GETTING RESULTS AWARD

All month, we’ve been highlighting teachers and sharing their stories as part of our “Why I Teach” campaign. This week’s Getting Results Award goes to the 2024 Seminole County Public Schools teacher of the year, Janan Hodges.

The nonprofit gives veterans, who have either exhausted or want to save their VA Educational Benefits, an opportunity to have their college tuition paid for in exchange for volunteering.

Cassie and Sabrina Glow are Glow Girls Kid Voiceovers. You may have heard them in commercials, animated movies or even talking toys. But they’re also using their voices to help stamp out food insecurity.

Jack Poirier is a grocery-getter who spends his retirement helping others.

Jack Poirier is a grocery-getter who spends his retirement helping others.

This year we traveled thousands of miles crisscrossing Central Florida to bring you stories as part of the News 6 Getting Results Award segment.

It takes a special person to work with families in crisis, and coworkers say this week’s Getting Results Award winner is one of the best.

When 15-year-old Daniel Sharkey walks up to a neighbor’s front door he’s not asking for candy he’s looking for cans. It’s all part of a project he calls Cans Over Candy.

This week’s Getting Results Award winner is making sure the UCF pantry stays stocked for the holidays.

A World War II-era tugboat that was built in Deland is one step closer to returning home. ST 479 “Tiger” is moored at the end of Pier 1 at Green Cove Springs in Clay County, just south of Jacksonville.

While most kids were spending the summer lounging or playing video games, two teachers in Indialantic were loading into an ice cream truck with no air conditioning to promote summer reading.

At the height of the COVID pandemic, food pantries helped so many families make ends meet.

This week’s Getting Results Award winner went from typing to the tango.

The group needs little instruction, they work diligently and in no time, the classroom is transformed.

The Sharing Center is the most comprehensive social services hub in Seminole County.

Despite the successes, tennis has a reputation of being a sport reserved only for the elite. And two Florida brothers are trying to change that.

Dave Klein has always wanted to ride his bike across the country, but the timing was never right. Things changed this year when his motivation transitioned from a personal challenge to one with more meaning.

High school can be a tough time for many kids. But every holiday season, one high school teacher tries to make it a little easier.

News 6 recognizes those who get results.

When this week’s Getting Results Award winner was looking for a mentorship program for her daughter, she couldn’t find one that felt right. So she started her own.

They’re cute, they seem like fun and thanks to social media, mini pigs are very popular right now.

An 11-year-old boy is providing his neighbors help with lawn care.

The Russell Home for Atypical Children became the first of its kind in Florida in 1951, a licensed home for kids with special needs.

The Neighborhood Center of West Volusia has a mission: to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless and prevent homelessness.

The homeless in Daytona Beach know that they can find services on North Street, where several nonprofits operate within a one-block area.

Russ Beymer knew it would be a challenge to start the newest chapter of HomeAid America in Orlando. That was before a worldwide pandemic changed everything.

Neighbors Saving Neighbors program connects CPR/AED trained volunteers to the local 911 dispatch using ReadyAlert.

The Coronavirus Mutual Aid Network of Brevard started as a hyper-local way for people to get answers during the early days of the pandemic.

AdFreedom Ride Executive Director Marianne Gray said the location has served them well. His father, Carlos Mancilla, watched as his son made his way around the Freedom Ride arena. We need more places like this.”For all their success, Gray said Freedom Ride’s days are numbered at the Lee Road location. Trotters Park is right next door and plans have been in the works for years to expand onto the Freedom Ride parcel. “The location is paradise for what we do.”Freedom Ride is in the middle of a capital campaign to raise funds for property improvement.

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Just inside the gates of Mollie Ray Elementary, Orange County Deputy Brian Jensen parks his patrol vehicle. “I interact with the kids every day and I’ve seen kids change direction,” Jensen said, adding that it wasn’t always easy. “Kids, when I initially started here wouldn’t even talk to me, largely because of my uniform,” Jensen remembers. “I noticed that a large portion of our disciplinary issues, when I’m talking to those kids, I discover they’re having problems reading,” Jensen remembers. During holiday breaks such as Thanksgiving, Christmas and Spring Break, Jensen encourages students to read books and write reports.

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Nisha Phillip-Malahoo is getting results for her community and she’s doing it from her front yard. Philip-Malahoo lives in the same neighborhood as many of her students so it was easy for them to stop by. [TRENDING: How plants solve rapes, murders | Swastikas found on Fla. playground | Proposal seeks major changes to Bright Futures]Ad“I had kids coming to me saying I need some books,” Phillip-Malahoo remembers. I found a lot of my families suffer from food insecurity.”That was when Malahoo started a Thanksgiving food drive. The more they read the happier she is.”Ad“All teachers support their kids in whatever way they can,” Phillip Malahoo said.

