Teachers turn ‘happy hour’ into time to help community
For one hour a month, the group gives their time to nonprofit organizations.
ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Happy hour doesn’t always conjure up images of adults mingling over cocktails at a bar.
Tim Kearney thinks of a student-reward program created years ago at Cleveland Elementary School in Allentown in which teachers pick a group of well-behaved pupils to mingle with the principal for an hour every Friday.
Kearney, a fourth-grade teacher at Cleveland, came up with another twist on happy hour this school year. It still involves people getting together after work, but for the purpose of rolling up their sleeves and volunteering time to community organizations.
“I supposed the name [happy hour] left an impression on me,” said Kearney, a Coopersburg resident who has taught at Cleveland for 20 years and is vice president of the Allentown Education Association teachers union.
“I saw us sitting around on a Friday during happy hour after work and wondered about donating that hour to the community,” he said.
Several teachers and staff members liked the concept and took part in Cleveland’s new volunteer movement earlier this month by spending an hour at the Sixth Street Shelter.
Program Happy Hour was initiated as a way for teachers to spend more time in the community, promote nonprofit organizations in the Lehigh Valley, and improve neighborhood relationships, Kearney said. Although teachers already devote much of their time to civic activities, the entire staff was invited to volunteer one additional hour each month, he said.
“I think the community will appreciate seeing teachers helping out,” said Becky Landis, a third-grade Cleveland teacher from Catasauqua, while helping out at the shelter Dec. 5. “It’s the most humbling experience.”
The goal is to assist programs that are beneficial to children, said Kearney, as he hoisted a 27-inch television up a flight of stairs with Cleveland Principal Robert Wheeler, who was also volunteering.
“This was in my mind for a long time. My idea is to do it once a month through the school year. If we’re successful, I want to expand it districtwide, and will talk about doing it at the state level,” Kearney said.
Cleveland art teacher Ben Pawlowski said he was more than happy to participate.
“It’s an hour. Who can’t commit to an hour a month?” he asked.
The shelter consists of 19 full-size apartments for families in transition and serves as a place for people in the neighborhood to acquire information, get referrals, use phones for local calls, and pick up bread and other perishable food donated daily by local grocery stores. There’s a free health clinic run by Lehigh Valley Hospital on site and the shelter also provides free GED classes.
“We’re always full,” said shelter director Marsha Eichelberger. “There’s a two-month waiting period. We really rely on community support and we couldn’t do it without the volunteers who come through these doors. We make it a place that’s very friendly to volunteers.”
Volunteer coordinator Lilian Riveros directed the Cleveland group of six to the basement, where dozens of bags of donated clothing and kitchen and household supplies from Lutheran Congregational Services had to be unpacked, stored and hung.
Lorraine Horn, a fourth-grade teacher at Cleveland for 17 years, folded each piece of clothing as if it were her laundry. She said volunteering is something she’s accustomed to doing at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Allentown. For Tom Smith, a reading specialist at Cleveland for 13 years, volunteering is a way of saying thank you.
“I’m happy to do it,” Smith said while hauling and organizing supplies.
The idea for a volunteer program would not have gone far had people not actually volunteered, Kearney said.
“I know how busy people are, so I truly appreciate anyone who gives that extra hour a month,” he said. “I’m lucky to work with people who are so dedicated to service.”
In the future Cleveland teachers hope to collaborate with Cops-n-Kids, Miller-Keystone Blood Center and other food banks and churches in the area.