The Stuff of Legend

Since 1967, the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber has celebrated the leadership, vision, tenacity, and love of community of Great Living Cincinnatians.

The Chamber recognized Donald P. Klekamp, Janet B. Reid, Ph.D, Larry A. Sheakley and C. Smith at their Annual Dinner on March 2.

Learn more about these servant leaders, mentors, and friends who have left an indelible mark on the region in the videos below.

At Your Service

Once in service, always in service.

Navigating the large parking lot at the Cincinnati VA Medical Center is no easy task, and Navy veteran Charlie Peer is one of many dedicated volunteers stepping in to make sure that trip is a bit easier for patients.

He started driving a shuttle after his own patient experience at in the VA medical system in 2011. Now, he's been behind the wheel of golf cart shuttles three days a week for six years.

Interested in volunteering?

Contact the DAV or the VA for opportunities!

Charlie says he loves connecting with veterans and hearing their stories, and appreciates the comraderie he feels with the VA and DAV, which is partnering with the VA to find more volunteers like Charlie. 

Fish You Were Here

Just because it’s Lent doesn’t mean you have to give up everything you love.

Friday, Feb. 24 is National Tartar Sauce Day and Frisch’s Big Boy is ready to help you celebrate! Founded in six years ago in Cincinnati, Tartar Sauce Day puts the focus on Lent’s most essential condiment, perfect on Frisch’s famous fish sandwich.

Find out more as Kathrine Nero talks with Jordin Nabi, Frisch’s vice president of marketing, and Chef John Zenk.

High School Confidential

Like all schools, Aiken Tech High School prepares students for the future. But more, Aiken offers a number of hands-on opportunities for students to gain real-world experience as part of the curriculum.

Aiken is one of several Cincinnati Public Schools that has a an agriculturally-based Career Tech program. Students can learn about land use and farming, from working with animals to protecting the environment to discovering the science of food.

During a recent career fair at the school, Frances Kroner, co-founder and head chef at the Sleepy Bee, talked with students about creating a monthly grocery budget.

Kroner’s visit was part of on-going relationship between Sleepy Bee’s College Hill location at 5920 Hamilton Ave. and the school. At the restaurant’s grand opening in November, the Pride of Aiken Band played, and celebrated with families, friends and the artists and agriculture students who created the pollinator wall artwork and research featured at the restaurant.

Aiken’s Agriculture Career Tech Pathway’s latest venture is a new greenhouse, where students learn the basics of how to grow plants in a protective environment. The greenhouse is heated by passive solar radiation along with through composting. Each week the students get pre-service food scraps from the Sleepy Bee to use in their compost.

Kroner is a native Cincinnatian who together with Dr. John Hutton and Sandra Gross, opened Sleepy Bee Café in Oakley in 2013. The restaurant’s thoughtfully crafted a breakfast and lunch fare holds itself to the highest sourcing and cooking standards, with a focus on the powerful pollinators critical to the environment’s health and well-being.

Paws & Effect

Time for a new furry friend? Get all the details on adopting (or fostering) a dog from Ray Anderson from Cincinnati Animal CARE.

Find out more about available dogs at Cincinnati Animal CARE.

My Furry Valentine 2023 at the Sharonville Convention Center features hundreds of adoptable pets (dogs, cats, puppies, kittens and other small critters) from dozens of different rescue and shelter groups from around the Greater Cincinnati area. Adoptable animals are gathered at a centralized location under one roof to make it easier to find your perfect pet!

Saturday, February 18
Early Bird Hours: 10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
General Admission Hours: 11: 30 .a.m – 5 pm..

Sunday, February 19
12 – 5 p.m.

Main Event Admission

Early Bird Tickets: $20 per adult, $5 per child 5 and up
General Admission Tickets $5, children under 5 are free!

Sharonville Convention Center, 11355 Chester Road

More information atwww.myfurryvalentine.com.

Earn Your Stripes

As the Bengals get ready to compete for their second AFC Championship in as many years, they are gaining more and more fans every day.

Authors Jeff Suess and Rick Pender take fans young and old through The Cincinnati Bengals: An Illustrated Timeline, from the early days with Paul Brown, to their 1980s Super Bowl appearances, and their amazing run last season.

The book is available from Reedy Press and at Joseph-Beth Booksellers and other local retailers.

Her fight for the truth

If You Go

Met the End Book Discussion
with D. Lynn Meyers.
Thursday, Jan. 19
The Mercantile Library
414 Walnut St. #1100

The event is free and open to the public. Registration required for in-person program at mercantilelibrary.com.

