Be Someone’s Sunshine
Cincinnati Teacher Inspires Learning
This post is written by intern Brittney Bash, a student at Cincinnati Country Day School.
“Be who you are, because that’s what you have. Impact other’s lives the most by being honest and true” – Lisa Bodollo
Lisa Bodollo would describe herself as nutty, crazy, creative, and passionate. With a job in the performing arts, one indeed needs to possess each of these traits. 
. She’s previously worked at Mercy High School after obtaining undergraduate degree in Education from Bowling Green State University and her Master’s Degree in Directing and Theater Production from Central Washington University. Along with Cincinnati Country Day, Lisa also teaches and directs productions at Mount Saint Joseph University.
Both of her parents are from Hungary and some of her favorite childhood memories are from when she would visit her grandparents there. Nowadays the Bodollo family is spread out across the globe, but Lisa is still thankful for the strong bond they share. She was also the first Bodollo to get a college degree.
Lisa pushes her students every day to do everything they can to the best of their ability and to always give 100 percent. “Dare to be remarkable, because what are your other options? You do not dare to be mediocre, to be lower than others,” she will say. “Some people can reach a certain level and be fine with their achievements, but you should always aim a little higher. People don’t realize their own capabilities and therefore often do not realize all of the incredible things they can do!”
She believes in producing good shows of which people can look back on and be proud. She aims to eliminate the stigma surrounding the theater arts by encouraging others to “just try it” and by never putting people in a situation where they would be embarrassed. One of her goals is to also make theater classes less of a dumping ground for students who need an extra arts credit and more of a place where students can learn 
more about themselves and discover talents they never knew they had.
Lisa spends a large amount of her time giving back to the community outside of Cincinnati Country Day School. She currently serves as a committee member on the CCM Prep Department Board and the MSJ Arts Grant counsel. In the summer months, Lisa enjoys directing for the Cincinnati Fringe Festival and running her Theatreworks Summer Drama Camps for kids through the Northern Kentucky University Music Prep Department, Mount St. Joseph University and Madcap Puppets. She works a lot to try and create scholarships so kids don’t have to pay. She believes that the arts should never be denied to someone because they can not afford it try and often times those are the kids who need it the most.
Lisa is a big advocate for respect, both for others and also for oneself. One act of kindness that she recalls fondly is when she was in Over the Rhine and saw an older woman who was struggling with groceries. Lisa pulled over her car and helped the woman carry the groceries to her apartment. “She trusted me.” Lisa said. “And in a today’s world where all you often hear about is people being hurt and taken advantage of, that trust meant a lot. It showed me that there is still goodness in the world.”
Lisa continues to inspire and lead everyday by blessing those around her with her beautiful personality and spunk. If she could give one piece of advice, it would be this; “Dare to be the best you can be, and most importantly, dare to be true to yourself.”
#GoodThingsCincy
Carol Sanger Has A Heart For Pets
Carol Sanger has been a lifelong champion for non-human (and human) animals. Her compassion has saved and enriched the lives of hundreds – if not thousands – of dogs and cats; and causes she has supported have been a lifeline for vulnerable people who cannot afford the necessary expenses of medical pet care.
For all that she does and all that she stands for, the Cincinnati SPCA is honoring Carol with this year’s P.B. Johnston Humane Care Award that will be presented at its 2016 Fur Ball Gala.
Even during her long career as vice president of external affairs for Federated Department Stores (now Macy’s), she focused the company’s philanthropy on animal welfare issues. However, it was upon her retirement in 2005 that she was able to devote so much energy toward volunteer efforts.
I got to know Carol when I was contracted to do public relations for United Coalition for Animals (UCAN). For five years Carol served as its board president and led its $400,000 fundraising campaign to build the region’s first low-cost spay/neuter clinic. Later she helped establish (and served as its board chair for two years) the nonprofit Pets in Need of Greater Cincinnati, a nonprofit veterinarian wellness clinic for pet caregivers with financial challenges. Now she is board chair for the League for Animal Welfare, and excited about that rescue group’s recent growth. The League just opened a mobile vet clinic that travels to rural communities where 90% of residents are supported with government assistance.
Of course, when you talk about Carol’s volunteer work, you have to include her work with Westie (West Highland Terrier) rescues. She and another woman, Sue Durkin, took over the rescue arm of the Westie Club of Indiana in 2002, developing it into a nonprofit, Westie Rescue Indiana, that serves three states and has cumulatively placed over 600 dogs since then. (They are in the process of dissolving it and merging it into Great Lakes Westie Rescue.)
Lisa: How did you love for Westies evolve?
Carol: We got our first Westie actually by accident in 1988. I went to a pet store with my brother Kenny to get booties for one of our Shih tzu’s. The store didn’t have booties but they did have a little, adorable white dog marked down for a quick sale. While I was reading a book they gave me on West Highland Terriers, Kenny was holding her. She came home with us and we named her Kippy. We were hooked and went to a breeder to get a puppy that we named Ditto. We thought all Westies would be mellow like Kippy but Ditto was very different and very busy.
Lisa: Tell us about your first pet.
Carol: I was probably in the 4th grade when my first pet was a little black cat that my uncle, who was a builder, found in one of the houses he was building. There were actually three kittens but that little black one was my favorite. It was the runt of the litter and the others were picking on it. Animals bring out your maternal instinct. I always swore since then that I would always have a black cat. Later I had a black cat who was with me 13 years. And I have a black cat now.
