The Studs Terkel Humanities Service Award - 2006
Roy Storey
Nominated By The Honorable Jim Ardis
Peoria
Roy Storey
For the past three years, 81-year-old Roy Storey has volunteered through the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, donating hundreds of hours tutoring over 100 children per year in reading and other subjects on a weekly basis at three Peoria elementary schools in Peoria District 150. Ninety-four percent of the students in the district live below the poverty level. Mr. Storey, or "Grandpa Roy" as he is called by the students he tutors, began life in an orphanage in northern India, then moved to Calcutta where he spent 15 years working various jobs—often in poor conditions that left him tired and sick—before immigrating to London in 1953, then to Peoria in 1958. He now sings tenor solos at church, frequents the Peoria Heights and Lakeview libraries, and enjoys helping children in need, identifying with the obstacles that low-income children must overcome. As Mayor Jim Ardis of Peoria says, Mr. Storey "has lived a life that could be an example to others of what hard work, determination, commitment to self, and kindness to others can achieve."Return to the archive listing for The Studs Terkel Humanities Service Award - 2006
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