2006 Recognition Reception Honoree:
Mary Rodgers

It is no small task to try to capture on paper the heart of Mary Rodgers, Service Learning Facilitator for Abington Senior High School. That heart was developed quite early in Mary’s life. She recalls that each evening her father would ask, “What did you do with yourself today?” The answer was expected to include doing something good for others.

At age nine, Mary began raising money for orphanages in Korea that were overcrowded from the war. She organized and ran backyard fairs—complete with shows, rides, games, and baked goods, what we know today as flea markets—that became legendary in her neighborhood. Mary would send the money she raised to CARE and was blessed to receive letters of thanks from children and teachers as well as photographs of Korean children with the food and school supplies that her fair money provided. This benevolence came full circle in Mary’s life when last year she taught about service learning in an English as a Second Language class. She shared her photos and learned that many of the students were from Pusan where many of their families knew of the orphanage where her funding had helped sustain children more than 45 years ago.

Mary came to her current position in 2000. As Service Learning Facilitator, she develops and implements service programs for 2,000 Abington High School students and seeks opportunities for student involvement in the community, serving as the primary liaison to 85 local non profit agencies and supervising volunteer activities both on and off campus. She also encourages, supports, and trains faculty in service learning methodology. Mary’s favorite areas of service include feeding the hungry, restoring sight to people in third world countries, and creating an environment where students of all backgrounds can work, learn, and serve together for the benefit of all.

A graduate of Bucks County Community College with an Associate of Arts degree in Communications, Mary served from 1991 to 2000 as a Special Education Teaching Assistant at Abington Senior High School. Among her many responsibilities, she developed service programs for all special education students and reduced negative behaviors by offering alternative, community-based programs for behavior modification. Mary served for eight years as the youth director for Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, developing programs and curriculum and tripling the number of youth involved. Since 2002, she has served in this same capacity at Elkins Park Presbyterian Church. Mary has authored numerous successful grants, including, the 2005 application naming “Abington” (Abington Township and Rockledge Borough) one of the “Top 100 Communities for Young People” in the United States.

Most recently, Mary was awarded the "President's Call to Serve" Award from the USA Freedom Corps. She was whisked by limousine to the tarmac at Philadelphia International Airport where President Bush descended the steps of Air Force One to congratulate her for her award-winning work on behalf of Philabundance, the successor to the Philadelphia Food Bank, where she has been a volunteer

Mary believes that the people make Abington and Rockledge a strong and vital community. She notes, “This is an active community that is old enough, with deep enough roots that people care about the welfare of their neighbors. I think the partnerships between the school and police are vital and dynamic. Our community values creative thinking and willingness to work together toward solutions that benefit everyone greatly.” Mary would like to see the newspaper write more about the good things going on in our township “because people need to know what great resources we have and appreciate our community for its unique character.”

Over her 21 years of living in the Abington-Rockledge community, Mary has served as a scout leader and Sunday school teacher. She is currently a deacon at her church and a member of the Glenside Lions Club. Her son Patrick and her daughter Samantha are both Abington High School graduates. In her “spare” time, she enjoys reading, sewing, traveling, and hiking in the woods.

Mary shared this poem that she wrote in 2000 as her mission statement for a class she was taking:

I want to be myself.
I love.
I live.
I give.
I don’t care about politics, boarders, dollars, degrees, timetables
Or measuring who does more,

I care about people.
I care about the tiny threads that connect us.
I care about tying threads into cables.
My mission is to build strong bridges from cables
Connecting generations, environments, viewpoints, cultures
My mission is to span the gulf that divides ideas and bring people together.

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