Philanthropy – volunteers and nonprofits
Enriching The Lives of Homeless Pets And Families
I’ve been so grateful to my friends who have been there for me during this past year with lots of personal issues including my mom’s ailing health. The kindness of others has given me so much strength and I’ve been looking for a larger scale way of giving back.
I’d been yearning to get back to fulfilling that side of my heart again. This past fall I visited the Interfaith Hospitality Network of 
Greater Cincinnati and learned about its Pet Support Program.
I’d been looking for a larger scale opportunity to give back for those who have shown me so much kindness. IHN’s Pet Support Program touched me on many levels – when homelessness and financial hardship hit a family, it hits everyone in that family…including the non-human animals.
Then, in early December it occurred to me when I looked at all of Dawson’s unused toys. Among other things, boredom can be a cause of behavior problems that could make finding and keeping low income housing and shelter difficult for those families. Dawson’s unused toys could be enrichment for pets whose owners wouldn’t be able to provide them – or for those pets who are being cared for by IHN while their owners are working through what they need to work through.
The idea for Gifts for Best Friends was born.
From March 14 to April 18, we will be collecting gently used HARD dog and cat toys, and new hard and soft toys. There will be drop off locations. Additionally, I am looking for individuals and organizations who would like to organize an internal collection 
among their co-workers, congregations, group members.
Special thanks to the very talented Erik Pietila for creating the beautiful artwork for the campaign!!
Please visit this link to learn more on my pet training website. Also, I will be posting updates on my So Much PETential Facebook page. Please mark yourself as *attending* or *interested* to get updates.
And, if you would like to be involved with a collection, please be in touch!
Drop Off Locations
Care Center Vets
6995 E Kemper Road
513-530-0911
General area – Montgomery/Symmes Township
Earthwise at Harper’s Point
11328 Montgomery Road
(513) 469-7387
general area – Montgomery/Symmes Township
Interfaith Hospitality Network of Greater Cincinnati
990 Nassau Street
513-471-1100
general area – near downtown
Mason Community Center
6050 S Mason Montgomery Rd
(513) 229-8555
general area – Mason
Pet Wants – Findlay Market
1813 Pleasant St
513-721-8696
general area – Over the Rhine
Pet Wants – Cincy Kitchen
1409 Vine St
513-621-3647
Pleasant Ridge Pet Hospital
6229 Montgomery Rd
(513) 351-1730
general location – Pleasant Ridge
Western Hills Animal Hospital
5500 Glenway Ave
513-922-2266
general area – Western Hills
Music Unites Students At Princeton
If you found a place where everyone welcomed and included you for who you are, would you want to go there?
These are the first words my dear friend Sue Schindler had written for a group of Princeton High School students on the day that I visited – this past Tuesday. It was part of a very special Melodic Connections program called Common Time where people of all kinds of diversity and abilities are brought together to play music, but more importantly, through the process, laughing, sharing, appreciating one another.
Sue (and her husband Bob) worked with Melodic Connections to bring Common Time to Princeton this week as a celebration of what would have been their daughter Katy’s 26th birthday. Katy was a Princeton Viking too. It was a place where she was welcomed and included. Her communication device could have made learning a challenge, but she had the will and persistence (and support from her family, friends and school) to succeed.
She also happened to have been a Melodic Connections’ musician. No matter the song, Katy loved making music. And she loved life.
Sue wrote a personal message that was given to each of the students on Tuesday:
“When remembering Katy, people talk about her infectious smile and laughter, her radiant blue eyes, her persistence, and how she lived life to the fullest. Others talk about her grinning ear-to- ear when hitting a single in baseball, laughing hysterically while trotting on her horse, Poncho, or when stopping in the middle of a rambunctious soccer game to take in the moment. Katy made life exciting and fun.
Today, through Common Time, take joy in the moments, cherish what strengths you bring and connect with others who are new to you. Today is a day to celebrate the best in you! As you leave today . . .
What will you do to challenge yourself and make your life more exciting and fun?”
Louie’s Legacy Is Saving Lives
It was 2009. Emily Gear was living in New York. Eight years had passed since two planes flew into the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center, causing the two tallest buildings on the globe to implode, killing nearly 3,000 people, and sending a ripple of fear, anxiety, hatred across borders.
