Lisa Desatnik
Cincinnati’s Unique Heritage Being Told In Cincy Story Mural
Something truly wonderful is happening. It is transcending generations, bringing together diverse people from just about every local community. Our great city of Cincinnati is being told, one person, one story, one neighborhood at a time. Old shoeboxes are coming out of storage. Camcorders and iphones are popping up in storefronts and street corners. Memories are being inked in vivid detail as prose on pieces of lined paper.
It is all a part of a first-time project called the Cincy Story Mural. Through a series of what are being called harvesting events, the public has been invited to share photos, videos, narratives, and drawings to help tell the story of their unique corner of the world. And by the spring of 2012 (which is fast upon us), they will all be transformed into a beautiful mural installed in locations throughout Cincinnati with an interactive online version.
Cincy Story Mural is a collaboration between Starfire Council, DIY Printing, Public Allies, Cincy.com, and artist Krista Brinkmeyer.
Krista is the vision behind the project. In her late 20’s, she has always had a passion for expressing herself through storytelling – sometimes by capturing moments in photographs and sometimes through written word. She also has a knack for making friends, an important quality for any role let alone the role of project director.
“I like myself very much. I work hard at Starfire. I am a good person and I am happy,” she wrote in her blog profile.
I sat down with Krista and her right hand man as they say, Leah Addison, an Americorp volunteer with Starfire. The idea, they told me, was sparked when Krista was developing an idea for her capstone project in her final year at Starfire U.
“I like taking pictures and showing them to my friends,” Krista said. “I’m learning to blog and email. I’m meeting a lot of people. I’m not done yet and I need everyone’s help.”
If you have a photo or story you would like to contribute, please contact them at infor@CincyStoryMural.org.
Photo Caption:
Today my friends Aaron and Sybilka and I made a poster for our Mural Launch Party. I got my picture taken while we were working on the screen printing. The posters are blue and silver. The posters tell about the project and they have a QR code on them so people can scan with their phones and read more about the project.
About Starfire U
I really couldn’t describe it better than the words used by Starfire on their website….
Starfire believes every person has gifts that should be valued and respected. Time at Starfire is spent discovering those gifts and finding the people and places where those gifts are able to shine the brightest. Starfire recognizes that all people want acceptance and need relationships. There is great value to relationships with the community and neighbors so an emphasis on building connection runs throughout each program. Starfire strives to maximize resources and generate new avenues and networks of connections for people.
Starfire U is a new, post-secondary opportunity focused on providing relevant educational opportunities for young adults with disabilities. It combines Starfire’s expertise in advancing socialization with traditional special education techniques. This research-based program will have a positive lifelong impact on the lives of people who experience disabilities.
The Starfire U curriculum includes communication, safety, transportation, health, citizenship, technology and volunteering. The knowledge and experience gained in the program helps people to become integral parts of their community.
Over the course of the four-year program, there is exposure to new opportunities, a chance to explore and define a person’s gifts and talents, find valued roles in their community, and build a network of support. The curriculum is designed to:
- Connect with the Community
- Develop Friendships
- Increase Social Confidence
- Gain Experiences at Local Colleges, Businesses, and Non‐Profits
- Contribute through Service
- Build Occupational Skills
- Develop Personalized Future Plan
Together
Don’t walk in front of me, I may not follow. Don’t walk behind me, I may not lead. Walk beside me and be my friend.
Source: facebook.com via Mei on Pinterest
The Cincinnati Herald Staff Are Good Things Pledge Champions
I created my Good Things Pledge as a fun way of reminding people that they have the power to do and feel Good Things. We have the power to stand tall and rise above when things may not appear to be going our way. We have the power to appreciate all that is beautiful and meaningful in our world.
It has been so fulfilling to see how many people have signed up to become Good Things Pledge champions. Today, I just added Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney, Dan Yount, Courtney Myrick, Inez Barnes, Walter White, Andrea Laudat Blackmon, Wade Lacey Sr., Gwen Seay, and Rachel Roberts to the list. They all work for The Cincinnati Herald and they invited me to their office today to hand out their certificates and take their picture.
I have worked with The Cincinnati Herald for years on behalf of my clients, the YMCA of Greater Cincinnati, Beech Acres Parenting Center and others. They are truly caring group of people who do so much for the community – individually and collectively. I appreciate their generosity. Not to mention their excellence in reporting news.
To become a Good Things Pledge Champion, simply add your information to this page and I’ll send you a certificate.
If you’d like for me to stop by and take a photo of your office or group with certificates, just send me a message
in the Contact Lisa page.
Beech Acres Receives Grant To Provide Critical Support For Families In Crisis
The Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trusts, Fifth Third Bank, Trustee, has just awarded Beech Acres Parenting Center a $25,000 grant toward its newly created Family Emergency Support Fund. The Fund enables Beech Acres to offer urgent financial support for basic material needs and customized, mental and behavioral health services for vulnerable families who are in crisis due to economic hardships.
This grant comes at a critically important time for Greater Cincinnati families as the economy causes an increasing number of parents to be unemployed or underemployed add huge additional stress factors to families. Currently 75% of Beech Acres clients are seeking supportive services and do not have the means to pay even a nominal fee for assistance they desperately need. Over 20% have three or more children.
