Kids put together a healthful snack of fruit during an after-school program in Columbus managed by Children’s Hunger Alliance.
Many choices, a world of difference
By Adam King
University Communications
In a singular drive that has enormous effect on the local community, Ohio State’s Bucks for Charity campaign offers faculty, staff and retirees the opportunity to come together and make a positive impact in the local community. With more than 300 organizations from which to choose, you can support one or multiple charities that provide programs and services for education, health, environment, hunger, social justice or other community needs.
But how do you choose?
Take the causes that are first and foremost nearest and dearest to your heart, of course. You choose the organizations you want to support, even ones you may already be donating to, and Bucks for Charity gives you a simple way to donate — conveniently one-time or online through payroll deduction. Also, take the time to research what other organizations do and how their funds are used. There is broad diversity in the issues they tackle and how they approach them. And with Bucks for Charity continuing through November 13, there is time to make an informed decision that every day helps improve the lives of people in and around your neighborhoods. Donations at any level — even the price of one cup of coffee — can add up when more people contribute to help others in need.
Curbing hunger
Children’s Hunger Alliance President and CEO Mary Lynn Foster helps to serve meals at the June kickoff for Columbus Rec & Parks’ “Make Summer Count” food truck.
At Children’s Hunger Alliance (CHA), the Columbus-founded charity is in the business of getting healthful, nutritious food to kids who don’t have regular access to it. The CHA started with a $2,000 grant 40 years ago, but today it operates in every one of Ohio’s 88 counties.
The charity works to address the growing issue of food insecurity. In Franklin County alone, one in four children don’t know where their next meal is coming from.
“People understand world poverty, especially with all the marketing they do with it,” said Erin Flynn, CHA’s senior vice president for development. “But they don’t realize in their own backyard the need is critical.”
The CHA partners with other entities to get food in front of as many children as possible. For infants through pre-kindergarten, the CHA works with a network of more than 1,000 in-home daycare providers the organization sponsors across the state, educating them about how to serve healthful meals that include milk, fresh fruit and vegetables.
“We choose to be more healthy than the USDA’s basic minimum, and that’s enticing to our daycare providers,” Flynn said.
For school-aged children in need, the government provides free lunches, but there is no guarantee these kids will eat at other times. So the CHA works with school districts throughout the state to utilize their existing facilities and personnel with CHA providing the food for free breakfasts. Without CHA, just 20 percent of kids taking the free lunch were eating breakfast.
After school and during the summer, the CHA works with the districts, local Big Brothers Big Sisters, the YMCA and Columbus Recs & Park to create
activities for kids and always ensure snacks and food are there as a constant component.
And CHA has an educational component as well, teaching parents how to create nutritious meals out of whatever they have in their refrigerators.
A volunteer helps a child make a healthful trail mix snack bag at the Children’s Hunger Alliance food program during Columbus’ Red, White and Boom in July.
“We understand that not every family has access to healthy food,” said Flynn, who said she was encouraged by Ohio State President Dr. Michael V. Drake’s intent to put the university’s considerable research and assets toward eliminating food deserts in Ohio as part of his 2020 Vision.
The CHA also collaborates with Ohio State in numerous ways, such as giving student interns an inside look at how a nonprofit operates, accepting the volunteer offers from Ohio State’s athletic teams to help run activities after school and during the summer and a new collaboration between the university’s Early Head Start and Cardinal Health that aims to give family child care providers the tools to give children access to healthful food, nutrition education and physical activity.
“We’re about 80 percent grant funded and the rest comes from individual giving. We would really struggle without the latter,” Flynn said. “But the impact you can make with any size gift is incredible.”
Ensuring health
Prevention is a huge part of the American Diabetes Association’s (ADA) Columbus chapter. With more than 1.3 million Ohioans diagnosed with diabetes and 74,000 more diagnosed each year, cutting off the chronic disease before it starts is the ideal approach. Ohio is one of the states with the highest growth rate in diabetes.
“There are about 286,000 people in Ohio who have diabetes but don’t know they have it yet, and about 3 million more are pre-diabetic,” said Carol Benedetto, associate director of the Columbus ADA. “Your medical expenses are 2.3 times higher with diabetes, so preventing it is our main objective.”
The ADA funds diabetes research projects at Ohio State and area hospitals and works year-round to bring community awareness about the disease and educate the populace on how to get and stay fit.
The Columbus ADA distributes a free, non-invasive test through hospitals and other locations that the public can take to see if they are at risk for the disease. The organization also is a clearinghouse of information about diabetes and maintaining a healthful diet, including recipe cards.
“We want to educate you and maybe encourage you to take one bad thing out of your diet because doing that can improve your health dramatically,” Benedetto said. “We just want folks to make small, conscious efforts and look at what they do daily in terms of general wellness and how they can improve that.”
A whole host of other problems can arise if someone develops diabetes, including heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and blindness. Columbus ADA’s outreach touches about 30,000 residents every year through its health fair booths and company visits as well as its two main fundraising events — Step Out for Diabetes walk and Tour de Cure bike ride.
“Bucks for Charity is a great way not only to help our fundraising but to improve our outreach too,” Benedetto said. “We’re not trying to change people overnight. We want to encourage a conscious effort 365 days a year.”
A charitable smorgasbord
A Greater Linden area youth checks out the garden at St. Stephen’s Community House.
St. Stephen’s Community House has a multi-pronged approach to helping local residents in the Greater Linden area, teaching sustainability and self-sufficiency, offering child care and support services to help keep families together and running programs for youth and seniors.
Since 1919, St. Stephen’s has been advocating for folks who need a helping hand. Initially St. Stephen’s was established to help immigrants assimilate into their new American home. Since 1965, the house has put its main focus on the Linden neighborhood.
Nationally accredited by the Council on Accreditation and the National Association for the Education of Young Children, St. Stephen’s aims to produce and encourage responsible, educated and productive citizens; improve academic prowess; and connect families with basic essentials — food in particular — so they can focus beyond just surviving each day.
A recent endeavor, Project AquaStar, provides the community a homegrown source of fish and vegetables with a garden and aquaponic tilapia farm — tackling the problems of food insecurity while easing the need for families to rely on food pantries. Through the youth programs, Project AquaStar teaches kids the principles of social entrepreneurship and aspects of a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education through hands-on experience.
“Urban gardens have a powerful impact on our neighborhoods,” said Michelle Mills, president/CEO of St. Stephen’s Community House. “They transform unused spaces by bringing healthy and nutritious food options into areas where they are needed most. We are meeting the needs of our families with healthy food grown in their own community and complimenting the efforts of our feeder school through STEM education — on our urban farm.”
St. Stephen’s raises tilapia at its aquaponic farm to have a healthy food option for the community as part of its Project AquaStar.
St. Stephen’s also opened the Ohio Health Food and Nutrition Center, which provides emergency food while also training families the importance of making healthful choices.
The organization likes to say it touches every member of its community from “womb to tomb,” and it continues to innovate its approaches to create the most benefits.
To contribute to these or other organizations through Bucks for Charity, visit bucksforcharity.osu.edu and make a pledge.