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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3Representatives are pleased to congratulate Michael Schuette
4of Breese on being named the Catholic Charities USA 2011
5Volunteer of the Year Award winner; and
 
6    WHEREAS, For more than 15 years, Michael Schuette has
7supported the work of Catholic Charities of Southern Illinois;
8during the last 10 years, he served as chair of the Catholic
9Charities of Southern Illinois Board and for the last 15 years
10has served as the chair of Poverty Services, a volunteer-run
11agency of Catholic Charities of Southern Illinois which
12addresses the root causes of poverty by helping people overcome
13barriers to gainful employment; and
 
14    WHEREAS, In his early 20s, Michael started teaching prison
15inmates to read; after more than 30 years of volunteer literacy
16efforts, he brought his passion for helping inmates learn to
17read to his volunteer work for Catholic Charities of Southern
18Illinois; as volunteer chair, he partnered Poverty Services
19with a statewide group to lobby State representatives for
20legislation that required inmate literacy classes; and
 
21    WHEREAS, With the help of legislators and Kaskaskia
22College, he established an incentive-paid inmate tutoring

 

 

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1position at Illinois' correctional centers; in his "Inmates
2Helping Inmates" program, prison authorities select the
3inmates to be trained by the community college as peer-to-peer
4reading tutors/teacher aides of illiterate inmate students;
5the program has been a phenomenal success, with reading
6improvement greatly increased among thousands of inmates; and
 
7    WHEREAS, To follow up on inmates leaving correctional
8facilities, he partnered Poverty Services with Catholic
9Charities' St. Vincent de Paul Society, DOC Parole, Life
10Skills, and other referral service agencies to develop a
11program to extend "Inmates Helping Inmates" participants
12literacy classes toward GED and college as inmates re-enter
13society; the follow-up program also assesses for mental
14illness, substance abuse, social needs, and will provide each
15individual with contact information to locate employment and
16needed resources; and
 
17    WHEREAS, He has also led Poverty Services in developing
18programs and resources to help clients find and keep
19employment, such as pre-employment training, transportation
20assistance, and business attire assistance; after his first 5
21years as chair of Poverty Services, he increased his volunteer
22work to serve as chair of the Catholic Charities of Southern
23Illinois Board; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, During his time as board chair, he worked on many
2committees, notably those working to raise funds for the
3agency, improve communications with parishes throughout the
4diocese, and advocate for the agency to the community and
5lawmakers; for over a year, he also served on the Diocese of
6Belleville's Bishop's Task Force to reorganize Catholic
7Charities of Southern Illinois to find a way for it to function
8with limited or no funding; and
 
9    WHEREAS, Mike Schuette will be honored and receive the 2011
10Volunteer of the Year Award at Catholic Charities USA's Annual
11Gathering and Poverty Summit, September 18-21, 2011, in Ft.
12Worth, Texas; therefore, be it
 
13    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
14NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
15we congratulate Michael Schuette on being named the 2011
16Volunteer of the Year Award and thank him for his years of
17service in helping others; and be it further
 
18    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
19presented to Michael Schuette as a symbol of our respect and
20esteem.