“We’re finding that families facing economic hardships find it hard to even seek out mental health or family support because they cannot meet even basic material needs,” said Dr. Patrick Nugent, Beech Acres Parenting Center vice president for development. “They cannot focus on improving their family functioning because they are about to be evicted, or heat or electricity have been turned off, or a newborn baby lacks a crib. They may not even be able to keep therapy appointments because they cannot afford a bus token. Public funding does not cover these costs, so our Family Emergency Support Fund vital to the well being of the family.”
Beech Acres Parenting Center supports parents and caregivers in the most challenging and important job of their lives: raising children today who are able to thrive tomorrow. With a mission of Strengthening Families for Children, Beech Acres provided over 17,000 services for children, parents and educators across greater Cincinnati last year in homes, schools and in the community to strengthen parenting and relationship capabilities. For more information, please visit www.beechacres.org.
Anchored by Beech Acres’ Parent Connections Department, Family Emergency Support Fund services will include:
- Basic Material Needs: Financial assistance with emergency needs: transportation, utilities, food, child safety equipment, diapers, and other needs that prevent a family from working on social, emotional, and behavioral challenges.
- Parent Connections: A Beech Acres Parent Liaison will conduct an initial assessment, consult with parents and determine which services best address their needs. Based on their findings, they will be enrolled in one or more of the services listed below. If necessary, families will also be referred to other organizations or services providers to meet their needs i.e. the Freestore Foodbank for food.
- Consultation and Coaching: Parents, and sometimes the entire family, will participate in face-to-face meetings with a trained consultant or coach as a more focused and affordable alternative to family therapy. The sessions are customized to the needs of each family and address the specific challenges the parents, couples and/or children are facing. Together, they examine barriers and explore practical solutions. On average, consultation services are offered for 2-3 sessions for a total of approximately 2-4 hours.
- Mediation Services: Divorcing couples, married couples under stress, or families will be brought together with a mediator to improve communication and resolve conflicts. On average, mediation services are offered for 2-3 sessions for a total of approximately 2-4 hours.
- Individual Crisis Intervention Services: This service is a solution-focused means to help children and parents resolve a particular crisis. On average, crisis intervention services are provided through 1-2 sessions for approximately 2-3 hours.
- Parent Peer Support: Beech Acres pairs parents and families with trained parent peer coaches who have successfully overcome similar challenges in their own lives. Peer coaches will assist them in responding to their specific needs. Hours of support vary based on the needs of the family.
Livy Lu Found Her Forever Home
This past weekend was a very special event. Shelters and rescue groups from throughout the Tri-State joined forces to find forever homes for over 1800 dogs, cats, rabbits and even rodents. Bringing an animal into your home is such a wonderful gift and even more so when you are offering your heart to another living being who has somehow been let down by life in its past.
It is one thing to adopt an adorable puppy still so filled with rambunctious happiness, but so often the adult dogs who just aren’t as cute are the ones who face the most uncertain future. And for the ones who, by no fault of their own, have the most baggage by humans who failed them…well, they will be lucky if they find themselves with a kind foster parent or in a caring no-kill shelter.
Livy Lou Was One Of The Lucky Ones
A little terrier mix with a long white beard, bushy eyebrows and ears that flop over, Olivia (better known as Livy Lou) was 15 pounds of sheer terror when the Strubbes came by the shelter where Livy Lou had been spending her days. She was caged with large dogs – many at least double her weight – who didn’t understand the magnitude of their size or the concept of leaving a frightened animal alone. There really wasn’t enough space for that distance anyway.
The year was 2004. Sharon and David Strubbe had just become empty nesters and their house was getting awfully lonely without their long companion, a beautiful Samoyed who died just weeks earlier.
So, the couple visited the SCPA. “I didn’t want another big dog,” Sharon said…each time they left. They went back three times and each time she walked out crying because she didn’t see what she wanted but she hated leaving behind so many dogs that each had a need for love.
Their fourth attempt to find a new friend was at the League For Animal Welfare. “Is this one still here?,” Sharon asked of the dog in the picture. “Well, you had better meet her,” was the staff person’s response.
It turns out Livy Lu was all set to be adopted the week earlier. That is until she snapped and bit the woman’s ankle as she was paying the fee.
But that didn’t bother Sharon. If anything, it made her more determined. Sharon was going to win over Livy Lu’s heart and she wasn’t going to leave until she did it. After thirty minutes, Livy Lu still wouldn’t come close. She only barked and growled.
The rest of the story is what tells me what a huge heart Sharon and David have and makes me so grateful to know there are people in this world just like them.
A Heart Opened
They were brought into an enclosed room – Sharon, David and a little ferocious beast who took guard of the corner. Time went by. Finally Livy Lu took a step forward, wagged her tail, and returned to the only place in that space that seemed safe at the time. “I just had to have her,” Sharon said. “I wasn’t going to give up.”
And neither was Livy Lu. Sharon and David patiently kept their distance, allowing this dog who until then had no reason to trust anyone, to somehow find the strength to have courage enough to try. That’s when magic happened. Livy Lu took a leap and landed on Sharon’s lap.
“She’s coming home with us,” Sharon told her husband.
They have been together ever since. Livy Lu is about 15 years old now and is deaf. Lucky for her, the most important language of life – the language of love, needs no words.
