Cincinnati nonprofit organization
Chris Pike Raises Money For Canine Cancer Research
Chris Pike remembers that moment like it was yesterday. He and his wife were in town to celebrate Chris’ birthday with his family. Their longing to share a home with double the joyous, childlike antics of a golden retriever took them to a farm that was ironically in the neighborhood of our region’s hub for adventure – Kings Island.
And there he was. A 10 week old, cream colored teddy bear who bounced as he ran straight into the arms of the couple 
whose home and hearts were to be one with his for the rest of his life. Skyler had a way with women. Truth be told, he had a way with everyone. It was his beautiful, magical gift that he was brought into this world to share.
Kiara too filled her world with love. Every day was an adventure, a new opportunity to explore and new people to meet.
Sadly those gift was brought to an end by a disease that takes the lives of one out of three dogs. Canine cancer, Chris learned, was actually fairly common especially in golden retrievers. In fact, cancer took the life of not just one but two bundles of sheer happiness from the Pike’s household.
Today, the legacy of Skyler and Kiara is in the hard fought battle of Chris to wage a war against that deadly enemy.
Chris is the vice president of marketing and promotions for the National Canine Cancer Foundation, a national nonprofit organization that provides grants to researchers working to save lives, find cures, improve treatments, and develop more accurate and cost effective diagnostic methods in dealing with canine cancer.
The Foundation continues to grow. In fact, over the past four years, it has surpassed each year prior in terms of funds raised and they just reached over $200,000 that will be ready to fund 2014 grants.
You can help them on their quest to eradicate cancer.
Please click here to read about this weekend’s Pup Crawl in Oakley Square to raise funds for the National Canine Cancer Foundation. It’s going to be a ton of fun for a great cause!
Cincinnati Rotary Club Inspires With Jefferson Award
Attending an awards event is truly an inspirational experience. And the Cincinnati Rotary Club’s 2014 Jefferson Award luncheon was no exception. The Awards program honors ‘ordinary people doing extraordinary things,’ although the truth is I wouldn’t classify any of those whose names were recognized as ‘ordinary’.
They are amazing people who have a passion and a drive to get things done. They have a genuine heart for others. They are leaders. And they are people whose voices cause people to take notice.
While one person was awarded the Jefferson Award, the finalists are absolutely deserving of recognition too. So I 
wanted to include the videos of each of them and I encourage you, if you want to be inspired, to listen to each one.
Congratulations to Wendy Steele, 2014 Jefferson Award Recipient!
The year was 2001 when Wendy Steele, a former bank vice president and stay-at-home mother to three, had an idea. And out of that idea sprouted an organization and a movement that has infused millions of dollars into the hands of dedicated individuals and teams making a difference in their communities.
Impact 100 is Wendy’s brainchild. It is a nonprofit that has given out more than $2,500,000 to 22 different nonprofits in the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area since its inception. Its concept is simple and powerful. Impact 100 members each donate $1000 and annually pool their resources; research nonprofit applicants; vote for the organization that could have the largest IMPACT; award a grant (of at least $100,000); and follow-up to hold the agency accountable.
By 2013, the local Impact 100 had grown to include over 300 members, some of whom now split the $1,000 membership fee and a single member’s vote.
And the giving doesn’t stop there. Today Impact 100 is in 18 communities across the United States and several communities in Australia. Nationally, over 5000 women have contributed more than $25 million to charities.
(video credit: Local12 Creative Services Dept)
Dr. Ira Abrahamson, founder of the Abrahamson Pediatric Eye Institute in 1996 with a mission of wiping out preventable blindness in children by developing a vision screening program. His program has expanded to 29 elementary schools and several community centers throughout Greater Cincinnati.
(video credit: Local12 Creative Services dept)
Brooke and Keith Desserich founded The Cure Starts Now Foundation in 2007 in honor of their daughter Elena, who lost her battle to cancer at the young age of 6. Today The Cure Starts Now has surpassed $2 million in research funded at some of the top prestigious research facilities around the globe, including our Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
(video credit: Local12 Creative Services Dept)
Created in 1972 by then-Cincinnati resident U.S. Sen. Robert Taft and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, the Jefferson Award is presented annually to recipients in more than 90 U.S. cities. It’s organized by the Institute of Public Service and supported locally by the Rotary Club of Cincinnati, one of the area’s oldest business organizations with 300 members. This year’s Jefferson Award winner will go to a gathering of all U.S. honorees in June. Over the years, numerous Cincinnati winners have been recognized there with national honors for public service.
Joey Votto Foundation Volunteers Spruce Up Learning Center
When you stop and think about how vital our children are to the future of our community, and how important it is that they have the tools they need to succeed – from an early age, you come to really appreciate the dedicated work of those who devote not just their careers, but their hearts too, to ensure new generations a starting point from which to grow.
Cincinnati Early Learning Centers, Inc. (CELC) is a nationally accredited, non-profit, United Way agency managing six childcare centers throughout Greater Cincinnati, each providing quality child care for children ages three months through eleven years. CELC sites include: Harrison (location of original site – 1980), East Walnut Hills (1983), East End (1995), Downtown/YWCA (2006), Clifton/Future Environments (2010) and The Robert and Adele Schiff Early Learning Center located in Oyler School, Lower Price Hill (2012).
More than 80 kids, ages 18 months to 12 years, attend its Harrison CELC center. With full-day educational programs for the toddlers and pre-schoolers and an after-school program for the older students, it understandably was in need of a fresh face lift.
