Inspiration
Bake Me Home Girls Encourage Philanthropy
Have you heard about Bake Me Home? It’s a fabulous Cincinnati nonprofit founded by two twin sisters (Emma and Amy Bushman, now 11) and their mother 
(Alison Bushman). I wrote a story about them in a previous post. Please click here to read it.
Emma entered the ‘Go Orange for No Kid Hungry’ national essay contest and I was able to get a copy of it. I don’t know about you but I find it so uplifting to read about philanthropy from the minds of youth.
Bake Me Home is a charitable organization dedicated to promoting volunteerism and providing disadvantaged moms and kids with direct services that encourage shared family experiences. It was established in 2008 and is a Better Business Bureau approved charity.
It was Christmas Eve-Eve 2010 at a homeless family shelter. My mom, my sister, and I were reading to the kids there. A girl, older than I was at the time, wanted to read one of the books out loud too. She got up in front of everybody and began to read. She was so determined to read that book, even though the kids around her quickly lost interest as she struggled to pronounce the words. I love to read, and it was clear that she liked to read, but just because I had been given a better opportunity to learn, I was a better reader than she was. It occurred to me that it’s probably hard to learn when your hungry all the time and moving around a lot. I would be absolutely devastated if I couldn’t read.
I left the shelter that night thinking a lot about how my life was different from the kids who live there. I spend quite a bit of time hanging out at shelters because my mom, my sister, and I have our own charity called Bake Me Home that provides services to families from homeless and battered women’s shelters, but this night really brought the differences into perspective. Until then I thought about things like the fact that I have my own room, and get to do extra activities like tennis lessons. That night was the first time I realized what a difference there was in our education too. My mom and I both cried in the car on the way home that night. She said it made her sad to think about what a beautiful reader that determined girl could be if she had all the advantages that we did.
Well, we know that we can’t do everything to help homeless kids, but we can let them know them even strangers care about them, and we can help them buy some food. In our Bake Me Home Tote Bags, we give out a $20 grocery store gift card (among other things!). Just last year we gave out 342 $20 gift cards. That’s $6,840 worth of grocery money to hungry families. If I win this essay contest I will donate the money to my non-profit organization so that we can continue to help these kids.
I still think about that girl, and how hard it must be to learn to read when you are hungry, and this is why ending childhood hunger in America is important to me.
Bake Me Home was recently featured on The List
Angie Brown Inspires Me
Sometimes in life people cross our paths and it is like destiny that they were meant to find you. They touch us in very powerful ways. Through their 
example, their leadership, and their genuine caring, they make us want to be a better person.
Angie Brown is one of those someones.
I actually don’t remember how I learned about Angie’s LinkedIn group – Phenomenal Women of Focus – but I can remember as it was yesterday the first meeting I attended. Even before the night came, Angie’s emails already made me feel important to her. She signed up to become a Good Things Pledge Champion in advance so that she could let others know.
It was an evening when I really needed a boost. How did Angie and her group know? I’m sure they didn’t. But Angie’s bear hug, and an entire room filled with women who wanted to inspire and support each other sure lifted my spirit. They shared stories of how they lost a job only to rediscover themselves, of their accomplishments in a career they love, or of how they were still in the process of figuring out what they want to do with the rest of their lives – and they were excited for the opportunity. They spoke with passion and heart. They gave me a gift more valuable than what any store would have on its shelves.
I’ve since learned Angie has a way of bringing that out in those around her. More than once she has gone out of her way to drop a simple note just to remind me she is there. And gosh, in October I was so honored to have been selected to share my story with the group.
It should really be no surprise to learn that one of the reasons Angie is so related to the Phenomenal Women is because she too rediscovered herself.
There was nothing unusual about the start of that frigid January day. But hours later, with cars whizzing past, an 18-wheeler pummeled into them, crushing the car – and Angie’s entire leg among other injuries. In the months that she lay in her hospital bed, depression set in. For the first time since infancy, Angie had to depend on someone else (her husband) to feed and bath her. She couldn’t help ask the question…”Why?”
