Hearts and Helping Hands

On Wednesday, April 27th, we were all

devastated and affected by the fierce

April tornados. We were all glued to live

television as we watched the fierce torna-

dos twist and whirl through the streets

and businesses of Tuscaloosa and Bir-

mingham. In just a matter of minutes, two

metropolitan cities had gone from calm

and normal into total chaos, confusion

and destruction.

Character@Heart was created to help

boys and girls become respectful and

responsible citizens. As parents, educa-

tors, and concerned citizens we have the

responsibility of not only educating chil-

dren’s minds but also their hearts. Aris-

totle once said, “Educating the mind with-

out educating the heart is no education at

all.”

Character@Heart has been busy this

year training Character Coordinators to

become “heart doctors” so they can per-

form heart transplants in children instilling

character traits that will strengthen chil-

dren’s hearts. Kindness, love, generosity,

and compassion

are among the

character traits

that have been

implanted into the hearts of children.

The implanted character traits have

caused children to extend helping hands

to those in need. What better way to

show an understanding for a skill than to

participate in a service project. Precious

children all over the state are turning in

money from their piggy banks, holding

lemonade stands, and collecting needed

items for people in need.

Children are learning all about character.

Students are developing respect for oth-

ers by having firsthand experience. They

are doing the right thing because it’s the

right thing to do.

These boys and girls have giving hearts

and helping hands. Truly, character is at

the heart of the matter!

- Pam Morgan, Executive Director

May 2011

Volume 1, Issue 2

Schools of the

Month 2

Its Raining

Character in

South Alabama 3

Giving and Growing with Covington EC

4

Students Lend a Hand in

Montgomery 5

Inside this issue:

Heart 2 Heart with the

Executive Director

sponsored by Character@Heart

For more information or to register, please call Character@Heart at 334-272-4276

or register online at www.characteratheart.com

Page 2

CONGRATULATIONS to our Schools of the Month for April and May, 2011! For more information on what these schools are doing to receive recognition from Character@Heart, please visit our website. We are so proud of you for mak-ing a difference in the lives of your students by implementing character education into the hearts of each student in crea-tive and fun ways! Remember to keep up the good work and, as the school year comes to an end, we can look forward to

the next school year and find new and fun ways to build character today for a better tomorrow!

DOZIER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

APRIL 2011

PINTLALA ELEMENTARY

MAY 2011

Good manners

Polite speaking

Telephone skills

Thank you cards

Table manners

Hosts and guests skills

Manners just for girls

Manners just for boys.

Page 3

Red Level Elementary students (right) prepared a second ship-ment of goods provided by Red

Level students and faculty to send to Hackleburg.

Kinston students (left) work together to donate supplies

to students of Cordova.

Straughn Middle

students (left) provided three trailer loads of

supplies for K-12 grade students in

Hackleburg.

Straughn Elementary School stu-dents (left), in the wake of the April tornados that tore across much of Alabama have adopted a fellow ele-

mentary school, Alberta Elementary in Tuscaloosa. In partnership with LBWCC, they are accepting donations of old t-shirts to provide to vic-tims in a campaign called T-Shirts for T-Town.

Pleasant Home students (left)

participate in ser-vice project for

April 27th tornado victims with

canned food drive.

IT’S RAINING CHARACTER IN SOUTH ALABAMA

Students Lend a Hand

Brantley students (above) raise money to aid storm victims.

Straughn High School students (left) began project Bama B.A.S.S. where they decorated shoeboxes and

filled the boxes with needed personal care items to do-nate to disaster relief victims. Over 40 boxes were donated.

W. S. Harlan Honors Club (right) raises

240 pounds of food in food

drive!

On Valentine’s Day, Fleeta students (left) baked cookies and

made cards to deliver to residents

at Oakwood Apartments.

Samson

Page 4

Straughn Middle School Straughn High School W. S. Harlan

Kinston Elementary School

Red Level School Pleasant Home School

Fleeta School Enterprise Preparatory Academy

Straughn Elementary

Brantley

Page 5

Montgomery Students

Lend a Hand

Halcyon Elementary: Partnering with RBC Bank to collect needed items for victims. Bank em-

ployees deliver collected items.

Martin Luther King Elementary: Food/Supply or money donation at school.

Dalraida Elementary collected over $3,000.00 for the Red Cross to aid tornado victims.

