December 14, 2023 • 20 mins
Operation Give Back is a free mentoring/tutoring/food pantry for students in the Sycamore School District. My guest is the Executive Director of Operation Give Back, Sheila Lichtenberg.
Operation Give Back
Operation Give Back
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Episode Transcript
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(00:07):
This week on iHeart Cinsey. Itall began after school parents noticed a need
students in Sycamore schools who needed alittle extra help with their schoolwork. So
Lee and Wendy Langston started an informalprogram to tutor kids in their home with
the help of a few volunteers.Over the last twenty one years, that
little tutoring program has developed into ahugely successful nonprofit called Operation give Back.
(00:33):
The group and their volunteers tutor childrenfor free after school. They feed the
hungry in their community and provide schoolsupplies to kids whose families can't otherwise afford
them. It's the only way wecan do this. It's every single thing
that we provide through OGB Operation giveBack is through generous donations. My guest
is Sheila Lichtenberg, the executive directorof Operation give Back in Blue Ash.
(00:57):
Today that we're going to be talkingabout how a need grew from a seed
to a forest of opportunity for familiesin the Sycamore School District and in Sharonville
as well, and how local communitiescan do the same. Now on iHeart
Cincy with Sandy Collins, Glad you'rehere today. This is iHeart Sincy,
a half hour public affairs show forthe Tri State showcasing the resources needed to
(01:19):
solve many issues we face here andwe'd like to share stories that uplift people
in the Cincinnati Northern Kentucky region Today. My guest is Shila Lichtenberg, the
executive director of Operation give Back,whose mission is to strive for educational equity
and provide community outreach to students andfamilies in need, inspiring all to realize
their full potential and give back tosociety. Operation give Back is centered in
(01:44):
Blue Ash, Ohio, just northof Cincinnati. It began about twenty one
years ago by a parent family whosaw a need and took action. So
let's begin with that journey with Sheila. I caught up with Shila while she
was on the road this week.Can you tell us, Sheila about how
how Operation give Back began? Absolutelyaround twenty years ago a lovely, lovely
(02:07):
couple who lived in Montgomery, ourown Montgomery, Ohio. They began an
after school tutoring program in their basement. It was Lee and Wendy Langston and
they were a local family and theirkiddos were attending school in the Sycamore District
and they noticed that there were severalkids in the area and their neighborhood who
(02:28):
needed some after school academic support andmaybe a little bit of mentoring, and
that might not have had the supportthey needed at home for whatever reason.
So they started after school tutoring andit has grown from there. It leaves
and bounds so and as I mentionedearlier, after school tutoring, and then
(02:49):
they also saw some food and securityin some of the homes and they developed
a little community food pantry that thesekids when they were done being tutored or
mentored, they could load up theirbackpacks and take some food home as well.
So that started around twenty years ago, and it is they've created such
an amazing blessing for the community.Yeah, it's blossomed to do a five
oh one C three and you havea board, and you've got several folks
(03:15):
on staff, and you're the executivedirector, so you deal primarily with the
Sycamore School District. We do.So that's how the organization originally started.
And over the years, maybe fivesix, seven years ago, we also
brought Sharonville into the organization as apart of our service area. And there
(03:37):
are several local trailer park homes veryclose to us, like a stone throw.
So really our service area is withina five mile radius of where we're
located, which is on Millington Courtin the heart of Blue Ash. So
your mission was to, you know, teach the kids, help the kids
with their school work. Now thatthe pandemic, I would imagine you were
(04:01):
leaned upon even more through the pandemic. How what kind of changes did you
see, how you know, mentoringthe students, did it stop, did
it start? Did they need morehelp when they got back? The food
thing was a problem. Kids weren'tin school. So tell me how you
survived the pandemic. You know,that's really I could probably say that's probably
(04:25):
the reason why we are as busyas we are. So I started three
years ago, which was right atkind of the middle of it all,
and we continued doing our after schooltutoring and we just went did it through
like the very safety precautions. Really, whatever Sycamore did, we followed their
lead as far as the health guidelinesand things like that. So now this
(04:50):
year, post pandemic, we servearound forty two elementary age children and our
tutoring program. During the pandemic weserved maybe twenty to twenty five, and
some of those students we did virtuallyas well, so we're kind of back
to our pre COVID numbers as faras the tutoring and then as far as
(05:13):
the pantry and the give back programsthat we provide, those numbers really have
tripled in number. And I wouldsay really the couple reasons. One,
a lot of the different organizations,be at the schools or the city,
or the police department, the firedepartment, people that might have been helping
(05:34):
a lot of those that were strugglingjust one on one with those folks,
they were so inundated with COVID precautionsand all that everything have to do with
COVID. And then also slim downon staff because people didn't come in,
so they really directed people to us, and we kind of became the hub
(05:54):
within the community of being able toprovide some of the things that we're struggling
to get, especially food, andso they couldn't do it themselves, so
like the school nurses would usually takecare of those kiddos one on one or
work with the family, they hadso much going on, so they then
were directing folks to us. Sowhen I first started our community food pantry.
