Event
YMCA Salute Gala Celebrated Achievers
I just wrapped up working on a wonderful project – the Salute to YMCA Black & Latino Achievers Gala.
David Garibaldi, known the world over for his amazingly unique stage entertainment, brought his show to our region for the very first time as he created four 6 ft tall masterpieces before a filled Bank of Kentucky Center arena with more about 550 seats sold – at the Salute to YMCA Black & Latino Achievers Gala. The evening was a celebration of the potential of young people when inspired by caring adult role models who are volunteers of the YMCA.
The YMCA Salute Gala honored local professionals who are giving back as volunteers of the YMCA’s college readiness program. Also honored were eight teens selected to receive YMCA scholarships, including Breana Marie Nicholson – who was honored as 2011 YMCA Teen Achiever of the Year. Lisa Martin-Patterson and Olivia Darks were honored as YMCA Black & Latino Achievers Program Community Volunteers of the Year. James T. Cowan, MBA, and Chrystal Davis, were honored as YMCA Adult Achievers of the Year.
One of the largest regional programs of its kind, the YMCA Black & Latino Achievers Program motivates students of color to further their education and goals with help from successful, professional role models. Since its beginning, the Program has served over 6,000 teens, awarded over $200,000 in scholarships, assisted youth with over $4 million dollars in awarded scholarships and engaged more than 4,500 adult volunteers through a network of corporate and community partners.
The Salute Gala also raised essential funding so that the Program can continue to offer this valuable experience to hundreds of area youth, paving their path toward college and a career.
(photos by Mark Bowen)
More Than 3,500 Volunteers Participated In Prepare Affair
This past weekend, November 12, over 3,500 volunteers gave of their time to rake leaves, clean gutters and more for 1000 older homeowners in need. It was all part of People Working Cooperatively’s 24th annual Prepare Affair. The Event was presented by The Home Depot and sponsored by the City of Cincinnati, Hubert and Toyota; supported by Ingredient Masters, Scripps Howard Foundation, UBS, Viox Services, The Vectren Company, WCPO-TV and the First Bank of Richmond.
What a wonderful project to help people maintain their independence in their homes.
YMCA To Honor Greater Cincinnati Professionals
Their careers are in finance, 
graphic design, broadcast media, education, nonprofit management, strategic brand marketing, recruitment and retail. They have achieved milestones in their personal lives and their careers – and they ALL have a common interest in wanting to help young people succeed. On November 4, 2011 the YMCA of Greater Cincinnati will celebrate these 37 professionals as YMCA Achievers at the 33rd annual Salute to YMCA Black & Latino Achievers Gala. Unique to this event is that all YMCA Achievers are selected by their respective companies and commit to volunteering for the YMCA Black & Latino Achievers Program that motivates students of color to further their education and goals.
Honoree bios are here: 2011 YMCA Achiever honoree bios
Featured entertainer for the Salute Gala is David Garibaldi, who is known the world over for his amazingly unique stage entertainment combining exhilarating music with hip-hop moves as his arms flail with paint transforming a blank canvas into a graffiti-style masterpiece. David knows from his own childhood the important role of adults who care, or perseverance, and of believing in your dreams. It was as a young, impressionable boy growing up in unfriendly streets when he was first lured to the urban art called graffiti, but David’s ability to focus on bigger goals transformed that talent into a sought after performance artist who has been featured on MTV, NBC, PBS and others.
For the past several months, I’ve been spending a lot of time on the Salute Gala. My overarching role is to coordinate the messaging and communication surrounding it – which includes relationship building with the honorees and their circles, writing their bios, and this year putting together video snippets of them sharing their personal thought about the honor; coordinating the copy and graphics for much of the printed program; working with our three media partners, as well as other media and social media relations and other efforts to raise awareness about the Program and event; and writing the script for the Gala evening. This is my fourth or fifth year working on the Gala and it is such a meaningful project for me.
Listen to what Kimberly Forsyth, a 2011 YMCA Achiever honoree has to share.
2011 Salute to YMCA Black & Latino Achievers Gala
November 4, 2011 beginning at 6:30 p.m.
Bank of Kentucky Center on NKU Campus
To read about all of the 2011 YMCA Achiever honorees, please click here.
To learn more about the YMCA of Greater Cincinnati Black & Latino Achievers Program & the Gala, please click here.
To reserve your seat for the upcoming YMCA Salute Gala, please call 513-362-2012.
Voices of Giving Awards Honor Philanthropists
So often I talk about how fortunate I am to be working with and among some of this community’s most generous individuals and organizations making meaningful impact.
The Greater Cincinnati Planned Giving Council (GCPGC) and its Voices of Giving Awards is one example. This is the fourth year I have helped them with post event coverage. The GCPGC is a professional association of individuals whose life work is to help to ensure the viability of nonprofits. This year at CET, a studio was filled with representatives from some of those charitable organizations as 22 diverse area philanthropists and two financial advisers – all of whom share a common trait of selfless generosity – were honored. Voices of Giving Award recipients have contributed to the long term sustainability of meaningful causes through bequests or planned gifts.
“Our honorees have been touched in diverse ways by area non-profits and their passion runs deep. Their choice to create a lasting legacy through causes so close to their hearts will impact lives now and in the future,” said GCPGC Voices of Giving Awards Co-Chair Carol Stevie.
2011 Voices of Giving Honorees
Heidi Jark and Steve Kenat on behalf of the American Cancer Society
Pauline Strayhorne on behalf of CET
Chuck Goering on behalf of Children, Inc.
The Honorable Julia A. Stautberg (posthumously) on behalf of the Cincinnati
Bar Association
Andrew MacAoidh Jergens on behalf of Cincinnati Playhouse In The Park
Dan and Irene Randolph on behalf of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Jack and Peggy Bunker on behalf of CISE Foundation
Harry Kangis and Julia Hawgood on behalf of Episcopal Retirement Homes
Anne Heldman on behalf of the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati
Oakley and Eva Farris on behalf of Northern Kentucky University
William and Phyllis Augspurger on behalf of People Working Cooperatively
Barbara M. Stern on behalf of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Cincinnati
John F. and Susan C. Hoerner on behalf of the United Way of Greater Cincinnati
John D. and Ruth Erhardt on behalf of The Wellness Community of Greater Cincinnati
and Northern Kentucky
Professional advisors honored:
Robert Brant on behalf of the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati
Timothy E. Johnson, Ph.D., on behalf of GCPGC
To view video interviews with the honorees on CET Connect, please click here.
For more information on the Greater Cincinnati Planned Giving Council, please visit www.gcpgc.org.
People Working Cooperatively Volunteers Help Most Vulnerable
Such a great project. Repair Affair is People Working Cooperatively’s (PWC) annual spring volunteer event, providing home repairs and modifications that enable low-income, elderly and residents with disabilities to remain safely in their homes. For a day individuals, businesses and community groups help a PWC client (with supervision from a trained professional) with home repairs that would otherwise be unaffordable.
Our community is so giving that this year 800 people signed up to help 135 PWC clients. In fact an extra day had to be added to accommodate everybody’s generosity.
Repair Affair was developed by People Working Cooperatively in 1983 as a free outreach program to help homeowners who are often the most vulnerable to keep their homes safe and habitable. Presented by Home Depot and sponsored by the City of Cincinnati, the event was held across the Tri-State in greater Cincinnati, northern Kentucky and Indiana.
Would you like to help? PWC also has a fall event called Prepare Affair where volunteers will help people with services from raking leaves to cleaning gutters and other small winter preparation tasks.
