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.