Jo Sloan, Community Service Chair
2026 DCRTA COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD WINNERS
JANET HART, AMBA CLOCK OUTSTANDING VOLUNTEER AREA 10 WINNER
Janet recorded 158 hours working with youth and 220 hours other volunteer activities. She taught at Aurora Middle School. She served as DCRTA Vice President for four years. She is a sewer for the DCRTA Sewing project. She is involved on many committees in her church and has taught the past nineteen years for Good News Club. She volunteers at the Dearborn County Recycling Center and also serves on the Board at the River View Cemetery.
IRTA HONORABLE MENTION OUTSTANDING VOLUNTEERS
Cherie Rump’s nickname should be “The History Bearer” of Dillsboro. She serves on the Dillsboro Heritage Legacy to plan community activities to honor veterans and highlight special events in Dillsboro’s history. She meets with local fourth grade classes four times a year to teach Statehood History, Founder’s Day information, and to teach and practice pioneer games. In March, she dons her “Cat in the Hat” outfit and reads to classrooms requesting a visit. She is helping to raise funds and awareness for Dillsboro’s 2030 Bi-Centennial Celebration. She helped to memorialize a Homicide Detective working in Hollywood, CA who hailed from Dillsboro and was killed in the line of duty.
Christelle Middendorf serves as the Director of the Dearborn County Foundation. She oversees the teacher grant applications, selections of grant winners, finds sponsors to fund the grants, and plans and runs the grant award presentations. She is President of the St. Vincent de Paul Society at her church, volunteers to work at church and school, heads up the Jr. Achievement program in the local school, teaches parochial school religion, and serves on the PTO of St. Dominic School.
Gene Cleary (not pictured) serves on a board that oversees five parks and animal refuges in our surrounding communities. He attends monthly meetings to discuss bringing new things to the parks and to address concerns from the citizens. He serves as the Steward for the Bright Meadows Park. He has overseen the addition of a pickle ball court and a Frisbee golf course, and he makes random checks on the park to assess needs. If a tree is down, a ball field is need of service, he often makes the call and/or helps with the repairs. He also serves on the Parish Cemetery Board that maintains the beauty and serenity of the All Saints” Cemetery.
DCRTA OUTSTANDING ASSOCIATE VOLUNTEERS
Joe Middendorf is a fourth degree Knight of Columbus at St. Dominic Church where he serves as an Honor Guard at funerals and other events. He serves on St. Dominic projects such as the Church Festival, gardening, decorating for Holy Days, and putting up and taking down outside Nativity sets for his church and also another church. He helps out with PTO projects at his granddaughter’s school.
Mark McGranahan is a Shriner and he participates in parades, steak dinner preps, and other activities. He most enjoys taking children and their families to and from Shriner’s hospitals located in Dayton and Louisville. He is active in several other organizations.
History of Dearborn County
Retired Teachers & Friends
Dresses and Shorts Project
Gery Barber receives the Golden Thread Founder Award ay June 2026 DCRTA Gathering
In 2010, Jeraldine (Gerry) Barber read about dresses made from pillowcases in the
United Methodist Women newsletter. After going online to get a pattern, she made a
pillowcase dress to show the Thursday morning retired teachers coffee group that met at
Lawrenceburg Public Library. She asked if we’d make a dozen dresses for the mission
team from Hamline Chapel United Methodist Church (Lawrenceburg) to take to Haiti the
spring of 2011.
The dress making was so enjoyed by the small group of 7 women, the Thursday coffee
chats were replaced with sewing. More volunteers were recruited that weren’t retired
teachers so our name became Dearborn Co. Retired Teachers and Friends. Requests went
out for pillowcases, fabric, sheets, and items to decorate the dresses. As more and more
donations came in, a location to sew and store our materials was needed. Mary Beth
Hedrick, a retired teacher and director of Lawrenceburg Community Center invited us to
use that facility.
In 2013 Gerry suggested shorts be made for boys. She had made pajamas for her
grandsons so using that pattern, she made the first boy shorts. Marilyn Warneford and
Bev Strasemeier were two of our first recruits and they’re still making shorts with such
skill.
In the beginning the shorts and dresses reached children through mission teams.
Through word of mouth and newspaper articles, churches and organizations heard about
our efforts. We were asked if we’d make clothes for ages 2 to 14. By adjusting our
patterns, we now have dresses and shorts for ages 2 to 4, ages 5 to 9, and 10 to 14. Then
COVID 19….and mission teams could not travel. The requests to put dresses and shorts
in Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes, a ministry of Franklin Graham’s Samaritan
Purse, increased.
After reading an article about our project, Valarie Hill from the community came to
donate hand made bows for the girls’ dresses. From that time on, volunteers have been
making custom made bows or yo yos for each dress. Another way to show our love.
Unfortunately, records were not kept in our early years. Hundreds and hundreds of
dresses and shorts went to children in Haiti and around the world. Late 2018 and 2019
record keeping started. During those 14 months we made 775 dresses and 1,310 shorts.
2020— COVID, our numbers dropped to 641 dresses and 990 shorts. Beginning 2022 our
requests began to climb so our numbers increased to fill the requests. The last 2 years
we’ve had 16 requests for Operation Christmas Child and 1 for Sonlight Academy in
Haiti.
Since record keeping began in 2018, we have donated 7,132 dresses and 7,691 shorts!!!!
(Those numbers do not include 2026.) None of us imagined any of this back in 2010 !!!!
We certainly need more sewers. You need to bring a portable sewing machine, a drink,
and lunch to Lawrenceburg Community Center on Thursdays from 10:00-2:00. (We will
not be sewing June, July, or December.) If you don’t sew, there are other ways to help on
Thursdays. If you want to help but aren’t available on Thursdays, you can sew at home at
your convenience.
