Everyday Heroes of Central Ohio 2020

SEPTEMBER 6, 2020

S2 | SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 |

HEROES AMONG US

EVERYDAY HEROES A Dispatch Media Group publication

Meet the 2020 class of Everyday Heroes, who quietly work to heal, unite and improve our communities. Their generosity and kindness are even more inspiring — and sorely needed — during this time of a global pandemic, economic turmoil and social unrest.

In the spring, we asked for nominations to recognize members of the Columbus area whose extraordinary selfless acts set them apart in these divisive times.

After reviewing the nominations, our panel of judges selected five finalists and 20 semifinalists.

They are recognized in this special publication, which is created through the combined efforts of The Columbus Dispatch, Dispatch Magazines and ThisWeek Community News.

Since we started Everyday Heroes in 2017, we also have held an awards luncheon to honor the recipients. That will not be the case this year.

Instead of an in-person event, the Dispatch Media Group has partnered with NBC4 WCMH-TV to produce a television program to highlight the Everyday Heroes; it will air Oct. 13 from 12:30 to 1 p.m.

During that show, an overall Everyday Hero will be announced.

We thank our honorees for making such a significant difference in central Ohio.

Alan Miller Site Manager Dispatch Media Group

Ray Paprocki Publisher Dispatch Magazines

62 E. Broad St. Columbus, OH 43215 614-461-5236 Columbus Site Manager Alan Miller Publisher/Dispatch Magazines Ray Paprocki

EDITORIAL Editor Dave Ghose Contributing editors Lee Cochran Emma Frankart Henterly Kelly Lecker Contributing writers Stephen Borgna Kevin Corvo Nate Ellis Sophia Englehart Maya Fentner Alan Froman Suzanne Goldsmith Ken Gordon Gershon Harrell Rachel Karas Marla Kuhlman Briah Lumpkins

Chaz McPeak Ally Melnik Sam Raudins Gary Seman Jr. George Shillcock Sarah Sole Tatyana Tandanpolie Tanisha Thomas Erica Thompson Steve Wartenberg Lydia Weyrich Holly Zachariah

Contributing photographers

SPONSORS

Eric Albrecht Joshua A. Bickel Adam Cairns Lorrie Cecil Doral Chenoweth

Shane Flanigan Rob Hardin Tim Johnson Fred Squillante

DESIGN & PRODUCTION Production director Craig Rusnak Designer Michelle Lauzon Marketing Marketing director Eric Wygle

| SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 | S3

CONGRATULATIONS Everyday

HEROES!

Your kindness, dedication, and love for our community serves as an inspiration to us all.

Thank you.

columbusfoundation.org

S4 | SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 |

24

SEMIFINALISTS KaTanya Ingram....................6 Sidewalk serenades

Vincenzo Landino.................8 An entrepreneurial helper

Ouida Wheeler.......................12 Giving back

Steve Yee................................14 Providing nourishment

John Newman........................16 “Gentleman John” Dawn Heideman....................17 Being the one

Katie Beaumont....................20 A caring soul

Jack Brown.............................21 Sparking joy

Amy Twyman.........................22 Protecting the elderly

FINALISTS

Siyat Mohamed...................... 24 A coach and a role model

Terry Kelley............................. 10

Alli Krivanek........................... 30

Rebuilding lives

“Genuine comforter”

Sandy Waters-Holley.......... 18

Fred Rieser.............................. 36

Answering the call

Restoring lives

Spencer Stevenson..............23 Innate compassion

Mark King...............................26 Musical relief

Tammy Tucker.......................27 Feeding others

Gloria Butler..........................28 An open heart

Tia Gannon.............................29 Filling the gap

JUDGES Frederic Bertley

president and CEO, COSI

Brandi Davis

senior manager of Volunteer United, United Way of Central Ohio

Suzanne Goldsmith

senior editor, Columbus Monthly

Teresa McWain

former director of corporate communications, AEP

Alan Miller

site manager, The Columbus Dispatch

Ray Paprocki

publisher and general manager, Dispatch Magazines

Dan Sharpe

Kathy Jackson.......................32 A selfless volunteer

Budi Januar............................33 Making a difference

Patsy Deerhake.....................34 A helping hand

John Hampson.......................35 Threads of decency

former chief, Columbus Division of Police

vice president for community research and grants management, Columbus Foundation

Amy Watson...........................38

Rachel Kilroy

Erica Thompson

Jake Clark...............................39

Kim Jacobs

national projects designer, Gannett

reporter, The Columbus Dispatch

Masks for all

Saving warriors

| SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 | S5

Saluting Our Everyday Heroes

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We’re proud to support our heroes in our community!

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Nominate a hero. Visit localhometownhero.com

S6 | SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 |

SEMIFINALIST

KATANYA INGRAM A singer uses her voice to give back to the community.

Stephen Borgna |

I

ThisWeek Community News

t was about two weeks after the death of George Floyd, and demonstrators had gathered in Downtown Columbus to protest police tactics and racism in the United States.

Similar scenes played out across the country after the 46-year-old Black man was killed May 25 in Minneapolis.

On this early June day in Columbus, law enforcement officers stood at the base of the Statehouse steps to prevent anyone using them. Central Ohio singer KaTanya Ingram decided to approach them.

“I just went and sat on the stairs and asked, ‘Can I sit here and sing?’” said Ingram, who lives in Westerville. “And they were like, ‘Sure, go ahead.’”

Ingram, with her portable speaker and microphone, began singing “Rise Up”

by Andra Day. Before long, she had an audience.

“Slowly, slowly, slowly, people started walking toward me,” she said. “Next thing you know, I had a group of (about) 100 people, sitting with their signs in their laps, crossed leg, rocking from side to side. Some of them held up their signs, you know. And then the police start kind of rocking. The yelling at the police, all the chanting stopped.

“And then one lady, and then another and another, just kind of got up and went and shook the police officers’ hands.”

This was the moment that stood out for Ingram among the 10 or so protests she took part in. It reminded her about the power of music: It can inspire and bring people together during happy times or turbulent times.

It also wasn’t the first time she had experienced this. When the COVID-19 pandemic led to stay-at-home orders, Ingram took her music to people’s homes as part of the Curbside Concert series. The concerts, which are presented by the Columbus Foundation and the Can’t Stop

Columbus initiative and supported by the Greater Columbus Arts Council, are for senior citizens throughout the community.

Ingram has volunteered numerous hours to provide these concerts and use music to uplift people’s spirits.

She posts about the Curbside Concert series and singing at downtown protests on her Instagram page, @ sidewalk_serenades.

“She’s really out there every day singing. Her going out there singing is her passion,” said her son, Terrell. “That’s her everyday thing she’d rather do rather than everything else.”

Ingram also has been the voice of the Short North Gallery Hop for 11 years, specializing primarily in soul and R&B but also a little bit of country. Her favorite artists include Whitney Houston and Stevie Wonder.

At the Gallery Hop, Ingram performs outside while visitors stroll by, enjoying the evening. She said she enjoys the fleeting connections she makes with passersby as songs she performs take people back to certain memories and stir emotions.

“Everybody has a story,” she said.

“Sometimes while you’re singing, people patiently wait. And you can just kind of see it on their face: ‘OK, there’s a story there.’

“You can kind of begin to evaluate body language and see, ‘OK, that person’s waiting for you because they’re admiring or enjoying the song. (But) that (other) person’s waiting for you because they want to talk to you.’ And a lot of times it’s not, ‘Hey, where can I book you?’ A lot of times it’s, ‘Hey, let me tell you about that song.’”

Singing during the Gallery Hops, the Curbside Concerts and the demonstrations for racial equality, Ingram has seen everything that music can do: comfort, entertain, inspire and unite.

“I once heard that ‘music is what feelings sound like,’” she said. “I added to that saying and said, ‘Music is what feelings sound like and binds us all together.’”

[LORRIE CECIL/THISWEEK]

| SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 | S7

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S8 | SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 |

SEMIFINALIST

VINCENZO LANDINO A social-media movement develops resources for small businesses during COVID-19.

Sophia Englehart |

W

Dispatch Magazines

hen Vincenzo Landino helped create Can’t Stop Columbus, he went into it with the mindset that defines all his entrepreneurial ventures: How can I help?

The coronavirus pandemic has had a huge economic impact on many businesses, forcing a massive increase in online innovation and spurring financial complications. While small businesses struggled to stay afloat amid social distancing guidelines, Landino and other entrepreneurs searched for a solution to the confusion and disruption.

Their idea? Can’t Stop Columbus, a Twitter campaign created in March by the Columbus technology and business community. Can’t Stop Columbus aims to bring central Ohio denizens of all kinds together to combine their knowledge and develop viable solutions to the economic effects of COVID-19.

What started as a simple tweet challenging technology companies to address and manage COVID-19 policies grew into a movement that gained momentum rapidly as many companies went fully online. The hashtag #CantStopCbus — now trending across the Twitter accounts of Columbus businesspeople, technology companies and others — encapsulates the energy and desire to overcome the challenges presented by the coronavirus pandemic.

As social distancing became an increasingly enforced norm for citizens and business alike, Landino saw the opportunity to contribute to the Can’t Stop Columbus effort to circumvent new boundaries while also promoting inventiveness.

“I think that's been the biggest driver of success for me in my career, is the fact that I’ve always approached it from, ‘I want to help. I want to provide,’” said Landino, 34. “I always enter a conversation that's from the perspective of, ‘How can I help you or ... your business?’”

Landino’s experience in marketing and technology services made him a valuable asset in the formation of Can’t Stop Columbus, and he helped to spearhead several of the movement’s campaigns, such as Columbus Eats and Curbside Concerts.

Columbus Eats, one of Can’t Stop Columbus’ first community projects, is an online restaurant finder that helps customers find local restaurants

[ROB HARDIN/DISPATCH MAGAZINES]

and businesses to order from. Curbside Concerts similarly showcases a diverse selection of local musicians, with the goal of keeping the Columbus community, particularly people who are stuck alone in quarantine, connected and entertained.

Landino’s intense focus on Columbus has attracted the attention of his colleagues, leading Derek DeHart, a co-organizer and supporter of Can’t Stop Columbus, to nominate Landino for the Everyday Heroes program.

“Vincenzo just has this really unique, ambitious orientation that I really respect,” said DeHart. “As soon as he saw that there were going to be problems, he was immediately just pounding on a keyboard, trying to make the world a better place, which was awesome to witness.”

Landino’s propensity and passion for problem-solving stem from his upbringing. A thirdgeneration entrepreneur, Landino was exposed to

the creative, enterprising side of business from a young age. He strove to use that same energy to form a response to COVID-19 restrictions by advertising and marketing small businesses and restaurants through social media.

“I would say that my becoming an entrepreneur was more influenced from family,” said Landino, who is a first-generation Italian-American. “A lot of my family … came to this country, and they started their own businesses.”

As Columbus adjusts to the now-prevalent age of online communication and trade, Can’t Stop Columbus, like Landino, remains on standby for progress and support, for both small business and the movement’s goals in the future.

“I saw a need, and I just want to help,” said Landino. He believes that Can’t Stop Columbus could, in time, become more than just a single cry for action, evolving into a more permanent fixture of service.

| SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 | S9

BUILDING BRIGHTER

FUTURES Be an everyday hero. Let’s make Columbus a community of boundless possibilities together.

aep.com/community

S10 | SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 |

FINALIST

TERRY KELLEY A German Village resident helps men struggling with addiction find faith and purpose.

Terry Kelley, shown at the Serenity Street Foundation house in July, became a born-again Christian in 2003, the same year he changed Serenity Street into a faith-based organization.

[ROB HARDIN/DISPATCH MAGAZINES]

Erica Thompson |

R

The Columbus Dispatch

eflecting on the period before he got sober, 31-year-old Cody Lawrence described himself in two words: “walking death.”

After he had gone months without using, a relapse sent the South Side resident spiraling. In six weeks, he overdosed on heroin 12 times — three of them were DUIs. In each instance, he was revived with Narcan.

Once he got out of jail, he went to detox and enrolled in the Serenity Street Foundation’s rehabilitation program on the South Side in June 2019. By

late July 2020, he had been clean for 13 months.

Serenity Street “has been, hands down, the best thing that ever happened to me,” Lawrence said.

“They teach you how to be a man, which is something that I thought I knew. And I had no clue what I was doing.”

The man behind Serenity Street is Terry Kelley, who founded the nonprofit in 1996 after recovering from a battle with alcoholism. The program is exclusive to men, who live in a residential care facility for one year. Then they transition to the graduate house across the street and mentor men in the program.

