CHILDLENE BROOKS
2024 RECIPIENT OF THE SHERYL V. KERR AWARD
Childlene Brooks is a Talbot County native, from the Bay Hundred area. She attended the former Fredrick Douglass Elementary School in St Michaels and spent 4 years at Robert Russa Moton High School prior to transferring to St. Michaels High School In 1967. Childlene completed a business course at the Baltimore Institute and has taken classes at Chesapeake College.
In 2010, she retired from the Talbot County Health Department and began working at Brookletts Place Talbot County Senior Center. Today, she serves as the Senior Center Manager, a position she has held for the past ten years. Upper Shore Aging Director Andy Hollis says, “Childlene Brooks is, in a word… tireless. I have never seen someone with so much energy that she consistently applies to her devotion to community. She never rests. I believe her motivation is grounded in her faith, her genuine caring for people, and her ability to show empathy and action for people in need and causes that support the care of those less fortunate. It is not commonplace to meet someone and immediately know that they are a “good soul”. You know it immediately with Childlene.”
More involved in the community than most, Childlene has served on numerous boards in the past. These include the American Cancer Society at the local, state, and regional levels, Critchlow Adkins Children’s Center, Mid-Shore Pro Bono (now Shore Legal Access), Habitat for Humanity Choptank, the Hugh Gregory Gallagher Theatre, Talbot County Branch of the NAACP, and the Bright with Pride Temple No. 1375 of the Improved, Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks of the World. She is currently an active Board Member of CASA of the Mid-Shore; Talbot Hospice Foundation; Frederick Douglass Honor Society; Bay Hundred Community Volunteers; Inc., Tidewater Rotary, and the Mid Shore Pancreatic Cancer Foundation. She is a co-founder of the Family Friends of Asbury & Green Chappel, Inc. which has worked to restore an abandoned and vandalized African American cemetery in Bozman. Childlene is a lifelong member of New St. Johns United Methodist Church, Wittman, and currently serves on the Missions Outreach Committee.
Reading the list of Childlene’s involvement in our community is impressive enough, yet one can only imagine the thousands of hours of time and unending energy she gave to each of those groups over the years. In the case of the Frederick Douglass Honor Society, Childlene stepped up to lead the Society as Interim President on two separate occasions after the unfortunate losses of President Eric Lowery and President Brenda Wooden. According to Board Member Vickie Wilson, Childlene has “a quiet spirit which allows things to get done without chaos.” For anyone who has participated in organizational leadership, that quote speaks volumes. It describes Childlene’s style exactly.
Local community leader Harriette Lowery said of Childlene, “When I returned to Talbot County, I met Childlene and saw the things she did for so many people and organizations. I truly thought ‘I want to grow up and be just like her’. She had such a giving spirit, a smile, and an energy like no one else. The other plus was that she knew everybody in Talbot County AND the Eastern Shore. I have since learned that there is only one Childlene Brooks, I can never follow in her footsteps, but I can learn from her. She has taught me a lot about giving back to our community, volunteerism, communication, and leadership. I truly appreciate and admire her representation in our community. Childlene comes from one of the most loving, caring, supportive, fun-filled, families in the Bay Hundred area, and puts all of that into who she proudly is.”
Childlene’s influence, knowledge, respect, and experience with so many people in Talbot County and Easton helped give credibility to the creation and support for the Frederick Douglass Honor Society. The Frederick Douglass Honor Society – and all the organizations she supports – deeply appreciate all that she does and congratulates her on this award.
The Women & Girls Fund is honored to present Childlene Brooks with the 2024 Sheryl V. Kerr Award.