Nonprofit Organization
Duke Energy & United Way Partner To Offer Heat Relief
I don’t know about you but I find it awfully hard to be outside for any length of time in this humid, intense heat called Cincinnati summer. I know I can get away from it easy enough by going inside my air conditioned house.
But imagine what it is like for those who can not afford air conditioning. Pretty unbearable.
So a special thanks goes out to organizations who are helping those in need by supplying fans. United Way of Greater Cincinnati and Duke Energy are doing their part to provide heat relief with fans.
Duke Energy is providing a $20,000 grant to buy fans for seniors, low-income and people with disabilities in the Greater Cincinnati region. United Way will administer the program, distributing funds to non-profit agencies that serve the needs of those populations.
“We know how overwhelming the oppressive heat and high humidity can be for our customers,” said Jim Henning, president, Duke Energy Ohio and Kentucky. “We hope this grant joins other support in helping people in the community get some relief.”
By dialing 2-1-1 for fan distribution resources, individuals can reach United Way 211, United Way’s 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week health and social services information and referral helpline. Fans will be available in Duke Energy’s service territory of Southwestern Ohio and Northern Kentucky.
Cincinnati Student Collects Shoes For Those In Need
What a gift this blog has given me to get to meet truly beautiful people, people who give with their whole hearts realizing they have the capacity to affect lives.
Meredith Bailey is one such person. A senior at Walnut Hills High School, our paths crossed for the first time several weeks ago when her proud mother reached out to me. Karla wanted me to know about this special young philanthropist who has quietly been collecting shoes to share with those who otherwise would not be able to afford one of the great necessities that we so easily take for granted.
It began about four years ago. The Walnut Hills High School senior was looking for a Girl Scouts community service project. She donated a lot of shoes to Nike who recycled them for padded floors of playgrounds built in underserved neighborhoods. Then she gave shoes to pantries and Cincinnati nonprofits, and before long word got out. The requests kept coming in.
“I couldn’t turn my back,” Meredith told me. “Sure, sometimes I wish I had chosen something easier and there is nothing worse smelling than a carload of smelly gym shoes on a hot summer day but it’s a good feeling to know I am helping people.”
Meredith estimates she has collected, sorted, cleaned and distributed some 6,500 shoes since she began. Hundreds of pairs were given to Project Connect, to ensure Cincinnati Public Schools students who are homeless have something to wear on their feet when they come to class. She delivered 75 pairs of boots to Rockwern Academy last December. Six Cincinnati area nonprofits including the YWCA Battered Women and Children’s Shelter are also on Meredith’s list.
And about 300 shoes were given to SOTENI, who will give them to people in the villages of Kenya where native Cincinnatian Randi Marsh has established a program to fight AIDS.
I stopped by the Bailey’s house the other day to meet Meredith in person. A beautiful, tall and slender teenager greeted me with multi-colors of paint all over her hands. “I am a counselor at Girl Scout camp,” she explained. I had figured her summer job would have something to do with giving back.
She took me to her back porch where she had only a fraction of her shoe collection. (She had just given hundreds of pairs to Project Connect.) It was then, seeing her expression as she looked into the piles that I could really see deep within her soul. There, standing in front of me, was a young woman who hadn’t even decided upon her college yet but who had the foresight many don’t accumulate in their lifetime.
It is one thing to see in an email the words from someone telling you how happy it makes her to know she is helping people. It is a totally different experience to hear those words from a voice that crackles in raw emotion as she internalizes the impact of her good deeds.
Meredith spoke of a child who was able to attend camp because now there were shoes to cover her delicate 1.5 sized feet. And of the girls she came to know at a Girl Scout forum who put a face to the poverty in Kenya Meredith had until then only heard about through the news. One of them who had little or no material possessions had aspirations of becoming a doctor one day.
“It really gives you a different perspective on how much we have and they don’t have,” Meredith told me. “Those girls don’t have much but they still have dreams. They are so strong despite their circumstance.”
For me, I think strength can be measured in so many different ways. Caring and putting those feelings into action builds many of those muscles.
“I think happiness is the most important thing in life. The fact that I can make people happy is all that matters,” Meredith said.
If you have shoes to donate to Meredith’s cause, you can email her at: WeBeBailey@aol.com.
Greater Cincinnati Foundation Is Looking For Big Ideas
Gosh, for so many reasons I am proud to call Cincinnati home. Look around and it is not difficult to find people doing good things, giving back and helping one another, beautifying neighborhoods, and strengthening lives. Diverse cultures joined in workplaces, schools, and gatherings. Together, we make this region thrive.
We have literally hundreds of truly valuable nonprofit organizations whose programs offer hope and enrichment and improve community. They are sustainable only because people – neighbors and friends – care. And for 50 years, the Greater Cincinnati Foundation has been matching charitable donations with causes to bring it all together.