“I just had a passion to help men in similar situations as me but who didn’t have any resources,”

said Kelley, 61, of German Village. “I had the time and the resources and the desire.”

Each year, Serenity Street serves a dozen or so men, and it has a graduation rate of about 60%.

The rate of the men maintaining sobriety after they leave is even higher, Kelley said. During the past 24 years, nearly 300 men have gone through the program, which Kelley believes is successful because of its focus on long-term care and stable housing.

Kelley, who has a business degree from Ohio State, sustains Serenity Street through grants and annual fundraisers. He also helps find employment for the men in the program, who, in turn, pay a modest room-and-board fee.

“We’ve connected with employers who are willing to give our guys a shot,” said Kelley, who has gotten men jobs as electricians and ironworkers and in warehouses and restaurants. “Most of our guys have felony convictions and erratic work histories.”

Employment is one part of the foundation’s three-pronged approach to recovery. The second component is a 12-step recovery group. The men attend meetings at the Ohio Avenue Meeting Hall on the South Side, which used to be Kelley’s Tavern — owned by Kelley’s grandparents from 1941 to 1985.

Kelley bought the building in 2016 through his World Partnership Foundation, which also sponsors missionary trips abroad.

Kelley said the men are not triggered by meeting in the former bar, and he has fond childhood memories associated with the watering hole. “We’d go down there and have burgers and fries with my dad,” he said.

The third component of Serenity Street is religion. The men are encouraged to strengthen their relationship with God through daily Bible study and Sunday services at Logos Bible Church in Pickerington. That aspect has especially resonated with Lawrence, who is now living in the graduate house.

“I always thought I could cure this on my own,” he said. “It was them pushing me back toward a purpose-driven life for God. … Being surrounded by guys that are like-minded for Christ — that has been the game-changer.”

Kelley said a major part of overcoming addiction is confronting denial.

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Kelley says of his motivation to found Serenity Street: “I just had a passion to help men in similar situations as me but who didn’t have any resources.

I had the time and the resources and the desire.”

“That usually requires a bottom,” he said. “You just hope they respond to that bottom. … They need to be woken up.”

Sober now for 30 years, Kelley said he hit bottom when he almost took his own life.

“I was in a lot of pain and anguish, just tortured by loneliness and other things that are symptomatic of addiction. … I had my last drink a week after that incident,” he said.

Kelley’s internal struggles didn’t end with sobriety.

He was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder and felt a nagging emptiness in his life. That void was filled when he became a born-again Christian in 2003, the same year he made Serenity Street a faith-based organization.

He brought in Mike Roddy, associate pastor at Logos Bible Church, to be the foundation’s pastor and vice president.

“A lot of these guys have been taught and conditioned that their life doesn’t have any value,” said Roddy, 59, of Downtown. “We spend a lot of time trying to teach these guys, ‘You’re valuable because you’ve been created in God’s image, and valuable because he loves you.’”

Roddy said the men work on building meaningful

relationships, dealing with anger and giving back to the community.

“It’s been probably the most rewarding thing I’ve done in ministry,” he said. “I’ve baptized the guys in the program over the years. I’ve married several of the guys, and I’ve buried several of the guys. So it’s bittersweet, but when they come in here, I sense that they’ve got a real shot.”

The men who succeed are often able to repair relationships with their families, Kelley said.

“One of the most rewarding things is to see them become sons, brothers, uncles, dads (again),” he said.

“Some of them have almost been disowned. … If they stay the course, they can be responsible family members again.”

That happened for Serenity Street graduate Ryan Sullivan, 32, of Dublin, who was promoted to house manager. He’s also engaged to be married.

“I ran from responsibility my entire life,” he said. “I took on the responsibility (at Serenity Street) and just ran with it and have been here ever since.”

Sullivan said Kelley is not intimidating in his leadership.

“He’s just very humble, soft-spoken and easy to talk to,” Sullivan said. “He’s just one of the guys when he’s around here, but he does so much more.”

Kelley said he has plans to remodel the meeting hall and provide more community-outreach initiatives on the South Side. He also hopes to open a residential care facility for women trapped in a cycle of addiction and prostitution.

Sullivan said Kelley’s work is vital.

“People are still dying every day from this disease of alcoholism and addiction, and he’s on the frontlines,” Sullivan said. “Guys go to (detox), and they have nowhere to go (after). … Terry gives them an opportunity to build their life back up and to leave with something that they can stand on, a foundation in recovery and also in their faith.”

TERRY KELLEY Neighborhood: German Village Who inspires you?

“Other than Jesus, I would say my mom and dad are very generous people with their time and resources. And I think that set an example for me. My brother, Tim, had a stroke about a dozen or so years ago, and him overcoming and working through that — he’s been an inspiration to me.”

What keeps you engaged?

“The desire to see people get this thing (recovery from addiction). I want to see their lives transformed.”

What is a challenge you’ve overcome?

“My addiction. Then, I found out after I got sober that I had a mental illness, bipolar disorder. I was in mental hospitals probably about half a dozen times. I see a psychiatrist, and medication has helped, and it all boils back down to my faith, my trust in God — and developing my relationship with him is where I find strength to heal.”

Kelley talks to Cody Lawrence, a Serenity Street graduate.

S12 | SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 |

SEMIFINALIST

OUIDA WHEELER A volunteer would gladly shed the spotlight to help more of those in need.

Gary Seman Jr. |

I

ThisWeek Community News

t’s a typical Tuesday morning for Ouida Wheeler, who’s packing boxes of food at the Broad Street Presbyterian Church food pantry on the Near East Side of Columbus. At 64 and retired, Wheeler wants to give back to the less fortunate.

She volunteers at several places, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, places to donate her time had grown scarce.

“The reason I’m here so much, since COVID-19 started — this was the only place accepting volunteers,” said Wheeler.

She doesn’t believe she should be recognized for her volunteerism, but Matthew Goldstein, founder and CEO of Besa, an organization that puts people in touch with volunteer communities, nominated Wheeler as an Everyday Hero.

“I nominated her because I believe in her,” Goldstein said. “Ouida has been volunteering for Besa for years. She is not just incredibly active in her volunteerism, but she gets other volunteers to do their best — be it at the shelter, food pantry or Ronald McDonald House.”

Even with the threat of the virus, Ouida puts herself out there for the good of others.

“She is willing to stand up for what she believes in,” Goldstein said. “And with our communities in crisis, she wants to stand up to that crisis.

“Part of that is making sure people are out there in a warm, inviting experience, and that’s what Ouida does,” he said. “Partners have come to depend on her.”

Getting volunteers as dedicated as Wheeler during the pandemic is not easy, he said.

“It’s definitely a challenge, because there is a lot of resistance and apprehension going out in the community,” he said. “Our goal is to provide people as much information as possible and keep them as safe as possible.”

Wheeler, who lives in Orient with her husband, Glen, retired in 2016 as a project manager for Nationwide.

“I did this before I retired,” she said. “I am a people person. I thought it was a way to give back.”

Wheeler said that since she signed up with Besa, she has logged 450 hours volunteering for organi-

zations such as the Mid-Ohio Food Collective, the Ronald McDonald House and Meals on Wheels.

“I do feel like I was privileged as a child,” she said. “We never went without, my kids never went without, and neither did our grandchildren.

“There are a lot of people today who go without.”

Kathy Kelley-Long, director of the Broad Street Presbyterian Church food pantry, said Wheeler is a valued volunteer.

“I love Ouida being here,” she said. “She’s easy to work with, kindly to everyone. She takes charge and gets things done.”

Kelsey Jones, a former employee at Besa who still is a volunteer there, said she frequently runs into Wheeler, whose enthusiasm and dedication are inspiring.

[LORRIE CECIL/THISWEEK]

Wheeler is considered a volunteer leader, someone who knows the ropes, Jones said.

“She absolutely helps to lead the volunteer groups,” Jones said. “She’ll go in and make sure everyone signs their waiver and says, ‘Listen everyone, this is what we’ve got to do.’

“The nonprofit is grateful because no one gets paid for this, and if a volunteer director gets pulled in a different direction, she is there to help coordinate that.”

Wheeler has a “heart of gold” and “is the sweetest person,” Jones said. “She is very caring, and she recognizes you.”

Jones isn’t surprised by Wheeler’s modest response to being chosen as an Everyday Hero.

“She just wants to do good,” Jones said. “She doesn’t need the recognition for it.”

| SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 | S13

Columbus’ Own, WEEKNIGHTS 6PM | 7PM | 11PM

S14 | SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 |

SEMIFINALIST

STEVEN YEE A restaurateur covers lunch fees and team sponsorships to support children.

[SHANE FLANIGAN/THISWEEK]

Marla K. Kuhlman |

A

ThisWeek Community News

friend describes Steven Yee as a good man with a big heart.

Yee, 57, owner of Chi Thai Restaurant, 5577 N. Hamilton Road on the Northeast Side, has regularly covered school-lunch costs for students in need in several school districts while also supporting youth athletics in New Albany, where he lives.

Steven Dove, who nominated Yee as an Everyday Hero, said he became acquainted with Yee through youth athletics.

“Every time we needed support, we knew we could go to him (for) Little League baseball, youth-league football through high school sponsorships and fundraisers,” said Dove, who has known Yee for more than a decade. “He would always find a way to help.”

Dove said Yee also has paid off the accounts of families who have had negative balances for school meals.

“His help was never felt to be conditional, and he never sought recognition,” Dove said. “He is a good man with a big heart who seemingly wants to share his success in order that others might be in a position to take advantage of the opportunities America has to offer.”

David Gawel, a member of the Rotary Club of Gahanna, said that in the 16 years he has known Yee, the restaurateur has always been a generous supporter of youth athletics in Gahanna and New Albany.

In 2008, Gawel and Yee collaborated on a project that financed the conversion of a baseball diamond to an officially sanctioned American Little League baseball facility. He said Yee also has always provided financial support for Rotary efforts.

“He is also very proactive in providing school lunches for kids and teens that can’t afford them in the Gahanna and Westerville school districts,” Gawel said. “As I always say, you can’t out-nice Steve Yee.” Yee, who graduated from Whitehall-Yearling High School in 1981 and Ohio State University in 1985, said he hopes that more people can help others.

“I’ve been lucky,” he said. “I got into helping school-lunch programs. It’s a shame (that), in the 21st-century, people can’t pay for lunch.”

Yee started his restaurant in 2007 and said he donates to charities instead of spending money on advertising.

His acquaintance with Gahanna-Jefferson Public Schools Superintendent Steve Barrett led to Yee anonymously paying off the balances of district students’ school lunches through the “Fill My Tummy” program.

Then Yee learned that the Westerville schools had a large school-lunch-money shortfall, and he helped that district, too, he said.

Yee also provides two scholarships for Whitehall-Yearling students. “I told them to use their own discretion” in selecting recipients, he said.

When Yee’s son, Tyler, a recent New Albany High School graduate, was 7, Yee got him involved in Little League sports through New Albany Parks & Recreation.

“I was thinking about sponsoring my son’s team,” Yee said. “A commissioner was chitchatting with me. I said I would sponsor a team (for which) they couldn’t find sponsorship. I had no clue how many teams there were, 60-plus teams. There is lacrosse, basketball and football.”

He said he has sponsored more than 100 teams a year. “Kids are most important. Sports keep kids out of trouble,” he said.

Yee also has answered the call to provide food to homeless and abused women who are victims of human trafficking.

A few years ago, a representative of the National Council of Jewish Women called him, Yee said.

“She wanted to buy food in large quantity because she said it was for these girls who were rescued (from human trafficking). They weren’t used to American food,” he said. “They wanted to see if I could give a discount. I felt bad, so I said I would feed them every day. I think there were 24. I fed them for three or four months. I helped them get apartments. I arranged a few jobs for them.”

He said he doesn’t recall ever saying no when asked to help.

Yee said his longtime girlfriend, Sue Situ, inspires him to do good.

“I do want to be a better person because of her,” he said.

| SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 | S15

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SEMIFINALIST

JOHN NEWMAN ‘Gentleman John’ seizes reins of volunteer post in retirement.

Ally Melnik |

J

Dispatch Magazines

ohn Newman has accomplished a lot in his 80 years: serving in the Air Force for 20 years, working at Battelle in information technology, and raising a family.

But when he learned about Dreams on Horseback, age was no obstacle to getting involved with the volunteer-based stable, which offers equine experience and education to those with challenges caused by disabilities and trauma related to military service.

“When I think about him, one of the phrases that comes to mind is ‘Gentleman John,’” said Jennifer Hansen, the founder and executive director of Dreams on Horseback. “If there is something that needs to be taken care of, he certainly is ready to get his hands dirty every single week.”

