A CARE Walk ‘Thank You’

Dear Citizens,

Thank you for supporting Oakwood’s 6th annual Breast Cancer 5K CARE Walk on May 12th.  More than five-hundred participants raised $14,500.  The beautiful weather helped make this the biggest CARE Walk ever.  Over the past six years, you have helped us raise over $50,000!

The grassroots efforts of CARE Walk continue to grow year after year and only because of the incredible support of our community.  All CARE Walk dollars stay local, and for the past several years, our proceeds have gone to the Breast Cancer Foundation, whose mission is to provide services for the underserved and uninsured here in the Miami Valley.

A big thank you goes to Amanda Cole, an OHS alumnus and 2007 graduate of Flagler University, who spoke to the crowd before the walk.  She encouraged the graduating seniors to make a change in the world.  Having created St. Augustine’s first Campus Cure for Cancer walk, Amanda is a real inspiration and role model for all of us.  In fact, our first “Health CARE” (health fair) at CARE Walk was inspired by Amanda.  While people waited for the walk to begin, they browsed the various booths and learned about a variety of health issues ranging from blood pressure to bike helmet safety, as well as breast care.  We hope our “Health CARE” becomes a regular part of CARE Walk and continues to grow each year as well.

We are also very grateful to Dan Edwards of Channel 2 News who once again emceed the morning’s festivities and kept everyone informed, smiling, and dancing before and after the walkers took to the streets.  Another Channel 2 celebrity, Jessica Moore, joined him on stage and expertly interviewed the various participants.  They created a festive atmosphere that made CARE Walk seem like a block party, which it was in many ways!

Many, many thanks to our sponsors:  Whispers Home (our lead sponsor), Laura’s Cookies (sold exclusively through Dorothy Lane Market’s Bakery), Miami Valley Hospital, Alley Cat Designs, the Asian Arts Center, Blue Turtle Toys, Clark’s Mr Prescription, Nancy Chifala Design, Deck the Walls, Fazel Rug Gallery, Invoked Projects, KTC Quail Tennis Club, Dr Danny Reveal and Dr Rudolf Huffmann, Standard Register, and Up and Running.  We also would like to thank Ice Mountain Water, Starbucks, and Dorothy Lane Market for the refreshments and all of the many local stores/businesses who contributed door prizes for our popular drawing held at the end of the walk.

Our last thank you goes to our volunteers.  We could not have processed all of our walkers and kept them fed, hydrated, “shirted,” and happy if it hadn’t been for Oakwood Giving, Women’s Issues Today, and the girl scouts and cub scouts.   Many of these tireless workers arrived early (on the day of prom!), stayed until the last walker left, worked hard to help every participant, and kept smiles on their faces the entire morning.

Since the first CARE Walk six years ago, the CARE Walk Team has steadily grown from 6 to 30 members.   We welcome you to join us, and we have something for everyone-delivering flyers, coordinating with sponsors/donors, setting up/tearing down, registering walkers, decorating cookies, and more!  It is a lot of fun, helps our neighbors, and makes us feel good too!  Check out our website to see what we are all about:  www.carewalk.org.

The CARE Tennis Challenge will be held on June 16th at KTC Quail Tennis Club, and our next CARE Walk will be held on May 11, 2008.  We hope you will mark your calendar to join us.

Thank you for sharing the dream of a world without breast cancer. “Impossible” dreams come true in Dayton-remember the Wright Brothers?   This dream will come true, too, if we all keep working together!

Sincerely,

The 2007 CARE Walk Team

Linda Berutti, Kathy Blossom, Nancy Chifala, Amanda Cole, Janell Cronenwett, Leah DeAloia, Cyntha Dilgard, Laura Enzbrenner, Mary Beth Evans, Debbie Fannin, Leigh Ann Fulford, Connie Guyer, Kathy Hensley, Susie Hogue, Julia Judge, Linda Klum, Lisa Klus, Mary Linzmeier, Gina Lofquist, Denice Moberg, Mary Lee Moberg, Sandy Mudry, Carolyn Noonan, Amy Redden, Carolyn Reveal, Pam Rickard, Tracy Riley, Beth Stelling, Barbra Stonerock, Anne Thompson-Pepper

A call for action on Bldg. 26

The Ohio Historic Preservation Office has recommended to the University of Dayton that they consider several proposals before concluding demolition is the best choice.  While, in its May 31 report to the University, concluded, for various technical reasons, Building 26 does not appear to be eligible for the National Register, the State Preservation Office stated:  “Public sentiment about Building 26, regardless of its condition or landmark status, makes its true importance clear.  It is the physical manifestation of a story that must be told after so many decades of silence.  Unlike so much we know about our past, Building 26 only started to tell its story relatively recently, and that story is more important most.  Moreover, it is a story that is not just another chapter in the history of Dayton or even of World War 11.  It is the story of the hundreds of WAVES, sailors, and civilians who worked on the codebreaker project and the thousands of people who are related to, descended from, or otherwise connected to them.”  

In recognition of the building’s significance, the report further stated:  “As part of a master plan that is to be implemented on the 49-acre site, the University may end up deciding to replace Building 26 with a new facility that will be used for commercial or academic technology, engineering, or scientific research.  So, it makes sense to consider the reuse of at least part of the existing building.  Ineligibility for the National Register should not keep the University from thinking about adapting the building to suit its needs.  Federal and state tax credits, which would be available if the building did get listed in the National Register, should not be the only incentive to such consideration.  From our experience, new construction is usually more expensive than rehabilitation.  Even if a repurposing of Building 26 did not preserve anything more than the remnants of a historic building, at least parts of that historic building would be put to good use.  This is especially sensible considering the University’s strong commitment to and reputation for science and engineering research and education.”

I feel the University of Dayton and the City of Dayton have had a wonderful relationship.  Each has contributed to each other and all of us in the area have benefited.  It seems in the case of Building 26, however, the University has gone it alone, in their enthusiasm to develop the newly purchased land.  Like others who support the preservation of Building 26, I recognize in the final analysis, Building 26 is the University’s property, and they have the right to do with it as they see fit.  I do hope, however, they will recognize its national significance and do the right thing by making Building 26 part of their master plan.  Building 26 is where Joe Desch and his team including 300 Navy WAVES developed the codebreaking machine that helped save Allied ships and lives and turn the tide of the Battle of the Atlantic in World War II.  For his work, President Franklin Roosevelt awarded Desch the Congressional Medal of Merit, the nation’s highest war-time honor for civilians.  The building should be retained.

A CALL FOR ACTION: The University of Dayton is dead set on demolishing Building 26.  If you concur in my belief that it should be saved,  the only one who can change the University’s decision is its President, Dr. Daniel Curran.  Contact him at 300 College Park, Dayton, Ohio 45469.   Also the University’s overall master plan will be done with millions of dollars of State and Federal money.  Advise Congressman Mike Turner of your feelings (120 West third Street, Suite 305, Dayton, Ohio 45402).  

Let’s hope this won’t be similar to Dayton’s loss of the Wright Brothers home and workshop and in the years to come as the Joe Desch story becomes more widely known, people won’t be asking “How could they have destroyed it!”

Skip Ordeman
Oakwood

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