Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!apple!bionet!hayes.ims.alaska.edu!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: wts@winken.att.com (William T Sykes) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Whatever Happened to the Telephone Pioneers? Message-ID: <14155@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 29 Oct 90 21:32:30 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Organization: AT&T Federal Systems Advanced Technologies - Burlington, NC Lines: 162 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 776, Message 1 of 4 Pat, The following is two articles highlighting the Telephone Pioneers Of America - Old North State Chapter 79, which include AT&T employees and retirees in a number of NC counties. These counties include Alamance, Forsythe, and Guilford, the core counties of what was the North Carolina Works of Western Electric. I believe the Pioneers associated with Southern Bell and the area Independent Telcos participate in other chapters, hence the article publication in an AT&T "in-house" magazine. Comments in brackets [] are mine. Please find room to publish in its entirety, as I believe they deserve the recognition this this forum affords. William T. Sykes Reprinted _with_ permission from AT&T Directions, October 1990 (published for AT&T employees by the Guilford Center Public Relations staff.) [All typos are mine - wts] Copyright AT&T - 1990. "_CONGRATULATIONS - Pioneer Chapter 79 earns national honors for support of Camp Carefree_ Freedom is a precious commodity. Freedom is the priceless gift the Pioneers have helped give children stricken with illnesses like leukemia, Hodgkin's disease, spina bifida and cystic fibrosis. Freedom is Camp Carefree. Located near Stokesdale, Carefree is the only residential camp in North Carolina for children with these types of problems. And its free. Six years ago the camp was just the dream of Anne and Gib Jones, Stokesdale residents who lease 22 acres of their farm to the camp for $1 a year. Today, thanks to the Pioneers and other groups, the dream has mushroomed into a place where special children - walking or in a wheelchair - can go swimming, canoeing, horseback riding and participate in other activities they may never have done before. "The Pioneers have been my security blanket," says Anne, the camp's executive director. "Whenever we have had a pressing need, they have been there to make sure it was taken care of." Over the past four years, 1,500 Pioneers cared enough to spend more than 15,000 hours raising money, building a medical infirmary and a recreation building, and completing three duplex dormitories. "Things kind of snowballed", says Russ Tagert, [Telephone Pioneer] chapter [79] administrator. "We kept asking them what they needed, and they told us." The Pioneers obliged further by building over 500 feet of wheelchair ramps and walks and planting hundreds of shrubs and trees. The Pioneers' dedication to Camp Carefree and the children it serves earned them a [White House] Presidential citation in 1989. And this September, at the Pioneer General Assembly, it earned them the national "People Who Care" award. They were also selected as the number-one chapter among the 105 chapters throughout the U.S. and Canada. "Camp Carefree has been our most challenging, rewarding and exciting activity for many years," Tagert says. "Although our role has certainly been significant, we were not alone. The camp's success has been a total community effort, and we are grateful for the opportunity of helping make it happen." "The real rewards come each summer when the camp swells with laughter and smiles." --Jeanna Baxter [Captions accompanying article photographs (photographs deleted for technical reasons - wts :-) ] "With the support of volunteer counselors, chronically ill children at Camp Carefree spend a fun-filled week participating in activities they never dreamed possible." "Music is among the activities available to Camp Carefree kids. And whether walking or in a wheelchair, they also get the chance to go swimming, canoeing and horseback riding." -------------(Second Directions Article)----------------------- _Chapter 79 Celebrates 20 Years of Service to Local Communities_ "The Pioneers are having a birthday. This year culminates two decades of fellowship, fun and community service for the Old North State Chapter 79. Started July 1, 1970, Chapter 79 is now one of the largest in the association and is a consistent leader in membership and community service, according to Russ Tagert, chapter administrator. Old North State members give more than 500,000 volunteer hours each year and raise more than $100,000 for community service projects. Some highlights of the past 20 years: - rebuilding and refurbishing dormitories for a drug rehabilitation center and the American Children's Home - raising more than $137,000 to restore the Statue of Liberty - treating 1,000 underprivileged children to a tailgate party and Wake Forest football game. - constructing buildings and walkways at Camp Carefree (see previous story above) - building a medical and dental clinic for Greensboro's [NC] inner city - purchasing a $30,000 "Vision Van" for conducting glaucoma screening throughout the state - building 150 wheelchair ramps and other therapeutic devices - cleaning a portion of the Appalachian Trail in the snow - fingerprinting thousands of children - sponsoring "beep-ball" and Easter egg hunts for blind children - holding a fishing rodeo for the indigent and aged - conducting public health fairs in three malls - purchasing a $16,000 van for the food bank" -- Jeanna Baxter [Captions accompanying article photographs (photographs deleted for technical reasons - wts :-) ] "Put together over 100 youngsters at an Easter egg hunt, and you're bound to get some smiles. Each year the Pioneers sponsor the hunt and a pumpkin picking on the [AT&T] Guilford Center grounds for hearing and visually impaired children from the Piedmont." "With the help of law enforcement and community agencies, the Pioneers have fingerprinted more than 32,000 children as part of their Child Safe program." William T. Sykes AT&T Federal Systems Advanced Technologies Burlington, NC UUCP: att!burl!wts att!cbnewsl!wts Phone: 919-228-3265 [Moderator's Note: Thanks very much for sending these items in. I do agree that the Pioneers are a very worthwile organization, and deserving of the publicity they can receive from the Digest. I'm glad to share the news from your local chapter. Are there others out there with important activities going on? PAT]