Dorothy Weingates is currently serving her 2nd year as an AmeriCorps member at the Greater Toledo Area Chapter. During her time here, she has focused on and excelled at carrying out two of our most important educational programs: Bee Ready (disaster preparedness for preschoolers) and Whale Tales (water safety for children). Dorothy has single-handedly taught an astonishing near 6000 children in disaster education, demonstrating concepts such as how to call 911 and recognize which adults to trust in an emergency. On the other hand, she has presented water safety tips to nearly 5000 children since the fall of 2009, and is still going strong. If she isn't fervently contacting schools to schedule classes or out teaching, then she is busy in the community asking for donations of crayons and incentives for the children, going above and beyond what is asked of her. The best part is hearing her very excited stories between classes about how the children show her appreciation in simple ways, and how the teachers ask her to come back the following year on the spot. Without Dorothy, our educational reach numbers would be nowhere near where they are today. For this reason, and for the fact that she represents AmeriCorps and our organization so proudly, beyond words that can be explained within the confines of this paragraph, we have chosen to nominate her for this award.