Lisa Desatnik
Louie’s Legacy Is Saving Lives
It was 2009. Emily Gear was living in New York. Eight years had passed since two planes flew into the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center, causing the two tallest buildings on the globe to implode, killing nearly 3,000 people, and sending a ripple of fear, anxiety, hatred across borders.
When something like that happens in your home town, you are in an instant changed. For Emily, PTSD had seeped into her soul. Her world was a heavy 
place. Her heart was missing a piece.
Emily wasn’t much into dogs back then but she was asked to babysit a basset hound and she said yes. That one little word was what pulled her out of a dark abyss. It became the start of a journey that has ultimately saved more than 22,000 animals by finding them forever homes that are filled with love.
It all started with Louie
There he was. On the 13th page she looked at on Pet Finder. He was a basset/husky mix with red fur and multi-colored eyes. Something about him just spoke to Emily, called for her to drive to Connecticut to meet him in person. He was heartworm positive which was fatal if not treated with very expensive medical treatment. She really was not expecting to bring him home, but she did.
Louie was just what Emily needed at the time.
I was shut down. He made friends with people easily. He was funny. He looked so weird with his short legs on a huge body and a head that didn’t quite fit. He looked like he was pieced together from different toys, she told me.
But also, he knew what she needed every moment. They were in each other’s heads all the time. I don’t think a human being could have done that, she said.
Louie, it turned out, came from a shelter that euthanized more than 99% of its dogs. It blew Emily away that her soul mate, her companion, could have easily been one of that statistic.
Saving dogs. Giving love. This became her life mission.
Moving back to Cincinnati, Emily began volunteering for rescue organizations while making medical and transport arrangements for animals. Soon she realized she needed to start her own rescue.
Sadly, it was one of her foster dogs that opened the gate to her back yard, through which Louie ran out and into the street. His life ended when he was hit by a passing SUV.
He had a specific job to do and when he did it, he left, she told me.
He didn’t get to see the day Louie’s Legacy was incorporated but truly, it is his legacy, that thousands of animals have been saved to do their job with their humans, to bring and receive joy through every day moments.
Louie’s Legacy, now operating out of New York and Cincinnati, is one of the largest shelters in the U.S. Almost all of the dogs they bring in have come from kill shelters.
Today Emily shares her home with four dogs, ages 11 to 15. Joe is a basset/Carolina mix who was a friend to Louie. Sirus Jones is a jack russell mix. Sandusky is a basset/husky mix who she found on Pet Finder just 13 days after losing Louie. And Louie Jr. is a fox hound mix, part of the first litter of puppies she fostered.
They keep me honest about the flow of life. That things begin and end and we need to be okay with that. You can’t waist the now moment worrying about that, she said.
By the way, Emily has also become an animal communicator and healer. You can learn more at www.IamEmilyGear.com.
My Furry Valentine
You can see animals from Louie’s Legacy and many other rescue organizations at My Furry Valentine, the region’s largest adoption event. Thousands of animals will be looking for their forever homes. This year it is February 15 and 16 at the Sharonville Convention Center (11355 Chester Road; Cincinnati, OH 45246). General admission is $5 and early bird admission is $25.
Mini Horses That Brighten Days
It is the greatest gift when you find a path to pursue where your heart leads. Lora Melin has found that gift.
Having grown up with the companionship of horses, it is perfectly perfect that for the past 12 years she has passed that love down to her daughter, 
Maggie. The family lives on a horse farm in Lebanon, Ohio…with, of course, their animals – five mini and two full sized horses.
However, the horses have come to have an even more special meaning in their lives. At 2, Maggie was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and if you know anything about that disease, you know it is very high maintenance to maintain good quality of life. The experience has taught her a lot about responsibility and compassion. It has given her empathy for others who have their own personal challenges or differences. It has made her into the young woman who is drawn to those feeling excluded. And become the driving force behind Maggie’s goal of becoming a special education teacher one day.
Through it all, the family’s large pets were invaluable helping Maggie to deal with her chronic stress – with her mental, physical and emotional wellbeing.
And now, Lora is passing this gift on to as many people as she can reach with their nonprofit called Maggie’s Mini Therapy Horses. They partner with organizations that support people with disabilities or chronic illnesses and have programs for schools; hospitals; hospice; local police & fire departments and other organizations that may benefit from animal assisted therapy.
Running the organization is no small feat. It begins with having the right horses. Then, since their natural instinct is to run when something scares them, there is a lot of desensitization training that needs to be done. The mini therapy horses need to be able to walk on different surfaces, hear all kinds of noises without being spooked, interact with wheelchairs and other mobility devices, etc. There is also the daily care that goes into raising healthy and enriched animals.
