These volunteers are being recognized by the organizations they have impacted through generous gifts of time and resources.
Philomena Ayers - honored by Down Syndrome Association of Greater Toledo
Mena has been a long-time board member of DSAGT, lending her experiences as a parent advocate to so many other families and programs of the organization. This year, Mena took the lead on a new program for the organization, our Little Learners Educational Program, and through that impacted several of our families. She was truly instrumental in the execution of the program and we are beyond grateful for her time and expertise.
Bill Barkan - honored by Manahan
William (Bill) Barkan served as legal counsel for Fred Fleischer, business owner of Colonial Builders and founding father of Josina Lott Foundation – now known as Manahan. It was 1972, Fred and Judy Fleischer had two sons, with disabilities, living at home. Fred became concerned about what would happen to Billy and Dickie once he and Judy were no longer able to care for them. Fred began holding monthly meetings at the Commodore Club to brainstorm with esteemed colleagues and friends what could be done to meet the needs of adults with developmental disabilities. Bill said, “Fred told me I was his lawyer for this project, so I was his lawyer and it was understood there would be no fee for my services!” These monthly meetings lead to the December 20, 1973 Josina Lott Foundation article of incorporation as a non-profit. Things came together over the next six years, leading to the opening of Josina Lott Foundation in 1979. Bill is one of Manahan’s founding board members and still serves on the board today. His leadership, oversight and guidance continue to make a difference in the organization.
Audrey Barlumi - honored by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwestern Ohio
Since being matched with her Little Sister in 2022, Audrey has played an intricate role in being a positive role model. Our team has had the opportunity to witness the love Audrey and her Little share from the moment they met, and since that moment, she has made it her mission to support her Little Sister in reaching her fullest potential.
Konni Bostleman - honored by Toledo School for the Arts
Konni Bostleman has been an important part of Toledo School for the Arts for years. The grandmother of three TSA graduates and one current student, as well as the mother of a TSA Board member who is a former TSA Board president, Konni is extremely familiar with the school and how it operates. Not only is she a generous financial donor, she is an extraordinary volunteer who signs up to help at every opportunity. She spent many hours this past summer as our lead volunteer during the classic Willys car show at the school. Familiar with all the nooks and crannies of the building - and with the new annex as well - she eagerly and proudly took our many first-time visitors on tours of the school.
Dr. David Boudouris, DVM - honored by Toledo Animal Rescue
Dr. Boudouris has been a 25-year volunteer with Toledo Animal Rescue. He currently sits on our Board of Directors and is our volunteer veterinarian at our facility. Through his professional expertise, guidance, and loving care of each animal that enters our facility, Toledo Animal Rescue has been able to increase our adoptions by over 300% in the past 3 years. Couple that with the cost savings we have enjoyed by having his voluntary services, Dr. Boudouris' impact has been immeasurable. Dr. Boudouris is more than our volunteer vet. He is a teacher, a mentor and an incredible advocate for Toledo Animal Rescue, our staff and each volunteer.
Karen Crown - honored by Ronald McDonald House Charities of Northwestern Ohio
Karen has a strong passion for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Northwest Ohio since she began volunteering. She began 5 years ago volunteering with a group of friends at least once a week. Karen along with her girlfriends will do anything that the House and families need. This includes cooking, cleaning, stocking pantries, gardening, decorating for the holidays, and even making centerpieces for all the tables! No matter the season or time of year, Karen shows up! Karen has now extended her impact by becoming a member of the Board of Directors and committees at RMHC.
Lisa DeClark, Patricia Kuhr & Jackie Vannuyen - honored by Girls on the Run of Northwest Ohio
We've never done a big fundraiser before, and these 3 co-chairs stepped up and organized the whole thing in less an 6 months and made it all seem effortless. The event will take place in February but under their leadership I'm confident it will be a success.
Jackie Gary - honored by Catholic Charities Diocese of Toledo
Jackie has been a dedicated volunteer for many years for Helping Hands of St. Louis' soup kitchen. Helping Hands is a ministry of Catholic Charities that serves the local east side community with an onsite food pantry, clothing center, and soup kitchen. Breakfast is served 3 times a week and hot meals are served daily for lunch. Jackie works tirelessly in whatever capacity that he is needed; he has even introduced his great granddaughter to the service of others by often bringing her with him to work. Jackie always offers a warm smile and willing attitude and is much loved and respected by both Charities' staff members and clients of Helping Hands.
Marcus Harrison - honored by African American Leadership Council of United Way of Greater Toledo
Marcus has volunteered with the African American Leadership Council (AALC) affinity group for many years. In December 2021, after many of our leadership volunteers decided to step down, Marcus stepped up and took on the role of AALC chair. Since then, he has brought much-needed energy, creativity and passion to the group and his leadership and vision has helped us recruit more volunteers, develop better programming and revitalize the group.
