October 2016

714 Washington Street, Covington, KY 41011 859-291-1340 beconcerned.org

Holtzleiter honored

with ‘Heart’ award Golf outing again

a record setter Be Concerned’s 2016 golf outing was a success any way you look at it. Financially, it was the most lucrative in the 18 years the event has been held, grossing nearly $73,000 and netting al-most $53,000. Sponsorships were again robust with 96, including 25 of $1,000 or more. The field sold out a month before the Sept. 16 event with 37 teams. Mother Nature cooperated with sunny skies and warm temperatures. A storm front predicted earlier in the week didn’t roll across Twin Oaks Golf Club until 6 PM, an hour after the outing ended. And the event had its usual array of tempting Silent Auction items, Rapid Raffle prizes and fun games on the course. “We’ve been blessed again with great weather, a full complement of golfers and volunteers, and a great group of spon-sors,” said Be Concerned Board Member Mike Lenihan, who has chaired the event for the past four years. “We could not have asked for a better day.”

Lou Ann Holtzleiter says by nature she enjoys working on big projects and likes chaos. So it was no surprise when Lou-Ann re-sponded to an ad in 1998 in the St. Agnes Church bulletin for Be Concerned volunteers that it was the beginning of a fruitful and harmonious partnership. And such a beneficial one for Be Concerned that the organization presented her with its 2016 Heart of Be Concerned award Sept. 16 at the annual golf outing. The award was established in 2014 to recognize those who have given “substantial and sustained support” to the agency. “It’s amazing to receive

Continued on Page 2

The outing is easily Be Concerned’s largest fundraiser and its success is critical to funding Be Concerned’s Thanksgiving program and food pantry in the last quarter of the year. Over the past 10 years, the event has generat-ed more than $450,000.

Lou-Ann Holtzleiter

Liam Gaddis shows the hundreds of razor packs his Mom got free with coupons.

The art of a deal Extreme couponer Gaddis reaps bonanza for Be Concerned

Todd Hudak, Doug Stricker and Rob Brashear ham it up with Be Concerned Board Member Therese Colgan at the outing. The Hudak team won the Dress to Excess prize for their knickers outfits.

Save the Date! Be Concerned Golf Outing

Sept. 15, 2017

Billie Jean Gaddis sums up her life simply. “I work, take care of my fam-ily and coupon,” says the Lud-low resident. Gaddis, known to her family and friends as “Gigi,” has taken couponing to a level few can even imagine, scoring thou-sands of dollars worth of items for Be Concerned and other nonprofits.

“I like giving and helping people, she said. “I want to teach my kids it’s not always about receiving.” Gaddis became interested in ex-treme couponing last year after seeing postings on Face Book. She made a friend also intrigued by cou-

poning, and they now spend their free time collecting cou-pons and scouting deals. Often, they reap free items. This summer, Gaddis accumu-lated 200 coupons for Bic pen 10-packs. When the pens went on sale for 10 packs for $10, she pounced. She gave 1,500 of the pens to Northern Kentucky Harvest’s Continued on Page 2

Gigi Gaddis

Continued from Page 1

an award for something you really love doing, “Lou-Ann said. She was saluted as one of the organization's most ac-complished and dedicated volunteers, a leader, an innovator who shepherded customer record-keeping from paper to on-line, and a high-level thinker constant-ly finding ways to better serve the people who turn to us for help. Lou-Ann and her hus-band, Mick, have also been major donors to Be Con-cerned. Born and raised in North College Hill, Lou-Ann worked nearly 20 years in banking, mortgage lending and home-building before coming to Be Concerned as a volunteer in 1997. Her roles have varied over the years: newsletter editor, strategic planning instigator, Christmas Store re-organizer and major-domo, and tech guru. Lou-Ann said it’s the people who have kept her at Be Concerned nearly 20

years. Volunteers become like family, she said. Customers have touched her heart as well. She re-calls the woman who came to the Christmas Store on a bitterly cold day in just a shirt and slacks. When Lou-Ann asked her about her coat, the woman said: “My husband’s wearing it today. We only have one.” Lou-Ann got the woman a coat from the thrift store, but couldn’t stop thinking about her plight. The woman would not ask for a coat, Lou-Ann said, for fear she’d be taking it from someone else who needed it more. “Those are the people I always remem-ber from Be Concerned,” she said.