But then, soon after, her question became, “Why not?”
“I decided ‘this isn’t who I was supposed to be. I wasn’t going to allow my circumstance to prevent me from making my life count’,” she told me.
Angie did eventually get out of the hospital, and when she did, she left her high salaried corporate job for a new career. It has been seven years now since she has been a certified life coach (her business is ‘The Best is Yet to Come’ coaching), and, she said, she loves what she does as much today as she did when she started.
Her other job is that of loving wife and mother. Anna, their youngest, is close to graduating with a pre-med degree as an honors student. William is also an honors student majoring in engineering, and is captain of his college’s golf team. And 24-year-old Aleia is chief curator for a national museum.
“I want to know, when I leave this world, that I gave up every gift I have been given,” Angie said.
DeAnna Hoskins Is A Woman Of Resilience
I am SO proud of DeAnna Hoskins. I met her many years ago. A single mother of three, her obstacles were huge but not unconquerable. She found the inner strength to leave behind drugs and an abusive relationship, to find a new path after being incarcerated. DeAnna has three degrees including a master’s degree in criminal justice, and she is considered an expert in the field of re-entry. She is also a licensed clinical addiction counselor, a certified offender workforce development specialist/trainer and a certified recovery/peer-to-peer coach. DeAnna is featured in The Women’s Book as a woman who inspires greatness in others. I don’t know anyone more deserving.
Congratulations DeAnna!
Character Council Honors Greater Cincinnati Heroes Of Character
Samuel Wenger
When it comes to understanding everybody’s basic need for being included, Loveland Middle School student Samuel Wenger has a pretty good grasp. Actually, as a 7th grader, Samuel understands the meaning of friendship, acceptance and belonging better than many adults.
Just ask his close friend. Corey’s impulsiveness and language delays made getting to know others somewhat difficult. That is, until he met one of the most popular students in school. Samuel purposefully sought Corey out to include him at recess, in the lunch room, and in class; and, by mid-year, their classmates also came to realize Corey had gifts to share.
That story of genuine caring is not unique. In Runner’s Club, if a student was struggling to finish or seemed lonely, it was always Samuel who would break apart to join him or her.
However, don’t think for a second that I am writing about a boy who has everything easy. Samuel’s asthma has been the cause of many emergency trips to the nurse’s office, missed classes and missed recess. But he never misses finishing his homework and making the honor roll.
On November 7, 2012, he will be among five students and four adult leaders to be recognized by the Character Council of Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky as Heroes of Character.
Adult honorees include Dr. Jane Knudson of Indian Hill Schools, Matthew Long of Green Recycling Works, Dan Hurley of Leadership Cincinnati, and George Vincent of Dinsmore & Shohl, LLP. Other Kids of Character honorees are Ty Battle of St. Vivian School in Cincinnati, Julia Feldmann of Union Elementary in West Chester, Brookln A Davis of Rees E Price Academy in Price Hill, Dillon Held of St. Veronica School in Anderson Township.
Paul Miller And Circus Mojo Inspire Potential
Note: Do you have children who want to learn circus arts? At the bottom of this post, learn how they can!
One of my favorite movies of all times has got to be Patch Adams – the beautiful true story of a man impassioned since early adulthood to dedicating his entire life toward spreading joy and laughter and love and kindness.
As a doctor, his greater purpose isn’t about prolonging death with medical treatment, but about promoting quality of life. In the movie, we saw Robin Williams (playing the role of Patch) dress as a clown and transform gloom into smiles, anxiety into joy.
“Celebrate that you have the ability to step out of yourself and the opportunity to give yourself to others and the world,” the real Patch just wrote on his Facebook page.
And so, when Paul Hallinan Miller aka Pauly the Clown first showed me a video story about his work with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, I knew this was a man and a passion in which I believed. In the little bit of time that I’ve been working with him in a PR capacity, I can see how much his work means to Paul and how much he wants to make a difference through his skills.
