A Woman Who CARES

Life is full of surprises.

In my life, this one is momentous.

Surfing the internet doing research, I click on a site showing a number of photographs.

Being in my usual rush, I give them no more than a cursory glance.

And in the course of my quick scan, instantly latch on to one.

Like a suction cup on a piece of glass.

I can’t take my eyes away.

I know this woman!

From a very, very long time ago.

We went to Park View High School together in the little town of South Hill, Virginia, where my father was transferred when I was a teenager.

And haven’t been in contact since graduation.

Her name is Jean Clary Bagley.

In high school, she bathed you in sunshine as she beamed her deeply dimpled smile all over you.

And her interest in you was genuine.

No agenda.

No reason to be your friend other than – she considers you to be a nice person.

As she was in high school, she is now – a truly amazing woman.

Inducted into the Real Estate Hall Of Fame in the USA.

Is on a plethora of boards for high profile organisations.

Sometimes she’s simply a director.

Sometimes she’s the chairman.

And travels the world and the USA in both roles.

Key ‘Jean Clary Bagley’ into Google.

Choose ‘Search the Web’.

You’ll see she occupies a full nine pages all about her.

And has pages and pages of newsprint written about her second greatest achievement.

Her first?

No contest. It’s her three adult children whom she simply adores.

Number two is her CARES program.

Children Are Really Extra Special.

And so is Jean.

Her CARES program adopts a kindergarten class and for 12 years, pumps it so full of confidence and self esteem, it can take on the world when it graduates from high school.

It takes these children to places they would never go on their own.

CARES enhances both the cultural and social needs of children every year for 12 years.

With every tick of the clock that these kids spend in her program, they’re learning how to be gracious, appealing, responsible, ambitious, dependable, daring to dream.

And understanding that caring for others is a natural progression from caring about yourself.

Their camaraderie is palpable.

These now young men and women are joined at the hip to each other and to Jean after 12 years of unwavering devotion and personal attention.

Wouldn’t you love to meet these young adults?

Don’t you just know they would stand out like beacons, all glossy and shiny from their incredible experience of personal enhancement.

That’s why I say: …

WOW!!! Jean CARES!!!

Jean Clary Bagley

I emailed Jean first. Then rang her in early January 2010.

It’s as if we’ve never spent a day apart. Her bubbly laughter and huge smile is as apparent today as yesteryear.

We chatted and chatted for a very, very long time.

My thanks to SKYPE for making it so affordable.

This is the abridged version of her story.

Her mother, Virginia Evans, a 96 year old retired second grade school teacher, is her inspiration.

She recalls her mother nurturing underprivileged students outside of school hours.

She took them home with her, fed them, washed them and told them they could be anything they wanted to me.

And remembers the positive impact Virginia had on these children.

It was part of Jean’s childhood.

And she often thought about the good her mother did – doing things for these children that no one else would consider doing.

Until one day in 1991, she decided to stop thinking.

It was her turn to start doing.

She was on the Board Of Directors of the Virginia State Chamber of Commerce.

To attract business to, as well as thank people who had a business in Emporia, Virginia, where she lived and worked at the time, the chamber organised an Economic Development luncheon in Manhattan.

On her way to New York by train from Emporia, Virginia, she and Elizabeth Johnson, at the time Industrial Development Director for Greensville County, put together a program outlining how they, along with financial help from local industry, can contribute more than the 3R’s to the life of a school child.

By the time the train pulled into Grand Central Station, they had a plan.

And ‘off the cuff’, presented it to Richard Hausman, of Belding Hausman Inc, one of the New York business men they were meeting with.

Just to see how it sounded to him.

He was so thrilled with the concept, he wrote a cheque on the spot for $5,000 and gave Jean the contacts and the impetus to get enough funding to get it off the ground and into the school system.

Today, the CARES program in South Hill, Virginia is in the hands of Jean and her Century 21 Real Estate company.

And this is a short version of how it works.

In 1996 she and her company adopted a kindergarten class at the South Hill Primary School.