Lou-Ann Holtzleiter accepts her award at the golf outing.

Holtzleiter

Continued from Page 1 annual Backpacks and Break-fast Aug. 13 in Covington. Gaddis, who works at Tente Castors in Hebron, got her heart for helping honest-ly. Her father grew up in fos-ter care and Gaddis herself needed a hand after her di-vorce a few years ago. She got food from Be Concerned. “You guys helped me out when I needed it,” she said. “This is my way of paying you back.” She brought more than 800 packs of razors to Be

Concerned in August that she got free with coupons. And last month, she was back with 275 bottles of Tide and OxyClean laundry detergent she finagled for a dollar each. Both of those hauls will go into the Christmas Store. She’s also gotten office supplies, bandages and Hal-loween candy free for the Ludlow Police Department. Gaddis’ son, Liam, 10, helps her on her quests. “He’s not crazy about the couponing, but he loves the delivering part,” she said.

Be Concerned should be moving by early December A permit was issued Sept. 20 by Kenton County to allow renovation of the building at 1100 Pike Street in Coving-ton’s Lewisburg neighborhood that will become home to the agency. Unlimited Carpentry of Cin-cinnati, general contractor for the project, has 60 days from issuance of the permit to fin-ish the work. That means the building should be ready for occupancy by Nov. 20. “The final approval of the permit puts the ball in motion for all of this to become real. It’s an exciting time for our volunteers, our staff, and most of all for our customers as we begin writing the next chapter of our service history in Covington, “ said Be Con-cerned Executive Director Andy Brunsman. Be Concerned is moving from its Washington Street building, provided by develop-er Bill Butler in 1987, to make

way for Duveneck Square, a housing/retail project that Covington leaders predict will be transformative to the city’s efforts to revitalize its core. The first phase of the pro-ject will put 108 apartments and 5,000 square feet of retail space on Be Concerned’s cur-rent block at a cost of $17 million. Subsequent phases could push total outlay for the project to $60 million. Formerly home to the HealthPoint Clinic, Be Con-cerned’s new building has been vacant since 2011. The build-out will create a lobby twice the size of our current one, a food pantry triple the size of the current one, ADA-compliant rest-rooms for customers on both floors and a consolidated sec-ond-hand store that will offer clothing, housewares and fur-niture in two large rooms. With acquisition of the building Be Concerned also will have its own parking lot, a first for the organization.

Move expected by early December

Supporting Be Concerned through Kroger’s Communi-

ty Rewards program? If you haven’t renewed your reg-

istration since April, please do so. If you are not

signed up for us but would like to, go to Kroger.com,

set up your account and click on Be Concerned in

the “Community Rewards” section.

Tony Gilpin re-moves construc-tion debris at Be Concerned’s new building on Pike Street in Lewis-burg. The agency anticipates a move by Decem-ber to the site.

Couponing

3 join Be Concerned Board

Three people have been voted to the Be Concerned Board of Directors. Marc Gloyeske is a design engineer for Viox & Viox in Erlanger. A native of Jackson Center, Ohio, and the Uni-versity of Cincinnati graduate, he and his wife, Heather, live in Anderson Township. Grace Penn is a community mort-gage specialist at BB&T Home Mort-gage. She lives in Florence. A native of Birmingham, England, she attended Southern Ohio College. She worked at Bank of Kentucky be-fore joining BB&T. Her son, Seneca,

and a granddaughter, Kamari, she says, “are the love of my life.” Joe Shuff is vice president for com-mercial lending at Stock Yards Bank & Trust. He earned master’s and bache-lor’s degrees from Northern Kentucky University and previously worked at the Bank of Kentucky. Joe and his wife, Kris, live in Hebron with their two kids.