Copies of Met the End will be available for sale and signing.

Met the End tells the story of Holly Brians Ragusa facing the tragedy of her family’s past, and the reclamation she finds.

Brians Ragusa’s father was the first known victim of serial killer Donald Harvey. She was 15 when a motorcycle accident left John Powell critically injured. For seven months he fought for his life, while his family waited and worried at his bedside. Just when Powell seemed to be staging a miraculous recovery, reawakening to the world in his long-term care facility in Cincinnati, his condition took a turn for the worse. No one could explain why. He ultimately lost the battle, but not to his injuries: Donald Harvey, a nurse’s aide, had been secretly poisoning him with cyanide. Harvey would later confess to dozens of similar murders, resulting in multiple life sentences; media reports labeled him the “Angel of Death.” The hell Harvey unleashed on his victims’ loved ones is only the beginning of Met the End.

The motorcycle crash, Harvey’s crimes, and the ensuing trauma her family experienced had profound mental and emotional consequences, forcing Brians Ragusa into an exploration of self, sanity, and social norms. For three decades the writer struggled to reconcile childhood memories of her dad—a man of quiet strength, a union plumber and welder for General Electric, a club leader and Scoutmaster—against the sensational publicity surrounding his stolen life.

This stunning true-crime survival memoir honors the strength that can only come when we are most vulnerable. It honors the whistleblowers, investigators and journalists who brought to light the truth of John Powell’s murder, ending Harvey’s 17-year killing spree but giving those he left behind untold trials to endure.

Brians Ragusa s an interdisciplinary writer, speaker and community activist based in Cincinnati. She is an opinion contributor to the Cincinnati Enquirer, and her work has appeared in La Piccioletta Barca, Tiny Seed Literary Journal, The Well and On Being Mindful Poetry Project, Inside Out: A Trans Artist Project, and Earth Journal.

A Rich life

It’s hard to believe our friend & coworker, Rich Walburg left us one year ago.

While we hold him daily in our hearts and thoughts, we also honor him in a number of ways.

To honor his legacy, his life’s work, and his alma mater, the Richard Walburg Media Scholarship at the University of Cincinnati has been established.

Giving back

You can donate to the scholarship here.

Please put “Richard Walburg” in the memo line.

“Rich was Cincinnati’s cheerleader for most of his career,” says Jackie Reau, CEO of Game Day. “We were so lucky to have Rich join us at Game Day. I miss Rich as a trusted colleague and, more importantly as a great friend.”

In addition to Rich’s scholarship, you can still purchase a ‘Be. Kind.’ t-shirt online or at your local Cincy Shirts.

All proceeds from this Be. Kind. T-shirt will directly benefit the UC scholarship.

Rich Walburg would want you to be kind to one another and yourself.

Order the official Rich Walburg Day T-shirt from Cincy Shirts!

Walburg, a beloved figure in local media, passed away in January of 2022. Throughout his career, Walburg worked at WLW-AM, Q102, King's Island, Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber, and the National MS Society's Ohio Valley Chapter. He was renowned for his quick wit, love of puns, and incredible professionalism.

4 MORE: Marie Rusincovitch

As part of our year-end issue, we revisited some of our favorite Cincinnati People from 2022.

We checked in with Marie Rusincovitch, the Chief Development Officer at Cincinnati Youth Collaborative.

WHAT’S BEEN THE BIGGEST SURPRISE TO YOU IN 2022?

How resilient the young people of greater Cincinnati continue to be. Emerging after the last two+ years of Covid impacts, the young people in our programs have faced incredibly challenging situations. However, they continue to impress and inspire me with their dedication, curiosity and commitment to their own success.

WHAT’S CHANGED SINCE WE LAST SPOKE?

We held our first Dream Makers Gala in over 3 years and it was a huge success. We exceeded our fundraising goals and had an awesome time doing it. I am so very grateful to my team and our generous supporters for helping make that happen!

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED ABOUT OUR COMMUNITY THIS YEAR?

I have truly learned how very generous, committed and compassionate our community is this year. The commitments that many individuals and corporations have to Cincinnati’s youth through CYC programs is simply inspiring.

Getting to know the CYC community and our supporters even better and seeing where we go in 2023! The work CYC is doing and the incredible staff we have are undoubtedly going to continue to make a huge impact in the lives of our students. I am looking forward to seeing this impact in the new year.

4 MORE: Betsy Ross

We checked in with Betsy Ross, who received the Silver Circle award from the Ohio Valley chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences this year.

The original story is here and her video interview is below.

What’s been the biggest surprise to you in 2022?

