HR0365 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0365 LRB097 11960 KXB 55548 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives are pleased to congratulate Michael Schuette of Breese on being named the Catholic Charities USA 2011 Volunteer of the Year Award winner; and

WHEREAS, For more than 15 years, Michael Schuette has supported the work of Catholic Charities of Southern Illinois; during the last 10 years, he served as chair of the Catholic Charities of Southern Illinois Board and for the last 15 years has served as the chair of Poverty Services, a volunteer-run agency of Catholic Charities of Southern Illinois which addresses the root causes of poverty by helping people overcome barriers to gainful employment; and

WHEREAS, In his early 20s, Michael started teaching prison inmates to read; after more than 30 years of volunteer literacy efforts, he brought his passion for helping inmates learn to read to his volunteer work for Catholic Charities of Southern Illinois; as volunteer chair, he partnered Poverty Services with a statewide group to lobby State representatives for legislation that required inmate literacy classes; and

WHEREAS, With the help of legislators and Kaskaskia College, he established an incentive-paid inmate tutoring position at Illinois' correctional centers; in his "Inmates Helping Inmates" program, prison authorities select the inmates to be trained by the community college as peer-to-peer reading tutors/teacher aides of illiterate inmate students; the program has been a phenomenal success, with reading improvement greatly increased among thousands of inmates; and

WHEREAS, To follow up on inmates leaving correctional facilities, he partnered Poverty Services with Catholic Charities' St. Vincent de Paul Society, DOC Parole, Life Skills, and other referral service agencies to develop a program to extend "Inmates Helping Inmates" participants literacy classes toward GED and college as inmates re-enter society; the follow-up program also assesses for mental illness, substance abuse, social needs, and will provide each individual with contact information to locate employment and needed resources; and

WHEREAS, He has also led Poverty Services in developing programs and resources to help clients find and keep employment, such as pre-employment training, transportation assistance, and business attire assistance; after his first 5 years as chair of Poverty Services, he increased his volunteer work to serve as chair of the Catholic Charities of Southern Illinois Board; and

WHEREAS, During his time as board chair, he worked on many committees, notably those working to raise funds for the agency, improve communications with parishes throughout the diocese, and advocate for the agency to the community and lawmakers; for over a year, he also served on the Diocese of Belleville's Bishop's Task Force to reorganize Catholic Charities of Southern Illinois to find a way for it to function with limited or no funding; and

WHEREAS, Mike Schuette will be honored and receive the 2011 Volunteer of the Year Award at Catholic Charities USA's Annual Gathering and Poverty Summit, September 18-21, 2011, in Ft. Worth, Texas; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate Michael Schuette on being named the 2011 Volunteer of the Year Award and thank him for his years of service in helping others; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Michael Schuette as a symbol of our respect and esteem.