(06:20):
We were serving around I'm gonna sayit like fifteen hundred people a year.
And again that's just a four zipcode service area. And I would
say we are heading towards serving overfour thousand people this year, and again
say service area. I think thatpeople they just know we're here now.
(06:41):
So it's people have been directed tous, and I think we're just the
awareness has just really grown. Soyou do the tutoring for free. The
kids go several times a week afterschool. Can you tell me how that
actually works? Sure? So thisis it's through the Sycamore School District and
we the principals or the counselors helpus identify students who are in need of
(07:04):
some extra academic and mentoring support.So they are actually bussed to us from
the school district or some of thekiddos they might get to us a little
bit too late. So we've hireda retired school bus drivers and they will
go pick up at a couple ofschools and they come to us Tuesday,
Wednesday and Thursday after school starting fromthree to fifteen to about five fifteen,
(07:29):
and then parent our guardian comes andpicks them up and we work hand in
hand with Sycamore. They allow usto look at their grades. Hand in
hand along with their teachers are tutors. We have maybe a pool of about
eighty volunteer tutors and that's pretty bigand that amazing, that is and they
(07:51):
range from high school kids all theway up to retirees. And some tutor
once a week, some tutor ortwice a week, some tutor twice a
month. So but we have actuallya coordinator who coordinates the volunteers and match
them up with the right student,the right personality. And it doesn't cost
(08:11):
the students or the family anything.No, nope, it's all free.
You also provide school supplies for kidsand backpacks. At the beginning of the
school year, I noticed that youhave some very cool fundraising opportunities. When
I saw the community yard sale.That got my attention because I'm always looking
for more junk for my house.You know what I mean. I should
(08:33):
have said stuff. I should havesaid more stuff for my house. So
tell me a little bit about howyou do your fundraising. Absolutely, we
do have just we try to dofundraising at a minimum as far as like
special events. So we have westarted two years ago a Lady's Luncheon which
has been a really huge success.It's been really nice and it's the first
(08:56):
week of May, the Thursday forThursday in May, and each year,
it's last years, it has beenheld at Good Shepherd Church. They just
have a nice, big open spacefor us. And we were able to
raise probably close to twenty twenty fivethousand dollars through sponsorships and raffle baskets and
all that good stuff, and that'sbeen fun. And we started that right
(09:18):
after COVID, just knowing how wewomen love to get together and have that
hour hour and a half just tosocialize with each other and just have some
really neat keynote speakers come in andtalk about the importance of supporting the local
community and supporting our school systems.And then we also have our annual Golf
(09:41):
Classic and that is held at theBlue Ash Golf Course and that is in
September, and again that raises prioraround I think this year at races around
thirty five thousand, and it's beena sold out event the last couple of
years, and we even did itduring COVID, so people were eager to
get out golf course then and againthat's through sponsorship in raffle baskets and fund
(10:05):
golf games and things. So andthen my job as a executive director,
I really just try to work handin hand along with a lot of the
local churches, organizations and companies andneighborhoods and then just you know, fundraising
that way and asking for corporate support. It's not easy to do. We
(10:28):
all know that, because everyone hasneeds and everyone has to prioritize their cash
and their time and their sponsorship dollars. But you sound like you've really been
able to figure out how to makeit work and grow Operation give Back.
I'm talking with Sheila Lichtenberg. She'sthe executive director of Operation give Back,
which helps the students and the familiesin the Sycamore School District here in Cincinnati
(10:52):
with mentoring and tutoring and food insecurityand what other opportunities. What other things
do the families enjoy from your organization. Right now, we're in the middle
of getting doing collections for upcoming holidaystore and this has become an annual event
(11:15):
and families actually call and register toparticipate in the event. This event is
the only one we do that isnot free. We do charge ten dollars
per child, and a family willcall register their kiddos and we will will
provide them with probably three to sixtoys, new pajamas, socks, a
(11:37):
blessing bag of food for each family, wrapping paper, usually a box of
home baked goods. When I firststarted, we probably distributed around four hundred
and probably four hundred and fifty kids, and then now three years later,
we will probably pass over a thousandchildren that will be supported through this holiday
(11:58):
store event, which is really exciting. Yeah, fantastic. So let me
ask you this, So if afamily isn't necessarily I don't even know how
to say it correctly, correctly,but you know, if they're not in
need, can they still participate inthat program? For sure? Absolutely?
