Jill Amos, director of the Lane Center for Service and Leadership at Wesleyan College, has been honored by The Jefferson Awards, a prestigious national recognition system honoring community and public volunteerism in America. Local winners are ordinary people who do extraordinary things without expectation of recognition. The Jefferson Awards Foundation is a non-profit organization that “recognizes, inspires, and activates volunteerism and public service in communities, workplaces, and schools across America.” The Institute was founded in 1972 by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, U.S. Senator Robert Taft, Jr., and Sam Beard to establish a Nobel Prize for public and community service.
A 1987 graduate of Wesleyan, with majors in psychology, social services, and religious studies, Amos has spent most of her professional career serving children, youth, and families through foster care initiatives in Georgia and throughout the United States. For 30 years she’s helped place children with severe emotional and physical needs in the foster care system into loving homes. Amos estimates she’s worked with more than 2,000 children in Georgia’s foster care system.
As director of Wesleyan’s Lane Center, Amos mentors student servant leaders who volunteer in approximately 50 local community agencies each year. During the academic year 2017 – 2018, Wesleyan servant leaders served more than 7,000 hours, including working at Aunt Maggie’s Kitchen Table (AMKT). AMKT is Wesleyan’s signature outreach program serving children and youth who reside in Macon’s Anthony Homes.
In partnership with The Fuller Center for Housing of Macon, Amos recently led more than 100 Wesleyan student volunteers in making improvements to two homes and several vacant lots in the Napier Heights community.