When Sadie Russell walks into a classroom, she knows she is needed.
For the past seven years, Russell has served as a volunteer through the Foster Grandparent Program administered by the Council on Aging, Serving St. Clair County (CoA). The federally funded AmeriCorps Seniors program places volunteers in supervised community settings where they work with children who need extra support and encouragement.
This year, Russell’s commitment to those children earned her the Foster Grandparent of the Year Award from the Council on Aging. She was presented with her award at the CoA’s annual awards breakfast in May.
“I’ve been here for seven years working with the children and it is just awesome,” Russell said. “They make me feel like I’m needed. I work with whatever child needs help.”
Russell volunteers with the program every Monday through Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. She also serves as a volunteer tutor with the Read for Life program at Woodrow Wilson Elementary School.
“They wear you out!” she said with a laugh. “But I enjoy doing what I do. The AmeriCorps Foster Grandparent Program keeps me moving. I love what I do with the children. I love helping families.”
Service has become a central part of Russell’s life, but the path she followed has not always been easy.
Born in Port Huron in 1956, Russell was raised in New London, Connecticut, and Detroit.
Russell attended Southwestern High School but left school before graduating.
“I had to drop out to help out with the family,” she said. “There were nine kids on my father’s side and six on my mother’s side. I’m the oldest of everybody.”
She left school in the 10th grade and went to work.
“I worked at a grocery store from the time I was 16,” she said. “As soon as I turned 18, I worked in a bar.”
Russell later moved to Virginia Beach, where she became a nursing assistant in a nursing home.
“My brother was in the Army and he took us on as dependents,” she said. “I became a nursing assistant in a nursing home there. I worked as a nursing assistant for 18 years.”
Her life changed after a serious accident.
“I was run over by a car,” Russell said. “They said I wouldn’t walk again.” She proved everyone wrong.
Russell’s work life also included a stint in Florida, where she drove buses for Disney and for Osceola Community Schools. While there, she suffered a stroke.
“I ended up coming home back to Port Huron in 2011 and I said, ‘I’m staying!’”
A mother of four daughters, including a set of twins, Russell said joining a local church transformed her life.
“I joined the Zion Cathedral of Praise,” she said. “It turned my life around. I joined with Pastor Kim Brown and she changed my whole life. I found God and I got closer to God and I began serving people.”
Today, Russell leads and participates in numerous outreach efforts through her church. She works in the Food Ministry, cooks monthly meals for residents of the Blue Water Men’s Shelter, helps deliver food to people who cannot leave their homes, and leads efforts to bring a monthly food truck to the church.
“I thank God I have access to food,” she said. “We do a food giveaway every other month. We do chili and coats in November and we give out food baskets.”
She also serves in jail ministry, visiting the St. Clair County jail and the Michigan Department of Corrections Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Ypsilanti.
Russell knows how important hope and inspiration can be for someone behind bars because she once found herself there.
“I’m clean for 32 years from crack cocaine,” she said. “After the car accident, they gave me opioids. I had hallucinations from it and a person I know now was not my friend said, well, try this for your pain.”
Russell was able to break free by going cold turkey from drugs. But not before living through some difficult times.
“I lived the street life for so long,” she said. “I never thought I would do something like that, but I’m not ashamed of it anymore. I am delivered and I am truly free from that. Whatever you’re going through, give it to Jesus. I only spent two weeks in jail, but it felt like two years. God delivered me from it.”
Russell said: “At the time, I was living in Durham, North Carolina. I knew the Devil had control of me doing drugs. I had sleeping pills and I tried taking my life, but I threw up everything and I packed my bags and I called my mom and I said, ‘I’m coming home,’ to Port Huron. I had to do something or die.”
Russell has also endured other hardships, including the loss of a daughter to kidney disease in 2019 and more than 20 surgeries since 2012.
Despite those challenges, she remains active in her church, her volunteer work, and her family. She recently celebrated her 70th birthday and is the grandmother of 17 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
“I’m thanking God every day,” she said. “I didn’t think I’d make it to 70. I have 17 grandchildren and six great grands. I’m glad to be here to see them. I’m very proud of my family. They make me so proud.
“I’m so glad I found Jesus. I was a wretch undone. If I can be that one beacon of life to help somebody get their life right, that’s my calling.
“Port Huron is my home and I give my heart to my home. There is no place, truly, like home.”