When something like that happens in your home town, you are in an instant changed. For Emily, PTSD had seeped into her soul. Her world was a heavy 
place. Her heart was missing a piece.
Emily wasn’t much into dogs back then but she was asked to babysit a basset hound and she said yes. That one little word was what pulled her out of a dark abyss. It became the start of a journey that has ultimately saved more than 22,000 animals by finding them forever homes that are filled with love.
It all started with Louie
There he was. On the 13th page she looked at on Pet Finder. He was a basset/husky mix with red fur and multi-colored eyes. Something about him just spoke to Emily, called for her to drive to Connecticut to meet him in person. He was heartworm positive which was fatal if not treated with very expensive medical treatment. She really was not expecting to bring him home, but she did.
Louie was just what Emily needed at the time.
I was shut down. He made friends with people easily. He was funny. He looked so weird with his short legs on a huge body and a head that didn’t quite fit. He looked like he was pieced together from different toys, she told me.
But also, he knew what she needed every moment. They were in each other’s heads all the time. I don’t think a human being could have done that, she said.
Louie, it turned out, came from a shelter that euthanized more than 99% of its dogs. It blew Emily away that her soul mate, her companion, could have easily been one of that statistic.
Saving dogs. Giving love. This became her life mission.
Moving back to Cincinnati, Emily began volunteering for rescue organizations while making medical and transport arrangements for animals. Soon she realized she needed to start her own rescue.
Sadly, it was one of her foster dogs that opened the gate to her back yard, through which Louie ran out and into the street. His life ended when he was hit by a passing SUV.
He had a specific job to do and when he did it, he left, she told me.
He didn’t get to see the day Louie’s Legacy was incorporated but truly, it is his legacy, that thousands of animals have been saved to do their job with their humans, to bring and receive joy through every day moments.
Louie’s Legacy, now operating out of New York and Cincinnati, is one of the largest shelters in the U.S. Almost all of the dogs they bring in have come from kill shelters.
Today Emily shares her home with four dogs, ages 11 to 15. Joe is a basset/Carolina mix who was a friend to Louie. Sirus Jones is a jack russell mix. Sandusky is a basset/husky mix who she found on Pet Finder just 13 days after losing Louie. And Louie Jr. is a fox hound mix, part of the first litter of puppies she fostered.
They keep me honest about the flow of life. That things begin and end and we need to be okay with that. You can’t waist the now moment worrying about that, she said.
By the way, Emily has also become an animal communicator and healer. You can learn more at www.IamEmilyGear.com.
My Furry Valentine
You can see animals from Louie’s Legacy and many other rescue organizations at My Furry Valentine, the region’s largest adoption event. Thousands of animals will be looking for their forever homes. This year it is February 15 and 16 at the Sharonville Convention Center (11355 Chester Road; Cincinnati, OH 45246). General admission is $5 and early bird admission is $25.
Mini Horses That Brighten Days
It is the greatest gift when you find a path to pursue where your heart leads. Lora Melin has found that gift.
Having grown up with the companionship of horses, it is perfectly perfect that for the past 12 years she has passed that love down to her daughter, 
Maggie. The family lives on a horse farm in Lebanon, Ohio…with, of course, their animals – five mini and two full sized horses.
However, the horses have come to have an even more special meaning in their lives. At 2, Maggie was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and if you know anything about that disease, you know it is very high maintenance to maintain good quality of life. The experience has taught her a lot about responsibility and compassion. It has given her empathy for others who have their own personal challenges or differences. It has made her into the young woman who is drawn to those feeling excluded. And become the driving force behind Maggie’s goal of becoming a special education teacher one day.
Through it all, the family’s large pets were invaluable helping Maggie to deal with her chronic stress – with her mental, physical and emotional wellbeing.
And now, Lora is passing this gift on to as many people as she can reach with their nonprofit called Maggie’s Mini Therapy Horses. They partner with organizations that support people with disabilities or chronic illnesses and have programs for schools; hospitals; hospice; local police & fire departments and other organizations that may benefit from animal assisted therapy.
Running the organization is no small feat. It begins with having the right horses. Then, since their natural instinct is to run when something scares them, there is a lot of desensitization training that needs to be done. The mini therapy horses need to be able to walk on different surfaces, hear all kinds of noises without being spooked, interact with wheelchairs and other mobility devices, etc. There is also the daily care that goes into raising healthy and enriched animals.
