Inspiration

How A 29 Year Old Stockbroker Saved 669 Lives

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Nicholas Winton is surprised when he realizes he is in an audience filled with children whose lives he saved. This emotional video clip is from the BBC television program “That’s Life”.

“I was told that my sister and I were going to be sent to England. I was only 9 and not aware of the situation. A lot of us thought it was an adventure. We didn’t know what was happening.”

Here’s what happened. Milena Grenfell-Baines and 668 other mostly Jewish children were transported from Czechoslovakia to England in order to save their lives before the outbreak of WWII.

The man who made this possible was Sir Nicholas Winton. In 1939, Winton and a friend, Martin Blake, were supposed to take a skiing vacation. Instead, Blake, who worked with refugees, told Winton, at the time a 29-year-old stockbroker, that he should visit him in Prague and help with the refugees fleeing Hitler’s advancing armies.

Nicholas Winton did go to Prague, and he was deeply affected by what he saw: thousands of refugees driven out of Sudetenland, a Czechoslovakian area recently under Nazi control (Britain and France agreed to allow Hitler to annex a large part of Czechoslovakia in an attempt to avoid a World War and the Nazis had started to take control of the country.) There was no plan to save the refugees from the looming danger of the Nazis.

So Winton decided to act. He told the BBC, “The task was enormous but I had to do something. The so-called Kindertransports—initiatives to bring children west—had been organized elsewhere, but not in Prague.”

“Everybody in Prague said, ‘Look, there is no organization in Prague to deal with refugee children, nobody will let the children go on their own, but if you want to have a go, have a go.’”

Winton contacted multiple governments for help, but only England and Sweden agreed. The British government approved his bringing children to the UK if he could find them homes and make a deposit of 50 pounds for each child.

From March to August 1939, Winton worked as a stockbroker by day and a rescue worker at night to get the kids to the UK. Winton advertised in British newspapers and in churches and temples to find families. He raised money for transportation and managed logistics—even forging entry permits when the government was moving too slowly.

Winton saved 669 children, working until war broke out and kids could no longer leave Czechoslovakia.

Winton stresses that he receives too much attention and that his collaborator in Prague—Trevor Chadwick—and everyone who participated deserves credit.

In fact, Winton kept his heroic deeds to himself for almost 50 years. His wife, Grete, didn’t even know about his rescue efforts until 1988, when she found his scrapbook in the attic, with records, photos, names and documents from his efforts. With his wife’s encouragement, Winton shared his story, which led to his appearance on the BBC television program That’s Life. The emotional video clip in this article is from that show—you’ll see the moment when he realizes that the studio audience is composed mostly of people he rescued.

The rescued children, many of them now grandparents, still refer to themselves as “Winton’s children.” And Winton said that hardly a week goes by when he isn’t in touch with one of the children or their relatives.

Vera Gissing, one of the rescued children, said, “If he hadn’t gone to Prague on that day [instead of on his skiing vacation], we wouldn’t be alive. There are thousands of us in this world all thanks to him.”

When asked by a class doing a history project for advice, Nicholas Winton said “Don’t be content in your life just to do no wrong. Be prepared every day to try to do some good.”

 

A very special thanks to Brad Aronson for sharing this story with me from his blog which has inspirational stories for work and life.

Cincinnati Kids Can Apply For Grants To Nonprofits

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I love the whole concept of Bake Me Home – two sisters who share a love for helping others and a mom who believes in encouraging their dreams reaching out to brighten the days of families struggling day-by-day. (To read my blog story about them, please click here.)

Bake Me Home is also encouraging other kids to get involved and give back.

Through the Bake Me Home’s Bake It Forward Program, kids entering 2nd through 9th grade who have made a difference in the lives of children can apply  for a $100 grant to the nonprofit of their choice from Bake Me Home. Along with the grant money to benefit their chosen charity, winners will receive a Bake It Forward t-shirt, jar of Bake Me Home cookie mix, and will be invited to a celebration at the Duke Energy Children’s Museum on October 14th, 2012.

Deadline for submissions is September 6, 2012.

