{"id":5085,"date":"2016-10-05T16:38:53","date_gmt":"2016-10-05T20:38:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/news\/?p=5085"},"modified":"2016-10-05T16:43:06","modified_gmt":"2016-10-05T20:43:06","slug":"janice-davis-receives-public-citizen-of-the-year-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/2016\/10\/05\/janice-davis-receives-public-citizen-of-the-year-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Janice Davis Receives Public Citizen of the Year Award"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"headshot-JD\"<\/a>How many times have you seen a homeless person on the street, clothing in rags, face lined with fatigue, and thought, \u201cthat\u2019s so sad. I should do something,\u201d only to move on with your day and forget? Too often we overlook the importance of giving back to the community and to those in need because we are not sure how we can help, where or when. Janice Davis, administrative assistant of Elizabethtown College\u2019s Department of Biology, didn’t just walk by, she took action. After she and husband, Skip, saw the need for homeless services in Elizabethtown, Davis got to work on starting a winter shelter for the community. These actions and her for her efforts with the homeless were the inspiration behind her receipt of the 2016 National Association of Social Workers\u2019 Public Citizen of the Year award.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason she got this award is because she was so passionate about it. Nothing stopped her. No matter what problem was put in front of her, she just plowed through it,\u201d said Margaret McFarland during an interview. With pride for her now-friend, the Elizabethtown College professor of social work explained how Davis saw people who had never been homeless before in their lives or were victims of domestic violence and acted on it. \u201cWe saw people who were totally embarrassed of being there, and we had to open our arms to them to make them feel comfortable,\u201d McFarland said about the acts of colleague.<\/p>\n

This is \u201cEducate for Service\u201d at its best.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Untitled-2\"<\/a>Davis became instrumental in forming Elizabethtown Community Housing and Outreach Service organization (ECHOS). ECHOS aids and assists families and individuals facing homelessness or who are at risk of homelessness and are seeking help. The shelter was formed with the intent of keeping locals in Elizabethtown. \u201cFinding ways to keep them here in their community \u2026 was really important,\u201d \u00a0said Davis in an interview. \u201cWalking along side folks and knowing we had the resources to help them \u2026 has been one of the greatest experiences of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The award winner said she had to learn overnight what social workers learn over years. She figured out that she could call churches and ask them to partner with ECHOS when homeless individuals came to the churches for assistance. She scrambled to hire case managers to help oversee and set goals, find a location for the shelter, contact housing support and secure the resources to provide clothing, food and other necessities.<\/p>\n

It took 50 volunteers a week to help run the shelter last winter. Davis, herself, worked full time at E-town in the biology department, \u00a0then worked at night to assist shelter guests. Davis\u2019 constant and unwavering dedication to the success of the winter shelter in Elizabethtown showed her passion, McFarland said, and earned her the nomination, which ultimately led to winning the humanitarian award.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe didn\u2019t do it for the money or because somebody was telling her to; she did it just from her heart. She\u2019s a very quiet person,\u201d McFarland said. \u201cWhen she found about this award she didn\u2019t want the attention.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davis talked highly of the amount of people it takes to help run and keep ECHOS going. \u201cI\u2019m very humbled and honored,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s so many people that made this happen. \u2026 I may be the person receiving [the award], but everyone else earned it too.”<\/p>\n

As for future goals for the shelter, Davis and McFarland spoke of the hopes of having a permanent building for their shelter to run year-round. They also wish to involve the Elizabethtown College community in the workings of the shelter. \u201cThis is our school motto. This is \u201cEducate for Service\u201d at its best.\u201d McFarland said.<\/p>\n

ECHOS offers the opportunity for student volunteers to work hands-on with clients, and it would not be limited to those interested in social work. \u201cI see that this could encompass so many different departments here–the education department helping with children\u2019s needs, the business department doing the taxes \u2026. Publicizing and getting things out is so important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davis receives the humanitarian award at the National Association of Social Workers conference Oct. 8, in the company of students and faculty members from the Department of Social Work.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How many times have you seen a homeless person on the street, clothing in rags, face lined with fatigue, and thought, \u201cthat\u2019s so sad. I should do something,\u201d only to move on with your day and forget? Too often we overlook the importance of giving back to the community and to those in need because […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":5095,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[775,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus","category-campus-community","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5085"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5100,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5085\/revisions\/5100"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}