Newman began volunteering at Dreams in 2017 after his daughter received a brochure for the military connections program from its coordinator, Darlene Bell.

“She had an open house, and I went to that, and this group was just something you wanted to be involved with,” Newman said.

He completed his volunteer orientation less than a week after the open house, Bell said. Since then, Newman has become an integral volunteer in the military connections program, therapeutic riding lessons and barn care.

Dreams was a natural fit. In the mid-1990s, Newman was involved with Lost Acres Horse Rescue and Rehabilitation in Chillicothe. He also adopted three horses, which led to the purchase of a farm outside Amanda in Fairfield County.

“John cares so much about others that he not only manages his own farm, but he comes here and helps to manage the care of our therapeutic centers,” Hansen said. “And truly, we would be lost without his support and all of the help that he provides here.”

Newman’s dedication to Dreams earned him the center’s volunteer of the year award in 2018; he clocked in over 220 hours in less

than a year in a center that has more than 175 volunteers. Before the coronavirus pandemic, Newman would volunteer at the stables for an average of eight hours a week.

“He has been the most active volunteer,” Hansen said. “He’s almost here as much as I am and ready to jump in and do anything he can to support our young riders and our military riders.”

Newman helps with the horsemanship program, which teaches veterans to ride and care for a horse. He also helps with a program called equine-assisted learning that’s more focused on interacting with a horse.

The center also has camps for children of military families and an annual military appreciation day, and Newman accompanies Bell on recruiting trips to the Chalmers P. Wylie Ambulatory Care Center in Columbus to get other veterans interested in Dreams’ military program, which most notably helps soothe those suffering from post-traumatic stress.

“I don’t ever think about our program without thinking that it’s just John and I together doing this and trying to reach veterans,” Bell said.

Newman also helps with the therapeutic riding lessons, something new to him. During a lesson, those with special needs — sometimes children as young as 3 or 4 — ride a horse while accompanied by a horse leader and two side-walkers. The lessons help with physical, cognitive and behavioral difficulties, such as teaching children discipline and respect when preparing and riding a horse, and helping them control their emotions to keep a horse calm.

Although he has been a volunteer for only a few years, Newman has made an impact on the participants and the rest of the staff.

Children look forward to riding alongside “Mr. John,” and volunteers enjoy working with someone described by co-workers as humble, strong and selfless.

And Newman has been affected by the riders and his co-workers.

“I’m sure you hear this from every volunteer, but no matter how much effort you put into it, you get so much more out of it,” Newman said.

[ROB HARDIN/DISPATCH MAGAZINES]

| SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 | S17

SEMIFINALIST

DAWN HEIDEMAN A Columbus City Schools teacher helps at-risk students reach their potential.

Stephen Borgna |

D

ThisWeek Community News

uring her first teaching job, at Athens Middle School in 1990, Dawn Heideman had an epiphany about the empathy she was feeling for the struggling students in the building.

Often, she realized, these students were having trouble due to no fault of their own. Socioeconomic barriers and disruptive factors in their homes and family lives were preventing them from reaching their potential.

“I was always drawn to the kids who had fallen through the cracks and maybe weren’t really successful academically or behavior-wise,” said Heideman, who started her career as a math teacher.

“It’s been so odd in my career. Where some teachers — not all, but some— scrap to get the honors classes and things like that, I’ve always been drawn to the kid that struggles, because I find that their struggle isn’t a lack of intelligence or lack of ability. Usually it’s outside issues or the trauma they’re bringing to the table that is almost making a barrier to their learning. I just love those kids. I bond with those kids best.”

Heideman experienced that in Athens Middle School’s first pull-out Title I math program. “I had those kids that weren’t achieving anywhere else,” she said. “To create a relationship with them, and to see the light bulb turn on and the excitement, I think you can turn their lives around.”

This served as a precursor to 2015, when Heideman’s passion for helping at-risk and disadvantaged students reach their potential culminated in the creation of the “Be the One” program at Walnut Ridge High School. The social-emotional learning program “helps give students a voice, opens new opportunities for all students involved, exposes kids to new experiences, opens the door to different role models, and basically gives kids the motivation they need to come to school and be successful,” Heideman said.

The program uses the Adverse Childhood Experiences Survey — 10 questions regarding traumatic childhood experiences that are used to assess the likelihood of challenges later in life — to determine which students could most benefit from it.

[SHANE FLANIGAN/THISWEEK]

Students who have high scores on the survey or are referred by a teacher, guidance counselor, parent or someone else are welcome to join the program, which meets mostly during the school day.

Heideman taught three periods of "Be the One“ each day at Walnut Ridge, and she is to do the same at Linden-McKinley Middle School this school year.

Class activities include working with nonprofits and listening to speakers discuss personal and professional development. Students have participated in community service initiatives involving Save Our Adolescents from Prostitution, the Ohio State University James Cancer Hospital, the Van Buren Center shelter and Ronald McDonald House.

Heideman, who invests about $10,000 of her

own money into “Be the One” each year, said it empowers students. “It’s almost like the weight was lifted off their shoulders, and they were free to be who they were as people, and free to achieve as students,” she said.

“I don’t know anybody that cares more for her students,” said Heideman’s neighbor, Phyllis Jean Tapee. “I don’t know anybody that’s done more than her.”

“Be the One” also was incorporated in 2018 into Linden-McKinley High School, where English teacher Carla Hegyi was the instructor.

About 500 students have participated in “Be the One” in the past five years, Heideman said.

“For me, I can never go back to only teaching math,” she said. “This is my calling. This is my purpose.”

S18 | SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 |

FINALIST

SANDY WATERS-HOLLEY Serving others has been a lifelong mission for the retired teacher and counselor.

Ken Gordon |

A

The Columbus Dispatch

nguished over the death of her mother, Claire Waters, and worried about taking over her clothing ministry, Sandy Waters-Holley one day randomly opened her Bible.

It fell to Isaiah, chapter 58 (New Century version). Sandy started reading at verse 7: “Share your food with the hungry and bring poor, homeless people into your own homes.

When you see someone who has no clothes, give him yours and don,t refuse to help your own relatives.”

Sandy already practiced that, having worked alongside her mother since the founding of Project Help in 1984. The duo had led the effort to provide clothing to thousands of needy families in Columbus at its Christmas-season giveaways.

But now it was 2005, and Claire had just died at age 82. Sandy was resisting the call she felt to take sole responsibility for her mother’s ministry. She was waking up from nightmares in which people were banging on windows and demanding things from her.

She prayed that God would help her. And that day in the Bible, just two verses from where Sandy began reading, Isaiah 58:9 seemed to provide the answer: “Then you will call out, and the Lord will answer. You will cry out, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’”

She took that to mean she should keep Project Help going.

Fifteen years later, Sandy, 70, continues to lead the ministry, organizing donations from companies, rounding up volunteers all year long to sort clothes as they come in, and inspiring many around her with her dedication and selflessness.

“I learned a lot from Sandy, seeing how she gave so much of herself,” said Cathy Stevenson, a longtime friend and a Project Help volunteer.

“She got me doing that myself. She really brings out the good in all of us.”

Sandy’s husband, John, said, “She’s just a

Sandy Waters-Holley was a teacher and guidance counselor in the Columbus City Schools for 37 years and devoted herself to helping children navigate the many pitfalls of the Linden neighborhood. [TIM JOHNSON/DISPATCH MAGAZINES]

kind, caring, loving person who wants to help people.”

The two have been married for 36 years and live on the North Side. Sandy is stepmother to John’s two grown children, and the couple has three granddaughters.

Sandy’s passion for giving is not limited to Project Help. She was a teacher and guidance counselor in the Columbus City Schools for 37 years and devoted herself to helping children navigate the many pitfalls of the Linden neighborhood.

That’s where Sandy grew up as the oldest of five children and where she spent most of her career.

At Hamilton Elementary School (now Hamilton STEM Academy), Sandy took a particular interest in teaching kids how to avoid violence and handle their emotions in more constructive ways.

Many of them were growing up without a parent, saddled with poverty and surrounded by crime.

“I listen a lot,” she said. “They need someone to listen to them, because these kids’ lives are at stake.”

| SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 | S19

SANDY WATERS-HOLLEY Neighborhood: North Side She started an after-school program called Just Us Girls through which she would help the older girls at Hamilton (it went up to sixth grade) deal with everything from hygiene to homework.

“Sandy really took an interest in those young ladies, over and beyond what her job description said to do,” said resident Linda Willis, the Hamilton principal at the time. “She had a strong, strong influence on the children.”

Willis remains friends with Sandy and said she is amazed how often she will run into former Hamilton students around town who will mention “Mrs. Holley.” Some say they still keep in touch with her.

One of those students is Clarissa Cox. She met Waters-Holley when she was in third grade at Hamilton. She and her younger brother were being raised by a single mother who worked long hours, and her brother was having anger issues.

Sandy “helped him cope, and I first connected to her through that,” Cox said.

Later, Cox joined Just Us Girls and said it had a profound effect on her life.

“I can’t thank her enough,” Cox said of Sandy. “She built up my strength and confidence at such a young age.”

Cox was sad when she moved on to middle school, figuring that she wouldn’t hear from Sandy again. But Sandy stopped by her house to check on her as she grew up, called on birthdays, and eventually became someone who Cox — now 33, married and living in Gahanna — calls “my second mother.”

Still, Sandy says that her “heartstrings are tied to Project Help.” It was her mother, Sandy said, who instilled in her the ministry’s mantra of serving people with dignity and grace.

“You’re a servant,” Sandy said. “You’re not dishing out a handout to them. That makes this different. It’s not just a giveaway; it’s a ministry. You do it with service, and you do it with love.”

It’s not easy. The group works out of a shabby storefront on the back side of the largely abandoned Great Western Shopping Center on the Hilltop.

The dated, crowded rooms where clothes are stored and sorted lack air conditioning, making a recent gathering a challenge on a hot, sticky summer day.

But Sandy and her volunteers cite numerous stories of the effect the giveaways have on their visitors, and of the joy they get from helping others.

What is your inspiration for doing the work you do?

Waters-Holley runs the nonprofit clothing ministry Project Help founded by her late mother. She is shown working in its office on the Hilltop.

Karen Gott met Sandy about 30 years ago through their church, New Covenant Believers’ Church on the Northeast Side, and has long been a volunteer with Project Help.

“Her goal with every giveaway is, she wants (clients) to feel special,” Gott said. “I’ve seen how she’s touched people’s hearts to the point where she had them in tears as she talked to them. It’s just amazing to see.”

And she can’t stop giving.

Sandy retired from the school system in 2010, but at the request of an administrator, she returned to Hamilton in 2016 as a part-time consultant focusing on violence awareness among fifth- and sixth-graders.

She also helps care for a 91-year-old aunt, and she often helps her siblings and friends by running errands, escorting them to appointments or just taking them to lunch.

It has been a challenge in recent years because Sandy has battled sciatica, a lower-back nerve condition that causes pain in her legs.

“At times it has been visibly obvious how tired she is, but you can’t tell her to stop, because she will not stop,” Gott said.

Her husband concurs: ”Sandy is strong-willed.

She’s got her set goals, and she’s going to do what she’s going to do.”

It goes back to her mother’s teachings and the calling she felt that day when she read the Bible: the calling to continue to serve the less fortunate, selflessly and compassionately.

“We’re not here to look down on you; we’re here to lift you up,” Sandy said, “and a lot has come from that philosophy.”

“My inspirations aspire from the blueprint of my faith, the ethics and role modeling of my late parents, Dennis and Claire Waters — especially my mother — a career of advocating the efficacy of children and the scriptures of Matthew 25: 36 and Isaiah 58: 7-12, which catapulted me into leadership with a servant’s heart.”

Describe an obstacle you might have overcome: “Fear plus failure equals a footprint for faith. Life’s challenges have presented a perplexing equation in which I walked daily. Canceling out ‘fear’ let me examine ‘failure’ simply as the restructuring of a variety of approaches to problem-solving. This increased my endurance, enthusiasm and esteem, so that I could ‘walk in faith’ — truly believing — that the best for me was yet to come.”

What keeps you engaged in this work?

“The transparency of giving to others is a lifeline for me. It is an inextinguishable fire, where I continue to experience and witness the ‘torch of giving’ transferred to others, so that they, too, can share. When that happens, our community becomes a brighter place.”

S20 | SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 |

SEMIFINALIST

KATIE BEAUMONT Inspired by her experience, a daughter helps seniors stay in their homes.

Lydia Weyrich |

A

Katie Beaumont [FRED SQUILLANTE/DISPATCH]

The Columbus Dispatch

s Katie Beaumont cared for her mother in her later years, she didn’t realize that one of the biggest challenges of assisted living would be

isolation.

