Volunteer honored for work with youths

The following article appeared in the Tampa Tribune on Oct. 10, 2000.

By RONNIE BLAIR

Any macho-minded students at Gulf High School who thought they might intimidate Bill Bready could glance at the wall as they sat down in his office and see his black-belt certificate.

Then Bready might lean forward on his desk to give the students a good look at the tattoos decorating his forearms.

``You can tell looking at me that I'm not Joe College,'' Bready said.

Bready, 66, spent 10 years as an administrative assistant for student discipline at Gulf High, working with students who strayed outside the rules.

After he retired in 1998, he began volunteering his time with the Department of Juvenile Justice, continuing to try to reach young people who had gone astray.

His efforts didn't go unnoticed. Bready and three others from around the state were recognized this month as Florida Department of Juvenile Justice Volunteers of the Year for 1999-2000.

The department also gave special recognition to seven others throughout Florida, including Pasco Sheriff Lee Cannon, who was cited for implementing a number of prevention and early intervention efforts, including the Adopt- A-Cop program in which law enforcement officers act as mentors for young people.

Bready spent a year volunteering with juvenile justice, helping to make sure young people who had had a brush with the law met the requirements of their probation. He would visit their schools, check their grades and attendance, and talk with anyone who could tell him how the students were doing.

``At least once a month you visit them at their home and talk to their parents,'' Bready said. ``Many times, that's where the problems arise. When you look at a child, you are looking at a clone of the parent.''

Bready also worked with teens who were in juvenile-justice programs such as boot camps or the Wilson Academy for girls.

Bready originally planned to volunteer for just a couple of days a week, but soon he found himself spending 40 hours a week helping out.

After a year, the department decided to put him on the payroll. But recently, the job he was hired for was eliminated. Bready is taking time off right now but soon plans to go back as a volunteer.

Bready is a native of Springfield, Mass. He spent 21 years in the military - four years in the Navy and 17 years in the Air Force - before retiring from the service in 1972. It was during those military years that he acquired his 23 tattoos.

He came to Florida to visit his mother right after he retired from the Air Force and ended up staying. Although his military career was over, he still kept busy, working for awhile as a truck driver and later taking the Gulf High job.

His wife, Janet, works part- time in food services for Gulf High. The Breadys have two children, Joe and Denise, and five grandchildren.

About a year ago, Bready bought a Honda motorcycle and now spends some of his spare time hitting the road.

Bready vows to stick with the two-days-a-week plan when he returns to volunteering at juvenile justice. But no matter how much time he devotes to it, he said he has found the work rewarding.

``I've always had what you might call a God-given talent to work with young people,'' Bready said. ``Even kids who gave me a hard time in school, pretty much all of them I run into, they thank me.''