 
Senate Resolution No. 3263
 
BY: Senator BRESLIN
 
        COMMENDING Ruth Facher Mendel upon the occasion of
        her selection to represent the Capital Region in the
        national  Jefferson  Awards competition in a virtual
        event to be conducted in September of 2020
 
  WHEREAS, It is incumbent upon the people of the State of New York to
recognize and acknowledge outstanding individuals within our  midst  who
have made significant contributions to the quality of life therein; and
 
  WHEREAS,  A  great  community  is only as great as those persons and
organizations  that   provide   exemplary   service,   whether   through
participation in voluntary programs or simply through a lifetime of good
citizenship; and
 
  WHEREAS,  This  Legislative  Body  is  justly  proud to commend Ruth
Facher Mendel upon the  occasion  of  her  selection  to  represent  the
Capital Region in the national Jefferson Awards competition in a virtual
event to be conducted in September of 2020; and
 
  WHEREAS, The Jefferson Awards are a prestigious national recognition
program  which honors community and public service throughout the United
States; and
 
  WHEREAS, In 1972, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, United States  Senator
Robert  Taft,  Jr.  and  Sam Beard, Chairman of the National Development
Council, founded the American Institute for Public Service to  establish
a  "Nobel  Prize"  for public and community service on both the national
and local level, the Jefferson Awards; and
 
  WHEREAS,  The  Jefferson  Awards,  whose  stated  mission   is   "to
recognize,  inspire  and  activate  volunteerism  and  public service in
communities, workplaces and schools across America," serve as a "Call to
Action for Volunteers"; and
 
  WHEREAS,  On  the  local  level,  Jefferson  Awards  recipients  are
ordinary  people  who  do  extraordinary  things  without expectation of
recognition or reward,  while  national  award  recipients  represent  a
"Who's Who" of outstanding Americans; and
 
  WHEREAS,  Ruth  Facher Mendel of Delmar, New York, volunteers at the
Holocaust Survivors and Friends Education Center where  she  shares  her
childhood experiences with school groups and organizations; and
 
  WHEREAS,  This  courageous  woman  demonstrated  great  strength  by
fleeing her home in Luxembourg in 1940, to escape the Nazi invasion; and
 
  WHEREAS, At 88 years old, Ruth Facher Mendel continues to share  her
unique perspective, volunteering weekly at Refugee and Immigrant Support
Services  of  Emmaus,  tutoring an Afghan refugee, and volunteering as a
reading coach in Delaware Community School in Albany, New York; and
 
  WHEREAS, Ruth Facher  Mendel  began  her  volunteering  through  her
daughters'  grade  school as a PTO member, vice president and president;
 
she went on to become their Girl Scout  troop  leader  and  earned  Life
Member status; and
 
  WHEREAS,  Furthermore, she developed the Person to Person program at
Bethlehem Central High School where  students  go  to  local  elementary
schools to tutor younger students; and
 
  WHEREAS, It is the sense of this Legislative Body that when a person
of such noble aims and accomplishments is brought to our attention it is
appropriate  to  publicly  proclaim and commend them for the edification
and emulation of others; now, therefore, be it
 
  RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its  deliberations  to
commend  Ruth  Facher  Mendel  upon  the  occasion  of  her selection to
represent  the  Capital  Region  in  the   national   Jefferson   Awards
competition, noting her exemplary service to her community and extending
to  her  heartfelt  best  wishes  for  a  future of continued purposeful
success and well-being; and be it further
 
  RESOLVED, That a copy of this  Resolution,  suitably  engrossed,  be
transmitted to Ruth Facher Mendel.
Ruth Facher Mendel - Jefferson Awards 2020

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