this little slogan that kind of went around, WWJD. And so what I've done since this tragedy, another one of those revelations, I've just been saying WWAD, but what Altadise stood, you see. And that's how I give tribute is to following in her footsteps and doing those things that she stood for. Because one thing I find out is that the legacy continues. And so my challenge to everyone that's here, you know, as we honored others unsung heroes that's doing various things, is whoever you're here in support of that you may have known and the people you just now meeting for the first time, you know, just redouble your personal efforts, you see, because it still takes that whole village to raise a child, you see. And that's what I've been able to really gain as a result of this situation. Finally, before I go to my seat is another revelation that occurred to me was about love as Reverend Williams Messer was all about. And there again, another simple phrase came to mind that there's no greater love than when one lays down their life for another in trying to help them, you see. Because everyone is needed, no matter what, you know. So I'm just grateful to be a part of things here and my mother's love, like everyone else here has been loved by other folks. And in the upcoming few months, there's going to be some musical tributes and some other things. So we're going to have a little planning meeting this Saturday at the public library on 30 Rivera two o'clock for those who might be interested. And one of the things that I've been working on is a website, I have my own computer business. And so I've been working on a website for my mother, which is proven to be the toughest website I've worked on or working on. And I hope to have that done the next week or two. www.brightmomentsat.org. And on that, I'm gonna make sure that I list all the unsung heroes that I've been able to be blessed by today's program. And I will put the other unsung heroes from the previous 12 years, because these are the messages that needs to be told, you know, that will inspire other people. So with that, I'm gonna like to thank everyone for coming out and the special support and, you know, God is good, you know, and everything. And all I do is just continue to pray for the strength and the wisdom for me to continue to move forward. And I still continue to pray for my brother, who's most definitely in need of prayer. Because a lot of times in life when we need love, the most we deserve at the least, you see. So the pressures of life as it continues to squeeze on me, what comes out of me is love, you know, because that's what people like yourself hasn't still, you know, just like my mother constantly, you know. So with that, I'd like to thank everyone once again. And Linda, come here for one second, please. So another unsung hero here. When I like to do it, just pass this on to Linda. Because her voice is down, but she's still going on. And that's how we do things. Just like the message was simply said, we make ends meet. Thank you. I love y'all. God bless you. So if you would please welcome Raymond Tompkins, who is going to announce the winner, Lynn Brown, who was nominated, and Maurice Campbell, who Lynn Brown refused to take the honor without. So please welcome to the stage. Thank you. Good afternoon. It's my privilege to really talk about my friend. I got some notes here and folks asked me at the last second when I do the presentation being to teach us that I can come up and talk. No problem. And for a friend and a colleague in the struggle and a father, because anybody can make a baby, but few can be a father and take care of them. And that Lynn has brought this extension to include the community. Because when you look at, and I've been teaching environmental science, we started together over at Balboa together and did my student teaching. In 1970, I was at San Francisco State when I was an undergraduate. And as a sophomore, I changed the course and we called it chemistry in the human environment. And usually when you think of environment, you're thinking of the spotted owl and Bambi and not us. But yeah, part of the research and the work I've done is that you look at baby Hunter's point and you want to start crying because I'm looking at my friends, my neighbors. When I did the rewrite on breast cancer, we sadly have the notoriety for African American women and baby Hunter's point of having the highest breast cancer rate in the world. I'm looking at young women 20, 21, 22, 25, 27, after having children, having to lose their breasts. And some of the chemicals that cause breast cancer in women cause testicular cancer in men. And they have very little good diagnosis on that. So usually the men die from that as well. The life expectancy for African American male and baby Hunter's point is 56 years old, according to Dr. Tomas Aragon, head of epidemiology, non infectious disease in San Francisco Health Department. The average life expectancy for African male in the United States is 70. What's going on in baby Hunter's point? You have to ask when you read that cervical cancer for African American women is twice the expected rate. And then when I read the report, they