The Bigger Story
Paul was in his final year of college in 1996 when he dropped out to become a clown. He did ultimately return and got his theatre degree but not before a stint with Ringling Bros. and Barnum Bailey.
These days Paul and his team at Ludlow-based Circus Mojo are all about bringing out the best in people through circus arts. Their classes, workshops,
performances, and other programs have inspired children of all backgrounds, seniors, sports teams, corporate executives, people with disabilities, doctors, and hospitalized kids.
“In a hospital, giving kids some skills to take home besides their cast or their prescription or their scar is really important. It’s about giving the kids something to celebrate,” Paul said of his Circus Wellness Therapy that takes medical clowning to hospitals including Cincinnati Children’s Medical Hospital.
Other programs of Circus Mojo for diverse populations include:
CircAbility empowers people who have physical, mental and behavior disabilities to discover and strengthen skills and build self-confidence.
Circus Scholastics, largely funded by The Fischer Family Foundation, is a unique after-school tutoring program combining circus skills and homework.
Circus Wellness has performed at a center that serves people who are blind, in a juvenile detention center, for grief counseling, and others.
Work Your Mojo corporate programs foster team building, trust and confidence.
Under the Big Top
Built in 1946, the Ludlow Theatre was vacant for years when Paul acquired it and is continuing to renovate it. Immediate plans for the facility include expanding the seating capacity, installing a restaurant and bar, and developing its very own in-house circus production group. In addition to programming an array of music and entertainment (jazz, folk, rock, dance, comedy, improvisation, etc), the restaurant will offer brick-oven pizzas, the bar will specialize in independent micro brews, and the in-house production group will produce regular circus performances and a touring show.
Mark Your Calendars!
To purchase tickets for all events of Circus Mojo, please visit www.LudlowTheatre.com. You can also purchase tickets at the door. Ludlow Theatre is located at 322 Elm Street; Ludlow, Kentucky, 41016).
October 27
MojoWeen Haunted Circus
Calling all kids and kids at 
heart. Have you ever wanted to be a circus hula hooper, juggler, aerialist, or plate spinner? How about learning how to be a circus clown just in time for Halloween?
Circus Mojo’s MojoWeen Haunted Circus will feature an action packed performance fit for the Big Tent. Immediately following the show will be a fun, interactive workshop so can-do attitudes and gym shoes are recommended! It all begins at 3 p.m. on Saturday, October 27 at the new performance hall of Circus Mojo – the Ludlow Theatre. (322 Elm Street; Ludlow, KY 41016).
Cost is $5 for adults and $3 for kids. (Adults 18 and over do the Thriller dance can also receive a free admission ticket to the Coulrophobia ball later that night – a $20 value.)
October 27 at 8 p.m.
Coulrophobia ‘Fear of the Clowns’ Ball
Just in time for Halloween, Circus Mojo is hosting Greater Cincinnati’s newest, spookiest, scariest circus event for adults with live music, unusual locally brewed beers, and of course – daring acts sure to amaze. Cost for the event is $20 per person.
Featured at the Coulrophobia Ball will be music from hailed Celtic folk metal band Winterhymn while performers will inspire with aerial acts, balls, wheels, and comedy. Those who dare come in costume are to be forewarned – the scariest clown guest will go home with a cash prize.
Proceeds from both of these events will support research on the impact of circus arts for people with disabilities and underserved youth.
There are other big events in November. Please check the Ludlow Theatre web site to learn more.
Win Tickets To MojoWeen!
I’ve got two groups of 4 kids tickets plus and adult kid-at-heart ticket to give-a-way. I’ll be drawing a name on Wednesday, October 24, at 4:30 p.m. To enter:
1. Simply tell me why your child or children love the circus as a comment below or message me (note that your comment may be used on Facebook)
2. Hang out with me on my Good Things Going Around Facebook page
2. Hang out with Circus Mojo on their Facebook page
3. Repin this contest image on Pinterest. Click on the photo for the link.
