Compensatory Education Students Assist Nonprofit Organization
Compensatory Education students stuff envelopes to assist nonprofit agency Manna Food Bank. On the left, from front to back are Eddie, Melissa and Johnny. On the right, from front to back are Darrell, Jamie, Steve and Latessa.
A-B Tech's Compensatory Education students in the Vocational Education classes have begun a collaboration with Manna Food Bank that allows them to do certain clerical jobs for the nonprofit organization.
"My wife had done some volunteer work for Manna and saw an opportunity for this kind of work, especially for Vocational Education on Fridays," said Alan Turco, Compensatory Education instructor. "We asked if Manna would work with us, and if they had needs from time to time that we could help them with. Three weeks later, they sent some."
Students began their partnership with Manna by stuffing 12,000 envelopes with information related to the Blue Jean Ball fundraiser. "We have these mailings go out, they are helping us by putting notices inside the envelopes," said Karen Etheredge, special events and volunteer coordinator for Manna. "It's real helpful for the students to do that because it is time consuming." Manna's mission is to provide food to 350 agencies in six counties in Western North Carolina. "All these pieces make it work and it's great that A-B Tech is willing to help us with that," she said.
"It is good training for the students, and it helps a local nonprofit," said Tom Rash, Compensatory Education coordinator. "We are talking with other nonprofits to see if we can help them in the same way."
"We want to be interfacing with the community as much as possible," Turco said.
Accident Heroes
Keith Rice, security officer and EMS instructor for A-B Tech, knows he works on a well-trained team. Members of A-B Tech's community were able to spring into action when an elderly man fell out of the passenger side of a vehicle while traveling on Victoria Road Feb. 28.
Rice was working with two trainees that day, and they were on their normal patrol when they rounded the curve in front of the Simpson Building. "We spotted a gentleman lying on the grass in front of Simpson." Rice said. "Two people were providing first aid."
Rice said the profuse bleeding and lying on the side of the road were the signs of being thrown out of a moving vehicle. The man rolled all the way off the road after the door he was leaning on opened.
Kellie Whittemore, Business/Hospitality adjunct instructor, and student Heather Shomaker were the first on the scene. "They were truly the key when it came to airway control and bleeding management," said Rice. "Those couple of minutes before we got on the scene were crucial to the patient. If it hadn't been for them, it could have turned out differently.
"It did not take long to realize the patient was not in good shape," Rice said. He dispatched Security for safety and traffic control and contacted EMS, which came from South French Broad Avenue, quickly arriving on the scene.
"I think the Security staff handled it very well," Rice said. "They performed flawlessly. This was a very unusual accident to occur. He was unconscious when we arrived. We all worked well because all the staff is trained to do that."
History Class Visits Smith-McDowell House
Randy Edwards and Malena Stockton, students in Sue Olesiuk's American History II Class, examine Depression-era photos at the Smith-McDowell House Museum's exhibit: "In Search of a New Deal: Images of North Carolina, 1935-1941." The 50 images were photographed by the Farm Security Administration to document how people were coping with the Depression and illustrating the need for the New Deal programs. "All of the photos spoke to me because almost all of them are images that I have in my mind of growing up here," said Edwards. "I can remember the general stores and my dad plowing tobacco with mules in Madison County. A lot of these Depression-era images were still present in the '70s."