And, on outing days, it isn’t as simple as putting a horse in a car. Volunteers spend several hours grooming the horses before moving them into a trailer 
headed for their destination. On average each of the therapy horses go on two visits per week. They regularly visit the Dayton’s Children’s Hospital, Lindner Center of Hope, Bethany Village, the Ronald McDonald House and Otterbein Retirement Community. They also attend events for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, the local police department and others.
Interested in getting involved? Maggie’s Mini Therapy Horses is need of donations and volunteers. You can find more information on their website.
From Track Star To Ninja Warrior
James Wilson, 33, has always been a gifted athlete. Now he is the Nati Ninja.
At LaSalle High School and in college, he was a star running back in football – among the top 100 in the country. In track, his times running the 100-
meter dash, 400-meter relay and 200-meter dash were among the nation’s fastest (10.62 seconds in the 100- meter).After college, he’s run spartan races and mud runs.
Sitting in front of his television with a buddy, eating Papa John’s, watching season five of American Ninja Warrior (ANW), how could he not be thinking, ‘hey, I can do that.’?
But, he has said, “I ate like crap. I was just an athlete thinking, I can do what those people are doing.”
The Road To ANW
To be a Ninja, it takes a lot more than track speed. Those treacherous courses require almost non-human strength, timing, reflexes, coordination. Still, he was determined. He had a body built for elite competitions. He knew how to train.
James built makeshift obstacles in his parents’ backyard. He began taking to athletes who were Ninjas. He sent in a video submission. AND he got selected for ANW season six (2014) in St. Louis.
That first year he cruised through the course – until his long hair touched the water upon landing low on the cargo net from a jump.
Still, he was determined. He has been in six ANWs since then – the most recent was filmed here in Cincinnati. He was selected from a pool of thousands to be among the 101 competitors. Last season he finished among the top 17 of that region. In Cincinnati, he placed 32nd.
Training Future Ninjas
More commonly these days you can find James, who has a master’s degree in exercise science, as fitness specialist/personal trainer at the TriHealth Fitness Pavilion or training at or training others at his very own gym – the only official ANW gym in this area.
The Nati Ninja Gym in Blue Ash is open to everyone of all levels of fitness and all ages. It is a place to play and train and live out your Ninja dreams. It is a place where you can hold birthday parties or celebrate other occasions. There are the same kinds of obstacles you would face in the real competition.
And by the way, eight people from James’ gym have been selected for ANW.
As for James’ future on ANW…
“I am in my prime now and this may be my best year on the course,” James said.
Question to James: What brings out your smile every day?
James: When I go to the gym and the kids want to take their picture with me, I think that is so cool. I take it in and enjoy every moment. At the end of the day though, I am changing lives. I see kids who come to my gym burying their faces in their closes and then transform into these intense athletes. It’s great.
Question: Who is someone who has inspired you?
James: My wife Caitlin, definitely. She, herself, was training for ANW when she had to drop out of contention in 2015 with an Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis. She has the progressive kind of MS but she is young and is fighting it every day. She is my biggest support. She helps me run my gym and has been to every Ninja event. There is no quitting in her.
As to James advice on achieving, he had this to say, “Everybody fails. Without failure, there is no growth. You learn from every experience. Keep pushing.”
Kelly Richey – Healing Through Creation
For more than 30 years Kelly Richey was a touring blues artist. She shared the stage with music legends and was compared to icons Stevie Ray Vaughn and Jimi Hendrix.
Practicing, promoting, recording, creating and performing required more time and more pressure than many corporate careers.
Still, it wasn’t her only pursuit.
Kelly’s days were also spent teaching guitar, writing and leading writing groups, and coaching others to find their own passions.
Even for someone who has ADHD, that is a heck of a work load!
Actually, she says, it was her struggles, challenges and triumphs over having severe dyslexia that gave her both an insatiable appetite for learning and a passion for inspiring others.
A transformation.
The past eight years have seen Kelly commit to sobriety, earn certification as a true purpose and a dream coach; and certification as a facilitator for Women Writing for (a) Change. She is also a spiritual director trained by Wellstreams Spirituality Network and continues to teach guitar.
But these days Kelly awakes in her downsized home and begins her morning with a cup of coffee on her back porch that is followed by a yoga routine, and reflection. She is committed to walking her 10,000 steps every day.
She gets great satisfaction from leading her newest writing series at Women Writing for (a) Change, Celebrating Our Struggles.
