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Wednesday, June 4, 2014
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POLLY: ‘I just think I had a perfect job’ From PAGE A1
about their needs, or just if they needed help to get them through the day. … If they needed help to push the car out of the ditch, you went and helped them push the car out of the ditch. That’s just something you did; this was your life. You’d go home rewarded because you did something for somebody – plus picking those kids up and loving those kids every day.” When she started her job, Polly transported 36 kids. Nowadays, Head Start, an agency of Community Action Team, has approximately 80 kids. But no matter how many there are, Polly enjoys every single one. “You can’t even believe some of the stuff they say,” she smiles. “That’s another thing, you carry a lot of that with you, what they say, because a lot of the time they do only say it to me. They don’t share it with other people. There’s stuff that they don’t share with them that they will share with me — sometimes good or bad. “You can’t even imagine how they are,” Polly says of the Head Start kids. “They’re just great. They don’t fight you or holler at you, if they know you like they know me. And if I say something, they respond. I just think I had a perfect job, I do. I really think it was the perfect job. I never had any complaints with the people in charge, so I guess I’m all right!” In between her routes, Polly has stepped in wherever she was needed, from doing dishes and answering the phone to playing with the kids. “And talking to people, I do a lot of talking,” she adds. “I’m a talker!” Over the years, Polly says she enjoyed helping the children’s parents and watching them grow. At 70 years old, Polly says she doesn’t always remember a student’s name or face, but they always remember her. Recently, she bumped into a family that had four people who had been students on Polly’s bus. “Those are now the type of people I’m bumping into now — I am now hauling [former students] kids or grandkids,” she says with a laugh. “When
AMANDA FRINK / The Chronicle
Polly Brown and her little bus will make their last rounds together this week as she prepares to retire from Columbia Pacific Head Start after 31 years.
you look back, that’s pretty neat. Another thing is that you can see the different growths within those people and how you have helped them.” She continues, “I think that says a lot for what went on here, how they were treated and stuff. … Whenever you want to go back to someplace, it’s [dependent upon] how they are treated. I think they come here, they see that people love them and care for them, and do step out and do what they can for them.” Polly says she also learned things at Head Start that she applied when raising her own three children. “All along the way, it was a fun thing for me and a growing experience for me,” she explains. “That’s part of the
love that you have for those people and working with those people. … I think I learned more than they did! “Wage and pay was not my motivation, money was not the angle for me. It’s what I got out of it. I thought it was a job you want to do forever. I enjoyed it and I will always enjoy it. I think the program is a wonderful, wonderful program — probably one of the best in the country, this little institution right here. It’s wonderful. It’s got all kinds of good information and good people in it. It has anything you want right here. If you want to better yourself and educate yourself, even a divorce class, they even run one of them out here. “All in all, it’s been real rewarding for me to be a part
Kindergarten students get ‘first book’ All kindergarten-aged children in St. Helens schools received a “first book” thanks to a donation from the Kiwanis Club of St. Helens. On May 30, representatives of the club set up a table at Lewis and Clark School to give new books to every student. “The books are theirs to keep,” said Kiwanian Bill Eagle, who helped hand out
the books. Each child was allowed to choose a book from the selection. The club has been doing the book giveaway for 10 to 12 years according to Eagle. Last year, they expanded the program to all kindergarteners at all the schools. About 220 children will receive the books. Kiwanis raises funds throughout the year to pay for the cost of the books,
which they get at a discount from Powell’s Books in Portland. Claudia Eagle heads up the first book program for the St. Helens club. A former schoolteacher, Claudia Eagle says she sees the value in providing a book to every child. The club also gives dictionaries to third graders and provides books for the food and gift baskets distributed by Holiday Hope.
Scappoose accepting applications for mayor, city council positions SCAPPOOSE — Effective June 4, the City of Scappoose will be accepting applications for one mayor position, a term which
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of this,” she says. “It’s been a great thing for me.” Polly’s coworkers say it is hard to imagine Head Start without her. “We can find someone to fill her place, but we will not find somebody to fill her shoes,” says Head Start Center Manager Julie Catt. “Obviously, you cannot spend the time with program like she has and not believe in what you’re doing, and that’s one of the things I so appreciated about her. She’s been here long enough to see the program go through the changes we have had to do at the state and federal level, and she has stayed because she believes in what it can do for families and the kids. And I think that shows when you see her interact with
the kids and their families.” “Polly has been a great staff person, an asset to the St. Helens center, and provided great transportation over the years and just been a positive team member to work with the staff and work with the families,” says Child and Family Development Programs Director Joyce Ervin. “I feel very fortunate for working for Head Start for the past five years and I feel so fortunate to work with Polly,” states Head Start cook Katie Jones. “She is so kind, so caring, and so giving that we will miss her, I will miss her. She’s what’s made our days go around.” Polly says of her decision to retire, “I think it’s time, I just knew. The Lord put me
in this job and I feel it’s time for me to go, time to walk off and do something else. … I’m content with it, I know the Lord put me here and he said he’d close the door when it’s time and I just felt this year is a good time. It’s a good time to go.” During her retirement, Polly says she will continue to clean houses in her spare time, visit her sisters, and spend time with her family. As for the driver that will be taking her place, she says they will need to enjoy children and driving, and be careful, honest and well-rested. When it comes to her little yellow bus, she quips, “I don’t know what they’re going to do, the bus is getting about as old as me!”