Cincinnati nonprofit organization
Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Cincinnati Honor Youth Of The Year
Congratulations to Javele Jackson, a senior at Western Hills University High School who also spends after school time at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Cincinnati’s (BGCGC) US Bank Club.
Javele found out at the BGCGC’s annual Achievement Luncheon that he was selected as Youth of the Year for his contributions to his family, school, the community and the organization. And what an extra thrill it was for him to have received his award from Nick Lachey!
The youngest of five children, Javele is someone to whom his cousins look up. He speaks to them about having a positive self-image, the negatives of drug use, and taking care of oneself by eating right and exercising. Javele is not just a kind person in the Club, but also at Lee Chapel A.M.E Church where he serves as a Junior Usher and fundraiser. He played basketball at the Club and school until he hurt his knee, but uses his leadership ability to help the younger kids with their basketball fundamentals. Javele said that the BCGCG is “a place where the staff cares about your well being and where there are resources and opportunities that you can’t get off the streets.” He plans on attending Mt. St. Joseph College to pursue a career as an athletic trainer and nutritionist.
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Cincinnati provide FREE daily meal and afterschool and summer programming for 10,000 children between the ages of 6 and 18 at ten locations in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. The organization provides a safe, positive environment focused on enrichment activities that support high school graduation, fitness-for-life and community service.
Cincinnati Association for the Blind & Visually Impaired Celebrates Centennial
The greatest part about my professional work is knowing I’m supporting efforts that are making a real difference in the lives of others. The Cincinnati Association for the Blind & Visually Impaired is one example. It’s hard to believe that I think I’ve worked with them for more than seven years.
Literally hundreds of volunteers and staff with an average tenure of 12+ years – all dedicated to helping people who are blind or visually impaired to ‘know they can’. Day in and day out, life skills once taken for granted are re-taught with adaptive tools and new strategies. News and information is made accessible 24 hours a day with Radio Reading Services. Children are strengthening motor skills in music therapy. Valuable support and resources are offered to families and individuals. And people with varying degrees of vision are employed to enhance the lives of others.
This year marks a special year for CABVI. It is the Centennial Anniversary for the Walnut Hills based agency and you’ll be hearing a lot more about them in days to come. Since its beginning, some 130,000 people have discovered and rediscovered personal abilities with their assistance.
“As population trends over the next three decades are expected to double the number of people who experience blindness or vision impairment, we will continue to seek enhanced ways of helping people with visual impairments maintain independence,” said John Mitchell, CABVI executive director.
For a full list of historical dates, please visit the Cincinnati Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired website at www.cincyblind.org.
Kroger Co. is supporting the Cincinnati Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired’s 100th anniversary by becoming the agency’s Centennial presenting sponsor. Pictured is Reuben Shaffer, vp operations for Kroger and CABVI board member, presenting a check for $10,000 to CABVI representatives – Kathy Gottschlich, CABVI director of development and community relations; Michael Lichstein, CABVI board president; John Mitchell, CABVI executive director.
SOTENI And Cincinnati Students FIGHT AIDS In Africa
There is a local organization here in Cincinnati that is taking on a global issue. You don’t hear a whole lot about HIV/AIDS any longer but it hasn’t gone away..particularly in areas like the rural communities of Africa, where communicable diseases have the power to run rampant.
When volunteers first founded SOTENI in 2002 their mission was simple – to empower the orphans of AIDS to lead the fight against the disease and prevent another generation of succumbing.
Led by physician-epidemiologist Victoria Wells Wulsin, SOTENI Kenya began in 2003. Their model was and still is called ‘Villages of Hope’ with a goal was to establish a sustainable, grassroots community led by an elected management committee. They work to prevent HIV/AIDS and reduce its effects with love, guidance and resources. Since beginning its first Village of Hope in Mituntu, the organization has expanded to include three additional villages in Mbakalo, Ugenya and Kuria.
Cincinnati Students Get Involved
Four area high schools (Walnut Hills, Indian Hills, Oak Hills and St. Ursula Academy) have gotten involved educating their peers, raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic, and raising important money toward SOTENI’s mission.
