Getting Involved

We Care Arts is a non-profit organization that helps emotionally, mentally and physically disabled adults and youth achieve greater personal independence.  Through a variety of art classes and experiences, they promote the artist’s individuality, self esteem, community skills, ability to focus, life skills, responsibility, confidence and job skills.

Through the creation and sale of their individually crafted items, artists are able to affirm their self worth, take steps back into the mainstream of society and receive a supplemental income. We Care Arts provides all training and materials to artists and a portion of the proceeds of all sales is returned to the artist. The remainder goes back to program funding.

On Sat Dec 5th from 10am – 2pm,  We Care Arts will host it’s annual Cookie Walk fundraiser.  Thousands of the most gorgeous, bite-size, melt-in-your-mouth cookies will be arranged on long tables. At the start of the walk, you will receive a food service glove and bakery box. As you make your way along the cookie tables, you select as many goodies as you want, in as many varieties as you want. At the end of the walk, your box (or boxes) of cookies is weighed. The Cost – $5 per pound!!

Come buy cookies, donate cookies or candy, volunteer to help at the event and help spread the word!!

How can you help?
Helping We Care Arts by donating home-baked cookies for our event. The guidelines for donations are as follows:

1. Please contact Martha Leach at 426-5312 to confirm your donation to the
Cookie Walk.

2. We’d prefer the cookies to be miniature, bite-sized (approximately 1-1/2”). Buyers feel they can get more variety if the cookies are smaller. If your cookie works better larger, that’s ok, we’ll take them all!

3. Make your cookies extraordinary! This is an event where people can purchase homemade cookies that they normally would not make themselves. Ethnic or unusual ingredients, dipped cookies, or a variation on an old favorite are big sellers. We also welcome diabetic-friendly cookies as well as bite-sized bar cookies.

4. Homemade candies and snacks are also accepted.

5. Please include a 3×5 card with the name of the cookie and listed ingredients to inform persons with food allergies. This card will be set out with the cookies, so please print! Also specify on your 3×5 card if the cookie is diabetic friendly or sugar-free. (If you wish to be contacted for donations for next year, please fill out the form below and return it with your donation.)

6. Cookies must be delivered to We Care Arts, 3035 Wilmington Pike, on Friday, December 4, between the hours of 10 AM and 3 PM.

The YWCA Dayton is seeking nominations for its 2010 Women of Influence Awards. This award honors women in the greater Dayton community who have made a positive impact on the lives of people in the Miami Valley through their community service.

Nominations are accepted from the community and honorees are selected by a panel of community leaders. Nominees do not have to be active in the YWCA. They should reflect the YWCA’s mission of eliminating racism and empowering women and should also exemplify community spirit, leadership, volunteerism and making a difference in the lives of others. To nomiate a Woman of Influence, go to the YWCA Dayton website: www.ywcadayton.org and complete the online nomination form. Deadline to submit a nomination is Friday, December 4, 2009.

A luncheon celebration will be held on March 18, 2010 at the Dayton Convention Center to honor the award winners. For more information on tickets and sponsorship, please call Angie Hoschouer at 937-461-5550, ext. 179.

Sharing the story- that’s what Ohio is hoping it’s newly recruited advocates will do.  The Ohio Ambassador Program is a key initiative in the Ohio Department of Development’s Strategic Plan, Ohio Home of Innovation and Opportunity.

“In the midst of one of the most challenging economic crises that our nation and state has ever faced, a critical role Ohioans can play is promoting all of the assets of living and doing business in our state,” Lt. Governor Lee Fisher said. “Although we face great challenges, our ability to come together and tell the world what is great about Ohio will be key to ensuring prosperity and a bright future for our state.”

The state’s goal is to engage people across our state and around the world in
conversation about all the diverse opportunities available in Ohio. In these conversations, an Ohio Ambassador is expected to:

• Share their Ohio experiences
• Address misperceptions of Ohio
• Avoid negatively positioning another state or location
• Be supportive of all Ohio locations

In the four months since the Program was officially launched, we now have more than 1,065 Ohio Ambassadors and counting! What’s more,  Ohio Ambassadors include people from every corner of the state and friends as far away as Japan, China, and Germany. That means that not only is our Ohio Ambassador Program becoming an increasingly popular way for us to Share the Ohio Story, but we are also now reaching audiences on new continents.

Ambassadors must be at least 18 years of age, be supportive of Ohio and willing to share the Ohio Story, have a current or past connection to Ohio, and an interest in positively impacting the Ohio economy.