I think the biggest surprise this year is the bounceback, if you will, from COVID. We always suspected that people were eager to get back together and have events, but this year confirmed that we are, indeed, social people and our natural tendency is to be with our friends and family. It’s been just pure joy to all get back together again.

What’s changed since we last spoke?

I think the big change this year is that we have all learned to adapt to a changing work climate.

Business are still having the debate over in-office versus remote work (and that probably will continue in 2023) but commercial real estate already is making the assumption that there will be less demand for office space and more demand for “elevated” living spaces.

What have you learned about our community this year?

I have been reminded of something that we all inherently knew: Nothing brings this community together like sports. The feel-good story of the Bengals made believers of all of us, and brought us together into one big happy family. I said when we were at the Super Bowl that I wish we didn’t have to play the game, because we all were so happy about the team and I didn’t want the “feel good” story to end. And despite the loss, the story really hasn’t ended.

What are you most looking forward to in 2023?

There is so much to look forward to in the new year. The new Jeff Ruby restaurant on Foundation Square should breathe new life and excitement into downtown. New events will put Cincinnati on the national map.

And, of course, we get to see how the Bengals do in the playoffs! 

4 MORE: Sherri Friedman

As part of our year-end issue, we are revisiting some of our favorite Cincinnati People from 2022.

We checked in with Sherri Friedman, co-founder and chief executive officer of Most Valuable Kids of Greater Cincinnati.

Her original interview is linked below.

What’s been the biggest surprise to you in 2022?  

How appreciative our donors and partners are to be back in person experiencing live events!  

What’s changed since we last spoke?  

We continue to understand the importance of being creative to meet the needs of the 80+ child-focused non-profit partners we serve.  We recognize that many things have changed for them internally due to Covid. This includes staffing issues and increased issues related to mental health.

Based on feedback, we have worked to provide opportunities above-and-beyond our normal mission of tickets and added experience kits to facilitate important conversations and brought in speakers for the adult educators, to name a few.

What have you learned about our community this year?  

That, as divided as we are about many issues, we can all agree that kids living in poverty deserve to be given opportunities that uplift and inspire them to dream for more.

What are you most looking forward to in 2023?  

A National Championship for Michigan and a Super Bowl win for the Bengals :).  

And, the continued rebuilding of our organization and our partner organizations to pre-Covid numbers in staff, opportunities and financial donations.

Jingle All the Way

If You Go

Holiday Pops
Music Hall
1241 Elm St.

Friday, Dec. 9, 11 a.m. and 7: 30 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 9, 2 and 7: 30 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 9, 2 and 7 p.m.

Free live stream premieres Saturday, Dec. 10
at 7:30 p.m.

Click for tickets and information.

A man in red suit really makes the holidays special. We aren’t talking about Santa, we’re talking about John Morris Russell!

As the conductor of the Cincinnati Pop Orchestra, Russell brings the magic and music of the season to life with the annual Holiday Pops extravaganza. This year, the Pops welcomes The Annie Moses Band, along with singer Bernard Holcomb, the Winton Woods High School Varsity Ensemble, the School for the Creative and Performing Arts Chorale, the Sycamore High School Select Ensemble, and The Studio for Dance.

What's your favorite holiday tune?*

IMPOSSIBLE! Perhaps it's best to say, “Whatever holiday song I’m singing / whistling / conducting at the moment,” but there are a few standouts: “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”—in both versions, the original (and darker) version from “Meet me in St. Louis”—as well as the more popular version with lyrics tweaked by Frank Sinatra.

Also, Leroy Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride.” The line, “there’s a happy feeling nothing in the world can buy, when they pass around the coffee and the pumpkin pie” really resonates with our family traditions.

And, you gotta include Mel Torme’s “The Christmas Song” and “Silent Night” (It always gets me choked up)!

What song always gets you ready for a holiday party?

“Winter Wonderland” for sure—there are SO many versions out there; my fave is an outrageous rockabilly version I found at a truck stop CD rack. Also “This Christmas” by Donny Hathaway—it just makes you feel good.

How do you keep the Holiday Pops show fun each year?

I design Holiday Pops the way we all celebrate the holidays—with that special blend of tradition and reimagining familiar favorites.

We always have a chorus (or two) as well as special soloists and ensembles and, of course, Cincinnati’s award-winning Studio for Dance, but the repertoire cuts a wide swath of musical styles—jazz, bluegrass, rock, gospel, soul, and, of course, the grand orchestrations at the heart of the Pops experience. As Mel Torme said, it’s for “kids from one to ninety-two.” 

Have you survived Whamageddon?*

I’m saving that one for the “Midnight Show” next season!

