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Morado honored for work among the poorFirst in South Texas to win regents award Texas For her decades of work among the poorest people in the nation, Yolanda Morado was honored recently by the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents. Morado, a Texas AgriLife Extension Service county agent in Starr County, received the 2008 Regents Fellow Service Award at an awards ceremony held earlier this month in College Station. The award began in 1997 "to recognize exceptional service by professionals in the A&M System agencies." "Only the best of the best are selected by the regents to receive this award, and Yolanda becomes the first in South Texas to do so," said Dr. Ruben Saldana, the AgriLife Extension District 12 administrator in Weslaco. Morado has worked most of her 34-year career with AgriLife Extension in Starr County, cited by the U.S. Census Bureau as among the nation's poorest with a third of the population living in poverty. Morado was recognized for having "faithfully served the families of South Texas as an exemplary extension agent in the area of family and consumer sciences. She is widely respected for her leadership and management skills, as well as her creativity in bringing programs of relevance to the residents of one of the most economically disadvantaged areas of the country." Among Morado's many accomplishments, the regents cited the following: --Financial literacy programs since 1989 to help families get out of debt and better manage their finances. --The Pasos al Mercado Program, or Steps to the Marketplace, involving 200 volunteers helping others start their own businesses. --The Better Living for Texans Program since 1994 to teach nutrition, food safety, wellness and financial management to food stamp recipients and others, reaching some 5,000 adults and 3,000 children. --Leadership since 1995 in six Bi-National Conferences for Families, bringing together professionals and families along both sides of the Texas-Mexico border to provide awareness and training in health, education, housing, parenting, family finances and environmental issues. --Coordinator of the South Texas AmeriCorps Program from 1994 to 2003 to help 64 students earn money for college while serving the community and reaching 25,000 residents each year. --Hosting an annual child care conference for 16 years to provide professional training and continuing education in striving for child care excellence. --Using the Master Volunteer concept since 1979 to train 1,500 volunteers to teach thousands of others in providing education in 4-H, health, financial security, parenting, self-sufficiency, nutrition, literacy and environmental stewardship. --Designing and teaching diabetes health care programs for Hispanics for 30 years to provide screening, support groups, prevention and management of diabetes. Morado said the agency's focus on service is what convinced her to join AgriLife Extension more than three decades ago. "My father lived a life of service," she said. "He worked with his community to build two churches, the first when he was just 19 years old. He instilled in me the principle of serving your country, school, church and family. That has been the attitude I have toward my job. Service to others is my mission and my passion." Saldana said listing all of Morado's accomplishments in Starr County would itself be a daunting task due to her relentless, non-stop work ethic. "Because of the poverty there and all its related ripple effects, Starr County is blessed to have someone of Yolanda's caliber working in the community, and we're very proud that the board of regents saw fit to honor her in this way. She exemplifies AgriLife Extension's selfless ideals of teaching and serving the community," he said. The award provides a $9,000 stipend, medallion and certificate. 12/22/08 Date: 12/18/08
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