A Web site – www.Ambassador.Ohio.gov. – has been created to support the program. The Web site provides Ohioans with an in-depth look at the benefits of becoming an Ohio Ambassador. Resource materials on the Ohio Story, dramatic pictures of Ohio’s communities, and facts about the state economy are available online, providing Ambassadors with information about Ohio’s education
system, industry strengths, business climate, and social and recreational opportunities around the state. This information is designed to help Ohio Ambassadors more effectively share the Ohio Story with others.

I’m an ambassador, won’t you consider becoming one?

Garden Station has a chance to raise some money for the garden by working a beer tent at Hauntfest on Saturday but still need a few more workers! Can you help on Saturday, Oct 31st in the Oregon District?

If you can help email Garden Station ASAP!

Garden Station is a collaborative revitalization project spearheaded by the Dayton Circus Creative Collective, a group of local artists (www.daytoncircus.org).  We are transforming a  two acre lot on the northeast corner of Fourth Street and Wayne Avenue that was vacant for more than 40 years into a vibrant art park and community garden.

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Such a simple idea – gather a group of women committed to caring about their community by combining their donations so they can make an impact and effect change in the lives of those in need in the Dayton area.

Such a major impact – over $145,000 has been raised in just 10 hours!

Member Ann Roberts summed it up on her blog:
We All Give What We Can
Sometimes it is $25, $50, $100 or more. We donate our money, time, and services in order to make a difference in our community and in the lives of others. Sometimes I would wonder whether my small contribution was really making a difference. I’ve found a way to make MY $100 be the difference.

Consider this… The Dayton Boys and Girls Club (DBGC) has a room of 16 computers that don’t work consistently if at all. The kids may or may not be able to use them for their homework. These are kids without access to a computer at home. In addition, these kids parents have very limited computer skills and limited access to computers; in today’s technologically savvy market that means that you can’t even apply for a job at Kroger’s without access to a computer. Replacing the computer equipment is beyond the capability of the existing operational funding. Enter 100+ Women Who Care. Because of 100+ Women Who Care, the DBGC was able to acquire brand new computers for the club. The kids at the club have been developing their computer skills and using the computers to help with their homework and the reports they need to write. Their parents are also benefiting! Because DBGC has new computers, they received a grant from Microsoft for additional software. Because of the new computers, they have been able to develop programs such as a summer program that will tie the kids in with the Columbus Zoo.

How did my $100 make a difference? If I had just donated $100 to the Dayton Boys and Girls Club it wouldn’t have had the same dramatic impact. 100+ Women Who Care currently exists in only four (4) cities and Dayton OH is one of them! (Other chapters include Jackson, MI; Dupage County, IL; and Albion, MI.)

Here’s how 100+ Women Who Care Works:

•Fundraising accomplished in one hour

•Each member donates $100 per meeting ($400 per year)

•The donations will be given to charities/worthy causes serving locally in the Dayton area. No national programs will be considered. The purpose is for 100% of the contributions to stay in the community.

•Any member may put a suggestion she has researched in the drawing at each meeting.

•Three suggestions are drawn at each meeting, five-minute presentations are given by those members. The membership votes and majority rules, a $100 check is written by each member to the charity selected — and 100% goes to the selected charity or worthy cause. Even if a member’s first choice isn’t selected, each member is committed to donating at each meeting.

•The lives of those in need in the Dayton area are impacted with positive, powerful changes…with a potential donation of $19,500(+) four times a year raised in one hour!

Next Meeting: Tues, Oct 20th from 5:30-6:30pm at McGohan Brabender
3931 S Dixie Dr, Dayton, OH 45439

Want more info? DaytonWomenWhoCare.org

Hawthorn Hill, the Wright brother’s “success mansion” is available for educational tours thanks to a partnership between Dayton History and The Wright Family Foundation.

Constructed in 1913, the opulent Oakwood mansion was home to Orville, Katherine and their father Milton Wright.  Orville lived in the mansion nearly 35 years until his death in 1948.

Many distinguished visitors have been guests at the house, including Charles Lindbergh, President Franklin Roosevelt, former Ohio Governor James Middleton Cox, Henry Ford and Thomas Edison.

Tours are conducted on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 10:00 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.  Advance, prepaid reservations are required; space is limited.

Tours depart from Carillon Park via shuttle promptly at the aforementioned times.  Ticket price is $12.00 per person.  A special combination ticket for admission to both Carillon Historical Park and Hawthorn Hill is available for $15.00.

Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1991, the home provides a fantastic glimpse into the mind or Orville Wright, who designed the estate.

For additional information or to make your reservation, call Guest services at 937-293-2841.