Oh yes, and she still does play her Blues. You can’t take that out of her! The Spearkshakers, her newest music project, includes Sherri McGee who Kelly describes as, “an amazing performer, the most musical drummer I’ve ever had the privilege of playing with. And she is one of the best friends I have ever had.” Learn more about The Spearkshakers here.
Please read my Q and A with Kelly to learn more.
On your writing series, Celebrating Our Struggles, I bet there is a story behind how you chose that theme. Can you explain why, how personal this is to you?
After a decade of healing and personal development, I’ve learned that the gifts I have, come through the struggles I have endured. I believe that you don’t have to be a “writer” to write. For me, writing has been a form of healing, and I learned as a teen, that a piece of paper always listened.
The theme of this program has ended up centered on self-care, “radical self-care,” to be more exact! At the end of my first year of spiritual director training, I received my valuation from Sister Carol Ann. My evaluation read, “Kelly shows great promise and the art of spiritual direction, but if she’s going to succeed, she must practice RADICAL SELF-CARE!” My journey to discover what radical self-care looked like, began to unfold as “Celebrating Our Struggles” was created.
In the class, we learn the art of loving ourselves on a deeper level, and we develop daily self-care practices that work. We reflect on the narrative of our own story, and how the stories that we tell define who we are. We look at the sacred and explore what it takes to view ourselves as sacred– someone worth loving. We dare to look at our dreams, as a journey, rather than a destination. And finally, we look at the gifts we have discovered, those gifts that make us who we are, and how we might carry our gifts, as lights, into the world.
When people ask me about this program, many say, “but I’m not a writer,” and I say, “you don’t have to be a writer, to write.” They also say, “but I don’t have any real struggles currently in my life,” and I asked them, “what is your current level of self-care?” I’ve yet to find anyone who does not struggle with self-care, loving themselves, or pursuing their dreams as a journey, not a destination. For now, I’ve expanded the title to “Celebrating Our Struggles: The Power of Self-Care.” This synthesis project accurately reflected my journey. It takes all that I’ve learned and allows me to work with people and including myself, on the journey of wholeness.
How has writing helped you in your own life?
I had learning disabilities and I struggled in school. I was dyslexic, and when I graduated from high school, I read on a fourth or fifth-grade reading level. Growing up with learning disabilities had an impact on my self-esteem and self-worth. At the time in which I grew up, there was very little support for people with learning disabilities; as a result, I felt like a failure, and I felt misunderstood.
In my early teens, I learned that a piece of paper always listened, and that’s where I turned. Everything I wrote a stuffed in a milk crate and pushed under my bed. Today I have eight boxes filled with things that I’ve written, from my early teens through my mid 30s: spiral notebooks, loose-leaf paper, bar napkins, and brown paper bags. By my mid-30s, I was carrying a journal. Today I have at least 50 journals filled and stacked on my shelves. I also carried a cassette recorder with me wherever I went, capturing song ideas from lyrics to guitar riffs. I have three milk crates filled with old cassette tapes that when I transferred to digital format, they were 72 hours’ worth of material.
Whatever modality we use to capture our thoughts is of little importance. What’s important is that we capture what we feel inspired to express. I’ve read very few physical books in my life. However, thanks to books on tape from the Blind and Dyslexic program, offered by the library, CD’s, Audible, and my Kindle reader, I’ve read hundreds of books. For me, writing is a form of self-expression, and over the years, I’ve developed my skills. Currently, I use a program called Grammarly.com, and this program has changed my life. As someone who struggles with reading, spelling, and grammar, this program has empowered me to be able to write without the assistance of an editor.
When I became a writing facilitator at WWf(a)C, it was my single most significant accomplishment in life. It’s difficult to express in words what it feels like to achieve the dream that you never thought was possible and a dream that took over 40 years to complete. I’m excited by technology; it’s changed my life in many ways. Technology has given me the ability to access books that I would’ve never otherwise been able to read.
My struggle to read did not make me a writer; it made me write. I got my first computer in 1996, and thanks to email, I was forced to write. It’s taken me 20 years of writing to begin feeling confident in my skills as a writer. My struggle to learn made me a teacher— I experienced early in my life, the importance of a teacher that cared, and a teacher that would not give up on a student. I have no greater passion than teaching–it rivals any passion that I’ve ever had for playing guitar, and that’s a big statement.
What would you like to say to people about making change happen in their own lives?