Aaron Collins Last Wish – Kindness

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Aaron Collins is described as the type of person that took great joy in unexpected kindness.  Once after receiving exceptionally bad service at dinner, from a rude waitress, he left her a $50 tip. Things like this, given or received, were what he thought left a mark on a person’s life,” on the website.

A man with so much good in his heart was taken from this earth too soon. Aaron died July 7, 2012…just three weeks after his 30th birthday. But before his life ended, he made a last wish…to brighten someone else’s day and pay kindness forward.

What was his wish? Giving a random waitress a $500 tip after ordering pizza. After raising money through a website they built, his family carried out that wish at Puccini’s restaurant in Lexington, Kentucky on July 10.

Aaron’s brother Seth wrote, “We think he just wanted to provide a random act of kindness and generosity for someone he thought was under appreciated; the kind of thing that would make a lasting impact they would never forget.”

Mission very accomplished.

I found this note on the website:

“I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for the overwhelming amount of support you have given my family. Since last night we have received over $10,000 in donations. When I started this site I only expected to receive donations from friends and family. I was hopeful that we would get enough to make my brother’s wish come true. Even in my wildest dreams, I imagined we would receive enough money to do this for 2 waiters or waitresses. What has happened is absolutely incredible.

Right now we have enough money to change the lives of 23 more people, $500 at a time. That is nothing short of amazing. Please know that absolutely every penny we receive will go toward nothing but this. We will pay to host the website. We will pay for the food. Absolutely 100% of the donations we receive will be given to random waiters or waitresses. Our goal is to do this once a week, for as long as you give us the opportunity.”

Voices of Giving Awards Honored Those Who Give Back

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It’s so neat to see people whose lives were touched in a meaningful way, and who, when times got better never forgot and choose to give back.

Brian Brinkmoeller is one of those examples. He was a struggling single father to three curious and active girls who had a love for learning. On his own he wouldn’t have been able to afford the tuition for the Cathedral Child Development Center, a program of Children, Inc., but the organization was committed helping them no matter the circumstances. Now a successful business owner, Brian has remained steadfast to giving back to the agency that helped his family. In addition to serving on its board, he established the Monica Hughes Children’s Fund at the Greater Cincinnati Foundation to support families like his own. The Fund commemorates a young teacher at the Cathedral Center who died suddenly at age 32, and the very teacher who treated Brian and his girls as her own.

“Brian’s thoughtful gift will keep giving, ensuring that Children, Inc. will always be able to serve kids regardless of their family’s financial situation,” said Jordan Huizenga, director of development for Children, Inc.

Brian and 23 other warm hearted philanthropists in our area were honored recently by the Greater Cincinnati Planned Giving Council with Voices of Giving Awards. This was the fourth year that I’ve helped them with the post even publicity and it is so inspiring to hear their stories.

The 14th annual Voices of Giving Awards were presented by PNC and were hosted by Local12 News Anchor John Lomax at CET.  The program included featured speaker Lee Carter, co-chair of the 2012 World Choir Games United States, and a performance by the Cincinnati Girl Choir directed by Dr. Eva Floyd. The 2012 event was co-chaired by Mary Alice Koch (PNC Bank) and Chandra Mathews-Smith. Committee members included Sue Ellen Stuebing (CET), Carol Stevie (CISE), Tracy Monroe (Ronald McDonald House), Michelle Mancini (American Cancer Society), Telly McGaha (Redwood), Susan Kulick (Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center), Karen Kruer (NKU Foundation), Misty Griesinger (Association Connection), Jim Friedman (The Jewish Federation), Lori Asmus (Episcopal Retirement Homes), and Sally Alspaugh (Xavier University).

 “Greater Cincinnati nonprofits making measurable impact in the communities where we live and work rely on generous donors to help them sustain their mission. Our Voices of Giving Awards is our way of saying ‘thanks’ to our philanthropists for being purposeful in helping to ensure the longevity of causes important to them,” said Lori Asmus, Voices of Giving committee member.

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.

2012 Voices of Giving honorees

To view all of the photos from the event, please click here.

 

(Note:  photo is of Cindy and Brian Brinkmoeller with Jordan Huizenga in the back)

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