Readers & Volunteers

Seedlings Celebrates Our Volunteers  |  Readers

Volunteer Spotlight: Gerry Gilhuly

Here's one of our regular weekly volunteers: GERRY GILHULY!

Gerry has been volunteering at Seedlings for three years plus. She is one of our binding crew, but is available to work on assorted other jobs as needed.

Gerry worked at Hitachi Technical Center as the Administrative Manager in charge of Human Resources, and benefits, retiring in 1999.

This leaves more time for her favorite hobby...traveling. Her top destination spot has been Japan, where she knew many people at Hitachi. She was impressed especially with the children, whose quest to learn from English-speaking persons was so strong, they flocked to Americans in an effort to speak to them. The Japanese learn the English Language throughout their first twelve years of schooling. They flock to visitors in order to speak and listen to pronunciation. An interesting tidbit is Hitachi did not request the employees learn Japanese, but rather the employees speak English so that the pronunciation was always being heard. Her travel adventures also include England, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Poland.

Family keeps Gerry grounded and includes her husband Al, who retired in 2001 as Building Director for the City of Westland; son Kevin is based in Dallas and is a Hardware Engineer, and daughter Kim, who is graduating in May from Berkeley/UC with a Masters in Public Health.

When Gerry is not on a whirlwind trip abroad, she enjoys reading . Currently she is working her way through a series of six Diana Gabaldon books beginning with "The Outlander."

Gerry, we appreciate your help and support!
Thank you for sharing with us!

Volunteer Spotlight: Rachel Bhagwat

Introducing one of our high school volunteers: Rachel started volunteering at Seedlings in June 2006, and since then, she has been a weekly volunteer doing a little bit of anything and everything!

Rachel recently got her drivers license and is very excited to be driving around town in her little blue car! Clear the streets!!! She lives with her mom and dad who are both scientists. Older brother Sam is a sophomore at Stanford. Rounding out the family is an 18 year old cat called "Nicky."

Rachel's hobbies keep her very busy as she likes singing, dancing, running, playing the piano and spending time with friends!

Rachel is a junior at Churchill High School and she is very excited to be performing in the upcoming musical: "The Sound of Music." She will be portraying a nun and housekeeper, which will showcase her singing and dancing talents.

Broadway here she comes!

College is on the horizon, and Rachel is looking at schools that have a strong humanities program such as U of M, Northwestern, Kalamazoo College, Case Western in Cleveland, and Amherst in Massachusetts.

Rachel, good luck in all your future endeavors...and thank you for sharing with us!

March 2008 Update: Rachel placed in the top 1 percent of students in the nation and is now a National Merit Finalist! Congratulations, Rachel!

Other Volunteers in the News

Earlier this year, Matt was honored by Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm for his perfect score in the American Mathematics Competition, a national mathematics contest.

March 2008 Update: Matt finished in the top 1 percent of 10,000 Michigan students and won a $250 prize for his score in the Michigan Mathematics Prize Competition.
Congratulations, Matt!!

Other Volunteer Opportunities

Board Member, Sue Ward, helps bind books

Chuck, Sue & Marj take our books to the Post Office

Upcoming Volunteer Opportunities

Readers

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