Do not underestimate the power of self-care! Daily self-care practices bring about significant change. There is no magic bullet that changes our lives– it’s what we put into practice each day that makes the difference. When I got a guitar, I had to learn to play. There is no program on YouTube, that would have made me a guitar player– it was my daily practice routine that produced results. Ten years ago, I got sober, and I lost 50 pounds. My journey to help others heal has been part of my healing process, and today, I work with clients by using the 360 Wellness approach. This approach looks at every area of clients’ lives; a determines what is out of balance and what steps it takes to bring balance through daily the application of daily self-care practices.
And self-care is powerful, it’s simple, and it works!
Please visit Kelly’s website to learn more about her and her healing arts.
At 88, John Is Still Giving Back
At 88, John Anderson’s great joy in life comes from bringing sunshine into the life of others.
His lessons of service learned through the Scouts as a child have never been forgotten. “I learned then that whenever you give to someone, you are becoming a part of that person’s life for the time being, making it better or more interesting. You learn from that person different ways of looking at things.”
When John was getting ready for retirement from Procter & Gamble, he was recruited by the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center to visit kids in bed rest. He did that for 20 years.
Since marrying his second wife, Helen, 52 years ago, he has spread his time among a variety of volunteer activities from his church choir to his condo 
board to work with a hospice in Florida.
It was in 2010 John and Helen moved into Maple Knoll Village, and he is not about to slow down making his difference in the world. These days, when he isn’t visiting with his wife who has Alzheimer’s (and often singing to her), he can be found participating in the Sharps and Flats singing group, helping residents with computer issues, being a ‘friendly visitor’ in Maple Knoll’s Bodmann Skilled Nursing and Hospice units and volunteering in the Montessori center where he mostly reads to the 3 to 5 year olds.
“My time in the Montessori center is like therapy for me,” he said. “The kids are so open and trusting and accepting in the way they deal with adults. Life is so much simpler for them. They just love.”
John is also a member of Maple Knoll Communities’ Living Legacy Society and has graciously committed a planned gift through a trust.
For all of these reasons, he is one of 20 honorees who were recognized recently by the Greater Cincinnati Planned Giving Council with Voices of Giving Awards. The Awards recognize philanthropists who contribute with planned gifts – and so much more – to nonprofit organizations that have a special place in their heart. In fact, a benefiting organization nominates each honoree. It has been such a wonderful experience for me to help them each of the past eight years with post event publicity.
All of the2019 Voices of Giving Honorees include: Joseph and Frank Keenan (nominated by CET); Lori and David Zombek (nominated by Children, Inc.); Terry Lemmerman (nominated by Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park); Carol and Carl Huether (nominated by Cincinnati Public Radio); Joe and Mary Brinkmeyer (nominated by Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens); Terrence Lilly (nominated posthumously by the Freestore Foodbank); Donald C. and Laura M. Harrison (nominated by the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, Laura is honored posthumously); Barbara H. ‘Bobbie’ Ford (nominated by Hospice of Cincinnati); Carol and Larry Neuman (nominated by the Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati); Beth and Louis Guttman (nominated by the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati); Pat and Lew French (nominated by Life Enriching Communities – Twin Lakes); Martha Gelwicks Huheey (nominated posthumously by Life Enriching Communities – Twin Towers); Ray and Donna Bowman (nominated by LifeSpan, Inc.); Dianne and Tom Robinson (nominated by Magnified Giving); John Anderson (nominated by Maple Knoll Communities, Inc.); Christa Bauke (nominated by Mt. St. Joseph University); Nancy Perry (nominated by Northern Kentucky University); Jennifer Leonard (nominated by Redwood School and Rehabilitation Center, Inc.); Elaine Rairden (nominated by St. Vincent de Paul – Cincinnati); and Elizabeth and Bradley Younger (nominated by YMCA Camp Ernst).
The 2019 Voices of Giving Committee includes Carol Serrone, chair; Lillian Derkson, Butch Elfers, Melissa Gayer, Misty Griesinger, David Harris, Michelle Mancini, Lisa Roberts-Rosser, Sue Ellen Stuebing, Becky Timberlake, Dan Virzi, and Michelle Zeis.
To see all of the event photos, please see the photo album below. NOTE: When you move your mouse over the image, you will see an arrow. Left click your mouse on the arrow to move to the next photo. Paula Norton took the second half of the photos. If you click on a photo, you will see in the description if it was taken by her. Please credit Paula if you use that image.
The Greater Cincinnati Planned Giving Council is a professional association for people whose work includes developing, marketing, and administering charitable planned gifts for non-profit institutions and a variety of other legal and financial settings.
