Meet Our Volunteers

Bobbie Neuman

Veteran math teacher Bobbie Neuman recently received the Trevor daCosta award for volunteer longevity and excellence, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. She has been donating her time, energy, and mathematical tutelage to children and adults throughout the metro region for years. Bobbie “fell into” teaching years before she ever became AoH’s resident GED go-to math genius, but it is at AoH that she has found a home. She began her career after college at the Bureau of Standards, but after she married her husband, she started to teach high school math and discovered that she loved it.

In between teaching and having three children, she started her own private math tutoring business, and started volunteering at various adult education organizations in her free time. She discovered Academy of Hope when she was leading a group of students from Georgetown Day School on a community service project. It didn’t take much to convince her that AoH was right for her, though, and she’s been here ever since.

One thing that endears her to the Hope, she says, is “the professional way volunteers are treated and the support from the staff.”Bobbie never stops moving. She describes herperfect day as one in which she manages to play with her grandchildren, hang out with her whole family, spend time in her garden, go hiking, teach a class at AoH… at this point in her list, she trailed off and acknowledged that her perfect day would have many, many more hours.This long-term volunteer has no intention of leaving anytime soon. “So, you see yourself staying at AoH for the foreseeable future?” a staff member asked her recently. “Maybe forever?” “Definitely,” she replied, “I love it here.”

Tom Brown

Tom Brown is a recent recipient of the "Trevor DaCosta award for longtime volunteers and friends of Academy of Hope." He has volunteered at Academy of Hope since 1985. When asked to appear on the AoH website he shared this letter...

Here are a few words from a long term volunteer:

As I neared retirement in the late 80's after 30 years in government -- always a long arms reach away from the people we tried to serve -- I wanted to be closer. At the same time, my church was launching programs designed to help less advantaged neighbors. One was a GED school for adults called the Academy of Hope. I signed on in the early days to help founder, Marja, by teaching math. We were very small in the early days, but every year found ways to broaden our reach.

I learned that adults always have more going on in their lives than learning bookish subjects; things like health and family that seem more important, even to me, than the day's homework. Olive, for instance had trouble staying awake and Marja discovered that Olive's bed had no mattress. One day after class Marja invited me to give her a hand. That day ended as we squeezed a double mattress into Marja's car, then into an elevator, and onto Olive's box spring. An Academy of Hope education reaches beyond books.

Chanta grew up in Pol Pot's Cambodia; his escape to Washington where he joined siblings and cousins is a story in itself. In his early classes with us, there was only one goal: how to read a map to Atlantic City. One cousin had a car, and all had a plan to get rich at the gaming tables. His study paid off, they got to Atlantic City, but I never heard about any winnings and never heard of a return trip. But Chanta did get a job, and we soon heard that his focused study habits served him well with employee-of-the-week awards and promotions.

Mary and her infant son John were so close that John came to class while she started a new life free from alcohol and drugs. Mary's two daughters were separated from the family in foster homes. Several years of study brought Mary health care employment as valued staff at a home for HIV-infected mothers. She also became self-supporting and she re-gathered her family. But, within months, a hereditary disease attacked Mary's brain. She became totally disabled and was hospitalized for some years unto death. It was a tragic ending made bearable perhaps, by the recovery and re-gathering that preceded her disease.

I loved to hear Mattie tell her story because Mattie is even older than me. In Georgia, her mother taught her good work habits; by the time she was 10, she and her sister together could pick a bale of cotton each day. Years later when Mattie moved to Washington, she opened a corner store. Since it went well, she did the same for siblings as they came north. When I met her three years ago, she was not after a GED, she did not need a better job. She just wanted to read and write better, and she wanted to learn arithmetic.

Mattie owned seven houses in D.C. including one on 14th Street where she was making some changes to keep up with neighbors near the center of Columbia Heights. It's true, she did not know how to add and multiply but she surely had good business instincts.

Over the years, we've celebrated hundreds of graduations with students and their families. Lives have changed. But the life I'm writing about today is mine. Perhaps I've taught a little, though more often; I've just been present when the student was ready to learn. And me, I've been close enough to meet and appreciate a bunch of great people whom I'd never have met but for The Hope.

Best,

Tom

Honoring Longtime Volunteers

The Trevor DaCosta award for longtime volunteers and friends of Academy of Hope, honors outstanding volunteers who have been with AoH for five or more years. The award was first announced at the Summer 2009 graduation celebration, where 12 volunteers were honored (listed here with the year they started volunteering):

Tom Brown - 1985
Jeanne-marie Smith - 1991
Susan Weinbeck - 1992
Michael Ollinger - 1995
Matthew Heyward - 1998
Tanya Beauchamp, Hazel Denton, Tim Romp - 2001
Ja Ques Anderson, Allen Greenberg - 2002
Mary Findley, Andrew Yarrish - 2003
Leslie Carroll - 2004

In Loving Memory of Trevor DaCosta

Trevor DaCosta, longtime volunteer and friend of Academy of Hope passed in the spring of 2008. We all miss him dearly.

Trevor came to Academy of Hope with his wife Hazel Denton in 2001. He began as a math teacher and later transitioned into the role of math tutor. Trevor was a dedicated tutor and held in high regard by staff and students alike. He worked diligently with several long-time students, serving as a loyal support, enabling them to persevere and reach their goal of earning the high school credential.

Trevor supported AoH in many other ways, participating in special events, such as the Help the- Homeless Walk. Trevor truly exemplified the meaning of Academy of Hope, creating a community of hope and opportunity, and in doing so, enabling others to create better lives for themselves, their families, and the larger community. Trevor was a friend and support to many, and he will truly be missed by the AoH family.