Every Wednesday morning, Michael Hayes opens the kitchen at First Baptist Daytona where he spends the day preparing more than 500 meals. Hayes, a professional caterer with 30 years of experience, founded the nonprofit, God’s Table Daytona Beach. “I don’t plan a menu,” Hayes said. “We all have skills, you have skills in what you do, and mine just happens to be food,” Hayes said. “I have a desire to serve and see people happy.”Hayes said that desire revealed itself one morning.

ORLANDO, Fla. – The pandemic has left many out of work and struggling to pay rent and court filings for evictions continue to rise, records show. The rent on the three-bedroom home in Orlando, that she shares with her mother, was about to go up by 20%. Ad“I guess the best way to put it is being priced out of your home,” Picarelli said. “I said ‘okay, let me see what I can do for you.’”Love oversees around 300 properties for ALICA Property Management. “He’s compassionate and even empathetic which is rare for a property manager,” Picarelli said.

[TRENDING: Injunctions filed against girl slammed by deputy | SpaceX launches satellites | OK to dream: Snow in Florida?] [TRENDING: Injunctions filed against girl slammed by deputy | SpaceX launches satellites | OK to dream: Snow in Florida?] That extension ladder is where he goes up and down.”Scott Peterson says he’s grateful to pastor Rice for providing a safe environment. He says pastor Rice helped him through the challenging time. “When you go through a situation that your life changes it’s a lot of adjustment and he helped,” Peterson added.

You can find Cartledge most nights at Layer Elementary School in Winter Springs where he runs a mile in tribute to fallen first responders. During every tribute, Cartledge is accompanied by his family and at least one off duty officer. “Every time he runs he’s gaining more support he’s reaching more people,” Nazzaro said. As a result, last year Running 4 Heroes was able to award $85,000 dollars in grants to 13 first responders injured in the line of duty. “It feels great knowing that I’m healing thousands of people just because of a tribute mile that I’m doing,” Cartledge said.

She said it’s worth it because her efforts have allowed the roughly 500 members to make 37,000 masks since March. “I don’t sew,” Laverty laughs. Brevard Mask Makers initially made masks for health care and front line workers. Marsha Plog is one of the Brevard Mask Maker volunteers. “If the people who sew want to continue to sew then I’ll continue to deliver them, Laverty said.

ORLANDO, Fla. – This year may be a year we’d like to forget but there were plenty of moments in 2020 worth remembering. They’re the stories of your neighbors making a difference in our community and we brought them to your screen every week in our News 6 Getting Results Award segment. Nominate Someone TodayIf you know someone who you would like to recognize, you can nominate them here. Every winner receives a personalized plaque and $100 to commemorate their efforts. Simply fill out the form and you may see them featured in the coming weeks.

“They take their mask off their ear, the hearing aid gets tangled and usually goes flying,” Holt said. A set of hearing aids can range between $2,000 to $6,000. “People were making them for nurses but we adapted them to be made for our hearing aid patients.”Mask mates are small bands with buttons sewn on the ends. “Wearing hearing aids changes your whole quality of life,” Sharp said. “I never like to hear that someone has lost a hearing aid because your hearing is your lifeline.”

APOPKA, Fla. – As Central Florida was in the first stages of the coronavirus pandemic, Dave Sanders thought his neighbors could use a pick-me-up. They say, ‘I like your sign,’” Sanders said proudly. “In the beginning of quarantine in February, he put this really sweet sign out and it was on cardboard. “He’s a special man and he deserves to have some recognition.”News 6 wants to recognize the people in Central Florida who are Getting Results and making a difference in our community. Click here to submit a Getting Results Award nomination.

He says seeing the gravesites in such terrible condition gave him the idea to find other neglected cemeteries where veterans are buried and help clean them as well. The African American cemetery established in 1919 had fallen into disrepair as well, 157 veterans are buried there. The J.S Stone Cemetery is maintained by the community and the family members of those buried there. When Stone heard about the work Veterans Cemetery Restorations Inc. was doing nearby, she gave them a call. They did a wonderful job.”Rothschild says that between the two Brevard County cemeteries, Veterans Cemetery Restorations Inc. and their volunteers have removed 20 tons of trash and debris.

Tori Taylor loves arts and crafts. The 9-year-old girl has boxes of markers, clay, paper and popsicle sticks. Taylor is the founder of Sun Stori motivational bracelets and she’s donated hundreds of her handmade pieces to local hospitals, charities and nonprofits. Tori said she hopes to inspire other children to join her and create bracelets for their communities. If you would like to support Tori or purchase your own Sun Stori bracelet, she has an Etsy store.

