Cincinnati volunteers
Hoxworth Blood Center Honored Cincinnati Students
According to Hoxworth Blood Center, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati area high school students have an important role to play in saving lives. Roughly 13% of Hoxworth’s total yearly blood collections come from high school blood drives. In fact, during the 2013 2014 academic year, 107 individual high schools hosted 174 blood drives for a total of 8,726 donations.
Kristopher Folden Hughes STEM High School was honored by Hoxworth Blood Centeror a total of 8,726 donations.
Allison Kenneally Mason High School was honored by Hoxworth Blood Center
Through Hoxworth’s High School Program students who organize blood drives learn valuable skills in leadership, community service, communication, project management, planning, setting and reaching goals and teamwork. “Without the student blood donors Hoxworth would not be able to adequately meet the needs of patients in the 30 Tri-State hospitals that we serve,” said Alecia Lipton, Hoxworth community relations manager.
Recently Hoxworth awarded eight scholarships to these young participants, selected based upon a submitted short thirty second video encouraging blood donations. Winners received $250 and an iPad Air.
Thirty-eight students applied. Below are the scholarship winners.
1. Holly Rack, McAuley High School
2. Allison Kenneally, Mason High School
3. Emma Nienaber, Taylor High School
4. Megan Hamberg, Bishop Brossart High School
5. Maggie Flanagan, Notre Dame Academy
6. Brianna Berry, Boone County High School
7. Kristopher Folden, Hughes STEM High School
8. Ryan Hodge, Deer Park High School
Moeller High School was also honored with the Tom Roebel Award of Excellence. The Tom Roebel Award of Excellence is named in honor of this former Roger Bacon High School teacher and blood drive coordinator, whose commitment to the success of his high school blood drives exemplified the spirit of community service. Mr. Roebel’s legacy lives on through this award that identifies one high school annually, which has demonstrated outstanding commitment to the success of its own blood drives. Moeller high school was selected for this award as they had 37 platelet donations during the academic year.
For more information about our high school program, please click here.
About Hoxworth:
Hoxworth Blood Center, University of Cincinnati was founded in 1938 and serves 30 hospitals in 17 counties in Southwestern Ohio, Northern Kentucky and Southeastern Indiana. Annually, Hoxworth collects more than 90,000 units of blood from local donors to help save the lives of patients in area hospitals. Hoxworth Blood Center. All Types Welcome.
Nonprofit Fuel Cincinnati Wants Your Help Selecting Grantees
Fuel Cincinnati, founded in 2009 as one of the main programs of nonprofit Give Back Cincinnati, has awarded over $30,000 in grants across more than 30 projects. It is all done through annual events where attendees vote for their favorite projects.
And, coming up on May 28, Greater Cincinnati residents can once again let their voices be heard at the third annual Fuel the Fire event. It begins at 6:30 p.m. at Rhinegeist Brewery (1910 Elm Street; Cincinnati, OH 45202).
How does it work?
Each guest will give a donation ($20 pre-sale, $30 at the door) for which they will receive appetizers by the bite, one drink ticket and a vote. Guests spend the evening learning about each applicant and their project idea. They then will cast a vote for their favorite project, and, at the end of the evening, the project or projects that gather the most votes are awarded a grant comprised of the evening’s ticket sale proceeds. Over a hundred and sixty people attended Fuel the Fire in 2013, awarding a winning grant of $2000 and a second place grant of $500.
More about Fuel Cincinnati
Fuel Cincinnati is an all-volunteer committee of young professionals who provide microgrants of $250 to $2,000 to support non-profit projects. Fuel Cincinnati was founded in 2009, and is one of the main programs of Give Back Cincinnati , the region’s largest young professional volunteer organization. Fuel Cincinnati is also supported by generous grants from The Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile US Bank Foundation (http://www.haileusb.org) and from The Mayerson Family Foundations (http://mayersonfoundation.org).
If you would to purchase tickets for Fuel the Fire or would like more information about Fuel Cincinnati, please visit our link at: htttp://fuelcincinnati.org/fuelthefire
Cincinnati Students Pay-It-Forward To Sick Children
Children helping children. I think that is such a beautiful message, and a beautiful cause. And it is the driving force of a nonprofit that has engaged youth in 30 states to pay-it-forward, inspired more than 250,000 hospitalized children and their families.
That nonprofit is Soaringwords, Inc., and recently it collaborated with 60 students from Cincinnati Roger Bacon High School and St. Francis Seraph Elementary School to decorate 100 SoaringQuilts® and SoaringPillows®. Each one with inspirational messages and artwork based on superhero themes about “Never giving up!”
Representatives from Soaringwords delivered 25 SoaringQuilts® and 25 SoaringPillows® for the patients of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and did a short program at the medical center’s Seacrest Studios. Then the Soaringwords delegation headed to Shriners Hospitals for Children, Cincinnati where they led a Soaringwords + Zumba® dance experience to celebrate wellness and fitness for patients and families. This experience was made possible through a grant from The Manuel D. and Rhoda Mayerson Foundation.
Soaringwords’ mission is to lessen the negative impact of serious illness by embracing hospitalized children, families and staff, encouraging positive health and healing. Soaringwords provides fun, creative and educational activities both in person and online based on positive psychology concepts that enhance well-being. Lisa Honig Buksbaum, Soaringwords CEO & Founder started the non-profit organization thirteen years ago after three experiences with death and illness in her family occurred in a 10-month period.
For the students of Roger Bacon, that day was the culmination of a school year where they internalized the values of service by mentoring their Bacon Buddies from St. Francis Seraph Elementary School to do something positive for children who are sick. “Today changed the lives of our students as they used their character strengths of kindness, love and creativity,” said Alicia Ausere, director, community outreach, Roger Bacon High School
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