Sinatra or Crosby?

Tough call—Though Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” with Bing is just about as iconic as it gets, Frank’s “Jingle Bells” takes that old ditty to a whole new level!

*Even though that may be a bit like choosing your favorite child!

* The objective is to go as long as possible without hearing WHAM's Christmas classic; "Last Christmas.”

Safe at Home

Baseball is back! Well, at least RedsFest is!

The largest team fan festival throughout the MLB returns after a two-year break.

If you’ve been before, you know what you’re in for – meet & greets with more than 70 current and former players, Reds memorabilia, interactive games, and a special kids zone.

All proceeds from Redsfest benefit Reds Community Fund and its outreach programs.

If You Go

Redsfest
Duke Energy Convention Center
525 Elm St.

Friday, Dec 2., 3–10:30 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 3, 11 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.

Adults: $35 for 2-day pass, $25 for one day. Children (12 and younger): $20 for 2-days pass, $15 for one day.

Details about Redsfest!

MEMBERS OF ZAC BROWN BAND SET TO APPEAR AT REDSFEST

Zac Brown Band members John Driskell Hopkins, Jimmy De Martini, Danny De Los Reyes and Matt Mangano will appear on the Redsfest Main Stage on Saturday at 12:45 p.m. for a Q&A session and special live performance.

The Zac Brown Band will perform a post-game concert on Friday, June 2, 2023, at GABP benefiting the Hop On A Cure Foundation, which was founded by Hopkins after he was diagnosed with ALS and supports research toward a cure for ALS while raising awareness and hope for those battling the disease.

Branching Out

ProLink Staffing's Light Up the Square, presented by Macy's

Fountain Square
Friday, Nov. 25
6–9 p.m.

ProLink Staffing's Light Up the Square, presented by Macy's is sure to dazzle! Join us Friday, November 25th to kick off the holiday season at our annual tree lighting celebration!

Festivities begin at 6 p.m., with special guests Sheree Paolello and Mike Dardis from Channel 5 and Freddy Mac and Nat from Q102. The evening will feature live music, special appearance by Santa Claus and a dazzling fireworks display.  

The UC Health Ice Rink, presented by Fifth Third Bank, will be open for skating. Reservations may be made in advance at myfountainsquare.com/ice-rink. Walk ups will also be welcomed on-site! If reservations are full online we encourage you to visit our admissions tent at the event.

Making a Difference

This Summer, the Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati awarded grants as part of its inaugural Reflect Cincy initiative. The seven grants, totaling $288,500, are aimed at funding new and emerging ideas to spark meaning and connection to Jewish life

Through these projects, the Foundation intends to positively move the needle on engaging Jews who feel disconnected from current Jewish institutions—specifically young adults without children, families with young children and interfaith families with children—and measure shifts in their sense of belonging.

Action Tank City Council Night Class and Toolkit will design and implement civic training night classes and a toolkit curated to the Jewish community with a focus on interfaith families. The goal is to increase civic engagement in the Jewish community and foster connections. Action Tank is a think tank that partners with artists to research and promote new public policy solutions at the local government level.

Birds of a Feather, led by entrepreneur Cindy Loon, will co-create circle gatherings for young adults that foster curiosity, human connection and self-expression through nature, mysticism, drumming, art and other modalities. The goal is for participants to develop a stronger sense of belonging to the Jewish community and greater self-worth.

Cincy Jewfolk will establish a media hub in Cincinnati that leverages a news platform with online micro-communities to increase connectivity and engagement among underrepresented segments in the Jewish community, especially families with young children, young adults and interfaith families. Cincy Jewfolk will build upon the successful Jewfolk model in Minneapolis and St. Paul through its first expansion site in Cincinnati.

Division of Adulting, led by Rockwern Academy, creates a Jewish space to help navigate the how-tos of grown-up life. Rockwern Academy serves 240 students from 12 months through sixth grade, their families, and the broader community.

elech, led by entrepreneurs Zak and Elliot Draznin, will build an urban and adjacent, independent, Queer-specific space for spirituality, vulnerability and identity exploration supporting Queer Jews and their families. The goal is to nurture a sense of belonging and deepen connections to Jewishness, Jewish identity or Queer Jewish identity.

Our Year of Firsts: Parenting Edition is a new parenting program bringing together interfaith couples in their first year of being parents— a partnership between a national leader in interfaith engagement, 18Doors, and Rabbi Meredith Kahan of Rockdale Temple. The goal is to provide low barrier settings for participants to build community, connections and confidence in participating in Jewish life and raising Jewish children.