Lisa: Why is this volunteer work so important to you?
Carol: Several reasons. Being able to rescue and to watch those animals who have suffered some trauma to learn to trust again is like watching a flower bloom. Slowly it opens and there is a beautiful creature that feels safe for the first time in its life.
Also, on the other side, pets are really like surrogate kids for so many people. What society needs to recognize is the importance of pets in people’s lives. Animals are so important for seniors and those who don’t have much other reason to get out of bed. Pets make these people feel loved and appreciated. Helping people keep their pets is not a luxury, it is essential. It is a huge emotional connection to life and living for many.
Lisa: What meaning have pets brought to your life?
Carol: Kenny and I currently have 12 dogs, nine cats, three goats and a miniature donkey. I can’t imagine life without them. They are part of our family.
Marian Spencer Honored
This week, I got to meet a real hero.
At nearly 96 years of age, Marian Alexander Spencer is an endearing, down-to-earth leader who has championed human rights and equality through her lifetime. She has been honored time and again for her unrelenting commitment to positive change; and this week she was recognized twice – the Cincinnati Human Relations Commission (CHRC) and the office of Cincinnati Council member Wendell Young announced a downtown street named for her legacy; and the Assistance League of Greater Cincinnati presented her with its esteemed annual Aspire Cincinnati Award.
Marian stood behind the podium at the Aspire Cincinnati™ Award Luncheon, and told a filled room of her grandfather who was a freed slave. His advice to her, and her brothers and sister, was always to ‘get your education, vote, and find people who will move you forward.’ (The Award is given to a local community leader and philanthropist who has demonstrated a passion to inspire and aspire, and to giving back.)
She followed that advice, graduating Gallia Academy High in Gallipolis as co-valedictorian and a member of the National Honor Society. She moved to Cincinnati to attend the University of Cincinnati, earning her bachelor of arts degree and meeting her husband, Donald A. Spencer.
Marian is a woman who has the courage to look adversity in the face and say, we can do better and we will all be better when we are as one. 
According to the Cincinnati Museum Center, one of her earliest, most visible civil rights activities was in 1952 when she chaired the NAACP Legal Action vs Coney Island so that her sons Donald Jr. and Edward Alexander could swim there. Marian then became a life member of the NAACP, serving on the Executive Board, as chairman of both the Legal Redress and Education committees. In 1981, she became the first female president of the Cincinnati branch.
She also served as chairperson of the Community Steering Committee for Indigent Defense, as chairperson of the Ohio Civil Rights Commission, and as president of both Woman’s City Club and Links, Inc. In addition, she was a member of the University of Cincinnati’s Board of Trustees. In 1983, Marian was elected to Cincinnati City Council as a Charterite and served for one term.
Sitting at her side, holding her hand and being warmed by her smile; I felt as if I had known Marian my entire life. Her sweet, tenderness reminds me so much of my late grandmother, who traveled as a young girl on a crowded boat from Russia to find hope in America and who died at 101.
Marian’s strength of character and tenacity to create a world where we can all be stronger and happier together is what makes her a hero. I am so glad for the opportunity to have gotten to know her, and for her legacy she has bestowed on our Greater Cincinnati region and beyond.
About the Assistance League:
The Assistance League of Greater Cincinnati is a nonprofit, all-volunteer organization dedicated to meeting critical needs of children and adults by identifying, developing, implementing and funding ongoing community programs. If you would like more information including membership, please visit their website.
Please click here to see my full photo album from the event on my Good Things Going Around Facebook page.
#GoodThingsCincy
UpSpring Lessons For Youth
It is pretty difficult to grasp that in our Greater Cincinnati region, there are an estimated 7,000 children among us each year who know what it is like to be called ‘homeless.’ They are young and impressionable and facing life challenges none of us should have to understand.
UpSpring (formerly Faces Without Places) is a wonderful Cincinnati nonprofit organization that each year empowers over 3,000 youth without permanent places to call home, removing barriers and providing inspiration for them to succeed in the classroom and in life.
This year UpSpring began a new after school program at Newport Intermediate called Club Diversity, and already it is opening students’ minds to new, unique growth opportunities.
Early this year, Club Diversity students got to know peers from across the globe who, like themselves, face daily challenges in life. Partnering with Crisis Relief Overseas, a veteran based organization that is meeting the medical needs of nearly 700,000 Syrian refugees residing in Jordan, UpSpring teens began a communication ‘penpal’ exchange with Syrian children.
Chris Erdmann, co-founder and president of Crisis Relief Overseas, shared with the Newport students how so many of these refugee children and families suffer from severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder following the bombings to their cities and subsequent stress of fleeing the only place they called home. Chris also shared the importance of the penpal program in aiding the recovery and healing process.
UpSpring’s newsletter summed the program up this way: “In addition to shedding light on the many layers of homelessness experienced worldwide, through this project, we hope to also emphasize the simple but essential human need to be listened to, cared about, and understood.”
As an alumni of a childhood international exchange program, Children’s International Summer Village, I know firsthand the great learning lesson there. In addition to those benefits UpSpring pointed out, exchanges like that close gaps and teach young minds how alike we are in many important ways.
That same group of students had even 
more growth experiences when they spent three days of their spring break at Camp Joy, pushing themselves beyond their comfort levels, working together as a team and individually, doing activities many adults have never done.
Thank you to the staff, volunteers and supporters of UpSpring for teaching children in very difficult situations so much about their world, and enabling them to grow and dream and pursue goals.
