IN Peters Township December 2018/January 2019 | Page 42

COUNT ON IT!
The Peters Township community celebrates 20 years of
promoting good character through PT Character Counts.
BY NICOLE TAFE
This group of
citizens, including
Township
Manager Mike
Silvestri, Chief
of Public Safety
Harry Fruecht
and Director of
the PT Chamber
Carol Foley,
asked Freado if
he’d be willing to
take this idea to
the community
to gauge interest
in establishing
a grassroots
Community members sign banners to take the challenge to be kind.
community-
based character
“The monthly messages and vision
education initiative.
found
fertile ground among our
Over the course of several months,
concerned
citizens,” says Freado. “Many
community members and members
of
the
hundreds
who attended the
from every public and civic organization
meetings
affirmed
the need to address
were invited to attend meetings where
concerns
about
declining
morals in our
Freado presented an overview of why
culture
and
the
deterioration
of basic
character education is important, how
values
such
as
respect
and
responsibility.
”
schools and community groups might
As
the
meetings
continued,
interest
work together in promoting good
in organizing a network of community
character, and suggesting a united path
members and organizations grew.
that included the three most critical
Finally, a group of 40 community
elements of the process determined by
members representing nearly every
his research—leadership (executive
constituent group reached consensus
champions), inclusion of all stakeholders,
on core values and a name for the cause.
and developing and implementing an
Peters Township Character Counts was
effective communications plan.
established with the ongoing vision of
On Sept. 25, Peters Township Character Counts sponsored the community
kickoff for Rachel’s Challenge with a special event at The Bible Chapel. Nearly
1,000 community members attended to celebrate the 20th anniversary of
Character Counts with opening remarks from Dr. Robert Freado and Mr.
Christian Lesnett, and to hear from keynote speaker Darrell Scott—Rachel’s
father. Community members also had a chance to sign banners pledging to take
the kindness challenge, and the banners can be found hanging in the Peters
Township Public Library as a reminder of the pledge. For more on Rachel’s
Challenge in the Peters Township School District, see related story on page 74.
Dr. Robert Freado (R) and Mr. Christian Lesnett (L)
40
724.942.0940 TO ADVERTISE
❘
icmags.com
T
his past September, Peters
Township Character Counts
(PTCC) celebrated 20 years
of promoting good character
in the Peters Township community. The
celebration kicked off with the Rachel’s
Challenge community event at The
Bible Chapel that was widely attended
by all ages.
The creation of the PTCC program
was led by Dr. Robert Freado, who spent
22 years with the school district as the
middle school principal, McMurray
Elementary principal, and assistant
and acting principal at the high school.
Freado retired in 2014 to pursue a new
career as Executive Director of Ministry
Development at The Bible Chapel in
Peters Township.
After completing a dissertation on the
topic—Implementing a Comprehensive
Character Education Program—
Freado was invited to speak at a PTA
regional conference in the Charleroi
School District.
“My presentation included research
on the critical elements of the process of
visioning and implementing a character
education initiative,” he explains.
“Following the conference, the PT
PTA members invited me to share this
concept with the Community Awareness
Committee, originally established to
create awareness and address concerns
about drug and alcohol abuse.”