Gloyeske Penn Shuff

New Senior Food Delivery

program going strong

Be Concerned’s Senior

Food Delivery Program

celebrated its one-year

anniversary in August.

The offspring of offsite

signup efforts at Highpoint

Apartments in Ludlow, the

program has grown from

serving 30 seniors at one

location to helping more

than 100 at four sites.

“At Highpoint, we heard

over and over again that

transportation was a barri-

er for people needing our

pantry,” said Be Concerned

Executive Director Andy

Brunsman. “We

discovered that

only 4 people

there had cars.”

So, he began

monthly food

deliveries to

Highpoint, a first

in the 30 years

Be Concerned’s

pantry has operated. Aus-

tinburg, Panorama and St.

Aloysius apartments later

joined the program.

“Our residents are very

grateful for the program,”

said Nancy Hiltibrand, Ser-

vice Coordinator at Pano-

rama. “It lets them re-

ceive all the benefits of Be

Concerned without the

physical struggle of getting

to their store.”

Senior Food Delivery

Volunteers delivered food last No-vember at Highpoint Apartments.

remains true to the choice pantry

model that Be Concerned uses. Partic-

ipants choose food they want from a

list sent to them before the delivery.

Highpoint resident John Angel, 70,

said he appreciates the program.

“Man, that food is so helpful to get,”

he said. “I don’t know what I would

do without it.”

A core of dedicated volunteers

from the Young Professionals Board

packed and delivered 741 food boxes

to 127 residents during the past year.

“I love packing up what the people

ask for and then seeing how thankful

they are when we deliver it right to

them,”said volunteer Bryan McKiddy

of Delhi Township.

Be Concerned hopes to expand the

program to a fifth site in 2017.

In a long career in human resources,

Paul Melihercik often waited years to

see the fruits of his labors.

But as a volunteer driver for Be Con-

cerned, he gets instant feedback for his

efforts.

“I bring a truck full of food back from

the Cold Spring Kroger, I know it’s going

to help people right away,” he said.

“And I see some of them in the lobby

when I arrive.”

Born and raised in the Chicago area,

Paul and his wife, Charlene, moved 7

times as he rose in his profession. The

last move was to Union in 1995 after he

was named vice president of human

resources for DHL at CVG.

When he retired in 2008, he started

volunteering weekly for Housing Oppor-

tunities of Northern Kentucky, helping

to rehab houses for low-income fami-

lies. He also began driving for Hoxworth

Blood Center.

He learned about Be Concerned in

2012 from Pat Kline, with whom he

attended church at St. Timothy in Union.

“She told me they needed

drivers, and that this was

something I should do,” Paul

said.

Now he drives on Thurs-

days. It’s been fun to learn

the culture of each store from which he

picks up food. And he finds volunteers

at Be Concerned very positive.

“Everyone’s friendly, everyone has a

smile on their face,” he said. “It’s a great

group.”

The Meliherciks have two sons and

two grandchildren.

Volunteer Voices

Melihercik

Jeff Conroy became Be Concerned’s ware-house manager in Au-gust. A Cincinnati native and Ohio State Univer-sity grad, he previously worked for Tri-Health and Medifit. Jeff got to know Be Concerned from volun-teering for senior food delivery for a year before he joined the staff. “It’s a small place where everyone knows everyone,” he said. “I know and like the boss and I like helping people. It’s a good fit for me.”

Conroy

Conroy signs on

NON PROFIT ORG US POSTAGE

PAID COVINGTON, KY

PERMIT NO. 135

Return Service Requested

714 Washington St.

Covington, Ky. 41011

Special The R.C. Durr Foundation • T.L. Ashford & Associates • Sam’s Club • The Freestore Foodbank • Kroger •

Thanks Castellini Cos. • St. Pius X Church • Postal Carriers Local 374 • St. Timothy Church • Ashland Inc.• L’Oreal