The Adventures and Roamings of Blanche Gaynor

Spring 2010

 

 

Life sure has been running along at a fast clip since I last touched base with Women’s Business Cincinnati.  I can’t get over all that has happened.

 

In September 2009 Impact 100 gave $206,000 to two local nonprofits:  Lighthouse Youth Services and Economic Center for Education & Research.  For those of you unfamiliar with this organization, the premise is members donate $1,000 until they reach a total of $100,000.  Nonprofits, then, are invited to state their case as to why all of the funds should be awarded to their organization.  This pooling of donations allows for larger one-time gifts to be made that can have a longer lasting benefit to the recipient.  At the September event, the winners were each awarded a $103,000 grant that will enable them to make a significant impact right here in Greater Cincinnati.  The ceremony and award was held at the Cincinnati Museum Center.  It was quite an affair.  There must have been nearly 200 women in attendance.  The five finalists were given one last opportunity to present their case to the entire body of Impact 100 representatives as to why their organization should receive the award.  Listening to the succinct descriptions of the impact each charity was having on our communities humbled me.  For the first time in my life, I wished I had gobs and gobs and gobs of money.  Five finalists – two winners.  The women who donate their funds to Impact 100 really make their gifts go a long way.  I’ve just learned that in 2010, Impact 100 will be giving away $218,000.  Now if only a few more of us could help to come up with $282,000, so this year’s five finalists can all be winners!  

 

In October 2009, I became involved with the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce’s Women’s Initiative.  This endeavor has become quite a passion of mind.  I have long wanted to get to know Kentucky’s professional women, but have just not been able to find the venue that struck a cord with me.  The Women’s Initiative was launched on January 21, 2010.  It was the largest turnout, over 400 women, for a new undertaking that the Northern Kentucky Chamber ever experienced.  The Women’s Initiative leadership is headed by NKY Chamber Board Member Debbie Simpson (president of Multi-craft), and co-chaired by Suzanne Lorch of Lucrum and Kelli Gilbert of Fidelity.  Under their guidance the Committee chose its Mission:  Inspiring Women to connect … grow … achieve!  At the launch Women’s Initiative introduced their first four programs:  Connect – an informal monthly time to socialize.  No agendas.  No reservations.  No programs.  Just an opportunity to get together on the last Monday of each month between 4:00 pm & 7:00 pm and share a beverage. Online:  Another opportunity to connect – this is a Web portal that for now lists nonprofits and women’s organizations that women just might be interested in joining or supporting.  No fees.  No commitments.  Just information.  Grow:  A mentoring program for professional women interested in tapping into the experiences of some of the area’s most successful business people.  Achieve:  A peer-to-peer roundtable program that reaches out to professional women across the board. 

 

In November 2009, I attended the launch of the Encyclopedia of Northern Kentucky at the Northern Kentucky University.  The guest speaker was Nick Clooney and local philanthropist Alice Sparks was honored for her contributions to this historic book.  Co-editors Professor Paul Tenkotte and James Claypool shared the spotlight and had wonderful stories about the road to publication.  This mighty tome ended up physically weighing 7 pounds.  It contains over 2,000 entries contributed by 400 authors and covers 11 counties.  They had quite a few of the authors throughout the Library, all asked to sign the copies of the Encyclopedia by the attendees.  Did I mention, I was one of those authors!  What an experience!

 

 

In December 2010, I attended the Cincinnati Regional Chamber’s WE event.  I arrived veeerrryyy early.  So early that only the Chamber leaders taking care of last minute tasks were in attendance.  I walked around that room and admired the centerpieces.  Have you seen those picture collages that look like trees?  Well this resembled that, only the branches had blooms on them – the size of three x five cards.  Each had a quotation – from past winners – famous people – unknown sages.  I appreciated the thoughtfulness and work that went into that piece. When program got underway, I was struck by the caliber of the finalists for each category.  Each woman raised the bar on how to conduct business and serve the community.  Not surprising, though, was the dignity each winner exhibited, and the importance they placed on surrounding themselves with good people.  It definitely was about “WE” not “me.” 

 

February was a really big month.  First, I was privileged to secure a reservation to attend the quarterly Cincinnati Business Courier BizWomen event.  You have to react quickly to the notice, because that particular program sells out in a hurry.  Donna Salyers of Fabulous Furs was the keynote speaker.  My goodness!  What a delight.  With a voice sometimes quavering with emotion, Ms. Salyers highlighted some of her most memorable experiences on the way to success.  And guess what!  It wasn’t easy.  She worked hard.  She took chances.  She stayed true to her product.  She was surrounded by a family who loved and supported her.  Since then, I’ve seen Ms. Salyers at restaurants and other networking events.  There is nothing “diva-like” about her.  She’s one of those special people who is nice from the inside out and it shows. 

 

Second, my son and his wife, blessed me with a granddaughter.  She is gorgeous.  All are well and happy.

 

Third, I was asked to participate in the development of a Video portrait documentary for a project entitled “Healthy Communities Healthy Girls.”  I have a confession to make.  When I received the invitation to participate, I was a bit – well – suspicious.  So, I checked out Ms. Harmony and learned she was involved with The Women’s Fund of Greater Cincinnati.  Well, I was on the phone in a flash connecting with our own Vanessa Freytag.  Vanessa had a wealth of knowledge about Ms. Harmony and her passion for the health and welfare of girls and women, among other things.  And then I was tooling around the Women’s Business Cincinnati Member Portal, and there was Judy.  How could I go wrong!

 

This is a cooperative effort of The Center for Great Neighborhoods, Covington Partners in Prevention, Harmony Garden, the Northern Kentucky University, and the United Way.  Judith Harmony, president of the Harmony Project and Sara Drabik of Northern Kentucky University’s Norse Media are filming the documentary.  They are arranging discussions with business professionals and other organizations to ferret out their knowledge of the health and well being of girls in Northern Kentucky.  From these discussions they will create a tool kit containing a DVD of the documentary, a curriculum/facilitator’s guide, and an assessment tool.  The Toolkit will be appropriate for use by community organizations; e.g., nonprofits, PTOs, scouting groups, and so forth.  It will be available at no cost in order to sustain community dialog around girls’ health in a manner that leads to continuous action to improve girls’ health outcomes.  I’m looking forward to seeing final product.

 

 

Blanche Gaynor
President/Owner
Writing Enhancement Services
P.O. Box 17545
Covington, KY 41017-0545
859.394.4322
Gaynor@writinges.com
www.writingenhancementservices.