Every day neonatal ICU nurse Sheryl Cyr holds tiny lives in her hands at Advent Health Ocala - only to do the same thing in her living room afterhours. Cyr is the founder of Loving Lois Rescue and Rehabilitation. “She’s just getting oriented in here,” Cyr said, revealing a mother cat and five nursing newborns. “This is Lois,” Cyr said, pointing to a crouching brown cat at the top of a climbing tower. Brenda Campbell adopted her 8-month-old cat named Bee from Loving Lois Rescue and Rehabilitation.

Stanford is the founder of Hummingbird Pantry which serves North Brevard. By the end of the day the pantry will have distributed more than 90,000 pounds of food to more than 4,000 families. “Now that mentality has switched from those people to ‘I.’ I now have to find a food pantry. She says more people are finding her pantry due to economic hardships brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. “We actually started because I saw starving kids right here in this cafeteria at Riverview School,” Stanford said looking around the large room.

I’ve never worked for myself.”Bilyk is the founder of State of Gratitude USA, a t-shirt and apparel company whose corporate headquarters resides in a closet in the spare bedroom of his home. Not bad when you consider the company was started just a few short months ago using Bilyk’s government stimulus check. Chris Bilyk, Founder of State Of Gratitude USA, is this week's Getting Results Award winner. “I used to tell people to live in a state of gratitude as I was getting sober myself,” he continued. “You don’t have to be in recovery to live in a state of gratitude.”

SANFORD, Fla. – Carl Tipton will tell you proudly that he was born and raised in Sanford. Turns out, Pajula was living on a fixed income that didn’t leave much room for both rent and living expenses. “I write songs, I watch TV. “That means I dream about things and I write songs. “He’s writing all these lyrics and they’re amazing, they’re uplifting, they’re encouraging.”Tipton was nominated for the News 6 Getting Results Award by viewer, Carlos Merlino.

It’s a tiny community that’s easy to miss. Every Thursday Lisa Green and a handful of neighbors gather at the Midway Safe Harbor Community Center to distribute food to nearby residents. Green and her cousin Emory Green started the Midway Coalition to address the needs of the small community. “I love my community,” Lisa Green said. “To know that someone in the community cares enough to bring the food to you, that’s amazing that’s awesome,” Berry said.

ORLANDO, Fla. – A walk around the park is taking on added importance for a small group of UCF students. “We all got together and we were thinking what do they really need and what, as students, can we afford to do.”Now, every other Saturday, a small group of students bring what they can to help the homeless who gather in the park. “We just decided to start something small,” Orindas said. And that’s the reaction from all the students as they walk the pathway handing out the care packages and having short conversation with whomever they encounter. Orindas says she hopes to inspire other students to take initiative when they see a need.

A furloughed theme park seamstress is using her sewing skills to get results for people across the country. “All my life I’ve made costumes and brought magic and joy to children,” Brown said while taking a short break from behind the sewing machine at her dinning room table. “When people ask what keeps you going, I say hope,” Brown said. Hope for a day when we don’t have a virus.”Brown says she can produce between 100 and 200 masks a day using factory assembly line techniques. “It’s just what I do, I couldn’t imagine life without sewing,” Brown said.

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. When veteran, Wiley Post, and his family were at their lowest point they reached out to an unlikely source for help. The family desperately needed transportation and an organization halfway across the country made a long haul donation just in time. So I checked it out and Mr. Larry here came through.Post, an Army veteran moved his family to Orlando a year ago to be closer to the Orlando VA Medical Center. To find someone out there who would help, Post said. Its pretty much like a natural high when you help a veteran.

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – An Avalon Park gym teacher was home alone and choking on a steak when he made the desperate decision to sprint to his neighbor’s house. Billy Bass, who lives alone, said he only had about 30 seconds to get to his longtime friend, Karen Aranda. When she opened the door, I made the choking signal,” Bass said. Aranda opened the door to her struggling friend. As for Bass, he gave Aranda a 6-pack of beer.

Second grade teacher Kathleen Ann Chen has learned it takes patience and compassion. But Kearney says Chen was able to turn her living room classroom into a super stand-in. Kearney nominated Chen for the News 6 Getting Results Award because of her energy and passion to keep the class fun, engaging and on schedule. Shes been so phenomenal that I really wanted to sing her praises. I didnt want my kids to feel like they got shorted out on an education and building second grade memories, Chen said.

