Interview Gail Spencer;
Habitat for Humanity

February 28, 2003

Lesson 24

Civics

1.

 The person I decided to interview is my neighbor Gail Spencer. This may sound strange to you and like I was trying to get out of doing work, but I really think that she helps our community. She is a third grade teacher at an inner city school and she does lots of work at her church. She is a very helpful person, and is always willing to help her neighbors and friends. An example of this is when we had a neighbor that was an old lady who lived alone and was sick. She didn't have any family that lived any closer than two hours away in northern Detroit. Gail went over almost every day to help this lady and to bring her a meal. She did lots of grocery shopping for her, and would do things for her that she herself couldn't do. This was something that made me really admire Gail. She did this for a couple of years until that lady moved up to Detroit into an assisted living home, and where she could be closer to her family. Even with this lady being so far away, Gail still went up to see her once or twice a month. She didn't give up on her!

Gail, or should I say Mrs. Spencer, is also a huge influence in the classroom. She tries to make her students understand her ideals, and tries to have them leave third grade having learned something. Her ideals are children who are eager to learn, are polite to others, and have integrity. She brings these into the classroom by trying to help her students be everything they can be and not letting them settle for anything less. She also says that she is completely devoted to her students, and she really is. I have noticed throughout the years that Gail always leaves for school early, and always gets home later than any other teacher I have ever known. She stays after school almost every day helping children with work, or helping parents to understand how to help their children, or just grading papers. She is devoted to her job, and especially to her students.

To Gail her greatest achievements have been her two children. That is the sweetest thing I have ever heard, and I hope that one day my mom will say that too! She says that watching her children blossom into the people that they are now has been, "an adventure, but it was worth it!" She says that she tries to treat her students as if they were her children, and that she tries to put as much time into them, just like she did with her own two children. Her daughter has even helped her find something that she loved. Gail was not a teacher at first, but then her daughter became a teacher and she saw how much she truly loved it, so she decided that that was what she wanted. She wanted to be happy like her daughter, so she went back to school and got certified to become a teacher!

Gail is the kind of person that the world really needs more of. The world would be a better place if people were like her, always ready to give a helping hand and kind to everyone. No matter what makes her angry one day, she banishes it out of her mind by the time she gets home, and the next day she is always ready for more. She is always ready to help those kids that walk into her classroom every single day. And she says that if there were just one thing she would want her students to know when they leave her door at the end of the year, she hopes that they would have learned to listen, follow directions, and be more disciplined. I admire Gail, and I can only hope that more people like her come into the world and decide to help children, because if I ever have children, I would like them to have teachers like Mrs. Spencer!

This is a beautiful story of love, compassion, care, and concern. I am very glad that you decided to write about Gail because I loved learning about her. She is truly a very special person that is definitely making the world a better place. Her story is very inspiring!!!

2.

The University of Toledo (which is right down the street from me) has a local chapter of the nation wide Habitat for Humanity. I found this an interesting organization, and since there is a local chapter, I decided to write about it.

Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit housing organization. Everyone is allowed to join in and help build a home. Habitat has built over 125,000 houses in over 80 countries, and has also built over 45,000 in the United States. These homes are simple and inexpensive, so that people who cannot afford their own home can have one. Some reasons that Habitat homes are so inexpensive is that they are sold at no profit, and they have to pay no interest on the mortgage. The houses are built under trained supervision, and some other corporations and faith groups give money to help pay for them.

People are chosen to own a house based on their need for one, their ability to pay off the house costs, and their willingness to help build the house alongside people volunteering for Habitat. Race and religion have nothing to do with who is picked to own a Habitat home.

After looking through a lot of the material on the Habitat for Humanity website, I have concluded that these people actually do care about these people, and that it is a very worthy organization to volunteer for. I also think that it would be a lot of fun to help build a house for someone who needs it! I hope that one day there will be enough homes for all the people who don't have one.

You have done an excellent report on this very worthwhile organization. This organization provides a wonderful service to many families.