With tears in her eyes, the 42-year-old Beaumont pondered how the last years of her mother’s life might have been different had she had enough support to stay in her home.

With her mom in mind, Beaumont created an independent nonprofit that offers services and bridges social gaps to help people age independently in their communities.

At Home by High provides adults 50 or older with services to help them stay in their communities rather than move into an assisted-living facility. Beaumont, who lives in Italian Village, said that most people do not want to be moved from their homes and placed in long-term care, and that concept inspired her nonprofit.

The organization charges members $200 a year, Beaumont said. If members have low incomes or live in subsidized housing, the fee is waived or reduced; that is the case for 79% of Beaumont’s members.

At Home by High has 53 members, about 25 volunteers and a staff of one: Beaumont.

The volunteers help with wellness phone calls, lawn mowing and companionship, but as the founder and only staff member, Beaumont starts her day early by making calls, and she goes to sleep late after answering emails. In between, she pivots between meeting her members’ hands-on needs and taking care of her 7-year-old daughter.

During a normal week, Beaumont said, she spends her time grocery-shopping for people, planning social events, going to members’ doctor’s appointments, making phone calls on members’ behalf, writing grant applications and performing other tasks that help maintain her nonprofit.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic elimi-

nating the social aspect of her organization, Beaumont is still working a 50-hour week.

However, she said that helping her members is like helping her family.

“I just feel like it’s what I want our community to look like. I want people to know each other. I want people to support neighbors,” Beaumont said.

She added that when her first member, 85-year-old John Fuller of Harrison West, needed supervision after an operation, she stayed overnight with him.

“There’s so many obstacles for people that may not have friends or family in town to give extra support,” she said.

Beaumont’s husband and Everyday Heroes nominator, Mike Beaumont, said that whenever he meets his wife’s members, he’s greeted with compliments of her.

“I’d walk in, and they just were, you know, ‘Oh, your wife is an angel. She has completely changed my life. I don’t know what I would ever do,’” he said. “She is just such a force for good in their lives.”

Katie Beaumont, who has worked with several nonprofits, said that because a lot of philanthropic funding is directed to larger organizations, she doesn’t know whether At Home by High will still exist next year.

Despite the uncertainty, she said that her mission of helping older adults stay in their community will continue.

“Long-term care, I think, is not the answer for a lot of people right now. Because if they can live in the community and stay integrated in the community, it’s beneficial to everybody,” Beaumont said.

Aaron “Bo” Andrews, 83, of Harrison West, is one of Beaumont’s members. Without her help, he said, he would lose access to many things.

“Really, truly, she goes above and beyond. Katie is very professional in what she does. And she really cares about people,” Andrews said. “When you call and ask for something, she will do it. And when she says she’s gonna do something, she does it.

And like I say, she is very professional, and I love her. I love her.”

| SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 | S21

SEMIFINALIST

JACK BROWN A love of science leads a retiree to inspire that same passion in kids.

Sam Raudins |

J

The Columbus Dispatch

a ck Brown’s dad had a knack for build-

ing things, and his neighbor had a giant antenna for HAM radio operation. It was the Sputnik satellite era — technology was “the thing” in the late 1950s, Brown said — and he and his dad would build radios and other electronic devices for fun.

“I never stopped doing that kind of stuff, and I just was intrigued by the whole idea of, what can you do without spending a lot of money (using) everyday materials to replicate what early scientists did in the late 1700s, early 1800s,” Brown said.

The 73-year-old Westerville resident took that childhood hobby and turned it into a retirement “profession” by volunteering his time with Westerville schools and libraries, giving presentations and guiding projects about science. Brown estimates he's brought science activities to 15 classrooms, including some recurring visits, and teaches five programs per week to school-age kids on top of advising a local robot club.

“The problem with science education is that as kids pursue it, things get harder as you get more advanced classes, and there’s some math requirements and so forth. But every little kid is interested in science and art, for example, but they often lose interest,” Brown said. “So that’s kind of my goal, is to stimulate that interest and try to move it up the age spectrum.”

Brown wasn’t exactly a scientist in his professional life; he studied community analysis at Ohio State University in the ’60s, and in his last job before retirement, he was a statistical analyst forecasting house foreclosures in Loudoun County, Virginia, during the 2008 recession. Brown graduated from Walnut Ridge High School in 1965, and he moved back to Columbus after retirement to be closer to family.

In central Ohio, his hobby started inspiring kids — including Linda Amici’s fifth graders at Alcott Elementary School — with inventions such as an augmented-reality sandbox.

“He can’t get enough of educating students. He’s just a giver, and he’s really energized by helping the next generation to see the importance and value of science and design thinking and engineering and

[DORAL CHENOWETH/DISPATCH]

all mathematical concepts like that,” Amici said.

Brown visits Amici’s classroom during students’ lunch and recess hours to work with them on design and engineering projects. Amici said Brown will bring activities and tools for the kids, such as a measuring contraption made of Lego, and a telescope that turns black-and-white images into color.

Amici said Brown is also involved in the Designing Westerville project, in which students survey Westerville residents about changes they would like to see in the community. The students then create and present solutions as part of the COSI Science Festival. In 2019, the students presented to more than 400 people, including city and education leaders, she said.

Brown’s role was to advise students as to whether the solutions they designed would work in practice, Amici said.

Brown also took the Designing Westerville project to Tina Bardwell’s classroom. Bardwell,

an eighth grade science teacher at Genoa Middle School, said that in addition to pitching Designing Westerville to her five classes, Brown also brought laboratory materials to use in class and is on call to help students use them.

“Something that I thought was over the top for Jack to do was, he puts his own personal cellphone (number) on materials like the virtual sandbox and a couple other lab supply things that he dropped off at my class to have educators call him at the drop of a hat to get more information, get help with the lab supplies, which is unheard of,” Bardwell said.

Brown said that although this year’s in-person Designing Westerville was canceled, he still likes to tell his wife of 51 years, Sue, about good days with the kids he teaches — these days, via video chats.

“I saw at the bottom of the screen, I would see comments like, ‘Oh, wow,’ or ‘That’s cool.’ Well, that’s pretty much why I do it,” Brown said.

S22 | SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 |

SEMIFINALIST

AMY TWYMAN An assisted-living leader sheltered in place to protect her residents.

[TIM JOHNSON/DISPATCH MAGAZINES]

Tatyana Tandanpolie Dispatch Magazines

A

my Twyman thinks of the residents at The Inn at SharonBrooke and The Inn at Chapel Grove as her parents and grandparents. She refuses to let them and their families struggle like she and her family did over 30 years ago while finding an assisted-living facility for her grandmother.

Although the residence they chose was wonderful, she said, she always felt that it could be more for its residents. Shortly after moving her grandmother in, Twyman became an aide at the facility, working her way up to executive director before landing at SharonBrooke. Since then, as director, she has implemented the changes she wished her grandmother had, from more outside trips to a commitment to making the residents’ “last days the best.”

“It's just important to me that families know that we love their mom and dad and that we’re going to do whatever it takes to keep them happy, healthy and safe,” Twyman said.

When COVID-19 cases started skyrocketing in Ohio in March, she stayed true to her word.

For three weeks, Twyman and her team brainstormed ways to prevent COVID-19 from infiltrating the buildings, hashing out a meticulous plan to isolate with residents, finding employees willing to join them, and keeping the 225 families of residents informed of the changes.

Among the volunteers to stay was SharonBrooke’s dietary cook, September Wilson, who has worked with Twyman for 12 years and deems her one of the “best bosses” she’s had. Wilson committed to the lockdown after painstakingly weighing her options.

“It definitely helped knowing that (Twyman) was going to be there, just because she just gets in there and does things with her employees,” she said.

On March 12, Twyman, her husband, her two teenage children and 43 Chapel Grove and Sha-

ronBrooke employees locked the facilities’ doors for what they thought would be a few weeks. They stuffed air mattresses into available rooms, cycled through shifts and carried out daily duties as normally as they could.

The few weeks became a month, and then two months, and on to 65 days that Twyman and the employees spent locked in the residences. Telling her staff week after week that they had to be away from their families for another week was hard, she said, and the time spent sitting with residents in place of their families as the days passed were even harder.

But through the difficulty of being away from loved ones, the staff and residents at SharonBrooke gained plenty of fond memories and stronger bonds. Residents made it a habit to check in on the employees. Twyman learned valuable lessons about residents’ lives in the facility, and their 225 families catered the staff ’s dinners every night.

Over time, their close-knit communities morphed into the tight-knit families that Twyman had dreamed of years before.

“She doesn’t look at it as a job; she looks at it as taking care of her family,” said Mariann McClellan, who nominated Twyman as an Everyday Hero.

“You always hear, ‘If you love what you do, it’s not really a job. It’s just what you do.’ She was just doing what she would hope someone would do for her family if it was ever needed.”

The efforts of Twyman and her staff were successful. As they exited SharonBrooke on May 16, their community welcomed them back with fanfare, cheering and donning signs thanking the “COVID heroes” for their sacrifices.

But Twyman doesn’t consider herself a hero; she’s a caregiver doing what is right and, above all else, her residents’ dutiful surrogate grandchild.

“To know that all my residents are healthy is the best feeling ever,” she said.

She added early in the summer: “To be honest, I’d do it again if we would get this unreal surge in the fall. Without hesitation, we would probably lock down again."

That comment proved prophetic, although the surge arrived earlier than expected. The residents and staff had remained COVID-free through July, but due to an increase in cases in central Ohio, Twyman and 43 employees began a second voluntary isolation at the facilities on July 30.

| SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 | S23

SEMIFINALIST

SPENCER STEVENSON A Bexley teen is driven to help people in need.

Gershon Harrell The Columbus Dispatch

S

pencer Stevenson arrived at New Life Community Outreach at 5:30 a.m. with his father in tow. The 17-year-old from Bexley and his father wake up early each Sunday to be at the center because the teen believes in living a life of service and giving back to others.

New Life is a nonprofit ministry based in the Short North Church of Columbus at 25 W. 5th Ave. There, volunteers provide food, clothing and health care to people in need. Stevenson has volunteered with the ministry for two years, working in the clothing room and the kitchen and developing relationships with the people who come seeking resources.

Stevenson said that volunteering at New Life is one of the key pillars in his life.

When Stevenson was in the 10th grade, he wrote a winning essay in the 2019 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Art, Essay and Multimedia contest for Ohio students in grades 6 to 12. He wrote that he makes a promise to himself every Sunday when he wakes up to go to New Life.

He continues to uphold that promise — to ease people’s suffering and help them forget about past injustices they might have suffered. He wrote that he and they are one community, one family, and they are all neighbors.

“There’s a lot of things I learned there that you can’t really learn in other situations,” Stevenson said.

He learned how to be reliable, put his best foot forward, and listen to people’s stories — such as those of the homeless veterans who have inspired him to join the Air Force after high school and continue a life of service in the military.

“I really want to go into the military, and I’ve gotten the chance to talk to a lot of homeless veterans and (notice) the way their eyes light up when they talk about the brave things that they’ve done in their experiences in the military,” Stevenson said.

The Rev. Wendy Hansen-Smith, director of New Life Community Outreach, said that Stevenson is always willing to help by taking on a new task.

Hansen-Smith said that during the Thanksgiving holiday, Stevenson and his dad made pumpkin pies; for Easter, he filled plastic Easter eggs with candy; and on Valentine’s Day, he made Valentine hearts with a positive message written inside.

“He’s someone who goes above and beyond and just thinks of creative ways to help bring sunshine to people’s lives,” Hansen-Smith said.

At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the Mid-Ohio Food Collective needed volunteers, and Stevenson signed up. His mother, Renee Stevenson, said she feared that he would contract the virus, but she knew that he was drawn to help others and felt a strong need to go.

He volunteered at the food bank for more than 60 hours and said he was fortunate to volunteer at two of the branches.

“You didn’t really get the personal connection you got at New Life Community Outreach, but you knew you were helping people, and it was really

nice,” Stevenson said.

He said his passion for service comes from his parents, who taught him at a young age that helping others was one of the best ways to lead a life.

Both of his parents are teachers and taught him many many things, he said. His mom instilled compassion, and his father showed him how to lead a life of service.

However, his mother said that Stevenson has always been kind. She recalled a community Easter egg hunt in which a girl with cerebral palsy, a disorder that affects mobility, didn’t find many eggs.

“When Spencer saw that there were no eggs for that little girl’s basket, he just kind of quietly went over and dumped his basket in hers and then walked away. And so, I think what makes him a hero to me is his ability to see a need for others and feel like it’s his responsibility to help fix it,” she said.

