Friday, May 4, 2012
Frank and Jen DeLorenzo run Wags 4 Warriors.
Getting a service dog helped change Frank DeLorenzo’s life. He created Wags 4 Warriors to help others do the same. “This is the purest therapy out there,” said DeLorenzo. DeLorenzo, a Brecksville resident, is a veteran of the recent conflict in Iraq. He deals with veterans often in his day job as an Army Wounded Warrior Advocate for the Cleveland VA Medical Center. He also suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and a traumatic brain injury. His service dog, a not-quite-2-year-old Labrador/Australian Shepherd mix named Nina, helps keep him present. She pulls him out of flashbacks and nightmares. In public, she faces behind him, watching his back. DeLorenzo’s wife, Jen, said service dogs are a way to help veterans cope without medicine…
41.32001
-81.62569
American Legion Post 196
7400 Chippewa Rd, Brecksville, OH
/articles/veteran-helps-others-heal-with-service-dogs
1985350
/locations/6925444
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
McDonel and her husband believe in the importance of giving back to their community.
Editor’s note: The McDonels both make time to give back to their community. This profile highlights some of Ruth Dever McDonel’s volunteer work. Click here to see the profile on Timothy McDonel. Ruth Dever McDonel believes in giving back—no matter how little time you have to spare. “You have to make time for what you feel is important,” McDonel said. McDonel and her husband, Timothy, certainly find time to volunteer in the community. In fact, listening to McDonel’s schedule makes it hard to believe she finds time for anything else. She’s involved at the Brecksville United Methodist Church, visiting people who are in the hospital or who have a hard time leaving their homes. She also volunteers at the Brookside Hunger Center with the church…
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Timothy McDonel is also a grandparent figure some of the second-graders might not have at home.
Editor’s note: The McDonels both make time to give back to their community. This profile highlights some of the volunteer work that Timothy McDonel does. Check back next week for a profile on Ruth Dever McDonel. Timothy McDonel said he doesn’t view the hours he spends reading with second graders at Highland Drive Elementary School volunteer work. He enjoys it too much to call it that. McDonel worked at B.F. Goodrich and Michelin in research and development and is now retired. And most people know him through his work with the Brecksville Kiwanis. He has been reading with students at the school for years. He started as a volunteer for OhioReads, a program where community members read to students. When the funding was cut, many of the other …
41.31309
-81.626766
Human Services Center
2 Community Dr, Brecksville, OH
/articles/highland-elementary-volunteer-teaches-students-to-love-reading
1832364
/locations/6420567
41.30457
-81.63778
Highland Drive Elementary
9457 Highland Dr, Brecksville, OH
/articles/highland-elementary-volunteer-teaches-students-to-love-reading
1084897
/locations/6420568
Thursday, December 22, 2011
“What you get back is so much more than what you put into it,” Beverly Kan said.
Beverly Kan doesn’t think her volunteer work is anything special. If anything, she thinks she gets more out of working at the Human Services Center luncheon than she gives. “I think it helps keep me alive,” Kan said. Kan has been fighting cancer for more than 20 years. Her most recent bout of breast cancer started in 1998. She had originally been diagnosed in 1990, but this time it was worse. She had tumors that had spread to her liver, to her bones. She was given a year and a half to live. Thirteen years later, she’s still here, serving up beautiful desserts to the seniors every Thursday. She still gets treatment every Monday—she said she was one of the first people to ever receive Herceptin outside of a trial—and spends a lot of time …
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Morgan Kolis focuses on everyday successes in her classroom.
Morgan Kolis is a problem-solver. The elementary special education teacher said that’s one of the best parts of her job—she likes figuring out what the issue or hurdle is and then finding a way for her students to overcome it. It might be by helping them change their behavior or it might be by modifying a lesson. “No day is the same,” she said. Kolis teaches at Hilton Elementary School in Brecksville. She’s spent most of her career in the district—eight of her nine years—and she’s made teaching her life. “She is so dedicated, so committed to children with special needs, to all children,” said Hilton Principal David Martin. Martin said Kolis is “tireless” in her advocacy for her students, and she’s always searching for ways to meet students…
41.327436
-81.633238
Hilton Elementary
6812 Mill Rd, Brecksville, OH
/articles/teacher-uses-technology-to-help-students-with-special-needs-reach-their-full-potential
1085081
/locations/5860386
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Leslie Vizcarra started at the Greater Cleveland chapter of the Lupus Foundation of America as a Key Club volunteer.
Leslie Vizcarra always knew she wanted to follow the path of many of her family members and become a nurse – to enter a field that helps people when they need it the most. Today, she uses her knowledge to help lupus patients find the best treatment for them. “Not one lupus patient has the same journey,” said Vizcarra, the patient navigator at the Greater Cleveland chapter of the Lupus Foundation. Lupus is an autoimmune disease that can present itself differently in each person—according to the foundation’s website, the symptoms vary and can include extreme fatigue, light sensitivity, chest pain or hair loss. As the chapter’s patient navigator, Vizcarra is responsible for reaching out to the patients who contact the chapter looking for …
41.322229
-81.593363
Lupus Foundation of America Greater Ohio Chapter
12930 Chippewa Rd, Brecksville, OH
/articles/from-volunteer-work-to-fundraising-local-nurse-focuses-on-raising-awareness-of-lupus
1084648
/locations/5789916
Friday, November 4, 2011
The actor and director adapted a book for the stage that will benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the arts at Brecksville-Broadview Heights Middle School.
When Bruce D. Orendorf set out to find a challenging, yet appropriate musical for the students at Brecksville-Broadview Heights Middle School to take on this fall, he couldn’t find one. So he wrote it. Orendorf spent his summer turning the young adult novel “Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie” into a musical for the middle school-aged cast. The book—and the play—takes on serious topics. The main character’s younger brother has leukemia, but he’s also dealing with typical 8th-grade drama and crushes. The story is both “moving” and “humor-filled,” Orendorf said. “I like tackling things that are relevant to the kids,” Orendorf said. And he doesn’t water down the act of theater just because the students are young. At rehearsals, he treats them …
41.33165
-81.64275
Brecksville-Broadview Heights Middle School
6376 Mill Rd, Broadview Heights, OH
/articles/bruce-orendorf-uses-theater-to-help-students-the-community
1085077
/locations/5734535
Rachel Abbey McCafferty
6:27 pm on Thursday, May 10, 2012
Thanks for sharing your experience, Cheryl! Has anyone else worked with Frank and Jen in Wags 4 Warriors? more ›