And you know, we've kind ofgotten creative over the years because people like
(12:20):
to give in all different ways,and some people that's why we do the
blessing bag of food. Some peoplereally feel that providing food over the holidays
is important and that's great. Somepeople really enjoy donating new pajamas or new
blankets or socks ways to keep thekids warm. And some people enjoy donating
(12:43):
the toys they'd love to go andshop, especially all the fun stuff that's
out there, and some people,if they're too busy, they can just
make monetary donations. It will bea restricted gift, so the item,
the cash will definitely go just toproviding new gift items for the kids.
So they can access all of thaton our website ogiveback dot org and there
(13:05):
is a dropdown where you can seeour holiday store event and it gives a
list of all different ways that peoplecan get involved in, ways people can
donate. It's the only way wecan do this. Every single thing that
we provide through OGB Operation give Backis through generous donations. My guest as
(13:26):
the executive director of Operation give Back, a support organization for Sharonville and the
Sycamore School District, students and familiesmore coming up in a moment. Hopefully
they can use the money they're savingthrough coming to our pantry to apply that
towards maybe a utility bill or abroken down car or rent. Next on
iHeart Sinse, This is Iheard Sinsei, a public affairs program about Cincinnati and
(13:56):
North Kentucky. The problem solvers,movers and shakers, finding solutions and amplifying
those who are improving our community.I'm Sandy Collins. I spoke to my
guest Sheila Lichtenberg earlier this week.She's the executive director of Operation give Back,
which began twenty one years ago inMontgomery by a student's family who noticed
needs in their classmates and did somethingabout it. So, Sheila, you
(14:18):
run the organization that offers free mentoringand tutoring for elementary age students in Sycamore
Township schools. You also have afood pantry after noticing a lot of the
kids weren't getting enough to eat athome? How do you keep that pantry
stocked? Oh, that's a goodone. And you know right now,
people have been incredibly generous with fooddonations and it is done literally through food
(14:43):
drives at companies, churches. We'vehad, we've had neighborhoods that just all
come together and we give them alist of the most requested items and people
just go to work. And wehave with collection barrels that we can let
people borrow and they'll just put themout at their office space or in their
church lobbies and then they will bringthem. It's funny like now is when
(15:07):
we receive our most donations, whichis wonderful, But during the summer is
when we have our most need,usually because kids are home, and that's
when we receive our least amount ofdonations. So if anybody would love to
do, I'm always plugging. Ifanybody would love to do like food collections
starting in June through August, wewould greatly appreciate it. If someone makes
(15:31):
a monetary donation, we will takethose cast donation and buy the items that
people don't think to purchase or todonate, like cleaning supplies or feminine hygiene
products or cooking oil. So wewill use those restricted donations. And then
we also have wonderful partnerships with theSoup and an organization called Last Mile Food
(15:58):
Rescue, which they both have reallychanged how we can service those families because
they provide us a lot of theperishables, the fruits and vegetables and frozen
proteins and dairy that the families canreceive when they come and shop at our
pantry. So when folks come,they will leave like a family of four,
(16:18):
family of five, go'll leave withabout three to three hundred and fifty
dollars worth of groceries, and thatwill include perishable and non perishables and then
hopefully they can use the money they'resaving through coming to our pantry to apply
that towards maybe a utility bill ora broken down car or rent. We
hope that people will think about itin those terms, and please feel free
(16:41):
to reach out to us, andyou have to make an appointment, but
we welcome, we welcome new shoppers. The website is the letter O give
back dot org. Yes, ma'am, okay, yeah, the O at
the beginning, it's just the letterO O giveback dot org. Is the
is the web site with all theinformation in it. The students that we
(17:02):
have that come to us on aweekly basis, they really become our kids,
like they become the part of theOGB family, and we really want
to embrace the whole mentoring and alsojust exposing these these students to possibilities like
what is all out there. Oneof our board members is a graduate of
(17:25):
Vager University. A lot of thesekids come from homes where their parents don't
go to college, which is fine, it's not for everybody, but at
least we want them to know thatthis is an option that after high school,
and if you work hard in highschool, you might be able to
go to college. So we tooksome a group of kids down to Zager
University and did a tour and therewas one young lady and as she was
(17:48):
walking along and they were all justamazed that college kids looked just like them,
like sweatpants and backpacks, and shelooked at our program director and just
said, you know what, II never knew what college was and I
never thought this is something I wouldbe able to do. And she said,
I think I want to go tocollege. I think this is something
(18:10):
I can do. And you know, if you can make a difference in
just one kidd's lives just kind offear them in the direction that they're meant
to go, then I think it'sa job well done. No kidding,
Sheila. It's people like you andthat organization that saved a person like me
from not knowing where to go andhow to do it. And eventually,
(18:30):
you know, people start caring andstart pointing you in the right direction and
suddenly you're off and running. Sothank you so much for absolutely for what
you do. Sheila Liechtenberg, andshe's the executive director of Operation give Back
and they're centered there in the Blueash area and serve Sycamore schools and the
Sharonville area. Thank you, Sheila. Do you need anything else from us?
