2010 Angel Award Winners
Stacey Debevec of Alexandria
Shelton Jones of Baton Rouge
Jones co-founded the Cinderella Project, which collects donated prom dresses and hosts giveaway events for high school students in financial need. Through this work, she strives to convey to the young women she serves the value of giving back and the importance of volunteering in the community.
Sal Miletello of Shreveport
Miletello is the founder and chairman of the board of Fully Devoted Developer of Children (FDDOC) Winners’ Circle, Inc., which provides after-school math and reading tutoring as well as enrichment opportunities to academically at-risk and socioeconomically disadvantaged youth.
Anna Monhartova of New Orleans
As a college student, Monhartova founded A’s & Aces, which combines tennis and academics to help address the lack of safe activities outside of school hours and to improve literacy for children.
Carolyn Myer of Baton Rouge
The founder and director of Key Foundations established a Montessori-oriented child care center for low-income families, provided school supplies and organized the Girls Club, an after-school mentoring and tutoring program for third- through fifth-grade girls. In addition, Myer has worked to establish and provide healthy relationship classes and a program for mothers (and their children) who have a partner in prison.
Christy Papania-Jones of Lake Charles
Jones pioneered bringing affordable therapy to the underserved population of autistic and developmentally delayed children in southwest Louisiana through her organization, the St. Nicholas Center for Early Intervention.
Dee Scallan of West Monroe
Through her tales of Moby Pincher, illustrated by one of her students and now a series of children’s books, Scallan teaches children about the geography and science of Louisiana. She also encourages children to create and illustrate their own stories. Her vision has resulted in the publication of more than 30 original works, authored and illustrated by Louisiana children, that have been placed in parish and school libraries around the state.
Jane Wholey of New Orleans
The founder of Kids Rethink New Orleans Schools in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Wholey works to ensure that youth have a voice in the rebuilding of New Orleans public schools. Through citywide and school-based programs, young people identify areas for improvement within individual schools as well as the school system as a whole, develop innovative solutions and act to make their solutions a reality.
The 2010 Blue Angel – Robin Mayhall of Baton Rouge
In 1991, when she was 21 years old, Robin Mayhall was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Since her diagnosis and despite her own health challenges, Robin has taken it upon herself to ensure that programs for children and adults with arthritis continue to be funded and available in Louisiana. It is important to her that people realize that arthritis is not just an inevitable “old person’s disease.”
