OFE News Release
Hugo Community Volunteer Henry Wallace Named Recipient of Statewide Boren Mentoring Award
January 3, 2010
OKLAHOMA CITY – Henry Wallace knows firsthand the profound pain of losing his mother in an incident of domestic violence. When he learned that two young boys in his community of Hugo had experienced the same tragic loss, he reached out to them by becoming their mentor though the Passport to the Future Mentoring Program.
Wallace, who has been matched with the boys for over a year, has been named recipient of the 2010 David and Molly Boren Mentoring Award, which recognizes an outstanding mentor in Oklahoma. The award will be presented in conjunction with National Mentoring Month in January and is sponsored by the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence and its David and Molly Boren Mentoring Initiative. Wallace and his mentees will be featured in a television commercial airing statewide. The television spots are made possible with support from Cox Communications.
Wallace will be honored on national Thank Your Mentor Day, Jan. 21, at the State Capitol. The Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence will present Wallace with a plaque and will donate $500 in his honor to benefit the Passport to the Future Mentoring Program. The mentoring program, which is administered by Hugo’s Little Dixie Community Action Agency, serves youths ages 4 to 18 who have an incarcerated parent. The program serves over 300 children in a three-county area in southeast Oklahoma.
“When Henry was young, his mother was murdered by her boyfriend,” said Tonya Finley, who matched Wallace with 9-year-old Charles and 8-year-old Marquelle. “Henry was the first person we thought of to mentor these boys. He’s a really caring person and can understand and sympathize with all these boys are going through.”
Wallace said he enjoys taking the boys to the park or to play games at the Boys & Girls Club, where he works part time running the game room. He also talks to them about school work and encourages them to apply themselves in school. Wallace’s favorite memory is taking the boys to the county fair, where they played on tractors. “Most kids would want to ride the rides, but they wanted to play on the tractors. They love machines!” he said.
Doris Long, director of the Passport to the Future Mentoring Program, said that since being matched with Wallace, the boys have been able to start talking about their mother’s death and have come out of their shell. “Charles virtually shut down emotionally, but thanks to Henry he is laughing again and playing with other children.”
Wallace said his own life experiences have given him a unique opportunity to relate to the boys and comfort them. “I try to reach out to them and let them know that life still goes on and they can be happy again even though they may feel bad for a while.”
Wallace is not only bringing hope to Charles and Marquelle, but he has also reached out to hundreds of other children in his community. After a heart condition sidelined Wallace from full-time work, he began to volunteer, serving children in an underserved minority community in Hugo. He volunteered at the local school bus stop and then became and AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer, playing and reading books to children at a local daycare.
When the local Boys & Girls Club received funding to start a new facility at the Rosewood housing project, they sought Wallace to help make it happen. “Henry was the first one we hired over there,” said Boys & Girls Club director Brad Greer. “He helped set everything up. He actually took Boys & Girls Club applications and went door to door for the first month so we could get kids into the club. We have over 200 kids over there now!”
Greer said kids in the community know Wallace as someone who set rules, but is consistent and fair. “The kids have warmed up to that and have a lot of respect for Henry. He’s looking out for their best interest.”
Wallace said working with children has become his passion and given his life new joy and meaning. He hopes that Charles and Marquelle will find that kind of happiness in their own lives.
“I want them to know they can grow up to be anything they want to be, despite the fact that they have had a hard life as kids. The chance is still there, and they can still find happiness through all the sadness they have gone through. If I can help them reach for it, and keep it and hold on to it, they’ll be just fine.”
The Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence, a nonprofit organization founded in 1985 by then-U.S. Sen. Boren, recognizes and encourages academic excellence in Oklahoma’s public schools. In 2005, the foundation launched the Boren Mentoring Initiative to promote the growth and development of school-based mentoring statewide. The initiative grew out of Boren’s own commitment to mentoring and the proven impact that mentoring can have on a student’s success in and out of the classroom.
For more information on the Boren Mentoring Initiative or National Mentoring Month activities, visit www.okmentors.org or call Jennifer Geren, program director, at (405) 410-1523.