[JOSHUA BICKEL/DISPATCH]

S24 | SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 |

FINALIST

SIYAT MOHAMED A soccer coach offers hope and inspiration to young people on the West Side.

Siyat Mohamed runs the MY Project USA Hilltop Tigers youth soccer program, which includes about 100 kids. “Seeing the impact I have on these kids inspires me to get up out of bed. I’m the only change-maker in many of their lives.” [ROB HARDIN/DISPATCH MAGAZINES]

Steve Wartenberg |

O

Freelance Writer

pportunities are rare and often fleeting when you’re a born in a Somali Bantu refugee camp in Kenya, eventually immigrate to Columbus and live in Wedgewood Village Apartments, a Hilltop complex where gangs, drugs and violence are a way of life. Toss in that your father stayed behind in the refugee camp to care for and protect the extended family, leaving your mother, who doesn’t speak English, to provide for four boys in a foreign land.

This is the life of Siyat Mohamed, 22, who, despite — or maybe because of — these hurdles, has become a community leader, soccer coach, mentor and role model. He’s a new husband and father, and is committed to a career of public service. He started a youth soccer team through the nonprofit MY Project USA and works as a teaching assistant at Wedgewood Middle School.

“You don’t get to decide where you’re born or what you get in life,” Mohamed said. “But you do get to decide how to act on it. I grew up around gangs and senseless killings and watched too many people suffer. I made a promise to myself to get something started and to help my people.”

Mohamed’s story begins several thousand miles away in the refugee camps of Kenya in eastern Africa. The Somali Bantu are descendants of slaves taken from Tanzania and Mozambique in the late 1800s to the southern coast of Somali.

The Somali Bantu, most of whom are Muslim, “have remained a persecuted minority in Somalia and cannot return to the homes they fled there,” according to the U.S. State Department. The first refugees arrived in this country in 2003; Mohamed and his family came a year later.

Mohamed’s most vivid memories of the refugee camp are playing soccer in the dirt. Sports were an outlet — the only outlet.

“We played barefoot and made our own goals,” Mohamed said.

They also made their own makeshift soccer balls. “We took some yarn and wrapped it into a ball until it became big enough, and then we wrapped some plastic around it.”

Columbus has been one of the primary relocation centers for the Somali Bantu, and many live in Wedgewood Village Apartments.

“I would say it’s the most dangerous apartment complex in Columbus,” said Mohamed, who was 6 years old when he arrived in Columbus. “I lost a lot of close friends — teenagers who had a full life ahead of them.”

Mohamed’s path was made a bit easier by several strong women who helped guide him in the right direction, starting with his mother, Fatuma Mohamed. She worked more than one job to put food on the table and did her best to keep her four sons out of harm’s way.

“She did everything for us, but I didn’t have the best childhood possible,” Mohamed said, adding he learned “through trial and error and making mistakes.”

Mohamed created the youth soccer program while attending Westland High School, where he played soccer. He needed help with the program and reached out to Zerqa Abid, the founder of MY Project USA, a Hilltop-based nonprofit that provides programs and services to the youths of underserved neighborhoods. It is one of the city’s largest Muslim social-service agencies.

| SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 | S25

Mohamed enjoys a break between drills.

Mohamed laughs with players during practice.

SIYAT MOHAMED Neighborhoods: The Hilltop and Lincoln Park West What inspires him?

“Seeing the impact I have on these kids inspires me to get up out of bed.”

What keeps him engaged?

“As long as you have a goal, you won’t let anything stand in your way.”

A challenge he has overcome?

Growing up in a Somali Bantu refugee camp in Kenya

“I cannot tell you how special Siyat is,” said Abid, who then proceeded to do her best to describe why her protégé is so special. “Here was this 16-year-old taking care of 7- to 10-year-olds, trying to save them from drugs and gangs. I was very impressed and registered his team into our gym and began working with him closely. … He wants to use soccer to change their lives, and I see him doing that.”

Abid, the Dispatch Media Group’s Everyday

Hero for 2019, was so impressed that she eventually hired Mohamed, who now runs the MY Project USA Hilltop Tigers youth soccer program, which includes about 100 kids.

“Siyat is a natural coach,” said Russ Harris, a MY Project USA board member and director of the organization’s sports program. “He understands the poverty these kids live in and offers sports and fitness as an alternative to drugs and gangs. The kids listen to him because he’s one of them. … The kids believe in Siyat because they know he believes in them.”

Mohamed says that there is hope for the players he coaches, and that he can help them develop the skills they need to take advantage of the slim opportunities available to them.

“The kids who are raised in a better environment, that gives them a head start,” Mohamed said. “Their parents set certain standards, and, on top of that, they have all sorts of opportunities as soon as they step out the door. When (these kids) step out the door, maybe it’s safer for them to stay in the house.”

Diane Campbell, principal of Wedgewood Middle School, was also impressed when she met Mohamed. Determined to expand his reach and influence more local youths, Mohamed met with Campbell a couple of years ago to see if he could visit the school and recruit more kids into MY Project USA programs.

“I was so impressed by this young man that I eventually hired him to be an instructional assistant,” Campbell said. Her school is 61% nonwhite, including many Latino and Somali stu-

dents. “What impressed me was Siyat was so invested in the community. He puts all his free time into the community,” Campbell said.

Campbell is convinced that Mohamed will achieve even bigger and better things in the years to come.

“I think he will become a huge partner with the city, and my dream, once I become a millionaire,” she said with a laugh, “is to give back and to financially help him create a startup nonprofit to do what he’s doing now on an even bigger scale.”

Influencing more lives is Mohamed’s goal, and he seems to be an unstoppable force for good.

“My life revolves around my community, my people and all the youth,” he said. “Seeing the impact I have on these kids inspires me to get up out of bed. I’m the only change-maker in many of their lives.”

Mohamed’s father remains in the refugee camp in Kenya. “We call him on WhatsApp, if he has the gigabytes,” Mohamed said.

Mohamed is now a father; his wife, Mumina Hassan, gave birth to a girl, Uwah, on June 5.

They live with his mother and two of his brothers in an apartment complex in the Lincoln Park West neighborhood on the West Side near Hollywood Casino Columbus.

“I always looked at the children in the community as my own,” he said. “And now that I have one of my own, the love grew even more.”

S26 | SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 |

SEMIFINALIST

MARK KING A young neighbor’s death inspires a Dublin resident to helps others.

Sarah Sole |

ThisWeek Community News

M

ark King learned how to play the piano when he was 5 years old.

When he’s stressed, it helps him relax. When he’s tired, it gives him energy.

It also helped the 62-year-old Dublin resident find a lasting way to honor a young friend’s memory.

King is the director of the radiology residency program and interim chairman for radiology at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. He also is the founder of Christine’s Christmas, an annual Christmas concert that raises money for a variety of nonprofit organizations and agencies supporting children.

The concert is held every year in memory of Christine Wilson, who died in April 2003 in a house fire near the Ohio State campus. Although the initiative started with King playing piano by himself, it has grown into a concert featuring the best musicians in central Ohio.

“It’s the honor of my life to be able to do it,” King said.

The concert, which features an orchestra, choir and backing band, routinely brings in $100,000 in revenue and anywhere from 600 to 850 attendees.

But it all started with King’s next-door neighbor, Wilson, and the relationship that grew between her and King’s family.

Wilson was the oldest child of Tim and Pam Wilson. Tim Wilson nominated King as an Everyday Hero.

King said that he and his wife, Heidi, were like another set of parents to Christine, and she was like a child to them. She baby-sat their kids, Laura, Allison and Michael (now 26, 24 and 20, respectively).

Wilson was a great baby sitter, King said, and interested in education.

“We felt very, very comfortable with her,” he said.

Wilson was one of five students killed in an arson fire in April 2003. She was a student at Ohio University pursuing a degree in education at the time, and she and two sorority sisters had attended a birthday party for an OSU student, King said.

They stayed overnight at the house.

King was mowing his lawn in early August that year when the idea came to him. He decided to

Mark King [LORRIE CECIL/THISWEEK]

create a Christmas CD to sell in Wilson’s memory, and in November, he recorded 12 songs on the Ohio State campus.

He sold more than 2,500 CDs without any advertising, taking them to small, local shops to be sold for $15 each. People bought a copy, then returned to buy more, he said.

Wilson’s father, Tim Wilson, had started the Christine Wilson Foundation after his daughter’s death, King said, and King told the family about his plan to give proceeds from the CD sales to the foundation the family had created.

King began getting phone calls and letters and being stopped on the street by people, all sharing how his Christmas CD had affected them. He said he realized he needed to do a live show.

The following Christmas season, he put on a concert that generated money for the Christine Wilson Foundation, to be given to the Childhood League Center of Columbus. The annual event grew from there.

Although the concert began in a hall on the Ohio State campus, it grew and was moved to Dublin

Jerome High School before moving yet again, to Downtown Columbus, Tim Wilson said.

Following receipt of a $1 million commitment of donations made over several years, Nationwide Children’s Hospital in 2012 announced that it was renaming its burn unit the Christine Wilson Burn Center, Tim Wilson said.

In addition to the children’s hospital, proceeds from the annual concerts have been donated to the Miracle League of Central Ohio, the Willow Ridge Therapeutic Riding Facility in Plain City, Bishop Watterson High School and other agencies and organizations.

In the 2019 Christmas season, the foundation recognized the 12 Days of Christmas by donating $2,000 each to 12 charities, starting on the day of the concert 12 days before the holiday, Wilson said.

Every year, Wilson said, King starts the concert off with a monologue of how Christine changed him. The speech, and the music afterward, is heartwarming, her father said.

“I think it’s been healing,” he said.

| SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 | S27

SEMIFINALIST

TAMMY TUCKER A food pantry leader piles more on plate to feed others.

Kevin Corvo |

I

ThisWeek Community News

t requires work and dedication to fulfill a food pantry’s mission even in ordinary times.

But these are no ordinary times.

Tammy Tucker, 53, is president of the board of directors for the Hilliard Food Pantry. Since March, she also has served as its manager, performing double duty to ensure that the pantry is able to serve families in need during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Tammy’s leadership in the early days of the public-health crisis was critical to our ability to efficiently adapt and scale our process to meet demand, all while prioritizing the health and safety or our community and volunteers,” said Katy Trombitas, a volunteer member of the Hilliard Food Pantry board.

Tucker became president of the board of directors, a volunteer position, in December 2016, less than a year after becoming a volunteer board member. In 2019, she guided the pantry in its relocation to Life Community Church, 4400 Cemetery Road. The site is more than twice the size of its former home in part of the Hilliard Civic and Cultural Arts Center in Old Hilliard.

As board president, Tucker oversees the fundraising efforts of the food pantry. But when Matt Austin stepped out of the role of pantry manager on March 1 with no clear successor in place, Tucker filled in at a critical time as the pandemic came into focus in Ohio.

The role is familiar to Tucker, who has about 20 years of experience in food-pantry operations.

That began in 2000, when she and her husband, Rob, as members of Hilliard’s Scioto Ridge United Methodist Church, began supporting a feeding program for the United Methodist Church for All People on Parsons Avenue in Columbus.

“At first, I was asked to make casseroles to take to the church, but then I was asked to go there and help serve,” said Tucker, who doled out meals with her husband and their son and daughter, who were just beginning grade school.

“It was a game-changer,” she said.

Witnessing firsthand evidence of hunger’s prevalence — an experience she didn’t have growing up in Fairmont, West Virginia, or in her later

homes in the Akron and Hilliard areas — was eyeopening, she said.

“I didn’t see it until then; I didn’t know what it meant,” said Tucker, who continued to support food programs through the family’s church, eventually expanding her service to include what was then the Mid-Ohio Foodbank.

About eight years ago, Tucker responded to a post for a temporary job at the food bank; today, she is a critical part of its mission.

Even while serving as pantry manager and board president for the Hilliard Food Pantry, Tucker is also the agency relations manager for Franklin County agencies of the Mid-Ohio Food Collective. The job entails ensuring that food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters are in compliance with state and federal regulations, including those of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Tucker oversees about 200 agencies in Franklin County, with the exception of Hilliard.

Even with that responsibility at hand, Tucker

[LORRIE CECIL/THISWEEK]

said she knew that Hilliard’s food pantry could not achieve its goals without a manager in place.

“When COVID-19 happened, I stepped in as pantry manager because I thought we might (otherwise) have to close,” she said.

The pantry served 25,000 meals in April, up from 17,000 in January.

“Over the last few years, Tammy’s tireless work on behalf of the Hilliard Food Pantry not only strengthened a program that is priceless to our community, but also positioned the pantry to pivot quickly when the pandemic hit and food insecurity skyrocketed,” Trombitas said.

