Glenna Orr found her calling as an educator, author and uses her books in intergenerational volunteering.
By Deby Jo Ferguson
Staff writer
Glenna C. Orr, a resident of Hayesville, has found her calling as an educator, author and the ability to use her books in intergenerational volunteering. It was a long road, but she described the outcome as one where she felt called to give of herself and teach others the gift of giving and healing through volunteering.
She is founder and director of “Kind Kids, Inc.” a non -profit organization that instills volunteers in community activities and promotes reading for individuals of any age. She is an author for the Toys For Tots literacy program and spent the last 12 years volunteering with the Tragedy Assistant Program for Survivors.
“I traveled with my husband, Robert who served his country through the military for 28 years,” Glenna said.
Glenna and her husband, Robert have two children, Brett and Erinn (dec). Glenna got a graduate degree in early childhood education in Atlanta, Ga. before they started doing oversea tours.
“Not only did I support my husband’s career, but I stayed true to my own as a teacher. I have been an educator for most of my life starting out as a head-start aid. From there I did undergraduate studies in Indiana at Saint Mary of the Woods Women’s College, which is one of the oldest Catholic Academies in the country,” Glenna said.
Glenna said she had the calling to teach in her heart for many years, so she begins.
“I also wanted to do service for my community along with my teaching as I relocated with military assignments. While we were in Germany I started my first intergenerational program. I taught first grade where we adopted German seniors who we visited weekly in their home and a retirement center bringing music, arts and etc. to their lives during our visits,” Glenna said.
After coming back to the states, she put together with the help of the school an intergeneration program with her third graders, their parents and a retirement home in Burke, Va. while her husband was assigned to duty at the pentagon.
“I was in this program for five years and saw many programs spring up from it. It was the base of so many things that happen in my life over the next years.”
Although Glenna received several honors for volunteering, she said the program was a strong building block in the community which continued to grow.
“We were sent to Panama for the third time and I again had the desire to do the intergeneration programs I had done previously. A part of my husband’s job was to mix with the Panamanian culture. I was teaching kindergarten and through contacts I was able to work with well Leper patients that were in Panama. My kindergarten and the fifth-grade students where I taught went there and shared so much with them, it was incredible,” she said.
Glenna returned to Virginia/Washington, D.C. on another military assignment and after being on a diplomatic leave of absence went back to her third-grade class.
“The community knowing of my work wanted me to incorporate into the school a wide community program plus teach so we did it. I also got another graduate degree in reading from Virginia Tech. I was then asked to train teachers at the middle schools on how to teach students who were reading at a lower level. I did that and continued to serve with the students volunteering at the retirement homes,” Glenna said.
This is the time when Glenna’s contact with Colin Powell moved her forward.
“Colon Powell was in the game stages of America Promises and asked if I would help him set up a model program in the middle school I was trying to lift up and they needed a different kind of nurturing, so I said yes,”
American Promises created by Colin Powell, secretary of state was created when he decided all underprivileged children needed to be able to have a better opportunity to succeed and this was what he chose to do. He chose this over all the other things he could have done. He believed that in every child’s life they should also learn to do for others in a selfless way.
“This totally African American school welcomed me and I left every day after my job at the school and drove into Washington, D.C. middle school in Fairfax County in the Mount Vernon area. Our group chose to go to the Armed forces Home which was a soldier’s home at the time but was where President Lincoln and his family would summer from the White House. There was a beautiful cottage and those were sacred grounds because during the civil war there was where Lincoln wrote the draft to the Emancipation Proclamation. It was acquired through an agreement involving General Scott and became a home just for enlisted soldiers,” she said.
Glenna continued this for two years and then passed the leadership to others. She continued her job training teachers at the middle school in Virginia but continued to volunteer at the retirement community in D.C.
“Colin Powell supported what I was doing and wanted to help. My book “Open Wounds, Open Hearts,” was presented and six weeks later our daughter, Erinn died shortly after childbirth of her son. Life changed on a dime and I took time to be with my family and grandson, Charlie.
“Later I kept getting calls to come back and help. In 2012 when the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut happened I went there seven times and shared my books. After that was when I wrote “Memories With the Heart,” she said.
Later at another book signing in Arlington, through channels from veterans who were doing volunteer work themselves Glenna made several contacts including Bonnie Lawrence, founder of TAPs. Lawrence’s husband went down in a crash in the early 90s over Alaska and Lawrence was working for President Reagan in the West Wing at the time. Lawrence asked. “Who supports the family of our fallen children, spouses and etc.” She started a small organization and it’s now nationwide with seven seminars around the country and grief camps for children who have lost family members.
“Nearly 12 years ago, I made a call to Lawrence telling her I could help. It wasn’t an easy gateway, but I did a workshop in Arlington, Va. with about 600 people including 300 children back then. Grandparents raising grandchildren. Grief is gut wrenching. We did workshops for three years which is where I met Ted Sylvester, vice president of marketing for Toys for Tots.
“Sylvester said my books would be helpful and for me to pick a place to give to children. I contacted the VFW Home in East Lansing, Mich., signed a bundle of books and sent them to children there. Sylvester loved the way it turned out and suggested a larger group. I suggested TAPS which supports children of our fallen soldiers,” she said.
“I first contributed to a Memorial Day Nation TAPS Seminar four years ago giving each child “Remembering With the Heart.” It started there with my book in their backpack being given out. Then I wrote “Music In Our Heart” and published these through my organization.
In 2025 TAPS will combine the National Military Survivor Seminar and National Military Suicide Loss Seminar.
“There should be more than 500 children with a total of 1,500 in attendance. They will be receiving my upcoming book “Giving With the Heart: An Intergenerational Story,” along with other gifts. What an honor.
“My goal is to write more, heal more hearts and heal my own heart through all these missions. My books are my mission, they take me to places that support the needs of others. More than 20 years ago I put my non-profit program in place for my books. My upcoming book speaks to the same storyline of which I am a believer, intergenerational programs bringing together two distinct groups of people at different stages of life; those who are just beginning their journeys and those who have a lifetime of experiences to share.
“As my journey continues, I hope my books and the intergenerational programs that are a part of my life will continue to inspire individuals across the generations,” Glenna concluded.