Donations of good clean pillowcases, sheets, fabric, lace, rick rack, ribbon, buttons,
thread, ladies hankies, cloth napkins, and embroidered pieces are welcome. Finding
fabric for boys’ shorts is a challenge.
To donate or ask questions, contact Judy Mosier 513-673-1414 or come to LCC on
Thursday between 10:00-2:00 starting in August. (The group meets January-May and August-Week before Thanksgiving)
Donation to Children’s Hospital
At the October Gathering DCRTA members donated 8 boxes of books, coloring books, and coloring utensils to Children’s Hospital of Cincinnati. These books were received by Alex Bogan and Emily Watson, Child Life specialists at CCHMC in the Acute Cardiac Care Unit. Items in this are can only be used once before being discarded, so there is always a need for items to brighten the day of patients and siblings.
2024 IRTA District 10 AMBA Clock Winner
The Dearborn County Retired Teachers Association (DCRTA) is proud to nominate Sharon Moder as its Outstanding Volunteer for 2024.
Tim Moder also pictured
Sharon retired from teaching in May 2022, and she has been actively involved with the DCRTA since then. Sharon is our Public Relations Chairperson and serves on the Executive Board of DCRTA. She maintains the DCRTA Website and Facebook page for the Association and the Foundation. She collects information and creates our quarterly newsletter, the Recess Bell.
Sharon joined the IRTA Public Relations Committee as a rep for Area 10 in 2023, and this year she has helped with selecting the public relations award winners and updating PR documents. She also assisted two other associations with their websites.
Sharon has been instrumental in arranging DCRTA Gathering Events to encourage socializing outside our regularly scheduled meetings. The three events she arranged this year were well-attended, and she plans to schedule other social events in the future.
Sharon served at the Chairperson for the 2024 Teacher Appreciation St. Patrick’s Day Project for Dearborn County Teachers. She designed and printed wrappers for the teacher gifts, arranged and hosted a gift assembly party, and organized the delivery of the gifts to each of our schools. Sharon is a member of the DCRTA Sewing Group who makes dresses and shorts for needy children around the world. She sews weekly with the group for the nine months they meet, preps items at home for the sewing group, and cuts dresses during the summer (when they don’t meet weekly). She also joined the sewers in prepping materials and volunteering at STEAM Days for St. John’s Lutheran School in Aurora.
Sharon meets with groups of 3rd , 4th , and 5th grade high-ability math students for enrichment one day a week. She developed the curriculum that encompasses math concepts not covered in the classroom to enhance student understanding of number and mathematical concepts.
Sharon volunteers at two different schools as a small group leader of the program, “Think Smart, Stay Safe.” The program teaches students assertiveness, internet safety, stranger safety, and good/bad touch.
2024 IRTA HONORABLE MENTION AWARDS
Sandy Bowlus and Pat Harper
Not pictured: Ron Nicholson
Sandra “Sandy” Bowlus
Sandy serves as Vice President of the Ripley County Teacher’s Association. She is a member of
the DCRTA Sewing Group, who meet regularly to sew clothes for needy boys and girls around
the world, and she also sews up to 10-12 hours a day at home. She is on the Council at her
church, and serves on the Outreach Committee, where she and others bought 90+Christmas
gifts and donated them and cleaning supplies to hurricane victims in North Carolina. At her
church, she worked on the Easter breakfast, Graduate Sunday, serves on the Women’s
Organization, and changes the lighted sign outside of church.
Patricia “Patty” Harper
Patty is a member of the DCRTA Sewing Group who sews clothes for needy boys and girls
around the world. (She is known as the “pocket lady” for all the boys shorts she sews at home).
She is a volunteer for the “Think Smart, Stay safe” programs in Dearborn and Franklin County
Schools. Patty is the secretary for DCRTA. She served on the 2024 STEAM sewing project at St.
John’s Lutheran School in Aurora.
Ronald “Ron” Nicholson
Ron volunteers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. He tutors for School Services and works for
Child Life in the Acute Cardiac Unit. He holds babies, sings to them, plays games with kids, and
distributes Holy Communion. Sometimes he’s just there to give parents a break. He serves on
the United Way of Southeastern Indiana Action Council. Ron serves on the Public Relations
Committee for DCRTA. He also volunteers with the Knights of Columbus, Salvation Army, YMCA,
and with this church.
2024 ASSOCIATE VOLUNTEER HOURS AWARD RECIPIENTS
Martha Peetz. Jennifer McClamrock and Laura Rolf
Jennifer McClamroch
Jennifer has spent much of her time and efforts on sewing pillowcase dresses with the Retired
Teacher’s sewing group. She also has done sewing at home for the pillowcase dresses.
Martha Peetz
Martha sews pillowcase dresses with the Retired Teachers. She also sews with the group
“Hoosier Quilts for Kids.” They make and donate quilts to be given to kids at local hospitals and
fire departments. She sews the quilts at church and at her home.
Laura Rolf
Laura is serving on the Retired Teacher Foundation Board. She regularly donates items to the
thrift store and to local churches for their rummage sales. She also donates needed items to the
Blessing Boxes for the Community Project. She has been sorting photos of Big Brother/Big Sister
events (some from over 25 years ago), and sending them to those who would cherish reliving
the memories.
2024 Community Service Project
St. John’s STEAM Days – January 2024
See our Association News page for more pictures and information.
DCRTA GOLDEN THREAD AWARD
Cathy Mund and Etta Bostwick were honored for their time, talent, and dedication to the Dress and Shorts Program.