And mentored them until they graduated from Park View High School in 2008.

In the intervening 12 years, through contributions from her company and each of her staff, and fundraising events, enough money was raised and saved to send every ‘Adoptee’ to one year of junior college.

Free.

127 of the 152 graduating students opted in.

During that time, Jean and her staff had constant contact with all the students, their teachers and their parents.

She worked hard to garner the trust and respect of all the parents to support her idea of a better social outcome for her ‘kids’.

What do I mean by better social outcome?

Many children leave school without having adequate social skills to deal with life.

And when they’re confronted with a new, and often daunting situation, they mainly fumble through because they don’t know how to handle it.

Yes, years later we’re all better equipped.

But what happens in the meantime?

Jean doesn’t think there’s time to waste.

She thinks it’s a huge advantage if you have a head start in grappling with the grind of daily life and interacting with the world at large.

Ask yourself this question.

What’s more important in every day life?

Knowing the hypotenuse of a triangle?

Or knowing how to balance your household budget?

Or make a good impression in your job interview?

So other than promising her children a year in junior college at no expense to them, what else does she offer them, their parents and Park View High School?

In Jean’s words, this is it.

“The success of our program was building a strong relationship of love and trust between us -Century 21 Clary- and the children and their parents /guardians.

So many of our children come from poor and uneducated parents.

We were blessed to give them opportunities that they never would have had without our involvement.

Taking them to Richmond to see the Nutcracker, the museums, the symphony, ballets.

We even did numerous corporate tours of the local hospital, manufacturing plants, hydropower plants, to give them an idea of what business is all about.

We taught them a manners class. It took all year.

At the end of the year, we treated them to an elegant dinner at Brian’s Restaurant with the silver, china, linen tablecloths… a real eye-opener for children that have never dined in a nice restaurant. Where paper products are what they use at home.

And the list goes on….

…pizza parties…

…Christmas parties with each child receiving gift bags…

…picnics at the end of each school year.

We hired tutors during the years to help those children that needed extra attention.

We put on career days in the 10th, 11th and 12th grades to teach them money management, how to write a résumé, dress for success, how to be successful in an interview, shaking hands, a big smile….

…..values and morals…..

What a blessing these children were to us.

‘Adopting’ them in kindergarten and mentoring with them until they graduated from high school created a bond that remains strong today.

We had no hidden agenda.

Just caring and supporting these children, keeping them focused on passing every grade with the ‘BIG GOAL’ to graduate from high school.

College was presented to them in the fifth grade.

We told them ‘if you pass’ we will send you to one year at the local community college.

That was a challenge and that goal was constantly reinforced over and over each year by us and their teachers.

We even gave them certificates that were their ‘Passport To College’.

The program worked.

127 children in college out of 152.

Now good citizens, as my Mother says.”

What does this Guerrilla From The Bush say?

It also put Park View High School on the map.

127/152 students trying hard to get into junior college transformed it into one of the best performing high schools in the state of Virginia.

The success of her CARES program prompted Virginia Governor Tim Kaine to fly in by helicopter to personally address her ‘kids’ at their graduation ceremony.

It’s a first!

The population of the town?

+/- 4,500.

Quite an achievement.

Jean And Virginia Governor Tim Kaine With Her 2008 Graduating Class

Jean’s adopted class graduated in June 2008.

It was a day of both tears of joy and chests swollen with pride.

Jean set up a Facebook page for her ‘adoptees’ to maintain contact.

And they do.

They report on their grades at junior college. Their jobs and the day to day minutiae of their lives that they each tap into.

It’s an ‘old boys’ network with a long future.

And Jean and her staff at Century 21?

They deeply miss the impact these kids have on their lives so much, they’re doing it all over again.

They adopted a kindergarten class this year.

To read about Jean Clary Bagley, visit this link.

And this is what her loving and proud daughter Tamara Clary Clark thinks of her mom.

And stay tuned in to my podcasts. Her story will be aired soon.

This Guerrilla From The Bush knows a woman of substance when she sees one!

Take care,

Carol