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Checking in on a senior. Dropping off groceries. Opening for carryout. Working double shifts at a hospital. Delivering supplies. Sewing face masks. At the heart of this pandemic, we have seen the heart of our community beat stronger than ever before. Everyday people are tirelessly and selflessly giving of themselves to ensure those who need extra support and care have everything they need to get through.
The Deserving Neighbor Award is a partnership among Procter & Gamble, Kroger, and Cincinnati Magazine that celebrates the amazing people throughout our community who go the extra step to care for others. Compassion, care, and neighborly outreach are part of our community's DNA. Let's take a moment to recognize those who bring it to life.
Nominate a deserving neighbor today by submitting the form below. We will accept nominations through September 6, 2020. Each month from June to September, a panel of designated community leaders will choose three nominees to receive the Deserving Neighbor Award. All nominations remain eligible for recognition throughout the entire Deserving Neighbor Award campaign; there's no need to resubmit a nomination.
Each honoree will receive a prize package from Procter & Gamble, Kroger, and Cincinnati Magazine and also be recognized on Cincinnati Magazine's social media channels and in its December 2020 print issue. Please review the Deserving Neighbor Award campaign's terms and conditions below.
Meet Our 13 Deserving Neighbor Award Winners!
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"Mr. Charles, who is almost 80, walks our street every day and tends to any neighbors' unmet needs, from cutting grass, seeding lawns, repairing driveways, and picking up trash. He even helped us remove raccoons from our attic. He is kind, caring, and always looking out for our neighborhood. It goes without saying that he is the definition of a great neighbor!”
“[As the Food Pantry Director as SNC Norwood Church], Linda Martin opened her pantry twice a week to feed all members of the community. She reached out to other businesses to keep the pantry stocked. She posted a list of available items on social media to allow the community to choose what they want/need. After losing her job to Covid-19, she spends 60 hours or more a week to make sure food is available for Hamilton County residents. She packs and distributes food to anyone that comes to the pantry. She continues to look for ways to make sure everyone has access to food. The pantry has grown to five times what it was before Covid-19. Once a month, she still has figured out a way to provide a prepared meal for the community. She has made subs, bought pizza, made conveys etc. and distributed them to the community.”
“[As Superintendent of Mason City Schools,] Mr. Cooper has been tireless in his efforts to help people in Mason. He mobilized Comet Cares, a form community support for restaurants and families with food scarcity. He organized technology and food pick-up locations for our students and helped them find Internet access. His example has guided the tone of our interactions with families in a difficult time and projects the schools as central to the health of the entire community. His recent words to staff and community re: anti-racism continues the focus on equity he initiated when he first became the leader of our schools. He created a celebration of our graduates and hand-delivered almost 900 diplomas. He has organized a four-pronged planning approach in deciding what to do with schools next fall and really listens to the contributions of all stakeholders.”
Tye Compton is a 2020 graduate of Mt. Healthy High School and plans on attending Howard University in the fall. "Tye has never stopped being an active, caring, positive member of his community. Tye volunteers to take out his neighbors' trash cans on garbage night and has cut his neighbors' grass. As an person who was diagnosed with autism, he mentors peers in his school community, including someone who has also been diagnosed with Autism. Before the pandemic, he spent some of his Saturdays going to the cinemas with male senior citizens in his community. Tye has also offered mentorship to older members of the community to help their understanding of stocks. Tye has still managed to steadily balance home, school, and work life."
Suzy DeYoung founded La Soupe in 2014 to bridge the gap between hunger and food waste in Cincinnati. The organization rescues otherwise wasted produce to create meals for customers, nonprofits, and food-insecure families. "She runs toward those affected and the most vulnerable in the community to make sure they have nutritious food prepared and served with love."
"Mr. Casarez is a dedicated teacher at School for Creative and Performing Arts. In addition to holding his teaching sessions online, he also held group meetings on Zoom for students after many expressed feeling lonely and missing school, friends, and his class. They met three times a week even after the school year ended and would talk about their days, how they were feeling, and ways they were coping and keeping busy. They had fun days like Pet Day when they'd bring their cats, dogs, ferrets, and turtles on camera. He's a great teacher, and all his seventh-graders love, appreciate, and admire him!"
"Alisha Schweitzer selflessly looks out for our neighborhood on a daily basis. She has waited on our furniture and appliance deliveries, closed garage doors inadvertently left open, delivered and picked up food, and protected our delivery packages. Her watchful eyes keep us all safe. Her culinary skills, especially macaroni and cheese and desserts, are enjoyed by all. Every neighborhood should have such a gentle, generous, and caring person such as Alisha."