Samantha Hewick - honored by Cherry Street Mission Ministries
Samantha Hewick has been an incredibly valuable volunteer at Cherry Street Mission Ministries since December 2021. With over 300 donated hours, she faithfully serves breakfast multiple times a week, actively participates in fundraising events, and displays exceptional kindness by personally assisting guests with limited mobility. Samantha's patience and understanding towards guests with mental health challenges further highlight her dedication. We are truly fortunate to have Samantha as a faithful and compassionate volunteer in our ministry.
Kristi K. Hoffman - honored by Girl Scouts of Western Ohio
Kristi has been a key volunteer at Girl Scouts of Western Ohio advocating for close to $30,000 annually from individual donors in the community through the creation of Leadership Circle. She has hosted gatherings, created materials to promote the circle, and helped guide the strategic direction of the circle. Kristi has also been an important volunteer and advocate for older girl programming, inspiring and including girls in leadership programming at Girl Scouts of Western Ohio and through her annual Girl Leadership Summit. Kristi exemplifies dedication to Girl Scouting through not only the giving of her resources, but also her time and talent to grow the movement.
David Hymore - honored by Mom's House Inc. of Toledo
David has volunteered at Mom’s House for over 10 years. He is also very involved in other boards in his community including the Executive Board of Oregonians Club, Oregon Economic Development, and Exchange Club of Maumee Bay. David serves on the Mom’s House golf outing committee and works to bring in much needed donations along with ensuring that our clients have easy access to banking and financial literacy. David serves tirelessly and has brought thousands of dollars into our organization, helping to change the direction of many lives in our community. He is passionate, a servant leader and committed. We are so grateful for him!
Richard Karcher - honored by Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts
Dick Karcher has been a longtime and active board member, serving on multiple committees and giving generously of his time, talent, and treasure. Over the past year, he chaired a special board task force to review our current and long-term facilities needs, spending countless hours seeking input from all constituents and reviewing multiple options with the task force. He provided great leadership on this effort and remains a valued board member we are pleased to honor this year.
Leo Knox & Fred Schaefer - honored by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwestern Ohio
Fred and Leo have been instrumental in specifically the Playhouse Project at Maumee Valley Habitat for Humanity. In addition to helping with the regular house builds, Fred and Leo have poured their hearts and hands into perfecting the design of all the playhouse parts, manufactured thousands of playhouse parts, and given hundreds of hours to leading playhouse assembly teams.
Steve & Melissa Liverani - honored by Bittersweet Farms
Steve & Melissa have served as volunteers at Bittersweet Farms since before the Covid-19 pandemic, and their impact on the lives of our participants has been significant over the last several years. Before the pandemic, they volunteered weekly in the Culinary Program, working alongside the participants to fulfill all tasks, from baking, to decorating cookies, to cleaning up each day. They have developed a close relationship with one participant in particular, Matt, as their schedules overlapped each week in the Culinary Program. Our Volunteer Program was closed for two years due to the pandemic, and during this time, Steve & Melissa kept in touch with Matt over the phone. Since the Volunteer Program re-opened, they have not only returned to volunteering weekly in the Culinary Program, but also added a weekend watering shift in Gardens to their incredible support of our mission. Additionally, last year Steve joined our Board and offers volunteer leadership in addition to his service hours each week. Together, Steve & Melissa's impact at Bittersweet has been unparalleled.
Wendy McCaa - honored by The Ability Center Assistance Dogs Program
Wendy McCaa has been very instrumental to our organization. She has been a volunteer with our program since November of 2021. Wendy has raised 9 puppies since she has become a volunteer with us. Not only has she raised all of those puppies, but she is always willing to help whenever she can. Wendy will pick up dogs from our Prison Program, take them to the vet if needed and keep them until they are better. She has come in to care for newborn puppies and so much more. We are truly grateful we have her as a volunteer in our program.
John Miller - honored by United Way of Greater Toledo
The words we might use to describe Jon Miller would include enthusiastic, committed, caring and driven. Since he walked through United Way’s doors back in 2015, Jon has served the organization with a dedication few have matched. While not initially familiar with United Way, he committed himself to learn about the organization’s mission, and the importance of its work on improving our community. Jon, in turn, led by example, quickly becoming an effective fundraiser. He tapped into his expansive professional network, introducing many individuals to United Way. He made it a point to learn about United Way’s focus areas and could adeptly explain how they were making an impactful difference on the lives of children and families. Bankers and plant supervisors, surgeons and CEO’s…Jon connected them all to United Way. Jon has served on the United Way Campaign Cabinet for nine years. He and his wonderful wife Kathy are transitioning to a new home in Florida. We will miss his enthusiasm for our community, his mentorship to our staff, and his leadership in making change happen. Enthusiastic, committed, caring, driven, and we would respectfully add “One of a kind”. Thank you, Jon.
Dr. Mohamad Moussa - honored by The University of Toledo Foundation
Dr. Moussa always gives so much of his time, talent, and treasure for the betterment of our University and the College of Medicine and Life Sciences. He is a true leader and inspires others to follow in his footsteps in giving back, at any level.