had to, Cynthia Selmore had to kick me underneath the table because I was about to use some descriptive language in my response when they blame the victims, the women, and not look at the environment as a factor. You have to say, no, this is a lot of BS, bad science. That's that racism that you have in there. Lynn, I've got to talk about them for a minute. I have a whole bunch of notes. Father of five children being a father, me being a grandfather as well, that extended the love to the community. When I call, and I'm very proud that he said, I can't accept this alone because it's about teamwork. Some of the previous speakers have spoke about the civil rights movement. I had the privilege of being tutored and mentored by James Garrett, by Bob Mosey, who did the voter registration in Mississippi, and that in the beginning, they talked about how they maybe had, after six months working at a church, you may have one person show up and all the work that it takes to get to that point of knocking on the doors, begging people to listen, don't want to listen, slam the doors in your face. When it's cold, you got to be there. Those are some of the qualities that Lynn has. It's like very few people, a lot of people talk to talk, but very few walk it. No one wants to do that grinding work that it takes. It's like here I've been trained and educated different institutions. Lynn seeing the information is taking the initiative and saying, I got to share this with my brother because all we have is each other. And if we don't look out for each other, we will not be here. When you look at the hospitalization rates, baby hunters point for pulmonary disease, asthma is four times higher than the state average. When you go to car elementary school, and half of the babies in the first grade are asthmatic as diagnosed in the emergency room and the teacher developed asthma, after teaching that you got to say something is wrong with the environment. Lynn has been out there relentlessly. I get calls at 11, 12. Maurice will be calling me. They're doing research. I'm proud that Lynn serves on the remediation advisory board for the Navy to try and clean up the shipyard. He's a member of CBE, communities for better environment, doing the work, not in front of the microphone, not giving the speeches, but talking to each other one on one. Because as we talk to each other, we start to listen to each other, then we make a difference. At this point, and to reflect, and I'm going to stop at one second here, I can go on and keep preaching. You know I'm a teacher, so I'll keep going and give the lecture. I run over all my students. They know that. But at this point, because of the quality of Lynn saying I can't take this alone, because I didn't do it by myself. I had others. Lynn Brown, why don't you come up here, Brown? Well deserved. I'd like to say good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and also to our young folks that's here. I'd like to thank you for this beautiful award on behalf of the people of Bayview Hunters Point, who needlessly struggles to overcome the negative conditions to survive, to become good citizens. The radioactive toxic waste from the naval shipyard, the lack of jobs, the lack of opportunity, the lack of money has dramatically contributed to this oppression, which I am committed to change. Thank you. Maurice Campbell, come on. This is the fight that we go through all the time because it's almost like one person working together. I was shocked when Lynn called me up and he told me about the situation here and his refusal. In any other circumstance, I would have told the people no. First of all, I'd like to say thank you to God and thank you to everybody here. Our work is about changing the conditions for our children, our young adults, our seniors, and hopefully leading to a better conditions for us all. I'd like to give a very special thanks to Lynn Brown for always being there and congratulations to Lynn and Venet on their wedding. I believe they're on their honeymoon now or something else like that. Venet, thank you. We took on the United States Navy. The Navy has shut down that shipyard for over 25 years, as you probably all know, as Raymond Tompkins said, the highest death rate in San Francisco for cancer and various forms of other diseases is in Bayview-Hunters Point. Highest breast cancer rate, leukemia rates, hospitalizations, and this is coming from cats at the health department. What has happened is we've taken on at the Restoration Advisory Board meetings the Navy's technical experts and we found that they've been lying to the community. We've also traveled all up and down the country and it's different communities around the Bay area enlisting the support and guess what other communities are coming in and joining us. On October 13th, we had an event at the Milton Myers Center and there was a plaque given to the Hunters Point community for the people that we had lost through the toxic, well the toxic triangle, which is the shipyard, the power plant, and a sewage treatment plant, conditions that no place else in San Francisco people have to live with. Well, it's going even further than that. We have a series of