He's a special helper at Norfolk's Suburban Park Elementary with a big heart and a big smile. I planned on surprising August Raber---or so I thought. When he walked into the school library to the cheers of a handful of students, I asked him if he had any idea what was going on.
His response: "I think I know what's going on. I saw you before on television." He followed that up with, "After the last performance that you did, you presented someone with a plaque and you presented them with a $500 thousand bill!" Raber added with a heart laugh, "You don't remember that do you?"
It was joke after joke from Raber, but all kidding aside, he has been a great friend for Suburban Park Elementary. For several years he has bought school supplies for the students, purchased school uniforms and for the past two years around the holidays, Raber has purchased turkeys for the staff at Suburban Park Elementary--which amounted to 70 turkeys.
For all those reasons we presented Raber with a NewsChannel 3 People Taking Action award, along with a $300 Visa gift card from our community partner Southern Bank. His reaction? "I'm overwhelmed! Really, because it's nice to be appreciated."
Raber believes it's important to invest in students in his community and show appreciation to teachers.
Plus he says it keeps him young at 93. "If you sit down, you get moldy and you deteriorate. You don't want to get moldy! Keep busy. Have something to do everyday."
That's exactly what this 93-year-old is doing.
