UPDATE: Allen and Mercer counties

We have fantastic news!

Our efforts to expand knowledge of and participation in The Ohio Benefit Bank have paid off in an unexpected but delightful way.

In Allen and Mercer counties, existing OBB sites have created a solid working partnership with the local Job and Family Service departments. This means faster processing of OBB applications and quicker access to services for our OBB clients.

Gayle Loyola, regional coordinator with the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks, explained the benefit to all partiers now that this working relationship has been established.

"When we have a relationship with Job and Family Services, it's better for the client all the way around," Loyola said.

Mercer County OBB administrators have invited representatives from the county Job and Family Service Department to attend the free, six-hour computer training that all OBB counselors must complete. The JFS is sending at least one person to participate in the face-to-face training.

"The problem has been resolved," Loyola said. "We are moving forward."

Butler Co. OBB Event

The newest part of our Capacity Building events for The Ohio Benefit Bank in partnership with the HealthPath Foundation of Ohio AmeriCorps*VISTA Alesha Rademan organized her first event Friday.

The OBB/HealthPath event was done in conjunction with Shared Harvest Foodbanks in Butler County.
Alesha had an intimate gathering and secured at least one new OBB site from her afternoon meeting.

Nicely done, Alesha! We're delighted that you're on the team and cannot wait to see how all your OBB/HealthPath events turn out!

Below are some photos from the event.





OASHF Regional Coordinator Meredith Hill addresses the small group at AmeriCorps*VISTA Alesha Rademan's OBB/HealthPath event Friday, Sept. 24 in Butler County. Photo Credit: Alesha Rademan.



Shared Harvest Foodbanks of Butler County receives a check for $2,500 at the OBB/HealthPath event on Friday, Sept. 24 in Butler County. Photo Credit: Alesha Rademan.



In light of our success of the slideshow of the WKLM Radio interview with Greer Connor, North Coast Regional Coordinator with the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks, I've decided to expand on the idea of a series of photos together to highlight an idea about the Capacity Building events that OASHF and the HealthPath Foundation of Ohio are collaborating on. Please do take 30 seconds to see the video below. I'm delighted with the range of photographs that AmeriCorps*VISTAs Sara Mraz, Rich Field and Jessica Burchard were able to provide for this. Each photograph shows a representative -- usually an organization's executive director -- standing beside Theresa Wukusick, executive director of the HealthPath Foundation of Ohio, as she or an OASHF representative presents the organization with a $2,500 mini grant to maintain and expand its current OBB program.
Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Listen to Greer Connor's Radio Interview

Our friend, Michele Simmons, at WKLM Radio in Millerburg graciously agreed to send the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks a copy of the interview she conducted with Greer Connor on Wednesday, Sept. 8 at The Love Center.

This event was the Capacity Building event for The Ohio Benefit Bank in Holmes County. It drew a crowd of about 15 people, including State Rep. Dave Hall, R-97th district, Ann Gastier from the Holmes County Education Foundation and John Lorson, a representative of Wayne College's Holmes County Higher Education Center.

We are very pleased to make accessible the interview. Please take a listen below:

Again, thank you to Michele and the folks at WKLM for attending  our informational event in Millersburg and for being so generous with their coverage of us and the OBB cause.

Rich and Jessica Prepare for OBB/HealthPath Events

As everyone knows, events don't just happen. Someone has to take time to coordinate them.

It starts with selecting a time, date and location before moving on to sending out invitations and then setting up for the actual event.

The following photos depict just a fraction of all the legwork that AmeriCorps*VISTAs Rich Field, Sara Mraz, Alesha Rademan and Jessica Burchard have done for this project.

[Left to Right] AmeriCorps*VISTA Rich Field and OASHF Regional Coordinator Meredith Hill set up the project for the PowerPoint Project at The Ohio Benefit Bank event in Darke County on ______. Submitted by Rich Field.

Rich, ever the gentleman and marketing superstar, went beyond just preparing for the event. He also made a point of greeting guests when they entered the banquet room as well as after they took their seats.





AmeriCorps*VISTA Rich Field explains the importance of everyone filling out the half-slip of information known as the Guest Information Slip to keep track of interest in OBB expansion. Submitted by Rich Field.

Meanwhile, AmeriCorps*VISTA Jessica Burchard spent countless hours preparing invitations and "thank you" letters to people across southeast Ohio from her desk at the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks' main office in Columbus.



AmeriCorps*VISTA Jessica Burchard sent out hundreds of invitations for her 13th and final OBB/HealthPath event. It was in Millersburg, the seat of Holmes County, on Sept. 8. She mailed one-page invitations to the entire Chamber of Commerce list supplied by the partnering agency, The Love Center. Photo Credit: Jessica J. Burchard.

The size of the Holmes County Chamber of Commerce list made sending out the invitations a two-day job. When totaled, Jessica sent out more than 400 invitations to businesses, schools, individuals and media outlets.

Besides sending out documents for the events, Jessica also organized photos and documentation coming from other VISTAs.

This photo taken of AmeriCorps*VISTA Jessica Burchard's desk shows several photos that AmeriCorps*VISTA Rich Field mailed to her to be put on the blog and used for future reports on the OBB events. As you can see, they offer quite the display of Rich's event planning and marketing skills. Photo Credit: Jessica J. Burchard.





AmeriCorps*VISTA Sara Mraz Reflects on Hardin County's OBB Event

VISTA Spots OBB Partnerships at Expansion Events

By Jessica J. Burchard


AmeriCorps*VISTA Sara Mraz has seen partnerships for The Ohio Benefit Bank begin right before her eyes.


Mraz, who coordinates OBB events in the West Ohio Food Bank region, finds herself closely observing the interactions among different agencies and the tentative agreements they reach.

“By doing these events it really does put together the organizations in that community in one area,” Mraz said during a telephone interview. “It really is hard to get all the power players in one area to hear one message. Also, we are bringing awareness to the whole idea of people in need, whether it’s visually or telling stories of people in need.”

Guests at the Hardin County OBB Event get acquainted as they prepare for the presentation to begin. Many of them are county officials such as JFS, city council and executive directors of nonprofits. Submitted by Sara Mraz.

Recently, Mraz saw two groups join together in an effort to expand the OBB.

Representatives from the Forest-Jackson Library and the Forest United Methodist Church began discussing partnering at the Hardin County OBB Luncheon event on July 21 in Ada to create a new site for The Ohio Benefit Bank.

Mraz recalls how enthusiastically the librarian expressed her interest in using The Ohio Benefit Bank computer software to assist people in need that would come to the library for help. Many times, she would send them to the United Methodist Church as a place to start. By partnering together, they could potentially help more people in their local community.

Neither the church nor the library has registered at this time for the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks’ free hour-long Pre-Training Orientation program. The computerized program, which can be done from any computer with Internet access, is the prerequisite for the free six-hour training for individuals to become certified OBB counselors.

As Mraz continues to plan and attend OBB awareness events, she keeps her goal in focus:

“To me, having this tool and making people aware is crucial. Each county is different and depending on the knowledge and awareness that each organization has of their community’s resources can really help to connect people in need to ways that they can survive. The OBB is just one way that we can start to help our fellow Ohioans,” she said.

Surpassed 1,200 Views!

Thanks for taking time to stop by The Ohio Benefit Bank/HealthPath project blog!

Please feel free to leave feedback. I would very much like to know what you think of our efforts to expand knowledge about the OBB throughout 36 counties across Ohio with the generous support of the HealthPath Foundation of Ohio.

Again, I sincerely thank you for your time and attention!!