Bill Text: NY J03263 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Ruth Facher Mendel - Jefferson Awards 2020
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2020-07-22 - ADOPTED [J03263 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-J03263-Introduced.html
Senate Resolution No. 3263 BY: Senator BRESLIN COMMENDING Ruth Facher Mendel upon the occasion of her selection to represent the Capital Region in the national Jefferson Awards competition in a virtual event to be conducted in September of 2020 WHEREAS, It is incumbent upon the people of the State of New York to recognize and acknowledge outstanding individuals within our midst who have made significant contributions to the quality of life therein; and WHEREAS, A great community is only as great as those persons and organizations that provide exemplary service, whether through participation in voluntary programs or simply through a lifetime of good citizenship; and WHEREAS, This Legislative Body is justly proud to commend Ruth Facher Mendel upon the occasion of her selection to represent the Capital Region in the national Jefferson Awards competition in a virtual event to be conducted in September of 2020; and WHEREAS, The Jefferson Awards are a prestigious national recognition program which honors community and public service throughout the United States; and WHEREAS, In 1972, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, United States Senator Robert Taft, Jr. and Sam Beard, Chairman of the National Development Council, founded the American Institute for Public Service to establish a "Nobel Prize" for public and community service on both the national and local level, the Jefferson Awards; and WHEREAS, The Jefferson Awards, whose stated mission is "to recognize, inspire and activate volunteerism and public service in communities, workplaces and schools across America," serve as a "Call to Action for Volunteers"; and WHEREAS, On the local level, Jefferson Awards recipients are ordinary people who do extraordinary things without expectation of recognition or reward, while national award recipients represent a "Who's Who" of outstanding Americans; and WHEREAS, Ruth Facher Mendel of Delmar, New York, volunteers at the Holocaust Survivors and Friends Education Center where she shares her childhood experiences with school groups and organizations; and WHEREAS, This courageous woman demonstrated great strength by fleeing her home in Luxembourg in 1940, to escape the Nazi invasion; and WHEREAS, At 88 years old, Ruth Facher Mendel continues to share her unique perspective, volunteering weekly at Refugee and Immigrant Support Services of Emmaus, tutoring an Afghan refugee, and volunteering as a reading coach in Delaware Community School in Albany, New York; and WHEREAS, Ruth Facher Mendel began her volunteering through her daughters' grade school as a PTO member, vice president and president; she went on to become their Girl Scout troop leader and earned Life Member status; and WHEREAS, Furthermore, she developed the Person to Person program at Bethlehem Central High School where students go to local elementary schools to tutor younger students; and WHEREAS, It is the sense of this Legislative Body that when a person of such noble aims and accomplishments is brought to our attention it is appropriate to publicly proclaim and commend them for the edification and emulation of others; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to commend Ruth Facher Mendel upon the occasion of her selection to represent the Capital Region in the national Jefferson Awards competition, noting her exemplary service to her community and extending to her heartfelt best wishes for a future of continued purposeful success and well-being; and be it further RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be transmitted to Ruth Facher Mendel.