Brewbaker Intermediate: Tornado Relief Day Drive Friday, May 6th from 10 to 2. Students give

monetary donation of $5.00 which gives them access to picnic on the grass. They can wear sun-

glasses, hats and bring blankets and eat while listening to music from Hot 105.7 and participat-

ing in games and competitions. All proceeds go to the American Red Cross.

Garrett Elementary: Collecting can goods and on Friday, May 5, collecting “Dollars for Disas-

ter” in carpool lanes AM and PM on McLemore Drive.

Walter T. McKee Elementary: School sent out letters to parents advising of working with Red

Cross to provide items for neighboring counties. Sending packages of bottled water, batteries

and flashlights due by May 6th.

Blount Elementary: Blount is collecting monetary donations for the American Red Cross. 1st

grade sending school supplies to Alberta Elementary and 2nd grade collecting personal items

for the Red Cross.

Seth Johnson Elementary: Provided a list of needed items to students/parents/teachers and

also accepted cash donations, asking students to donate $1. Items and donations were given to

3rd grade Seth Johnson Teacher, Mr. Mullins, to take to Tuscaloosa, where two of his family

members lost their homes/personal belongings.

Highland Avenue: Collecting money for victims a.m. and p.m. outside.

Hayneville Road Elementary School: Provided a list of items and asked for (1) or more items to

be donated by May 9th and items will be picked up by Regina Walker from River Region United

Way and distributed to various families throughout Alabama.

Students at Dozier Elementary (above) enjoyed a recent workshop on manners. Director Morgan spoke to students about the importance of good manners and the

impact of manners upon their future success.

In a recent trip to Hayneville Road Elementary, Character@Heart Director Pam Morgan spoke to

students at an assembly on Career Day.

Character@Heart held a parent workshop at T. S.

Morris Elementary School recently.

Director Morgan shared information with parents in attendance that would enable them to continue with character education

at home.

In 2000, Character@HEART was founded as a non-profit organization to train and equip teachers and parents to teach

good character and manners to their children. Since then, we have built the community, school, and home partnerships in

Montgomery and 18 other counties and 135 schools needed to move those 25 character traits off a piece of paper or the

school marquee and into the heart of each child.

4101-C Wall Street

Montgomery, Alabama 36106

Phone: 334-272-6247

cheryl.humber@characteratheart.com

Building Character Today for a Better Tomorrow!

Board of Directors

Sarah Spear

Retired Revenue Commissioner Montgomery County

Chairman of the Board - Character@HEART, Inc.

Wayne Blackwell

Sr. Vice-President Administration/Member Services

President, MAX4Kids Foundation

Vice-Chairman - Character@HEART, Inc.

Samuel Whalum

Director of Human Resources and Hospital Liaison

Treasurer - Character@HEART, Inc.

Derrick Cunningham

Chief Deputy Montgomery Sheriff’s Department

Secretary - Character@HEART, Inc.

Dave Borden

Chairman, Aldridge-Borden & Company

Fred O. Braswell, III

President, CEO Alabama Rural Electric

Association of Cooperatives (AREA)

Miford Jordan

Fire Chief, Montgomery Fire Department

Pat McWhorter

President, The McWhorter Group

Carter Papke

Retired Director, Montgomery District Attorney’s Office,

Pre-Trial Diversion Program

Betsy Prince

State of Alabama, Early Intervention Systems/

AL Dept. of Rehab Services

Mike Reinhardt

General Manager, Reinhardt Lexus

Advisory Board Members Judge Lynn Bright (Honorary Member) Montgomery’s Former First Lady Jane Burdeshaw 1988 Alabama PTA Teacher of the Year President, Lifetime Learning, LLC Darryl Gates VP Communications, Alabama Rural Electric Association of Cooperatives (AREA) Kim Hendrix Director of Development Saint James School (Formerly with WSFA)

Reed Ingram Montgomery County Commission, District 5 Kyle Johnson Capell & Howard PC William “Bill” Joseph, Jr. Retired Chairman, Montgomery County Commission Charlotte Meadows President, Montgomery Board of Education Idonia Porterfield Founding Member of Character@HEART, Inc. Jill Rigby Garner President, Manners of the Heart Community Fund Patsy Riley (Honorary Member) Alabama’s Former First Lady Dr. / Rev. Clifford Terrell Pastor, Gospel Tabernacle COGIC

Character Chat Newsletter is published bi-monthly. No information contained herein can be redistributed or copied for commercial use without written permission obtained from Character@Heart. For more information, please contact us at the above address. If you would like to subscribe or unsubscribe to our newsletter, please contact us or visit our website at www.characteratheart.com. Thank you.

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