[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 95 (Wednesday, July 20, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: July 20, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                        A TRIBUTE TO GREEN THUMB

 Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, today I would like to commend 
an organization that is promoting worthwhile and notable changes in the 
lives of our country's older citizens through job training and 
placement. That organization is called Green Thumb.
  The organization was established in 1965, during President Johnson's 
War on Poverty, to extend to male farmers above the age of 55 the 
opportunity to continue using and often enhancing their skills in 
agriculture development. Through a government beautification agenda 
including grounds maintenance and landscaping, these men were able to 
use their skills as well as remain self-sufficient beyond the average 
age of retirement. It was the focus on vegetation and farming that 
christened the organization Green Thumb.
  When the First Lady, Mrs. Johnson, discovered the organization, it 
became her goal to involve American women in the program. She 
discovered that there were many women above the age of 55 who, due to 
the fact that domestic labor goes unpaid, had collected no Social 
Security and were often left with little or nothing to live on. Most 
importantly, however, these women had a variety of skills developed 
over a lifetime of work as well as an ability to adapt and acquire new 
skills, but lacked an outlet for them. In 1969 an addition to Green 
Thumb, called Green Light, was formed for women above the age of 55.
  Since 1969, Green Light has merged with Green Thumb and the 
organization has expanded beyond agricultural job training and 
placement. In West Virginia alone, Green Thumb serves 10 counties and 
has over 100 trainees, all above the age of 55 and all desiring an 
outlet for their skills and desire to work. These are people like 
Evelyn Freeman, a 72-year-old Welch, WV woman. Evelyn worked night 
shifts as a nurse aide and during the day raised her 12 children and 4 
stepchildren. When she suffered a heart attack, she was forced to 
retire. Not one to rest too long, though, Evelyn consulted the offices 
of Green Thumb for help getting a new position and was placed in the 
McDowell County Public Library. A fast learner and terrific addition to 
the library, Evelyn is now in charge of the children's library where 
she works with children between the ages of 3 and 5. Thanks to Green 
Thumb, Evelyn was able to put her motivation and skills to productive 
and rewarding use.
  For many of West Virginia's older citizens, Green Thumb placement 
supervisor Brenda Richardson fulfills dreams. Once an individual enters 
Green Thumb's doors, they are trained and placed in a community 
organization. It is Ms. Richardson's job to find these trainees full 
time positions. Her rate of outside employment for her trainees has 
been, in the past, well above 40 percent and is ever increasing. Of the 
18,000 Green Thumb workers from 44 States across the country, Ms. 
Richardson, just this past year, placed 96 West Virginians in private 
business positions.
  Because of Federal funding and leadership, Green Thumb ensures that 
older Americans get the training and placement they need to work and 
continue contributing to their local communities. As Carole Kincaid, 
the State director of Green Thumb for West Virginia and Kentucky, put 
it so eloquently, ``This is the most rewarding work you could possibly 
do. When you see the look on the faces of these older people who want 
to work, who don't want hand-outs, well, it's just the most 
heartwarming feeling you can have.''
  It is with great honor that I salute the almost 30 years of effort 
and success of the Green Thumb program.

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