And, on outing days, it isn’t as simple as putting a horse in a car. Volunteers spend several hours grooming the horses before moving them into a trailer 
headed for their destination. On average each of the therapy horses go on two visits per week. They regularly visit the Dayton’s Children’s Hospital, Lindner Center of Hope, Bethany Village, the Ronald McDonald House and Otterbein Retirement Community. They also attend events for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, the local police department and others.
Interested in getting involved? Maggie’s Mini Therapy Horses is need of donations and volunteers. You can find more information on their website.
At 88, John Is Still Giving Back
At 88, John Anderson’s great joy in life comes from bringing sunshine into the life of others.
His lessons of service learned through the Scouts as a child have never been forgotten. “I learned then that whenever you give to someone, you are becoming a part of that person’s life for the time being, making it better or more interesting. You learn from that person different ways of looking at things.”
When John was getting ready for retirement from Procter & Gamble, he was recruited by the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center to visit kids in bed rest. He did that for 20 years.
Since marrying his second wife, Helen, 52 years ago, he has spread his time among a variety of volunteer activities from his church choir to his condo 
board to work with a hospice in Florida.
It was in 2010 John and Helen moved into Maple Knoll Village, and he is not about to slow down making his difference in the world. These days, when he isn’t visiting with his wife who has Alzheimer’s (and often singing to her), he can be found participating in the Sharps and Flats singing group, helping residents with computer issues, being a ‘friendly visitor’ in Maple Knoll’s Bodmann Skilled Nursing and Hospice units and volunteering in the Montessori center where he mostly reads to the 3 to 5 year olds.
“My time in the Montessori center is like therapy for me,” he said. “The kids are so open and trusting and accepting in the way they deal with adults. Life is so much simpler for them. They just love.”
John is also a member of Maple Knoll Communities’ Living Legacy Society and has graciously committed a planned gift through a trust.
For all of these reasons, he is one of 20 honorees who were recognized recently by the Greater Cincinnati Planned Giving Council with Voices of Giving Awards. The Awards recognize philanthropists who contribute with planned gifts – and so much more – to nonprofit organizations that have a special place in their heart. In fact, a benefiting organization nominates each honoree. It has been such a wonderful experience for me to help them each of the past eight years with post event publicity.
All of the2019 Voices of Giving Honorees include: Joseph and Frank Keenan (nominated by CET); Lori and David Zombek (nominated by Children, Inc.); Terry Lemmerman (nominated by Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park); Carol and Carl Huether (nominated by Cincinnati Public Radio); Joe and Mary Brinkmeyer (nominated by Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens); Terrence Lilly (nominated posthumously by the Freestore Foodbank); Donald C. and Laura M. Harrison (nominated by the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, Laura is honored posthumously); Barbara H. ‘Bobbie’ Ford (nominated by Hospice of Cincinnati); Carol and Larry Neuman (nominated by the Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati); Beth and Louis Guttman (nominated by the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati); Pat and Lew French (nominated by Life Enriching Communities – Twin Lakes); Martha Gelwicks Huheey (nominated posthumously by Life Enriching Communities – Twin Towers); Ray and Donna Bowman (nominated by LifeSpan, Inc.); Dianne and Tom Robinson (nominated by Magnified Giving); John Anderson (nominated by Maple Knoll Communities, Inc.); Christa Bauke (nominated by Mt. St. Joseph University); Nancy Perry (nominated by Northern Kentucky University); Jennifer Leonard (nominated by Redwood School and Rehabilitation Center, Inc.); Elaine Rairden (nominated by St. Vincent de Paul – Cincinnati); and Elizabeth and Bradley Younger (nominated by YMCA Camp Ernst).
The 2019 Voices of Giving Committee includes Carol Serrone, chair; Lillian Derkson, Butch Elfers, Melissa Gayer, Misty Griesinger, David Harris, Michelle Mancini, Lisa Roberts-Rosser, Sue Ellen Stuebing, Becky Timberlake, Dan Virzi, and Michelle Zeis.
To see all of the event photos, please see the photo album below. NOTE: When you move your mouse over the image, you will see an arrow. Left click your mouse on the arrow to move to the next photo. Paula Norton took the second half of the photos. If you click on a photo, you will see in the description if it was taken by her. Please credit Paula if you use that image.
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.