I’d say that is an anniversary worth observing! How neat it is that the GCF is celebrating by inspiring more giving and innovation.
The Big Idea Challenge
In a ground breaking effort, GCF is inviting individuals to come forward with their creative ideas for creating a more vibrant region for The Big Idea Challenge. Through July 29, you can submit your plan online (at this link) that should fall under one of these seven categories:
Vibrant Places
- Strong Communities: Ensure we have the best places to live by getting more people and organizations involved in comprehensive approaches.
- Cultural Vibrancy: Expand everyone’s connection to the arts, and support the roles of arts and cultural organizations in economic activity in our communities.
- Job Creation: Make more jobs available here by attracting and growing businesses and cultivating a culture of entrepreneurship.
- Environmental Stewardship: Protect our natural environment and promote development of a “green economy.”
Thriving People
- Educational Success: Support children’s learning all along the way from cradle to career.
- Health & Wellness: Pursue healthy lifestyles and create access to health, dental and mental health care.
- Economic Opportunity: Help all individuals and families address their basic needs, get meaningful work, and achieve family financial security.
All submissions are being posted on the Big Idea Challenge web site. After July 29, a panel of community reviewers will narrow down the plans before the ideas are put before the public to vote. In addition to cash prizes for the winners, GCF will find a nonprofit organization to test or implement the seven winning ideas and provide grants to make them happen.
Here are just a few of the great ideas submitted so far:
Piano Mobile – Keys on Wheels
In a retro-fitted van, a keyboard lab will be set-up for 8 students to park and play in neighborhoods across the Greater Cincinnati area. The facilitators aboard each van will instruct students in a 10-week introductory course designed with the beginner in mind. The van will move every 10 weeks to a new neighborhood. Materials and keyboards will be provided to students in daily classes. Minimal tuition could be charged or this could be a scholarship-based program or combination of both.
“I Can” Van
This program is designed to tackle self-esteem issues that continue to hinder the ability of children to build the confidence they need to excel in school & welcome new experiences for lifelong success.
The “I Can” van will partner with local schools and arts organizations to provide approachable, fun and educational programming to be delivered at area parks, community centers and clubs.
What are you waiting for? The time to share your Big Idea is now!
Thanks Greater Cincinnati Foundation for all you do!
Cincinnati Students Learn About Volunteerism In Summer Program
“What I learned about myself this week was that I love people and care about people. It’s a great feeling from helping people and that I’m not too small of a person to make a big difference.”
“What I learned about myself this week was to not judge others and to look deeper than what is on the surface. Everyone has their own stories and is going through various things, so even things like smiling can change someone’s day.”
“What I learned about myself this week was that conversations can serve a larger purpose in breaking down cultural barriers. I can be someone who initiates that conversation in the future.”
These are just some of the many reflections Cincinnati area students have expressed after a week this summer immersed in helping others through the Mayerson High School Service Learning Program. Seventy teens from Mt. Dotre Dame, Moeller, Aiken, Withrow, Reading, Dater and Finneytown High Schools, as well as Starfire University participated.
Through my work with area nonprofits I get to see so many generous acts of young people, and so many incredible programs aimed at instilling in them these powerful character values. I don’t remember having those opportunities when I was a teen and I think it is a beautiful gift. The lessons these students are learning will impact the rest of their lives, and will no doubt lead them on a path of lifelong philanthropy.
The Mayerson Foundation’s program is year round and includes high schools from throughout Northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati. In the summer urban immersion learning week, students volunteered at 30 area nonprofits and invested $1000 in one of those organizations each week through a grant review process.
Clare Blankemeyer, coordinator for the program, told me there was a strong emphasis on story telling because ‘stories make us human.’ One group interviewed students at the Drop Inn Center. “What the students learned is that many people experiencing homelessness have jobs, are hard working and came upon difficult times,” she said.
Mayerson particpants painted a symbol representing the life and stories of each guest. Those symbols were shared with the Drop Inn guests, and will be incorporated into a greeting card collage that will be sold to offset costs of the Center’s meal program.
Other participants worked alongside Homeless Coalition Streetvibes Distributors and City Gospel Mission’s Exodus Program members to explore their community through photography in the New Voices Program. Some of those pictures will be chosen for a calendar benefitting the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless.
Great work by great people making a great impact. That’s what I call a Good Thing!
Community Spotlight: The Mayerson Student Philanthropy Project
The Mayerson Student Philanthropy Project of Northern Kentucky University provides an opportunity for students to participate in experiential philanthropy through a wide variety of courses each year.
The Mayerson project is designed to use a “learn by giving” approach in the college classroom. Every semester select university courses are named Mayerson courses, are given a sum of money, and are asked to evaluate nonprofits and then invest in those they think will make the most effective use of the funds (typically, $1,000 per nonprofit).