Hemmings Motor News' First Day of School Holiday Wins 1999 Award
15 October 1999
Hemmings Motor News' First Day of School Holiday Wins 1999 President's Service Award from Points of Light Foundation
BENNINGTON, Vt., Oct. 14 -- Hemmings Motor News, "the bible"
of the collector car hobby, has been named one of 21 honorees by the Points of
Light Foundation for the 1999 President's Service Award -- the highest honor
given annually by the President of the United States for volunteerism.
Hemmings will receive the award for initiating and promoting the First Day
of School "Holiday" Campaign encouraging parents, teachers, schools and
communities to celebrate the First Day of School each year as an opportunity
to foster parent involvement and community support for education. Publisher
Terry Ehrich, who last year formed the First Day Foundation in Bennington,
will receive the award in Washington on Friday, October 15.
"Terry Ehrich has been an exceptional leader on behalf of children," said
U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley. "He has worked tirelessly with
families, businesses, and communities to support better education. I
congratulate him on receiving the President's Service Award from the Points of
Light Foundation."
The First Day of School "Holiday," first celebrated in 1997 in Bennington
and neighboring Vermont towns, has already spread to more than 350 schools in
34 states. The First Day Foundation provides free assistance to schools
nationwide as they plan, prepare, and present their own First Day Programs for
Parents, locally designed and custom tailored to each school's community and
situation.
Typical First Day activities include get-acquainted opportunities for
parents, teachers, and students, making parents and students comfortable about
the coming school year, enlisting parents as partners in education from Day
One, and coaching them in their appropriate and effective roles in their
children's education. Some schools include parades and picnics and, in all
communities, employers allow working parents unpaid or paid time off (hence
"Holiday") to participate in First Day programs and activities.
Ehrich is especially encouraged by the fact that every school that hosted
its own 1998 First Day of School Holiday did so again in 1999, and that
Vermont-NEA, the union representing the vast majority of Vermont teachers, has
joined as a partner promoting the First Day Campaign.
"In our first three years we haven't had a single 'drop-out' of a school
that has celebrated a First Day of School Holiday. Even schools presenting
very modest programs often report better relations between teachers and
parents, and better parent participation, during the rest of the school year,"
he said.
Basic information about the First Day of School Campaign can be found at
its web site. The Foundation also publishes a
"First Day Newsletter" for educators and school administrators.
The President's Service Awards were created as the President's Volunteer
Action Awards in 1982 to honor outstanding individuals and organizations
engaged in volunteer service directed at solving crucial social problems, and
to call attention to the contribution made by the nation's 93 million
volunteers. In 1999, more than 3,500 nominations were submitted and reviewed
in four areas: human needs, environment, education, and public safety.
Special consideration was given to those activities that either benefit or
involve young people. A list of all 21 winners, as well as nomination
procedures for the year 2000 awards, is available on the Foundation's web site.
The Points of Light Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization
that, through its national network of Volunteer Centers, works to engage more
people more effectively in volunteer community service to help solve serious
social problems.
Since 1954, Hemmings Motor News has served the collector-car hobby as its
primary trading place and currently carries over 800 pages of hobby
advertising each month to a paid circulation of nearly 260,000. Loaded with
tens of thousands of classified and display ads for collector cars, trucks,
and motorcycles, parts and services, clubs and events, and other hard-to-find
resources for the hobbyist, Hemmings has become indispensable to the collector
car enthusiast.
Hemmings also publishes Special Interest Autos magazine and Hemmings'
Vintage Auto Almanac, and offers an extensive line of vintage-vehicle die-cast
models, calendars, books and clothing-all available by phone or online.
For online car hobbyists, has greatly expanded its
information franchise, offering an online database of over 30,000 searchable
ads for cars, parts, tools, services, and more, plus a host of new features,
including Car Club Central, a unique online Car Show, and an Online Dealer
Showroom featuring the collector car inventories of over 65 classic car
dealers coast to coast.
Hemmings Motor News has for years been an advocate of employee and
corporate participation in their communities, supporting community groups and
activities, public radio and television, environmental causes, and a wide
range of education-focus institutions and projects.