Hilary Sloat, principal of Hilliard Horizon Elementary School, supports the food pantry.

“Tammy is an amazing leader who has stepped up to lead the pantry in this crisis,” Sloat said.

“Her passion for helping others and compassion with volunteers are evident in everything she does. It is an honor and a privilege to work with her to help others.”

S28 | SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 |

SEMIFINALIST

GLORIA BUTLER Plain City resident makes sure people in need have home furnishings.

Tanisha Thomas The Columbus Dispatch

G

loria Butler has terrible stage fright and considers herself an introvert, but no one would know that from the way she opens her arms to make everyone feel like family.

The 78-year-old is a people person, a trait that pairs well with her natural instinct to help those in need at the St. Martin de Porres Outreach Mission Center in Plain City.

She describes it as her “home away from home,” having dedicated 25 years to the center. Butler serves as the director of the center, the charity arm of St. Joseph Catholic Church, which provides home furnishings to people who have experienced a loss such as a house fire or unemployment.

Referrals from social services agencies, other churches, health departments and others bring in the majority of those Butler helps, but the center accepts walk-ins, too. Those without a referral are asked to first undergo a background check by the Plain City Police Department.

Butler loves telling stories and cites her grandmother, who taught her to care deeply for others, as her biggest influence.

Butler provides her services free; her hours vary each week.

“People always ask me, ‘Oh, how can we repay you?’” she said. “Just pay it forward. That is how you can help, because it’s the right thing to do.”

She is not alone in her effort; her husband, Jim, 77, coordinates deliveries of furniture with clients. The Butlers, with assistance from other volunteers, typically help 80 to 100 families a year.

Donations, grants and fundraising efforts keep the center running smoothly and allow Gloria Butler to buy supplies or needed items that have not been donated.

She likes having a system of picking out the furniture a person needs instead of running the center like a grocery store.

“We didn’t think we would have the energy and longevity to run a store,” she said.

In the center’s early days, church members offered to store items at their homes.

In 2009, the Butlers received grant money from the Catholic Foundation to build a one-story house; they were able to fill it with furniture and appliances.

Twin beds are the most popular furniture the center gives away, and microwave ovens are the most requested.

Butler’s generous actions in her community are why she earned the honor of Catholic Woman of the Year in 2010. Being nominated as an Everyday Hero gives her the same feeling all over again.

This type of work is nothing new for Butler. Her daughter-in-law, Nancy Thomas, admires her for that reason.

“Even if they don’t have items, they find resources that do have the items that people need,” said Thomas, also of Plain City.

The volunteer work doesn’t come without challenges. Encountering people from different walks of life has taught Butler a valuable lesson.

“The hardest part about this job is keeping your heart open and not to judge anyone who comes for help,” she said.

So Butler keeps her heart open and helps anyone in need, no matter their circumstances, which is why Dee Dee Bradley, a longtime friend, says Butler is “extremely generous.” Butler drops off food, checks on people and asks how they are doing all the time, Bradley said.

“It is the way of life for her,” said Bradley, 80.

Living in Plain City, Bradley occasionally helps Butler at the center, and Bradley’s husband, Jim, 82, assists with deliveries as well.

“She is such a unique individual,” Jim Bradley said. “I don’t know how they are going to replace her.”

As Butler gets older, she hopes to retire soon and find a younger person to take over the position to keep the mission center running.

Until then, “I will continue to help people and keep that focus,” she said.

[FRED SQUILLANTE/DISPATCH]

| SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 | S29

SEMIFINALIST

TIA GANNON A mom turns class parties into a movement of generosity.

[ADAM CAIRNS/DISPATCH]

George Shillcock The Columbus Dispatch

T

he students at Beatty Park Elementary School often steal a glance through their classroom windows to watch for Miss Tia and her big red wagon. They know that the wagon is overflowing with cool things gathered to make their day just a bit better.

“You would hear the whispers of the kids, and the kids were always running up and giving hugs,” Tia Gannon said. “You would hear them say ‘Oh, there’s Miss Tia!’” As she unloads her car, the 52-year-old Dublin resident fills that big red wagon with an assortment of school supplies, books, toys, crafts and other items that had been donated and dropped off on her front porch. These items are used to throw class parties, organize book fairs or just

give these children essentials that they might not be able to get themselves.

Maggie Boggess, an art teacher at Beatty Park Elementary, said Gannon works well with the students, is overwhelmingly positive and, above all, gives her time.

“Tia has never told me no,” Boggess said. “And sometimes our asks can be very big.”

Gannon has always loved throwing parties and planning events. After growing up in the Columbus area, she graduated from Ohio State University with a degree in hospitality management and ultimately decided to plant her roots here.

She married her husband, Mark, in 2008. The couple adopted their first son, Max, 12, and soon after, she gave birth to Jack, 10. Gannon’s family always comes first, but she soon realized that she wanted something more.

“I was always just a room mom for them,” referring to her sons, “and I just had this urge to have a bigger purpose and be more than just a mother and a wife.”

What started as a simple Facebook post about five years ago turned into School Rocks Party Box, a nonprofit that takes donations and organizes events and parties for area schools.

Gannon accepts donations — left on her front porch — of books, toiletries, toys, crafts, school supplies or other items from neighbors or people from the School Rocks Party Box Facebook group.

Sometimes the donations stack so high that she has to enter her house through the garage.

Gannon, with the help of her children, husband and parents, puts on holiday parties and book fairs and even organizes loose-change ”Penny Harvest” donations with Forest Park Elementary School, where students pick nonprofits to donate to and eventually visit.

The COVID-19 pandemic put a wrench in Gannon’s plans for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year, but that didn’t stop her from her mission.

By coordinating with parents, schools and other organizations such as the Columbus Department of Recreation and Parks, she is able to collect and deliver supplies to students. During the pandemic, she is working with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, which gave her flying discs that she includes in care packages.

Recipients are families who often don’t have the basic supplies needed to do classwork from home and are struggling more than anyone else to put food on the table and keep the lights on.

Boggess said Gannon helped get the students art supplies when the pandemic initially shut down schools.

Gannon said, “This doesn’t feel right. These kids are just home with no food, no supplies, and the schools are expecting them to learn. I see what my kids have, and I really saw the gap in the education system and wanted to get supplies in the hands of the kids.”

As she looks back at the five years of working with these students, her joy comes from the simple interactions she’s had with them. Gannon gets thousands of thank-you cards peppered with stickers and hand-drawn art.

She recalls one day at Beatty Park when she walked into a schoolwide surprise party titled “National Tia Day” featuring a signed banner and gifts from the students to her family.

“People always ask if I get paid, and I say, ‘It’s right here in my heart,’” Gannon said.

S30 | SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 |

FINALIST

ALLI KRIVANEK In her many roles, a Powell nurse makes others feel important and loved.

Holly Zachariah |

S

The Columbus Dispatch

ome of the scenes stay with her longer than the others, mess with her emotions a little more, put a wider crack in her breaking heart.

Such as the night that Alli Krivanek — as a volunteer with an organization that responds to the locations of suicides to help those left behind — arrived, only to learn that the person who died had been waiting on a ride somewhere. And no one showed up to take her.

That one might have hurt the most because showing up is what Krivanek tries to do. Every day. All the time. For so many people. Not in big or flashy ways, but just in spontaneous, meaningful moments that say, “I see you. You matter.”

Moments such as buying Wendy’s Frosties on a July day and delivering them to local police officers. Calling restaurant managers over, not to complain, but to tell them what a great experience she’d just had. Taking a bouquet of fresh flowers to the Walmart door greeter because she was running errands that day anyway. Baking cookies for firefighters, ministering to prisoners, doing laundry for the homeless.

Kindness, after all, is Krivanek’s native language.

“When somebody feels valued and loved, that’s like my drug,” said Krivanek, a 27-year-old registered nurse from Powell. “A lot of us get overwhelmed thinking we have to save the world. But it’s really just the little things to show someone matters.”

Growing up in a faith-based home and learning from a young age that love is a conscious act, one that helps you spread seeds of compassion wherever you go, Krivanik thinks that doing for others always came pretty naturally.

Then in 2014, she met Lacie Helms, the love of her life and the woman she expected to marry.

Helms cared for strangers and friends alike in a way that Krivanek had never seen. “Love hard” was Helms’ motto — and it wasn’t just a phrase, but a way of life. It’s now a tattoo on Krivanek’s left forearm, and a truncated version is her personal-

Alli Krivanek [TIM JOHNSON/DISPATCH MAGAZINES]

ized license plate — daily reminders to always do for others first.

But they are daily reminders of what she has lost, too. Helms died by suicide in November 2016 at the age of 23.

It changed everything.

“I know that I thought in my head that life will never get better,” Krivanek recalled. “I was in a very dark place, and I realized that I thought there was no hope.”

Yet within just a few weeks she spotted a glimmer when (at her mother’s urging) she agreed to meet Denise Meine-Graham for coffee. MeineGraham had founded Franklin County LOSS in

2014 following her son’s suicide in 2012. LOSS provides support groups, companionship and other outreach to those who have lost someone to suicide.

Huddled by the fireplace in a local Panera Bread, the two laughed, cried, supported and mourned.

And before long, Kravinek went from a participant in LOSS’ programs to one of its most dedicated volunteers.

“LOSS is really where my heart is,” she said. “It helped me take my grief and use it for good. There’s not a day that goes by that the loss of Lacie has not allowed me to love other people better, to spread love better, and to be there and support people.”

| SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 | S31

ALLI KRIVANEK Neighborhood: Powell What inspires her?

“My goal in life is to be an example in Christ in every way, shape and form. Everybody deserves love on earth. I think my No. 1 job is to show people they matter.”

What keeps her engaged?

“Feeling or seeing like someone knows they are valued. This keeps me going.”

What challenge has she overcome?

In November 2016, Krivanek’s girlfriend died by suicide. Lacie Helms’ motto was to “love hard,” and she lived a life of doing good for others. So in overcoming her own pain and loss, Krivanek has renewed her promise to live every day walking the walk and to make people feel loved.

Krivanek gives a bag of supplies to Terry, who is homeless. [TIM JOHNSON/DISPATCH MAGAZINES]

A few months after meeting Meine-Graham, Kravinek started helping with fundraisers and sending encouraging cards and notes to suicide survivors. Then she progressed to sharing the story of her and Lacie in front of groups of strangers. And for the past year or so, she’s been serving as part of those teams of at least two people who respond to the scenes of suicides.

Meine-Graham said Krivanek is a genuine comforter to those who now walk the path where she has been. It takes a special kind of person, she said, to sit with families in their darkest hour.

“It’s very natural as human beings to want to help, and by default that means providing messages of hope. And those fall on deaf ears at the scene of a trauma,” Meine-Graham said. “Alli can be such an engaged listener without saying ‘But things are going to get better.’ She is uplifting and encouraging without just offering platitudes.”

Helping others heal — whether as a nurse at Ohio State University’s James Cancer Hospital, visiting the homeless on the streets of Columbus, or in a stranger’s backyard after crisis came calling — has been a gift from God, Krivanek said. Because everything she does is rooted in her Christian faith. As she heads to a scene, she

always prays for God to use her in any way that the people she’s rushing to be with might need.

“Some people need a hug. Some people don’t want to be touched,” she said. So often she just sits with them in silence. It’s about being there, a presence.

“I feel like it’s a privilege … to be somebody’s grief companion,” she said. “A lot of people lack faith. A lot of people lack hope. A lot of people lack joy. I just want you to remember someone was there to hold you.”

Krivanek has worked on the leukemia floor at the James for three years and chose it, in part, because the very nature of that awful cancer means that patients generally have long stays there. That means there’s time to build relationships with families. For Krivanek, her nursing job isn’t so much about the paycheck as it is just another way of caring for others.

Sandy Adams saw Kravinek’s thoughtfulness time and again when her husband, Bill, spent 60 days at the James as a patient late last year.

It was little things to keep their spirits up, such as bringing the couple their favorite morning coffees, surprising Sandy with chocolate cake and ice cream on her birthday because Bill was

worried that no one would remember, or texting them regularly even now that they are back in their northern Kentucky home.

Or moments such as the one when, from her husband’s room, Sandy heard someone singing, as loudly as they could, “If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands …” while heading down a hallway. Sandy didn’t even have to get up and peek out of the room; she knew it was Krivanek.

Moreover, Sandy said, Krivanek knew that she didn’t need to be cheerful all the time, and she was tuned in to days when all Bill wanted was to have someone listen as he talked about golf.