Young Adult Ambassadorship, led by entrepreneur Kayla Soroka, will empower a cohort of young adult Jews to be confident and knowledgeable ambassadors to other young adults and explore the significance of Jewish life through monthly meetings, an immersive retreat, confidence building and data gathering about community needs.

“Reflect Cincy is a new way of thinking about philanthropy,” said Kim Newstadt, Director of Research and Learning at the Jewish Foundation. “The Creative Team—the leading force behind Reflect Cincy—is a collection of individuals who aren’t traditional members of the current Jewish donor population, and who have varying connections to their Jewishness. For most of these individuals, Reflect Cincy was their first grantmaking experience and for several, it was their first compelling encounter with a local Jewish institution in recent years.”

 “Reflect Cincy flips the model to give influence to those affected, allows voices to be heard without money attached and offers a confluence of fresh ideas. It’s a human-centered design approach that is based on research, and is consistent with the takeaways from Cincinnati 2030, our Jewish community’s long-term strategic plan convened by the Jewish Federation,” Newstadt said.

Think Outside the Box

Marianne W. Lewis

“I’ve been studying how leaders work through competing demands and tensions for about 25 years.”

Marianne Lewis is a dean and a professor of management at the Lindner College of Business, University of Cincinnati. Recently, she co-authored a book alongside another professor, Wendy Smith.

The book, Both/And Thinking: Embracing Creative Tensions to Solve Your Toughest Problems, aims to help people make “more creative, flexible, and impactful decisions in a world of competing demands.”

During the interview below, Lewis talks more about the book with local professional gamer, Stephen “Doorstop” Schmidt about how he can apply the lessons inside the book to his career.

More about Both/And Thinking.

Casting Your Ballot

League of Women Voters of Cincinnati

Learn about the LWV, find information about candidates and issues, and learn more about voting rights. issues and more.

Find out more at my.lwv.org/ohio//cincinnati-area/.

For information about voting in Kentucky, visit www.lwvky.org/2022-ky-general-election.

“In 2022 there have been multiple, historic attacks on the basic right to vote,” says Dr. Kimberly Hamlin. “It’s so important, it’s so vital that citizens exercise this right. This is the foundation of our Democracy.”

Hamlin believes in the power of your vote. The local professor and author sits on the National Board for The League of Women Voters and says the issue this year, especially, is voting rights.

“We’ve seen record numbers of attacks and rollbacks on rights and voting access.. to me, that’s why I’m so excited to empower voters and defend democracy,” says Hamlin."

““In Cincinnati, we also have several local issues.
I think now more than ever, this is the time to do it.””

— Dr. Kimberly Hamlin

The next election is Tuesday, Nov. 8.

• The polls will be open in Ohio on Nov. 8, from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Find your Hamilton Co. polling location.

• Early Voting continues at the Hamilton County Board of Elections, 4700 Smith Road, until Nov. 7.

• The polls will be open in Kentucky on Nov. 8, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Find your KY polling location.

• Three days of Early Voting (no excuse needed, in-person) will be held Nov. 3 to 6. (Hours depend on your county.)

• Vote411.org provides customized ballots, candidate profiles, full ballot language information, and post-election results. Data is supplied by the League of Women Voters, candidates, and the Board of Elections.

Time to Shine

What better way to celebrate than during BLINK! Most Valuable Kids of Greater Cincinnati is holding a pre-parade experience from for 100 kids, followed by a cocktail party for VIPs committed to supporting their mission.

This pre-parade party is in line with their mission to make unique and memorable experiences accessible to everyone, especially to underserved kids in our community.

Sherri Jaffe Friedman, the co-founder and CEO of Most Valuable Kids of Greater Cincinnati talks about the BLINK event and providing tickets and experiences to deserving kids.

True Bee-lievers

Though the Queen Bee Half Marathon is sold-out, it’s always possible there will be last-minute cancellations. So if you’ve trained for the 13.1 mile race please reach out to the Queen Bee to check on availability!

You can still get in on the fun at the Kroger and P&G Bee-U-Tique Expo on Friday, Oct. 7, 11 a.m. – 8 p.m. You will also find official Queen Bee ASICS Merchandise, vendors, and health and beauty experts to offer a bit of pampering before the event.

The race is Saturday, Oct. 8, at 7:30 a.m. Packet and premium pickup for in-person participants will be at the expo.

Squared Away

The Hyde Park Square Art Show returns this Sunday, Oct. 2, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with fine artists from across the country exhibiting and selling works in a wide variety of mediums. 

Janet Smith, the event chair, shares details about the largest one-day art show in the city.