National Program Award Winners

National Program Award Winners were recognized at the 2010 Conference in 3 areas of focus: Education, Leadership, and Action. There were three winners for each category.

LEADERSHIP

FIRST PLACE - Tennessee

Tennessee became a leader in preparing its members to take responsible roles within its communities by offering FCL training. Twenty-four (24) attended with twenty (20) receiving certification. Participants returned to their home communities and put their new leadership skills to work by working with youth to teach life skills and first aid classes.

.

SECOND PLACE-West Virginia

West Virginia FCE sponsored two (2) major community events to bring families closer and that supported literacy and character education, Martin Luther Kind Day in January and “Kid’s Day” in April. Twenty-three (23) youth volunteers were recruited to work with the FCE members in planning and organizing the events. A total of 130 kids attended both events.
 

EDUCATION

FIRST PLACE-West Virginia

West Virginia FCE wrote and received a $35,000 grant from the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation. This action allowed 396 women aged 30-39 who were high risk for breast cancer and women 40-49 to qualify for clinical breast exams and free mammograms and also to receive free pelvic exams and pap smears. 1,139 were reached face to face by this program. The message of “Early Detection is the Best Protection” is echoing through the hills of Appalachian West Virginia.
 

SECOND PLACE-Tennessee

CHARACTER COUNTS! has been a great success in Tennessee; 680 students participated in the National FCE Essay and Artwork contest. 75 teachers and adults assisted with the program. Fourteen (14) 4th grade classes in seven (7) counties participated. Members made puppets and wrote skits to present to the classes. Outside organizations donated prizes, articles were published in several newspapers.


THIRD PLACE-Kansas
Kansas FCE wanted to educate their communities about the Judicial System. They used the Hearth Fire book #37, “Someone’s in the USA Court (ing) the Judicial System. They designed a board game based on USA and state judicial systems; they set up window displays, and manned county fair booths focusing on various segments of the system.

They reached 606 community members through the board game and lesson, 2500 through public policy, and 188,188 people through the media and displays. 787 FCE members were reached with 2166 volunteer hours.
 

ACTION

FIRST PLACE-West Virginia

West Virginia held a fundraising event “Crossing the Bridge” and raised $1,703.40 to help pay for mammograms and pelvic screenings for women who could not afford them. The money was given to the West Virginia Breast and Cervical Cancer Diagnostic and Treatment Fund. 234 people participated in the event. Public awareness of the importance of breast and cervical cancer screening was raised by news coverage of the event.


SECOND Place-Colorado

Colorado FCE used Hearthfire # 43, “Someone’s in the World.. Being Green” at their State meeting and at all FCE District meetings to promote reuse and recycling of items. 400 books were donated for library book sale; 1,000 plastic bags were saved from the landfill by the use of cloth bags; pop tabs, soup labels, box tops, cancelled stamps, milk bottle tops were all collected for various charities; annual coat/hats/gloves/blanket drive collection for those in need; food items for food bank; quilts and bags were made from recycled clothing and donated; toiletries were donated to shelters; 24 gallons of food scraps were used as compost; members used their own table ware for FCE functions; numerous items were listed as reused or recycled to reduce the amount of trash going to landfills. 90,000 people were reached through media coverage.
 

THIRD PLACE-Kansas
 

Kansas FCE provided tools for people living in our world to find ways to reuse, reduce and recycle. Members held programs and workshops, wrote news articles, put up displays and booths, participated in parades with floats, used recycled items for gifts, visited recycle centers and created eco-friendly cleaning products. 1,089 members participated in this project with 4,809 volunteer hours. 445,820 were reached through media and 24,364 were reached through face to face contact.