“We loved every nurse at the James. So incredible. But Alli is like a walking pinata — she is just ready to burst with something good,” Sandy said. “Anybody who is around her wants to be better.”

All this praise, of course, makes Krivanek uncomfortable. But it makes her smile — her signature wide, open-mouthed grin that practically splits her face.

“My goal is not to give a homeless person a bag of goodies,” she said. “My goal is to make somebody feel valued and special and noticed.”

S32 | SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 |

SEMIFINALIST

KATHY JACKSON A volunteer’s dedication to philanthropy was instilled by her parents.

Nate Ellis |

F

ThisWeek Community News

or the better part of 25 years, Kathy Jackson has hustled around central Ohio to try to link people in need to resources.

Jackson, a 55-year-old retired speech pathologist, has volunteered for organizations such as Agora Christian Services, the Alvis Inc. Community Reentry Program, the city of Columbus’ Moms2B Program, the Holy Family Soup Kitchen and Food Pantry, South Side Early Learning, St. Stephen’s Community House and the YMCA and YWCA of Central Ohio.

For the past decade, Jackson has averaged about 30 hours a week volunteering, including the distribution of about 190,000 bras and femininehygiene products out of the trunk of her car last year.

“I couldn’t tell you how many clothing and food donations I’ve done,” Jackson said. “I just talk to people and find out what they need and what to do.

“Then I find people who have things they don’t know what to do with.”

Jackson, who often volunteers alongside her husband of 32 years, Steven Jackson, said the Dublin couple’s dedication to philanthropy was instilled by their parents.

As a child in Pittsburgh, her father often photographed youth sports and gave the photos to parents, and her mother was a volunteer emergencysquad nurse.

“We’ve all been in a spot in our lives that might not have been the best,” Jackson said. “We all remember that one person who believed in you. I want to be that person.

“I just feel like I’m that conduit. I just listen to people and try to make magic happen.”

When her daughters — Megan, 28; Kayla, 26; Anna, 26; and Molly, 23 — were in school, Jackson not only volunteered at area service organizations but often packed extra lunches to give to hungry students.

She worried when Molly had a stroke 10 years ago, but then watched the girl recover and become a physician’s office specialist.

Jackson herself has recovered from a cancerous mass that left her with no feeling in one side

of her neck.

Still, she remains optimistic and convinced that everyone can help their community. “Who needs to feel the right side of their neck?” she joked. “I drew a sunshine on my car sunroof, and whether it’s a sunny or rainy day, I have sunshine.”

Colin McGinnis, the CEO of South Side Early Learning, nominated Jackson as an Everyday Hero, saying she always gives a “hand up” to those who are struggling.

McGinnis said his staff provides early education to preschool-age children on the South Side, and Jackson often supplies donated items for students.

Additionally, he said, Jackson teamed with Lululemon Athletica in December to provide a special Christmas for his staff. Teachers received items such as recliners for their homes and Apple watches. One custodian was gifted with tickets to

[SHANE FLANIGAN/THISWEEK]

a Green Bay Packers game.

“They surprised our teachers with an unforgettable Christmas,” McGinnis said. “She’s provided bras, panties, many products for our families and community.”

The only things Jackson accepts in return, McGinnis said, are smiles and hugs.

“Kathy helps our families at South Side Early Learning and at the Reeb Avenue Center by finding out what the needs are and locating those much-needed resources, then connecting the two,” he said.

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, her commitment to the community has not ceased.

“In fact, she has been working even harder to collect resources because the need has become so much greater. Kathy isn't a first responder in the typical sense, but Kathy is always one of the first to respond to those in need, if she can.”

| SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 | S33

SEMIFINALIST

BUDI JANUAR A couple’s weekly bread donations fulfill a desire to give back.

Budi Januar co-owns Great Harvest Bread Co. on the Far West Side with wife Fan Ny. [ADAM CAIRNS/DISPATCH]

Maya Fenter The Columbus Dispatch

B

udi Januar typically starts his days making bread to sell at his bakery around 5 a.m. — before the sun rises.

But since the state issued a stay-athome order in March, he has been waking up even earlier to begin the five-hour process so he can bake an additional 70 loaves each week that he can give away to those in need. It’s worth it to lose a little more shut-eye, he said, so that others can enjoy something that’s as fresh as possible.

“Sometimes it’s a challenge,” said Januar, 42.

“We just want to make sure everything is up to our quality standards.”

Januar owns the Great Harvest Bread Co. on the Far West Side with his wife, Fan Ny, 38. Since

March 27, they have donated bread each week to local organizations such as Lutheran Social Services’ Faith Mission and food pantries run by CHOICES for Victims of Domestic Violence and Vineyard Columbus. In April, they also began a weekly meal donation program to show appreciation for first responders and other essential workers.

By mid-June, they had donated nearly 500 loaves of their honey whole-wheat bread.

Mollie Vrable, volunteer services manager at Faith Mission, remembers being able to smell the bread when she picked up a donation in early April.

“The loaves were so fresh that they were still warm when I got in my car,” Vrable said.

Faith Mission is one of the largest homeless shelters in central Ohio. It provides three meals for residents each day, but due to the pandemic, some of its regular meal providers had to back out. The

donation from Januar and Ny was used to make turkey BLT sandwiches for residents, Vrable said.

The couple “responded to the call to help their neighbors in need,” Vrable said. “They saw the need, found a way they could help, and followed through.”

Both Januar and Ny moved to Columbus from the Southeast Asian nation of Indonesia 25 years ago and attended Ohio State University. Januar went on to study at the California Culinary Academy, and Ny got her master’s degree in nursing at Ohio State. They married in 2017 and have a 4-year-old daughter.

They first encountered the Great Harvest Bread Co. chain during a visit to Salt Lake City in 2013 and were inspired by the company, whose mission statement exhorts people to “give generously to others.” They bought a franchise and opened their store in June 2019.

“We’ve been blessed, so we like to turn it into another blessing to other people,” Ny said.

Part bakery and part cafe, the store was closed temporarily to dine-in customers in March as the coronavirus spread in central Ohio; the store fulfilled carryout and delivery orders. It has since been able to resume dine-in service with limited seating.

Although business has not fully recovered, the couple said they’re happy to do what they can to help other organizations.

“Even though sales are down, we’re still able to operate as usual,” Ny said. “Doing the bread donations, even though we don’t get anything for us, we get the rewarding feeling that we made a difference in someone else’s life.”

Donations are funded in part by customers, who can pay $3 per loaf; the store covers the other half of the cost. One person donated $200.

“We get pretty generous customers,” Januar said.

The couple plans to continue donating bread until the crisis is over. They don’t know when that will be, but that’s OK with Januar, who said giving back is part of what he loves about his job.

“There’s a joy when you can bless people,” Januar said. “It’s not about yourself anymore. If you’re working only for the sake of getting money for yourself, one day you’re going to burn out. But the joy from giving blessings to other people is never-ending.”

S34 | SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 |

SEMIFINALIST

PATSY DEERHAKE A Clintonville resident looks to step in to help where others haven’t.

Rachel Karas The Columbus Dispatch

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tanding on the dirt path, the wind blowing through her hair and the tall plants around her, Patsy Deerhake starts to list the people who helped her turn a giant puddle in Clintonville into a life-giving wetland.

A neighbor built the chimneyswift tower to encourage birds to live there. Two others secured the grant funding that made building the tower possible. About 60 volunteers transplanted more than 3,800 wetland plants, which the community works to maintain.

“I just always like to give credit where credit is due … and tell you the people who really helped with this,” Deerhake said.

But people who know Deerhake say she was the driving force behind the project in her Clintonville neighborhood.

She was the one who posted a photo three years ago on the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department’s Facebook page showing standing water where Sharon Elementary School once stood.

The photo led the department to connect with the Blueprint Columbus Green Infrastructure Workforce Development Training Program and neighborhood volunteers to build the wetland in the city’s Sharon Meadows Park.

“It was Patsy’s efforts, versus any sort of financial thing,” said friend Amanda Smeigh, 40, a Clintonville resident. “Her time and effort and love and, you know, just investment ... was always there. It’s what I think made it happen.”

Smeigh said Deerhake, 67, is a good

leader and always “invested in helping someone else and other things do well, because she wants to see them thrive.”

“She’s an inspiration. … She’s a role model for me. I want to be like Patsy when I grow up … and be able to cheer people on the way she does.”

In addition to the wetland project, Smeigh said, she has seen Deerhake devote time to initiatives such as the Village in the Ville, a local organization of adults 50 or older that helps with transportation, housekeeping and social needs.

Deerhake, a retired health coach, also mentored a teen through the Columbus Area Mentoring program once offered by the Family and Youth Law Center at Capital University’s law school.

Davion Elliott, 21, of the East Side, met Deerhake through that program in 2017 when he was aging out of the foster care program and looking to become more independent. Deerhake helped Elliott learn how to drive, make a budget and move into an apartment.

Deerhake also has supported Elliott’s interest in art over the years, even taking him on a trip to Pittsburgh for his 19th birthday so he could visit the Andy Warhol Museum.

“I was a pretty broken man when I met her; I pretty much stayed to myself,” Elliott said. “I don't have much family to support me, but she is like a mother figure to me … and I am pretty much forever grateful for that.”

Deerhake and Elliott still try to connect every couple of weeks to catch up.

As she maintains the wetland and works with the Village in the Ville program, she hopes to continue to organize events at the park.

“I try to look for things that other people aren’t doing, things that need to be done,” she said.

[FRED SQUILLANTE/DISPATCH]

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SEMIFINALIST

JOHN HAMPSON From behind purple doors, a free-store director provides clothing and connection.

Alan Froman |

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ThisWeek Community News

ohn Hampson is a big man — about 6 feet, 3 inches tall.

“But he has an even bigger heart,” said Rosemary Barkes. “He's a real force in our community.”

Barkes is a volunteer at the Purple Door Free Store at Grove City United Methodist Church; Hampson is the Purple Door’s director. The name refers to the church’s distinctively colored doors.

In operation since December 2018, the store provides clothing at no cost to families who live in the South-Western City School District and need a helping hand.

“There are a lot of people out there who are down on their luck or need assistance with clothing,” Hampson said. “But we strive to be more than just a place that gives out clothing. We’ve become friends with a lot of the people we serve. We know them, and they know us.”

Hampson, 67 and a Grove City native, worked in the South-Western district for decades as a teacher and guidance counselor at Grove City High School and, in the final years of his career, as a substitute teacher before retiring in 2017. In each of his school roles, Hampson said, he believed that more than just his students’ academic well-being was at stake.

“When I see a need, especially with kids, I will try my best to help fulfill that,” he said. “It’s a way to put the values of my faith into action.

“I loved working as a teacher and counselor. In a lot of ways, I didn’t really want to retire,” Hampson said. “I like kids, I really do. I probably like kids more than I enjoy being with adults. You learn so much from students.”

His devotion to serving young people extended beyond the school building. Hampson and his wife, Nancy, have two sons, David and Daniel. In the 1980s, Hampson and his wife became foster parents over a period of about five years to three brothers — Sinh, Khoa and Hanh Nguyen, all Vietnamese refugees — and later adopted them. They also have three “assimilated” children — former students of Hampson’s.

“They never lived with us, but we consider all three of them as our children,” Hampson said.

“They take part in our holiday celebrations, and we

[SHANE FLANIGAN/THISWEEK]

observe their birthdays. They’re part of our family.”

“Every one of our children have been a blessing for our family,” he said.

For all his good work, Hampson deflects praise and said he believes that he and the other Purple Door Free Store volunteers are receiving more than the people they help.

That kind of statement is typical of Hampson, Barkes said. “He’s a humble man. He isn’t doing any of his community work for personal attention,” she said.

Hampson is driven to improve his community and people’s lives, Barkes said. Every holiday season, she said, Hampson plays Santa Claus at the church and other community events.

“He's the perfect Santa. He’s kind of like a Santa all year round,” said Barkes, who volunteers as a personal shopper at the free store, helping to pick out items of clothing for families.

The store was forced to close in mid-March due

to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hampson tested positive for the coronavirus in July.

Clothing donations were accepted again beginning in July, and the store reopened in early August with new safety guidelines.

In 2019, the store provided clothing to more than 2,200 people, Hampson said. “You don’t know how you may be changing someone’s life by the simple act of providing them clothing,” he said.

Last spring, Hampson began sending some of his former students a newsletter that each month includes quotes and brief anecdotes relating to a specific theme. At last count, he was sending the newsletters to 241 people; most live in Grove City or elsewhere in central Ohio, but some are as far away as California, New York and Arizona.