Enter the Votto Foundation
Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto created The Joey Votto Foundation to support the healing of service members, veterans and military families affected by Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Each month the Foundation invites families to participate in a community volunteer project, providing opportunities for veterans and military families to socialize, network, and connect with each other. Its February project was to help the staff and children at the Harrison CELC enjoy a refreshed-looking center.
The experience gave Votto Foundation volunteers an opportunity to get involved with a project that brought out their inner humanity and fostered camaraderie, and the staff and kids of CELC were given a beautified environment in which to learn.
I’d say that’s a home run effort!
Hospice Of Cincinnati Offers Pet Peace Of Mind
I have looked in the eyes of many gentle souls, and I have felt the love that so naturally passes through them to those within reach. Tina Bross, BS, LMT, supervisor of holistic services for nonprofit Hospice of Cincinnati, is among them.
Tina Bross of Hospice of Cincinnati with her dog
On the bitterly cold day that we sat across the table from each, two people who had never met brought together by our shared passion for animals and for our desire to help others. (And by Wayne ‘Box’ Miller, manager of diversity and communication for Hospice who I’ve known for years.)
But Tina has this magical way of transforming strangers into friends very quickly. It is a beautiful gift, and one that makes her so well suited for her role at Hospice.
The people who are assisted by the organization are there to live out their final days in peace. They know there is no longer hope for one more year, one more season. It is their time to say their last good-byes on earth to those who shared love, laughter and even tears with them on their journey called life.
I think Hospice of Cincinnati is such a very special organization. It allows families to spend last days and minutes together in an environment where they can simply focus on being together. And Hospice gives people serenity to know it is okay to leave.
The program Tina oversees is one that is charged with tending to patient’s animals, providing loving care for them and working to find forever homes for pets when family members are not available.
Pet Peace of Mind
Pet Peace of Mind was begun in 2007 by a hospice chaplain who also happened to be a vet, and by 2009, with financial support from the Banfield Charitable Trust, the program went national. Tina immediate sought approval from her board to bring it to our area.
In the beginning she sent out surveys to help determine the types of services they would provide, but what Tina hadn’t expected was some of the unforgettable responses that were returned with the questionnaires.
“Helping my patients with their pet related issues is the most heart-wrenching part of my job,” a nurse wrote on one. They are words that have been permanently etched in Tina’s mind.
I could see tears welling in the corners of her eyes as she spoke to me.
“People have such strong bonds with their pets. Many of the people in our care are older and their pets are their family and their comfort,” Tina said.
Meet Lucy
Lucy’s caregiver was a single man whose life revolved around her. It was a year after he brought her 
into his home that he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. “He told me he only cried two times and that was when he was thinking about her,” said Tina. “I told him, ‘I want you to know we will find Lucy a good home.’”
After his death, Tina kept her word. She and her team found a foster family for Lucy and ultimately a loving family with two little boys where she will spend the rest of her days.
“I wish I could tell him, ‘She’s good!’,” Tina told me, her words difficult to say.
I somehow have a feeling he knows.
More about Pet Peace of Mind
The Pet Peace of Mind® program assists Hospice of Cincinnati patients and families with care and feeding of their beloved pets. Pet Peace of Mind offers helping hands through volunteers and pet-related financial assistance.
Services include:
In home help with routine pet-related chores like feeding and walking
temporary boarding or foster
transporting pets for vet or grooming appointments
delivery of supplies like food and litter
permanent placement of the pet if necessary
emotional support
How can you help?
Volunteer
Donate
Cincinnati Rotary Club Opens Jefferson Award Nominations
It is such a wonderful gift when people gift selflessly to enhance lives and their community. So often those individuals do their work quietly, without need or want for recognition. Still, their efforts most certainly are worthy of being honored.
One special program aimed at doing just that is the Rotary Club of Cincinnati Jefferson Award (with leading sponsor, the American Institute of Public Service (AIPS). The Jefferson Awards pay homage to Greater Cincinnati volunteers who have gone above and beyond.
In partnership with the Enquirer Media and Local 12, The Rotary Club is looking to recognize ordinary people who do extraordinary things without the expectation of recognition or reward. These are individuals that are changing and improving our community, while addressing an important issue facing our area.
The Jefferson Award, which is recognized as the Nobel Prize for public service, was created in 1972 by Cincinnati’s own U.S. Senator Robert Taft and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and is presented annually to recipients in more than 90 cities in the United States. The AIPS’s mission is to encourage and honor individuals for their achievements and contributions through public and community service.
On March 13, 2014, the Rotary Club of Cincinnati will host the annual Jefferson Award presentation luncheon during their weekly meeting and will announce this year’s winner. The winner will then go to Washington, D.C. in June to represent our region for the National Award. The nomination form is available in a printable and online application on the following two websites: The Rotary Club of Cincinnati: Rotary Club of Cincinnati Jefferson Award Printable Application and Enquirer Media: Enquirer Jefferson Award Online Application.
Deadline for nominations is 3:00 p.m. on Friday, February 21, 2014.
Please click here to download a nomination form: Jefferson Award NominationForm 2014
ABOUT CINCINNATI ROTARY CLUB: The Rotary Club of Cincinnati is the preeminent professional service organization for men and women, supporting children, particularly those with disabilities throughout the Tri-State area through its partnerships with Stepping Stones/Camp Allyn and the Roselawn Condon School. The Rotary Club of Cincinnati also supports the global effort to eradicate polio worldwide through its PolioPlus program. For more information about the Rotary Club of Cincinnati, go to www.cincinnatirotary.org. Questions? Call The Rotary Club of Cincinnati at (513) 421-1080.
