Inspiration
Firefighters Honored For Saving Lives At Beverly Hills Super Club
I remember that Memorial Day weekend 36 years ago well. Friends of my parents told the story of escaping one of the horrific events of their life. Flames roared through the Beverly Hills Super Club, leveling it and claiming the lives of 165 people and injuring many more that evening. Everyone at their party thankfully got out but for those who survived, their memories will forever remain.
It was four brutal days and nights for the hundreds of area firefighters who worked tirelessly at that Southgate landmark. Those heroes saved more than 2,000 people in the deadliest Kentucky fire ever known.
Tonight, May 24, 2013, the Kentucky State Fire Marshall will honor the local firefighters with a presentation of the Medal of Valor, the highest honor for a fire department, to the Southgate Fire Department. And firefighters from throughout the region who battled the supper club fire will receive ribbons.
Dick Riesenberg was the Southgate fire chief at time of fire, and was the second firefighter to arrive to the club’s entrance when the emergency call came in to the Southgate Fire Department. He nearly lost 19 firefighters from his crew as the Cabaret Room ceiling was beginning to collapse from the heat. Dick lobbied for the award that is being given tonight.
“Our guys did a tremendous job, and I was very proud to be their leader that night,” he told Cindy Schroeder of the Kentucky Enquirer. “More than 2,000 people, or 96 percent of the people who were at the club that night, were saved.”
A Tribute To Teachers
Every day millions of teachers are entrusted with the lofty responsibility of teaching our nation’s children. And, on any normal day, that is exactly what they do. But then, there are those not so normal days when the unthinkable becomes reality. When a shooter ravages the hallways or a powerful tornado pillages the classrooms. On those days, we are reminded these teachers who are entrusted with our future are also protectors and heroes.
Thank you to them!
Students Donated Nearly $50,000 Through Magnified Giving
Last fall it was so wonderful to have been given the opportunity to learn about one of our region’s truly great philanthropists – Roger Grein when I helped raise awareness of his contributions. Roger has given to local nonprofits with his resources and his heart. However, his greatest legacy is in the hearts of thousands of young people in whom he and his Magnified Giving team of staff and volunteers have instilled long lasting generosity.
Magnified Giving is a nonprofit organization whose mission it is to educate, inspire, and engage students in philanthropy. Its vision of Magnified Giving is for every high school student in America, starting with the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky area, to someday have the opportunity to learn first-hand how to be generous and wise philanthropists.
Each year, participating school groups are challenged to determine how they want to invest up to $2000 in a nonprofit. They research, evaluate nonprofit grant applications, fundraise to earn matching dollars – gaining leadership, communication, and teamwork skills as part of the process. This spring in a packed auditorium of over 600 students, teachers, nonprofits, donors, parents, and community leaders, nearly $50,000 was presented to causes doing great work.
“The most rewarding aspect of Magnified Giving is when what we do in the classroom reaches beyond the walls of the school in a tangible way. I see students ‘get it’ when they come back from a site visit,” said Julie Vehorn, director of curriculum and instruction at Roger Bacon High School overseeing her school’s Magnified Giving program.
Participating Schools
Aiken College & Career
Arlington Heights
Bethel-Tate
Bishop Brossart
Chaminade Julienne
Cincinnati Country Day
Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy
Covington Catholic
Dater
Elder
Holmes
Indian Hill
Kings
Loveland
McAuley
McNicholas
Miami Valley Christian Academy
Mother of Mercy
Mt. Notre Dame
Notre Dame Academy
Perry High School
Reading
Roger Bacon
St. Henry
St. Xavier
School for the Creative and Performing Arts
Seton
Shroder
Starfire University
Summit Country Day
Taylor
Ursuline Academy
Wyoming
Pilot Programs
Madeira Middle School
Northern KY Youth Advisory Board
Jackie Robinson And His Gift To Our World
Today, at Greater American Ballpark and every other major league ballpark across the nation, in homes and businesses, in schools…and in movie theatres thousands will pay a tribute to a humanitarian, a father, a baseball legend, a hero.
Sixty-six years ago, when the civil rights bill was but a distant dream, a young man with unbridled talent stepped onto the field wearing a Brooklyn Dodgers jersey and the number 42 embellished on his back.
That man was Jackie Robinson, a former varsity athlete lettered in four sports at UCLA and a former second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He also, as we all know, happened to have been African American. And on that historic day in the office of a bold businessman, Jackie courageously stepped forward to change history books forever when he signed to become the first black athlete to play major league baseball.
All around him people were separated by the color of their skin – in schools, the military, hotels, restaurants, buses, and yes, even the entrances to ball parks. Cruel racial (and religious) antagonism ran deep.
Jackie and Brooklyn Dodgers President Branch Rickey knew if they were to be successful in integrating baseball; it had to be with dignity not fists.
Jackie: “You want a player who doesn’t have the guts to fight back?”
Branch: “No, I want a player who has the guts NOT to fight back.”
“We win if we convince the world of two things – that you are a fine gentleman and a great baseball player,” Branch told the new rookie.
Jackie’s moral compass was tested as no man should ever have to be tested. Racial epithets pelted him on and off the field. Fellow Dodgers signed a petition to have him kicked off the team. He received death threats. The manager of the Philadelphia Phillies heckled him with the N-word for five unrelenting minutes (it may have been longer in real life). Even in Cincinnati’s own Crosley Field, the stands erupted in boos and jeers as Jackie stepped onto the field.
Through it all, he stood tall. Jackie proved to the world that he was a fine gentleman AND a great baseball player. And by Branch’s definition – I’d say he resoundedly won.
In 1997, under the direction of Commissioner Bud Selig, Robinson’s No. 42 was retired across all of Major League Baseball in an unprecedented tribute. However, today and every April 15, baseball players across the country will all be wearing his number in his memory and his honor for what he has given the game – and what he has given the world.
Stories like that of Jackie are so important for us to know and talk about. They are important lessons and reminders of what we as neighbors, friends, and co-workers must always remember. Our diversity is a gift that brings us different perspectives and opens our eyes to new opportunities. And the really beautiful thing is that, if you look deeper, you will find that we all share the most basic of needs – the need to be valued, included and loved.
Bill and Melinda Gates, and Warren Buffet, Created Giving Pledge
Do you know about the Giving Pledge? I saw on Forbes.com that Bill Gates and wife Melinda, together with Warren Buffett, came up with the idea to get America’s wealthiest families to give away at least 50% of their wealth during their lifetimes, or upon their deaths, and write a letter explaining why. Since they launched the effort in June 2010, 91 people have signed on.
Some examples:
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has given away $2.4 billion. He has supported anti-tobacco efforts worldwide, clean air programs, education, government improvement, and the arts.
Carl Icahn, billionaire investor and chairman of Icahn Enterprises, has founded three charter schools in the South Bronx; its students have performed significantly better on the New York language and arts exams than the neighborhood average. His Icahn House in the Bronx houses homeless pregnant women and single women with children; he also supports a scholarship program at Choate.