Carson City woman recognized Sunday by CNN as a Top Hero for 2018
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Mon, 12/10/2018 - 10:38am
A Carson City woman who has dedicated the past 15 years helping people throughout Northern Nevada learn English and become American citizens was recognized Sunday as one of 10 finalists picked by CNN as a Top Hero for 2018.
Florence Phillips, the daughter of immigrants, and her organization, ESL In-Home Program of Northern Nevada, which provides free English and citizenship classes to immigrants in Nevada, was nominated by CNN Heroes in August and made the 2018 Top 10 CNN Heroes cut. The awards show, which celebrates all Top 10 honorees, aired Sunday live from the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
Physician Dr. Ricardo Pun-Chong was named the 2018 CNN Hero of the Year for his efforts to provide free housing, meals and support for sick children and their families while they undergo treatment. The award is determined by online voters who selected Pun-Chong from among the list of CNN Heroes finalists.
Pun-Chong will receive $100,000. Phillips and the other CNN Heroes for 2018 will receive a $10,000 cash award, and donations made to each of their nonprofit organizations are also being matched up to $50,000.
During Sunday's ceremony, Phillips, 88, said she was deeply honored and humbled to be in the company of her fellow Hero recipients, adding "the true hero is the parent, the grandparent, the aunt, the uncle who made the ultimate sacrifice to leave their homeland in order to give their children a future here in the United States of America. To have the gift of language, gives them the ability to feel they are contributing, not only to their family, but to their new home in the U.S. I am excited to go back home and roll up my sleeves and move my program to the next level."
Go here to see Phillips receive the award Sunday night.
The program Phillips established, ESL In-Home Program of Northern Nevada, is non-profit organization that runs solely off of volunteers and donations. Phillips and other volunteers teach basic English, written and oral, as well as GED preparation, computer literacy, and U.S. Citizenship test preparation. The program serves Carson City, as well as Douglas, Lyon, Churchill and Washoe counties.
Phillips was born in New York to Jewish parents who fled Europe before the Holocaust. She told CNN that growing up, she experienced first-hand the burden of being a child of immigrants who didn't speak English. Helping her parents interact with the outside world fell on her shoulders.
"I did all the translations for them," Phillips said. "I saw how they struggled being new to a country and not knowing the language."
Go here to read the interview and watch the video of Phillips and her contributions to the ESL In-Home Program of Northern Nevada.
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