Kattie Butler, the Perry schools program coordinator for Big Brothers Big Sisters of West Central Ohio, will be among those honored at Saturday’s Teacher Appreciation Banquet.
Courtesy of Big Brothers Big Sisters of West Central Ohio Facebook page
LIMA — Lima city councilman Thomas Jones said he expects this year’s Teacher’s Appreciation Banquet to be even better than last year’s inaugural event.
The banquet, which will honor local educators from the Lima area with recognition in front of friends, family and students, is set to take place from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 31 at the Howard Johnson by Wyndham ballroom, 1920 Roschman Ave., Lima.
“We want to emphasize how some of the teachers up for their awards impacted us growing up in Lima,” A.J. Watkins, an organizer, said. “We just want to give back to the community and make sure everybody knows they are appreciated for what they did for us, our kids and hopefully our grandkids. We want the city to understand what people really have to go through to be a teacher and deliver kids.”
Jones said last year the idea for the banquet came from thinking about the impact teachers have had on his children, students at Elida and the West Ohio Community Action Partnership.
“I feel like this one will be a little bigger than last year,” he said.
Watkins said a lot of work went into this year’s event.
“We take a lot of hours out to reach teachers and get as many schools involved as we can,” he said. “Sometimes you get them, but sometimes you don’t so we just want to go ahead and pass it on to keep it going.”
Chris Jackson, director of the Bradfield Community Center, said organizing the event reminded him of a man in his neighborhood who kept him out of trouble growing up in Cleveland.
“He got us interested in sports and things like that so it feels like this is full circle for me,” he said. “I love to mentor so I’m not really a teacher in the schools, but that kind of thing is important, too. You can always teach kids how to be successful and keep them out of trouble so that’s what we would like to give back for.”
DJ Moe Moe Little will provide entertainment for the evening while professor Alfred Powell will serve as a featured speaker.
“We want all the people being honored and sponsored to know that they’re appreciated and we have their backs as a community,” Jones added. “This is a joint effort from community members and it’s not just one person. Businesses and different individuals have pitched in and we just want to show our support as educators begin the new school year.”
“Leaders need to know that their labor is not in vain and too often you don’t always get to experience the benefit of what you’ve given,” organizer Ron Fails added. “There is nothing more rewarding than to be able to look and see what you’ve helped to produce because many of these people have seen their students leave them behind. Having this banquet shows it was worth whatever sacrifices they made.”
The city of Lima proclaimed Monday, Aug. 26 as Teacher Appreciation Day.
For more information on the banquet and to purchase tickets, visit bit.ly/4fZrels.
To sponsor a teacher, email Jones at [email protected].
Tickets are also available at Howard Johnson and the Bradfield Community Center, 550 S. Collett St., Lima.
Reach Jacob Espinosa at 567-242-0399.