In December local students participated in SOTENI’s 2nd annual Students help Students: Cincinnati to Kenya. They wrote letters to the 39 SOTENI sponsored students in Kenya; and assembled gift bags with toiletries, pens, pencils, & t-shirts. But the highlight of that afternoon project was the Skype call to two secondary students in Kenya.
Last year Cincinnati students organized a concert of high school bands and raised over $1000 for the health center in Kenya. Mark your calendars – this year’s concert will be March 4, only instead of bands they are looking for more acoustical groups or solo performers. It will be at the Leapin’ Lizard in Covington. The event name is ‘Paint the Town Red”.
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Monnasia Is A Teen Without A Home, But She Has A Spark Thanks To The YMCA
Working with the YMCA of Greater Cincinnati I am so fortunate to be around people who are completely dedicated to enhancing the lives of others. I’ve seen so many children who in their brief years already have to learn out of necessity how to find their inner strength from overcoming personal hardships. They do that because of the nurturing guidance of YMCA staff and volunteers.
Rebecca Kelley, executive director of the Community Services YMCA, had shared this story with me. It’s a story she shared at the 21st Century Community Learning Center Conference in Washington D.C. earlier this year. Rebecca was speaking about the influence of supportive partners like JCPenney on her branch’s ability to help young kids succeed but the story itself is what inspired me.
Monnasia’s story
could be any of a number of Cincinnati area children who benefit from YMCA led afterschool programs.
“Her smile captures your eyes first, then her dark brown eyes hold your attention,” Rebecca explained. “Monnasia attends the YMCA’s CincyAfterSchool program at her school, where she experiences nine research-based program components. With help from JCPenney tutor volunteers, she’s improving in math and reading scores. She enjoys expanding her knowledge and skills in global learning via the foreign language club, Skyping with students from Ireland, and salsa dancing that brings other cultures to life. She serves on her program’s Youth Advisory Council to develop her leadership skills and engage in service-learning. Right now, Monnasia is enjoying Cincinnati Public Schools’ Fifth Quarter, an extension of the school year for four weeks of instruction and enrichment delivered by school staff and community partners.”
Then Rebecca explained how the little girl so excited about learning told her YMCA CincyAfterSchool coordinator that drawing her self-portrait made her sad and proud at the same time. Monnasia was at the global family portrait project at the Cincinnati Museum Center; and, while she liked opening her mind to other cultures, it reminded her of incredible pain. The kind of pain no child should have to endure.
“You see, Monnasia’s family portrait looks different. She’s homeless.” Rebecca went on.
“Although Monasia receives support from caring adults and staff, as well as JCPenney’s generous gift cards for school supplies and clothing in the past, Monnasia has to think about which house she’ll be sleeping at this week. When her school principal and YMCA site coordinator announced she would be honored as one of 28 CincyAfterSchool All-Stars, she had to figure out more logistics than most 12-year-olds on how she would get to the event and make it safely to her lodging that night.
“In nominating her for our All-Star Award, the principal noted how Monnasia has discovered her spark through the YMCA ArtWheels program. She’s exploring college and career options already, and learning which classes she needs to take to fulfill those dreams in her eyes. She demonstrates care for others by reading to Kindergarteners and listening to 1st graders read. We know she’s going to succeed!,” Rebecca concluded.
Inclusion Starts With Me (And You)
The United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Cincinnati brought to my attention an essay contest they held for children. The purpose? To encourage expression of the students’ own or observed feelings toward those who have disabilities, and the impact of those thoughts, with the goal that insight will foster togetherness.
Wow did that bring back memories. For eight years, my favorite annual project was helping to produce the Inclusion Leadership Awards Event – an event aimed at encouraging people to think outside the box, break down communication barriers, notice AND appreciate skills that had been under the radar. Our main communication goal was to inspire a world where people with and without disabilities work and play together not because they have to, but because they want to.
I was charged with developing those messages through the speaker, the script, the acceptance speeches and the videos so that guests would leave with a real sense of vision. In 2 ½ hours, attendees were to learn a lesson that would somehow change the world as they knew it. They heard stories of organizations that instinctively knew how to uncover talent, and of people whose abilities were no longer obscurities. Acceptance, we wanted them to realize, was not an abstract. Inclusion was not so much about ‘them’ but rather it was about ‘me’.