David Pilcher - honored by The Arts Commission
David first volunteered with The Arts Commission last summer at one of our Art Loop events. Over the last 15 months, he has become an invaluable volunteer for our organization. He has assisted at every one of our public events and often stays as long if not longer than some of our staff members. In particular, at our Momentum Festival this September, David was available at set up every day and would often stay until tear down. He would also assist me by leading and supervising the other volunteers when I would have to step away. He brings a great attitude and spirit to every event and often treats the staff and other volunteers to his famous gumbo. David is an exemplary individual and we are honored to nominate him for Outstanding Volunteer.
Christina Redrup - honored by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwestern Ohio
Chrissy has been a long-serving board member, serving as Vice-Chair and Chair of the Marketing committee. She and her team at Communica have contributed numerous hours supporting our mission by providing pro-bono marketing services. Under her guidance, these services enhanced our fundraising and volunteer recruitment events.
Robert Shick - honored by Boys & Girls Clubs of Toledo
Rob Shick has given 100% percent of himself to his role as Board President of Boys & Girls Clubs of Toledo for the last two years, and many more years before that as a long-serving Board Member and volunteer. Under Rob’s leadership as Board president, Boys & Girls Clubs of Toledo’s footprint doubled in size from four clubs to eight. This has allowed BGCT to expand its outreach to children ages 7 to 18 across Toledo who had nowhere like the Clubs to go after school or in the summer to make new friends, meet lifelong mentors, receive healthy meals, homework support, and encouragement, and gain life skills they will use forever. Rob also helped BGCT navigate through the end of the COVID-19 pandemic and back to serving kids in person during uncertain times. These examples don’t even come close to including all of Rob’s contributions to this organization over the years, such as starting Border Battle Bash and supporting Boys & Girls Clubs of Toledo’s signature fund-raising event of the year, Barefoot at the Beach.
Kathy Shortridge - honored by ProMedica Flower Hospital
Written by William Yenrick, Associate Vice President of Operations - Flower Hospital and Bay Park Hospital. In early 2022 ProMedica Flower Hospital in conjunction with the ProMedica Foundation team kicked off a project to re-invigorate the Harley Dunbar Healing Garden. The garden is located on the campus of ProMedica Flower Hospital and was established through generous donor gifts to enhance the healing environment by providing a beautiful view for patients undergoing cancer treatment. With the garden established many years ago it needed a fresh new look. The project started off with the foundation team connecting in with several community members to gauge interest in supporting the garden. Several community groups and businesses began to provide support, but when Kathy Shortridge joined the project flourished. Kathy, located in the Sylvania community, is a Master Gardner. When Kathy came on board, she not only volunteered her time, but took a leading role in the project. She has spent countless hours personally planting, watering, weeding, coordinating donations, and developing plans for the garden. Through her vision the Harvey Dunbar Healing Garden is being restored to its original beauty providing a calming view for our patients and their visitors while undergoing infusion treatments. The results are truly amazing, but Kathy did not stop there. Kathy has identified numerous other areas on campus to revitalize including the hospital main entrance, ER entrance, and employee patio. Kathy updated all these spaces by transplanting flowers and plants from her own garden. I recall a hot summer day in June when walking through the employee patio, seeing Kathy weeding, and maintaining the tiered Flower beds. She was so excited for how the project was coming together and grateful to be part of the Flower Hospital team. It is us that are truly grateful, as it is through Kathy’s generous gifts of time and talent that the Flower Hospital campus is in full bloom.
Marcia Stager - honored by The Victory Center
Marcia Stager has been an amazing volunteer to The Victory Center for many years. She works at our front desk helping answer phones, making appointments and greeting clients. Marcia is also one of the first to volunteer to help at our special events. She has helped in many capacities at our Over the Edge for Victory Event, as well as our Celebrity Wait Night and Luncheon & Fashion Show. In addition, when she worked at ThermaTru, she helped facilitate the beginning of a long relationship of them sponsoring Over the Edge for Victory. We are so grateful for all that Marcia does to help The Victory Center!
Shang Su - honored by Toledo Museum of Art
The Toledo Museum of Art is honored to nominate Shang Su for recognition at the 36th Annual National Philanthropy Day. Shang moved from China to northwest Ohio in 2020 where he is a research scientist at the University of Toledo and for the past year and a half has been volunteering at the Museum. Shang's contributions have been invaluable, as he has dedicated his time and energy to serving visitors at the Glass Pavilion with a cheerful disposition and attentive attitude. Shang's passion for art and desire to broaden his perspectives have been a driving force behind his volunteerism at the TMA. He is not only committed to his volunteer work, but he goes the extra mile by offering to make up missed shifts. Shang's integration of art into people's lives by promoting glassblowing demonstrations and various other events around the museum, aligns perfectly with TMA's mission of promoting arts education and community engagement. Shang's bright smile, positive attitude, and dedication to serving the community make him a perfect candidate for recognition.