organizations that are working with us and these organizations that are working with us are not playing. There's been lawsuits filed. ARC, I saw Alex here. Alex, are you out here somewhere? Just raise your hand. I guess Alex is left. CBE, Mike Thomas, CBE, Communities for a Better Environment, which Linda's part of, sued the Marant Corporation over the Petrero power plant. They also did a study on the sewage treatment plant and that is probably going to wind up in litigation fairly soon. I'm sorry? No, I said the sewage treatment plant survey that came out that we took our samples for is killing us out there. Okay. This battle involves many of us. I see Caroline Washington who is one of our seniors sitting over in the corner. Caroline, would you raise your hand please? Caroline is at the Restoration Advisory Board meetings and she works very closely as one of the members on the team and we've taken on the Navy and what has happened is the Navy has had to take shortcuts and plain lie. Before, we weren't getting any support from the congressional delegations, but now at each of the RAV meeting, the congressional delegations are turning up and they're monitoring what's taking place. What we intend to do and what we are doing is our time, it might take hours or maybe a year of our time, but if we affect the outcome, a year of our time affects 10,000 people and they have a longer life or 20,000 people, it's worth it. Thank you. I'm here to honor Starlett Jones, who is our student advisor at Paul Revere. When I was hired at Paul Revere Elementary School, I came from Redwood City where I had taught immigrant students English as a second language and I didn't get a bilingual classroom and I got a classroom full of mostly African American students and a few Filipino students and I didn't know what to do when I had students in my face all the time and I didn't have the discipline and control over my students like I should have had. Miss Starlett Jones was there not only for me, but for all the teachers that have students that they don't know very much about and Miss Starlett is there for all of the children, for all of the parents. She is there as a link to the community. She is there as a link from the administration to the families, to the teachers. She is there to make doors open. When a door is closed, she opens the door. She says, keep that door open. Do not close that door. These children are worth it. She's been there almost 20 years now. She's a young woman. She's been there about 20 years and when I hear in the office a young parent coming in with their kindergartners saying, looking at the teacher's boxes and saying, is Miss Starlett here? Is Miss Starlett still here? I'm going to bring my kindergartner to school. She's still here. Yeah, she's still here and she's why I stay at Paul Revere. One of the reasons why, but she's the main reason because she shows, she perseveres every day. She greets the children on the bus that come off the bus from Bayview's Hunter's Point every morning, may not have had food, may have had an asthma attack before, may have been up all night long and she greets them with a smile and she says, how you doing? Let me check your eyes out. Let me see how you're doing. If they need something, she gets it for them. She makes sure they're settled in that classroom ready to learn and if they're not, she gets what she needs for them and then gets on. She also helps all of the, all of the struggling teachers. This is what really gets me the most is that she helps us stick with it. There are a lot of teachers that quit within the first two years as you know, a lot of teachers are in this room. They quit and they don't persevere, but because of Miss Jones, she says, uh-uh, you're not going to quit. You're not going to give up and so a lot of teachers don't give up because of, because of her tenaciousness. She also has an after school program at Paul Revere and she has all the children who are striving for their best come to school after school and make sure and she calls every day. She says, why weren't you, why wasn't your child here if they, if they missed that day? She makes sure that she communicates and she shows all the teachers. That's what you have to do. You can't just say, oh, oh, it's the parents fault or oh, it's, you know, somebody else's fault. No, get on that horn and say, you care. And the parents say, wow, yeah, I'll make sure they're there tomorrow. She also does home visits and for any teacher that's afraid to go into Bayview, Bayview Hunters Point or to where a lot of our students come from, Double Rock or Alamany, she says, come on, I'll go with you. I'll show you how to do it. So she does it and she teaches us how to do it. And there aren't that many people out there helping the white teachers do it. And she is our star. She's our shining star at Paul Revere Elementary School. She's our Shiro and Ms. Starla, would you come up please? Give it up for Paul Revere Elementary School, Starla Jones. This award is greatly appreciated. It's beautiful, honey. I had everything memorized. I want to congratulate all of the Shiros and heroes today. Ms. Taylor, I really, excuse me, Ms. Ann Austin, I really want