About ME. That’s a concept. Norman Kunc, our 2001 keynote speaker, had this to share. “In our society, we have already figured out that achievement and mastery lead to self-esteem. Where we have gone wrong is that we have forgotten that self-esteem can only come out of a context of belonging…we have idolized this ideal of independence and self-sufficiency. And what we have forgotten is that human beings need to belong…in the words of the music of Cheers, ‘where everyone knows our name and everyone’s glad we came.’ “
Actor Danny Woodburn, who normally makes a living provoking laughter, briefly left Hollywood in 2004 to remind our guests of a message from Mother Theresa, “Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible tragedy,” he said.
Danny told us his story – the story of an actor, comedian and activist whose talents were born in the hardships of a world unaccepting of a medical condition. All too well, he pointed out; he knows the sting of rejection and ridicule because he has lived it his entire life. He still gets scripts that refer to him as a ‘midget.’
But, he said, he is lucky. Through his work he has had the ability to influence attitudes. Offensive words, he’s found, are generally rooted in misunderstanding and he unabashedly corrects producers, directors and other actors. Of his character on the NBC hit Seinfeld, he said, “All it took for the success of my character was an intelligent exchange of ideas and sensitivity to the issues of little people. As a result, both Jerry (Seinfeld) and I felt included.”
Danny’s candor has bridged cultural and generational gaps, and altered misguided perceptions. (Please stay with me, I’m getting to the connection with the essay contest.) He continued to tell us about his job after college teaching drama to 20 kids between eight and ten years old.
That first day he devoted to talking about himself. Most of the questions were pretty typical. “How old are you? How tall are you? Why are you that way?,” they asked.
Then it came. The comment that would open the door behind which acceptance stood poised and waiting. An indignant girl told Danny in front of the class what her father thought of him.
“To my daddy, you are just a midget,” she said.
Danny looked at her and politely replied, “Well your daddy is wrong. Nobody is just anything and that word to me is like a hate word. And we know hate words can affect people, how they can hurt people and how it is wrong to use them.”
After that day, Danny told us, his students wanted to have their acting class – with Mr. Dan.
“I think back and I think all it took was that one day of communication, including them in who I am and nothing else needed to be said,” he went on.
Wow. That’s powerful stuff, and yet, it really is that simple.
And that is why I was so interested in the United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Cincinnati’s project aimed at opening minds and dialogue, and encouraging young people to think about the impact of their words and thoughts and actions.
“Changing the attitude of one school aged child has the ability to influence an entire generation.” said Susan S. Schiller, executive director.
UCP presented Nicole Roberts, a student from St. Mary’s School, with a family pass to Kings Island for her essay entitled ‘Inspiring Swimmers with Amazing Attitudes.’ Below is an excerpt.
For the most part, I am a typical teenage girl. Nothing scares me. I’m not afraid of the dark, I laugh at horror movies and I absolutely love to ride roller coasters, the higher the better. However, when my mom suggested I volunteer to help the Special Olympics Swim Team, I was a little nervous. It wasn’t that I was scared of people with disabilities; instead I was scared of how I would act around people with disabilities. What would I say? How would I interact with them? Would I stare? 
Before I became acquainted with disabled people, I felt sorry for them. I was sad for them because they have to live with hardships that limit them for the rest of their lives. I thought they were completely different than I. Wow, was I wrong! Now I see that people with disabilities are just like everyone else. They love to watch the same television shows, they go to school, they go to the movies, and even have sleepovers with their friends. They have hopes and dreams for the future, just like we all do.
My work with these amazing people has taught me so much. However, the most important lesson I’ve learned is that people with disabilities have abilities too. It’s not about what they can’t do, but should be about what they can do, what they give to society and how they inspire others. I think of my fearless swimmers when I hear these words from Thomas Jefferson, ‘Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.’ They’ve showed me that attitude is the key as to whether you will succeed or fail. My new friends definitely have the right attitude!
Just as in Danny’s classroom, all it took for the word ‘disability’ to become transparent in Nicole’s eyes was for her to get to know others who do things differently.
Who have you gotten to know lately?
I feel truly blessed to be able to say I have gotten to know Danny, not just as an actor, speaker, comedian, and humanitarian, but as a friend. Such depth of human character is a true gift.