“You never stop wanting to make a difference in people’s lives,” Hampson said. “Plus, it’s a good way to help me stay in touch with people who mean a lot to me.”

S36 | SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 |

FINALIST

FRED RIESER After a tragic loss, a Hilltop business owner finds solace in ministering to others.

The death of son Jordan at age 21 led to Fred Rieser eventually creating Jordan’s Crossing. “His way of grieving was, ‘I’m just going to start helping people,’” said daughter Jennifer RieserBraunm. [TIM JOHNSON/DISPATCH MAGAZINES]

Suzanne Goldsmith |

T

Dispatch Magazines

hroughout Fred Rieser’s career, his work has been all about transformation. He wasn’t eager to join the family business, an auto body shop, when he left Eastern Kentucky University in the wake of a football injury — but he learned to relish erasing the damage inflicted by

misfortune and returning battered vehicles to pristine condition. Rieser didn’t do the restoration himself, but he could see the potential behind each wreck when it came in — and he loved to see customers’ faces when they saw the finished product.

“I got to be the one to present the car to the customer,” he said. “I always wished I could bring the guys who did the work in and say, ‘Listen to what these folks are saying: This car looks

better than it ever was.’”

Ten years ago, Rieser began work on a different kind of restoration project: himself. His son Jordan, 21, was killed when he lost control of the car he was driving and struck a tree. Trying to find a way to live with his grief, Rieser began ministering to the homeless and needy people he had long observed on the streets of the Hilltop neighborhood where the body shop was.

Helping, he said, was an escape.

“His way of grieving was, ‘I’m just going to start helping people,’” said Rieser’s daughter, Jennifer Rieser-Braunm, who nominated her father for an Everyday Hero award. “‘Nobody can help me with this pain that I have, so let me help people.’”

“A young kid invited me to help feed the homeless, so I did it one night, and I was into it hook, line and sinker,” Rieser recalled.

He began making meals and distributing them from the back of his pickup truck in the parking lot of an abandoned Kmart store. When the store was redeveloped and he was asked to leave that site, he moved the growing mission to the back of the auto body shop.

Two years ago, the organization that grew from this effort, Jordan’s Crossing, moved into its own space on North Hague Avenue. At the same time, Rieser, who with his brother remains an owner of Fred Rieser Auto Body, quit his job and began spending all his time at Jordan’s Crossing. There, he and his wife, Donna, who owns a staffing company, along with a team of volunteers, minister to the needs of the West Side’s homeless population, providing meals, clothing, camping supplies, groceries, medical care, fellowship, advice and sometimes a dose of God. Before the COVID-19 outbreak and Gov. Mike DeWine’s stay-home order, Jordan’s Crossing was serving up to 3,500 meals a month. Since March, Jordan’s Crossing has about tripled its output, distributing 10,000 meals a month. *** Situated next to the Camp Chase bike trail, where homeless people often set up camp, Jordan’s Crossing attracts a steady flow of people

| SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 | S37

looking for help. The parking lot is the site of a portable sanitation station (porta-potty and sink) installed by the city of Columbus and, depending on the day of the week, a free produce market, distribution of fentanyl test strips and naloxone, or COVID-19 testing. All these services are provided by partnering agencies or nonprofits.

Mount Carmel Medical Group’s Street Medicine team drops in each day to pick up bagged lunches for distribution at the homeless camps the team visits. Ben Sears, a patient advocate who works with Mount Carmel, has been partnering with Jordan’s Crossing for six years.

“Our service is best used when we have a strong partner in the community,” Sears said. “Jordan’s Crossing is adaptable, flexible. It’s a ministry, you know? They’re volunteers.”

The building, a one-time storage site donated by Custom Sign Center, is a work in progress. The front half, cleaned and renovated by volunteers, includes Rieser’s office, a prayer room, an open garage-type space where meals are assembled — right now, most distribution occurs outside — a stocked food pantry and a room filled with clothing and supplies. Upstairs is an apartment for a staff member who is oncall 24/7. The back is still rough, but Fred and Donna have plans to install showers, washers and dryers.

A plan to create a coffee shop was interrupted by the pandemic. And if you walk out back, you’ll find a tiny, solar-powered house. It’s a prototype for the next stage of Fred’s dream: a village of tiny homes for men in recovery.

The staff is primarily volunteers, drawn from a network of more than 30 churches where congregants take turns cooking Friday night dinners, stocking the food pantry, making and delivering sandwiches and cookies, or donating clothing and supplies. They also support the organization financially.

Rieser-Braunm, who lives in Grove City with her husband, Tom, and three children, does the accounting.

“We have a PayPal, and I'll get on there, and somebody will say, ‘I decided to give my tithe this week to Jordan’s Crossing’ … and it’ll be like a person tithed $11. I mean, that means so much to me.” *** Ten years in, Fred and Donna Reiser still get choked up when talking about Jordan, whose smiling image covers a large banner overlooking the space where volunteers assemble meals. Donna makes sure to point out that drugs or alcohol were not to blame for the accident that took his life, something that people often assume because of their work fighting addiction.

But both Donna and Fred spend more time talking about the energy they derive from seeing people

improve their lives. For Fred, the best part of what he does at Jordan’s Crossing is the chance to guide someone out of addiction and toward a better life.

“I’ve been around some pretty successful people in my life, but the most impressive thing that I can tell you about is an individual that is three, four months into recovery. … They become something that is so inspirational to me. They’ve whipped something that you and I haven’t really done.

“This has created a new focus in us and in our lives so that we can go on living.”

During a visit to Jordan’s Crossing in July, a man named Darrell was helping out around the facility: unloading meat, lifting boxes. He’d been participating in mental-health and addiction-support programs in which Fred had helped him enroll.

“A month ago, we would have been afraid of him,” said Donna. “Why are people afraid of the homeless? They’re dirty; they’re not well groomed. You don’t know where they’re at — are they on drugs?

But get rid of all that judgment, and you have this beautiful human being that has a story. He wants to work. He wants to give back.”

Fred watched Darrell walk away, headed for a medical appointment, and referred back to an earlier conversation about how he felt when returning a shiny, repaired vehicle to its owner.

“I just wish that more people could see these people for what they truly are,” he said. “I just wish I could gather people up and say, ‘Let me present Darrell to you.’”

After son Jordan died in a car crash, Rieser and his wife, Donna, founded Jordan’s Crossing to serve the homeless population on the West Side.

FRED RIESER Neighborhood: “We are fortunate to live in the middle of Battelle Darby Creek park, with the bike path at the rear of our property and the Darby yards from our front door.”

What inspires you?

“To see someone who has made the decision to surrender their addiction to treatment influence others to follow.”

What keeps you engaged?

“The spirit of a host of angels around me: my wife, Donna, and wonderful volunteers that challenge me to greater heights.”

What is a challenge you have overcome?

“To see loss not as the end of the story, but the beginning.”

S38 | SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 |

SEMIFINALIST

AMY WATSON A West Jefferson resident spends her days making thousands of masks by hand to keep central Ohio safe.

Chaz McPeak |

A

Dispatch Magazines

s COVID-19 spread across the planet, the virus tested the population. Some people spoke out against the necessity of lockdowns, social distancing and (most virulently) wearing masks, insisting that the disease is nothing to worry about. Others, like Amy Watson, rose to protect others.

Furloughed from her job at the Columbus Metropolitan Library, Watson was unsure how she would use her newfound time. She figured she would spend more time with her family and keep up her sewing business, Amy May’s Sewing & Alterations. Then a client called with a special request, and Watson found her role in the pandemic.

“I had a client ask me about making a mask for her kid, because she couldn’t find any masks to buy anywhere,” Watson said. “So I said, yes, I would do it, and I only charged $5 for material expenses. Other than that, I just really wanted to make the mask, because I thought it was the right thing. Once I made the first set, it just kind of became my mission for the foreseeable future.”

Watson dedicated 10 to 15 hours a day to sewing masks, making more than 2,000 by early summer. She asked clients for donations of $5 to cover material expenses but asked for nothing from nurses, emergency workers and nursing home employees. Watson had no issue churning out mask after mask for the greater good.

This is typical of Watson, said Susan Hogan, a friend who nominated her to be an Everyday Hero. When Hogan moved to Columbus from San Francisco, she hired Watson to baby-sit her 1-year-old daughter. Watson impressed Hogan with her warm and caring personality. Because Hogan didn’t know many other people in town, Watson even invited Hogan and her family to spend Thanksgiving with her. “She really is a blessing on my family,” Hogan said.

As word spread of Watson’s mask mission, people showed their gratitude for all she has done for the community. Watson eventually began to discover checks in the mail that more than covered material expenses and helped Watson to

carry on without financial stress. People from all over the city began to leave sewing materials on her doorstep. Watson was overwhelmed by the acts of kindness and saw them as a gift from God. “To see God’s blessing outside of church is a wonderful thing,” said Watson.

Watson’s family also was supportive. Her husband, Derek, a staunch advocate of his wife, took care of everything around the house so she could focus on masks. While initially hesitant about the idea of masks, he is now amazed by her hard work and dedication. With Watson’s mother helping

[TIM JOHNSON/DISPATCH MAGAZINES]

with sewing, and her kids hitting the books so their mother did not have to worry, Watson had a loving team beside her every step of the way.

“My family working so hard is what really helped me focus on the masks,” said Watson.

“God blessed me with a wonderful family, and I couldn’t have done this thing without them.”

In a way, the pandemic allowed Watson to focus on what she loves the most: helping people.

From her days as a youth counselor to her maskmaking mission, Amy Watson will always be there in a stitch in time.

| SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 | S39

SEMIFINALIST

JAKE CLARK An Army veteran and former police officer helps others with post-traumatic stress.

Briah Lumpkins The Columbus Dispatch

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ake Clark’s life has been anything but ordinary.

In 1983, at just 17 years old, he enlisted in the Army and spent most of his service time in Central America. He was honorably discharged in 1988, then spent two years with the Secret Service during the Reagan administration.

Clark then moved out West to his dream location of Southern California, where he was an officer in the Los Angeles Police Department from 1990 to 1995, a period that included the beating of Rodney King and the rioting that followed the acquittal of officers involved.

While an officer, Clark went to night school to become a detective, received a degree in business and became an FBI agent for two years.

At 32, Clark had achieved every goal he’d set out to accomplish. But even with all his success, he felt empty.

“I just knew that my life was just spiraling,” Clark said. “I was achieving everything I wanted in life, except for any sense of personal fulfillment and satisfaction.”

As a child, Clark, now 54, grew up with a mentally ill mother and a gambling-addicted father.

He has seen genocidal atrocities and violence during his time in the military and law enforcement.

Haunted by this past, he knew he needed — and so sought out — help.

“I realized people like me, (who) grew up with a lot of developmental trauma, we can be really attracted to the glitzy, symbolic, power positions that are ultimately just eating us alive,” he said.

After undergoing treatment and recovery, Clark knew that he wanted to help people like him: those who suffered from post-traumatic stress developing from early childhood events to adult life after serving in the military or as a first responder.

With that goal, Clark founded the Save A Warrior program in 2012. It’s an intensive retreat program designed to help reduce the staggering suicide rate among veterans, active-duty military members and first responders by focusing on healing from post-traumatic stress.

The program operates in Newark, Ohio, where

[ERIC ALBRECHT/DISPATCH]

Clark lives, and in Malibu, California.

A cohort of 10 to 12 “warriors” spends a week engaging in ceremony, ritual, storytelling and other experiences that help locate, identify and resolve the source of psychic pain, Clark said.

“They come in here saying, ‘This is what’s wrong with me.’ We know that’s never the case. It’s always the thing under the thing, and we are able to get to that usually within a day or two,” Clark said.

Larry Turner, an Army veteran and former Columbus police officer, grew up in a home with an abusive father, and he spent most of his life thinking that he was “defective, helpless and alone,” he said. As a result, he isolated himself — a problem he said he could never fix.

“I mean, I grew up, and then I joined the military just to escape my house,” Turner said.

Turner said that when Save A Warrior found

him, he had recently updated his will and started giving away his personal effects. But with some persuading, he agreed to give the program a try.

Turner recalled Clark trying to convince him that he might have complex post-traumatic stress, and wanting to help him. Turner said the week he spent with Clark and the fellow warriors changed his life.

“I had never felt love, joy, peace or happiness before in my life, and thanks to their program, I now fully enjoy life,” Turner said.

Clark said he has seen transformation in the lives of many of those who have gone through his program.

“I’ve seen people reconcile with their families. … I’ve seen people go on to complete graduate degrees and social work. ... I’ve seen people get married and have children,” Clark said. “I’ve witnessed miracles these last eight years.”

S40 | SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 |