Robin Pratt has been driving a school bus for Vinton County Local Schools for 25 years. She also runs a 65-acre farm. Robin is busy taking care of her family, her land and animals, and the students who ride on her bus each day.

But she still finds time to go to college with the aim of earning a degree in Health Information Management.

Robin takes her classes online through an OAPSE members-only benefit in partnership with Eastern Gateway Community College. She recently received a letter from EGCC notifying her that she has earned a 3.5 grade point average and has been named to the dean’s list.

“Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I could go to college and make the dean’s list. I was kind of in shock,” she said.

Robin is doing the hard work to excel at EGCC, but she credits OAPSE with the opportunity that will change her life.

“I could never afford college. But when OAPSE came up with this program of free tuition, I thought ‘Here is my chance to do something for myself.'”

She enrolled and is attending online with her daughter, Natalie, who has a 3.8 GPA.

“I bet a lot of members can’t afford to go to college. A lot of their kids can’t afford to go to college. But this program makes it possible. You can make the most of this and earn your degree for free. It takes a lot of work, but if I can do it, anyone can do it. I highly recommend it.”

Robin said the free college program is just one of the reasons she is “Sticking With her Union!”

For more on her story, click the video below.

And check out oapseeducation.org for everything you need to register for summer and fall classes for 2019.

Each year, OAPSE members, leaders, staff and community partners give back to the areas in which we live and work by feeding hungry children.

Through the OAPSE Making a Difference, Inc. foundation (OMAD), union members have raised more than $60,000 and fed 10,000 students in schools across Ohio. This year, we will distribute totes of meals, drinks and healthy snacks to 2,000 pre-K through second-grade students in Canton City Schools.

On May 21, leaders of OAPSE locals 161, 161A, 609 and 107 will join with OAPSE state officers and Canton City Schools officials to distribute the bags. Between now and then, we need your help!

All money we raise through tax-deductible donations from OAPSE members, locals, districts and business partners in our communities is used to purchase food and supplies that go directly to hungry children, and every donation makes a difference.

We need your help to make our project in Canton a success. The students in Canton City Schools are among the most economically-disadvantaged in Ohio. Please consider a tax-deductible donation to help us feed them.

OAPSE members, locals and districts can make donations to OAPSE Making a Difference, Inc. Checks should be sent to:

Kathy Malone

OAPSE/AFSCME Making a Difference

6805 Oak Creek Drive

Columbus, Ohio 43229

We also encourage you to solicit tax-deductible donations from businesses in your community. Click Solicitation letter 2019 OMAD for more information about how to make a donation.

Thanks for all your help with our mission to feed hungry kids in our communities.

Click below to see a short video about the OMAD project in Zanesville City Schools last year and how you can help us raise money for 2019.

Barb Ward has been driving a bus for Fairland Local Schools for nearly 40 years — logging more than a million miles behind the wheel. Her mother, the first woman bus driver at Fairland, taught her how to drive along the winding, narrow roads of Southern Ohio. And Barb taught her daughter and union sister, Jennifer, how to handle a bus in all kinds of weather and road conditions.

Barb has been a proud member of Local 345 since she joined the Fairland team, and urges every new member to sign a union card.

“Why wouldn’t you want to be a member and have a voice in what happens to you everyday at work? I would never quit my union because my union has never quit me,” Barb said.

“The union is my family. The union raised my family. I would never consider dropping out of my union.”

Barb said her strong union-negotiated contract has made a real difference in her life. When she was diagnosed with breast cancer, her health care coverage meant she could receive her chemotherapy and radiation treatments and take time to recuperate at home.

“And when I was well enough to get back to work, my job was there waiting for me because of our contract. I can’t even express what a comfort that was — to have that security as I was going through the biggest fight of my life.”

Barb drives over 250 miles across three counties each day to safely transport “her kids” to school and back home. Her students have special needs, and they rely on the comfort and security that comes from being with Barb each day.

“I call them my special kids because each of them is special. We have a bond that’s very important to each of us. They like knowing that I will be there to get them every day, and I think that gives their parents comfort and security. They like knowing they can count on me to take good care of their children.”

Barb’s security comes from being a member of Local 345.

“I like having a voice. I like having a say in my wages and benefits and working conditions. I wouldn’t have it any other way, and that’s what I tell new hires: Join the union! Stick with the union! It makes a difference!”