Great Expectations Receives Top State Honor for Excellence in Education
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(L to R) Joe Moran (Event Chair), Andrea Doyle (Presenting Sponsor from H.A. and Mary K. Chapman Charitable Trusts), Jerry Dickman (Selection Commission Chair), Charlie Hollar (Great Expectations Founder), Howard Barnett (Board of Directors, Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits Chairman) |
The Oklahoma Center for Nonprofit named Great Expectations® the Oklahoma Nonprofit Excellence (ONE) award top education program in Oklahoma. Great Expectations joined outstanding finalists in nine categories to be recognized. Great Expectations® was founded in 1990 by Charles Hollar of Ponca City. The methodology of Great Expectations® has spread throughout the state and into Kansas, Missouri, and Texas. In Oklahoma, over 200,000 students are taught daily by a teacher trained by Great Expectations® at the annual summer institute.
All ONE Awards honorees were selected for the excellence shown while accomplishing their mission, and for the high standard they set for the sector statewide, said Joe Moran, chairman of the 2009 ONE Awards, and member of the Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits Board of Directors.
Honorary Chair of the 2009 ONE Awards, Speaker of the House Chris Benge was accompanied by his wife, Allison Benge. The Honorable Chris Benge addressed the group of more than 350, expressing his esteem for the nonprofits of Oklahoma and their inspiring work. I have been fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to see firsthand the dedication and steadfastness exercised among Oklahoma nonprofits, said Benge. The challenge of a nonprofit to achieve their mission effectively and accountably with the limited resources allotted them is a great undertaking and deserves to be recognized.
The Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits, which works with and on behalf of Oklahoma nonprofits to strengthen capability and build capacity of their boards, staff and volunteers, created the ONE Awards with a dual purpose.
Our goals in creating this event were first, to recognize outstanding nonprofits that are judged to be excellent in the way they pursue their mission, and second, to increase statewide awareness about the roles that nonprofits play in contributing to the quality of life and to Oklahoma’s economic development, said Moran.
Extracted from the letter about winning the ONE Award …
Congratulations on being selected as winner of the Oklahoma Nonprofit Excellence Awards’ 2009 H.A. and Mary K. Chapman Charitable Trusts Award for Education! On behalf of the ONE Awards Selection Commission, the ONE Awards Committee, Honorary Chair Speaker of the House Chris Benge, all of this year’s sponsors and supporters, and the Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits, we are thrilled to be able to reward the Great Expectations’ hard work and outstanding accomplishments with this prestigious honor.
Great Expectations Foundation is certainly a leader among Oklahoma nonprofits and is a luminous example of effectiveness and efficiency that has garnered respect throughout the state. You are truly an asset to Oklahoma, and we are so very proud to be able to shine a spotlight on your work so your peers may be inspired, your supporters enthused and those needing your services, made newly aware of how they are being helped.
– Howard Barnett, Board Chair and Debby Hampton, President and CEO