Gale Ronald Colwell, 1959
B.A., Denison University
Philanthropist and Community Volunteer
Birmingham, Mich.
Citation awarded on Saturday, June 2, 1979
Mrs. Colwell is a professional volunteer whose deep commitment to the improvement of the quality of life for disadvantaged youth and to helping them to receive the necessary services for their optimal development has been an inspiration to youth, staff, volunteers, and donors alike.
One of the monuments to her concern is Detroit’s Cass Corridor Youth Advocates, a social and recreational center for youth between the ages of seven and seventeen which she helped to raise the money to establish in a social problem area. There she works with some 200 young people to give them an opportunity to learn arts, crafts, music and to sharpen basic educational skills. After a federal grant was withdrawn three years ago, she led the effort to raise the money to continue the center.
For many years she has selflessly worked on the Detroit Police Athletic League board as a member to combat juvenile problems with programs, some of which she originated, that now reach 25,000 youngsters every year.
She has received national recognition in her election to the Board of Directors of the National Association of Junior Leagues, where she has promoted child welfare among local leagues across the country through the development of a national child advocacy program concerned with day care, adoption, and child abuse issues. On the board of Franklin-Wright Settlements, Inc., a multi-service agency on Detroit’s lower east side, she is on the agency’s committee that oversees the oldest day care center in the city.
In May, 1978 she was honored for “your sensitivity to the needs and problems of young people and your success in finding innovative solutions to many of these problems·· at Detroit’s 11th annual Heart of Gold Award luncheon. The award symbolizes extraordinary volunteer service.