ORLANDO, Fla. As the sun begins to light the morning sky, dozens of cars are already in line at Orlando Metro West Church of the Nazarene. It will be hours before Candice Campbell, Herald Of Hope Food Pantry coordinator, gives the go-ahead to begin food distribution. Its a typical Saturday morning, Campbell says as she organizes the placement of pallets, tents and folding tables. Anything and everything.With the threat of COVID-19, the need for volunteers has increased, keeping pace with the number of people needing help. Shes pretty incredible.If you would like to help volunteer or learn more about Herald Of Hope services, contact information can be found on the groups website.

EUSTIS, Fla. Hidden behind ancient oaks and a pine tree forests, Trout Lake Nature Center has become a destination for school children on field trips and adults looking for a quiet escape. For volunteer Trina Raether, its also become a second career. For 18 years, Raether has been the department chair for educational curriculum at the center. I sent you and email hoping we could do something to honor Trina to show her how much she has done for Trout Lake, Kelly said. Trout Lake Nature Center is located at 520 East County Road 44 in Eustis.

People like Stephanie Bowman who founded One Heart For Women and Children in College Park. Bowman has been helping families in need for years but she says the last few months have been unprecedented. “Fifteen weeks ago COVID-19 started and everything drastically changed here at One Heart,” Bowman said. She says lately her pantry full of food just doesn’t last quite as long. Bowman along with most food pantries have adopted a drive up process for food distribution.

Mary Landaberde and Dalton Rose could be anywhere on a Sunday morning but the two high school students choose to spend their weekends at the Mike Conley Hospice House in Clermont, a Cornerstone Hospice facility. Landaberde and Rose say they enjoy talking to the patients and hearing their stories. Landaberde says she was inspired by a hospice volunteer years ago who helped her deal with a loss of her own. Students Dalton Rose and Mary Landaberde ar this week's Getting Results Award winners. Both Mary and Dalton say they look forward to returning soon.

It was an afternoon walk from school that 13-year-old Gian Cross wont soon forget. The Neptune Middle School student walking to the gym with some friends along Neptune Road in Kissimmee last February when something caught his eye. We were like, Oh my gosh, we need to help him, Gian said. With traffic passing by, Gian and his friends got the boy safely out of the roadway and called police. Gian was awarded the Good Citizenship Award by his school, and family friend Dana Mayer nominated him for the News 6 Getting Results Award.

Olympic fencing is not a sport you hear about often. If you need help with the Public File, call 407-291-6000.

Every Thursday, News 6 anchor Matt Austin features a Central Floridian who goes above and beyond to make Central Florida a better place.

Volunteer helps families during difficult timesPublished: January 23, 2020, 6:40 pmJane Nealey has fast fingers and a giving spirit. This week's Getting Results Award winner has turned her hobby into a way to comfort others during difficult times.

This week's Getting Results Award winner has turned her hobby into a way to comfort others during difficult times. “I love to crochet,” Nealey said while sitting in her living room surrounded by a rainbow of yarn, blankets and hats. “I love to give it away too.”In fact, she’s lost count of how many items she’s donated to others. Nealey has been a front desk volunteer at Halifax Health Hospice in Orange City for 10 years. It’s nice to know somebody’s thinking about you, right?”Zulma Garin, team leader volunteer coordinator at Halifax Health Hospice, said volunteers like Nealey keep the organization going.

Storied Melbourne property about to fulfill its mission of faithPublished: January 9, 2020, 6:37 pmThis week's Getting Results Award winner spent 11 years as Director of the Daily Bread soup kitchen in Melbourne.

This week's Getting Results Award winner spent 11 years as Director of the Daily Bread soup kitchen in Melbourne. Farrell oversaw capital improvement projects including a new building, renovated kitchen and expanded services to the homeless and those in need. Struttmann, Founder and President of Saint Stephen’s Way, was looking for someone to help grow his nonprofit. “There is just no housing for men with children.”Struttmann says as soon as Farrell came on board things began happening fast. The storied property is said to have been first settled by a former slave, Wright Brothers, during reconstruction after the Civil War.

But twice a day he takes a break in the "Healing Gardens," an atrium in the center of the facility. As the sun casts shadows on palm trees, visitors, patients and medical center staff gather to hear him play. I absolutely love that.”Veterans including Louis Holland love the sound, too. After Holland expressed an interest in playing, Sproul gave him his old saxophone so he could learn. “Just play soulfully, and you’ll touch a veteran, you’ll touch anybody.”DECEMBER 2019 UPDATE:Sproul performed his VA Holiday Salute Musical Performance in front of a packed auditorium on Dec. 13, 2019.