"During the early months of the shelter-in-place order, Rev. Abe Brandyberry [Pastor and Co-Founder of Cincinnati Urban Promise] organized community groups, churches, and neighbors to gather food supplies for Westwood residents in need. He was also one of the co-founders of the Westwood For Westwood movement."
"Adina Wofford is the Retail Manager for a Program called Sarah Center that teaches sewing and jewelry making at St. Francis Seraph Ministries. Since the pandemic, Adina has picked up the extra role as manager for SFSM's soup kitchen, helping run shifts for breakfast and/or dinner and making bag lunches. She has also taken on a support role with SFSM's Strategic Planning, on top of doing her own work for the organization. With limited staff allowed in the building, she has really filled a void that was needed."
"Latisha Owens has stepped up to support her neighbors as the Founder and CEO of Guiding Light Mentoring, a mentoring organization dedicated to serving youth ages 8-18 in the Greater Cincinnati area by providing positive role models, teaching relationship skills, and developing moral character. Since its establishment in 2014, the organization has served over 350 youth. Latisha not only helps the youth in her organization, but she also supports the parents of the youth. Latisha has helped parents with furnishing their homes, being a transporter to get them to appointments/meetings, and financially so they could be employed. Latisha has no problem with going the extra mile to help those in need. Outside of the organization, she can be found serving her community with her church Corinthian Baptist Church, the Cincinnati Business Courier, the Flying Pig Marathon, and many other organizations throughout the city. Latisha is true example of a servant."
"When COVID-19 found its way to Cincinnati and changed how we live for the foreseeable future, 3CDC, like many companies, had to make the incredibly difficult decision to furlough many of our staff. Our Operations Team is responsible for taking care of Fountain Square, Washington Park, Ziegler Park, and the streets of downtown and Over-the-Rhine. This crew was reduced from 70-plus to nine in the matter of a couple of weeks. Overnight, this small crew was asked to handle the herculean task of maintaining 150 blocks while maneuvering a new normal of mask-wearing, temperature-taking, and practicing social distancing. To say they excelled is a massive understatement. This crew has been hustling hard for almost three months to keep our urban core clean, safe, and strong. From pressure-washing sidewalks to removing graffiti to weeding and mulching tree wells they’ve done it all with no complaints. For some perspective, they removed 1,287 bags of trash in the month of April alone! It’s difficult to fully express how impressed we are by this crew, but we hope receiving some recognition from their community will show them how much we appreciate them and their hard work through such a trying time."
"Kelly Adamson grew up serving the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood. A Wyoming High School graduate, Adamson learned the value of helping others from her parents and spent many days handing out sandwiches in Washington Park. Today, she walks through that same park amazed at the transformation of not only that area but also the entire neighborhood. As the executive director of the Over-the-Rhine Chamber, Adamson is charged with the task of keeping the neighborhood thriving, while balancing new business with new residents. Her passion for the area led her to the OTR Chamber job, and it became her mission to keep businesses in OTR. She has directed the Chamber’s creation and implementation of an ongoing marketing campaign promoting alternative ways to support OTR’s small businesses that need our community’s support in this critical time. Kelly lives, works, shops, and volunteers in OTR. She never turns off her enthusiasm and dedication to the area. The businesses she serves also never turn off and she is always available for questions and support to those businesses."
"I contracted COVID-19 in July 2020, and Andrea Owens went way above just regular nursing duties. She took time to braid my hair after washing it for me just to make me feel better. She stayed late after her shift one day to shave my legs! When I was rushed to the ICU, all I could feel was a scary dark haze as my lungs fought to find air, but I also felt her gloved hand in mine and heard her say ‘I won't leave you.’ That gave me such comfort. Andrea came after her shift was over to check on me even when she wasn't assigned to me. At one time during my stay in ICU she even sang to me! Andrea also kept my husband and sister well informed and up to date with everything going on… Andrea began a campaign among the hospital staff to help my husband and our children through this difficult time. She worked for four days gathering gift cards to restaurants, grocery stores, diapers, wipes, and gifts for my children. I have been so completely overwhelmed with the love she brought and how she pulled everyone together to help a family she just met… I wholeheartedly believe in the power of prayer, and I expressed this to Andrea on several occasions. She went further than just praying for me; she began a prayer chain via word of mouth. She then purchased a corkboard map of the U.S., set it up in my room, and every time someone would email her that they were praying for me, she would mark the state they lived in. She began a nation-wide prayer chain. Andrea is not only an extraordinary caregiver, she has become my friend. I knew the moment she said 'I got you,' that I was in good hands, but I had no idea to what extreme ‘I'm right here’ she could go."