to say congratulations to you because she was my supervisor at one time. So I'm following in your footsteps. So thank you. As you all know, my name is Starla Jones and I have been the elementary student advisor at Paul Revere School for 18 years now. I worked as a student advisor there. My job consists of working with students of different races, religions and backgrounds. I listen carefully to their problems and what they have to say and I attempt to help them solve their problems in the most honest matter. A lot of students at Paul Revere School come to me and they bring tears to my eyes, smiles to my lips and music to my ears. Often rapid heartbeats. But this job can be very challenging, but it is one of the most unique experiences I have ever had in my life. And one that I will never forget. I believe that children are a future and I firmly believe that the future is beginning now. There's a couple of people that I would really like to show appreciation to. Number one is Lisa Bishop. I really thank her for nominating me. The future looks very, very bright. I just want to say from my heart, thank you for nominating me. I feel very special that you would have the chance to do that. Who else would I nominate? You are the only one, so you're it. Lisa Bishop again is my co-worker at Paul Revere School. I want to thank my loving uncle Rodney Jones. Uncle, can you stand up for me please? And my loving fiance, Lonnie Sweet Cakes. Can you stand up please? That's the love of my life. And there's a person who I just have a special love for in my heart, who's my mentor and my confidant. Her name is Dorothy Chisholm. She's been there for me along with Lisa through thick and thin. There she is, Dorothy Chisholm. Do you want to have her come up and talk? Can you come up Chisholm? Yes, please come up. Miss Chisholm, you feel like coming up? Are you okay? You know I love you. I would like for her to come up because without Chisholm, let me be a starlet. Sterlet and I have a little saying that we've always said and we'd like to say this to all of you. It's important to be nice and remember when you're tired, don't give up. Give out, get up and start again. Presenter for our next winner of the Unsung Heroes Award is Mrs. Edna Coleman is going to present the award to Miss Liz Bell. Y'all not that tired. Come on, put your hands together now. We almost at the end and you're looking pretty good. Thank you. Miss Liz Bell, the person who works for God, the great worker at our church, Our Lady of Lords and Hunter's Point. Liz Bell gets money, takes money from her pocket and she started a soup kitchen at Our Lady of Lords. She goes around to the homeless and bring food, clothing, warm blankets and she has started the best project at Our Lady of Lords, working with the homeless. Liz Bell go down to Nalon, go down to Fell Street, underneath the freeway and make sure that she's speaking to people and look at them eye to eye and get bring food to them. She has set up also every Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, baskets where she bring to the homeless, the homeless people. She is our pastor, Father Kerry, right hand. She's there every minute helping him out in the church. Whatever he needs, Liz Bell is there. She open the church every Sunday morning, every Saturday. Liz is there. She collects money to make sure that everybody, the kids at the church, have clothing for Christmas and toys. Liz Bell also, we cannot forget her at all. She's there. She came from Hunter's Point many years ago. I remember when I was working in Bayview Hunter's Point and her grandson was in my class and I had problems with her grandson. I called, I made a telephone call and that was Liz Bell. She came to the school and got her grandson on task. I had no any more problems. Okay, also at Our Lady of Lords, she started the grandparent support group. The grandparent support group is very important because they come together and discuss issues where they have been problems with their grandkids or they can understand them so they be there for their grandchildren. And most of those kids do not have mothers or fathers at home. Only person they have are their grandparents who are supporting them. So she's very important to our church. She also is a helper. She supports the battle women's shelter, the World Vision. She feeds the children program. We have a special day for her every year, Liz Bell Celebration Day. It was about two weeks ago, two seconds ago, we had a big day, Liz Bell's Day and everybody turned out for our special awarding Liz Bell, a special award. Is our pastor here, Our Lady of Lords, part of the court? Is he in the audience? Well, Our Lady of Lords, anyone want to come up to speak on Liz Bell's behalf? Rotam? Anyone? No? No one from the, Our Lady of Lords? Okay, thank you. So, Liz Bell is a champion, a great worker in our community. For many years, she's been with many programs, great societies with Our Lady of Lords and Hunter's Point. So, I present Lady Liz Bell. Not yet. I appreciate the award and only God knows why Edna nominated me. So, I let that stand there. But my heart is mostly with the homeless and anyone else that crosses my path. Years ago, I didn't know what I was going to do with my life, but I prayed and persevered and all those that know me why I'm standing here today because I promise I'm only doing what I promised the Lord that I would do. So, and I'm truly blessed to have all the friends amongst the homeless, amongst all of you here and all of these great award people just to see them. I'm just a little pee in the pot, but when I go out there and help the homeless and all others, my heart is full. Can you imagine a homeless person saying, I hope you have a good night? God bless you. Well, these are the people that are out there mostly forgotten, but they have hearts too. They're always telling us God bless you, God be with you, and they definitely look out for one another. So, don't think that everyone out there is out there behind drugs. There's a lot of them there that I speak to. They can afford a place to stay, but there's no place for them to stay because they can't pay the rent. It's too high. But I accept this award not on my behalf, but like the others on behalf of my friends that are blocking the audience, my sister, there's a Marjorie who is not here, she's ill, and Helen Wesley. These people are just as I am and restlessly help feeding the hungry and seeing that they get what they want. Now, she mentioned a soup kitchen. Well, it used to be that we serve soup or something like that, but now at one time I went into the shelter and I noticed the disrespect that this person answering the telephone had for a homeless man. I took my sandwiches and went back out the door and we took them to the streets, and ever since then, we've been going out under the freeways and the difference. Well, I'm not going to tell where all they stay because I'll be telling them where they're up to you from. I'm not going to tell that, but I want all of you to know there are people with hearts and big hearts out there among the homeless. Only thing we can do is pray that they'll make shelters and see that they get a decent place to live. I want to thank you and each and every one of you make mine fair and short. I love you all and I've been sitting through this to know what I was just praying to the Lord to let me get through it. God bless. Our last nominee tonight is Mr. Sims. Mr. Sims is President of the Hannah's Boy Center in California and a member of the California State Advisory Committee on Cost Control. He received the BCCC Black Chamber of Commerce Award as Small Businessman of the Year at his 24th annual banquet in 1997. Most of Mr. Sims' adult life has been spent helping those who are less fortunate. Some of his specific acts of generosity and kindness on a continuous basis are the following. He chooses poor families and ensures that these families enjoy the blessings of a bountiful holiday. Ashe, I heard that. All right. Come on, y'all. Y'all got to stick with me. We got a few more minutes here. He contributes to various causes and funds. He gives freely of his time to mentor young men who otherwise would have no one to whom they could relate. He heard that. He leads an exemplary personal life in order that children may have another person to relate to and patterns after. Mr. Sims is the proud father of two daughters, Susan and Candace, a graduate of Howard University, Washington, and Spelman, Atlanta, respectively. Please welcome Candace to accept the award for her father, Mr. Robert Sims. Thank you so much. I wasn't quite prepared to give a long speech and I know that we don't have a lot of time, so I'm going to be very quick. I first want to start out by thanking everyone for coming out here today in support of all of our unsung heroes. It's just been great. Everyone has been fabulous. Thank you so much. My name is Candace Sims and I'm here to accept this award on behalf of my father, Robert Sims. He unfortunately couldn't be here today, but he asked me to express his sincere appreciation for this nomination that I believe he was nominated by Burino, who did not make it today, and that he wanted to ask me to express to you what an honor this was for him to receive this award. My grandmother happens to be here. She's in the audience and I want her to go ahead and stand up and to get some acknowledgement because she's been a big part of this honor. Thank you very much. I would like to acknowledge each and every one of you for coming today, spending your time with us, and being unsung heroes in your own heart, so I would like to give you a hand. You guys just did wonderful. You look gorgeous and you came out and you stuck it through the long run and doggone it. We really appreciate it. I would like to say as leaving, I would like to quote Maya Angelou. She says that giving liberates the soul of the giver. The giver is as enriched as the recipient and more important that intangible but very real psychic force of good in the world increases. When we cast our bread upon the water, we can presume that someone downstream whose face we'll never know will benefit from our actions. Give uphold the foundation of the universe when we give cheerfully and accept gratefully. Everyone is blessed. God bless you. Thank you so very much. I'll see you next year, cousins.