(18:51):
Do you need any volunteers or youknow when You're always looking for volunteer
tutors, after school tutors. Andit's not a huge commitment, like I
said, once a week for twohours, and I promise it's really not
tough stuff there. I've had togoogle some of the questions. He's been
some of the math homework. Itisn't work on. But it's really I
(19:14):
think it's really rewarding and it's fun, and it's a great there's just great
energy, it's positive, it's warm, it's welcoming. So we are always
looking for after school tutors. Andif any company, local company, being
the Sycamore District or Sharonville outside ofthat, I would welcome the opportunity to
speak with you about the organization.And I love giving tours because it is
(19:37):
a special place and when you walkin you get that sense. So I
welcome you, Sandy, You're welcomebecome a visitors anytime, and if any
of the listeners want to visit us, I do love to show off our
special space, that special space isOperation give Back at ten eight ninety one
Millington Court in Blue Ash. Thewebsite is OH Giveback dot org. It's
(20:00):
the letter O giveback dot org.Find out how you can get help,
give help and inspire young children toachieve their potential and help provide some of
the tangible things that they need aswell. This show is here to help,
So if you have questions or anyshow ideas, maybe a group who's
doing great work or needs help,just shoot me an email. It's Iheartsincy
(20:22):
with an I at iHeartMedia dot com. That's Iheartsinsey at iHeartMedia dot com.
Plus check out this week's episode anddozens of others on the Iheartsincy podcast.
It's free on the iHeartRadio app.All you need to do is download it
from your app store till next week. iHeart Sinsey is a production of iHeartMedia, Cincinnati,
This week on iHeart Cinsey. Itall began after school parents noticed a need
students in Sycamore schools who needed alittle extra help with their schoolwork. So
Lee and Wendy Langston started an informalprogram to tutor kids in their home with
the help of a few volunteers.Over the last twenty one years, that
little tutoring program has developed into ahugely successful nonprofit called Operation give Back.
(00:33):
The group and their volunteers tutor childrenfor free after school. They feed the
hungry in their community and provide schoolsupplies to kids whose families can't otherwise afford
them. It's the only way wecan do this. It's every single thing
that we provide through OGB Operation giveBack is through generous donations. My guest
is Sheila Lichtenberg, the executive directorof Operation give Back in Blue Ash.
(00:57):
Today that we're going to be talkingabout how a need grew from a seed
to a forest of opportunity for familiesin the Sycamore School District and in Sharonville
as well, and how local communitiescan do the same. Now on iHeart
Cincy with Sandy Collins, Glad you'rehere today. This is iHeart Sincy,
a half hour public affairs show forthe Tri State showcasing the resources needed to
(01:19):
solve many issues we face here andwe'd like to share stories that uplift people
in the Cincinnati Northern Kentucky region Today. My guest is Shila Lichtenberg, the
executive director of Operation give Back,whose mission is to strive for educational equity
and provide community outreach to students andfamilies in need, inspiring all to realize
their full potential and give back tosociety. Operation give Back is centered in
(01:44):
Blue Ash, Ohio, just northof Cincinnati. It began about twenty one
years ago by a parent family whosaw a need and took action. So
let's begin with that journey with Sheila. I caught up with Shila while she
was on the road this week.Can you tell us, Sheila about how
how Operation give Back began? Absolutelyaround twenty years ago a lovely, lovely
(02:07):
couple who lived in Montgomery, ourown Montgomery, Ohio. They began an
after school tutoring program in their basement. It was Lee and Wendy Langston and
they were a local family and theirkiddos were attending school in the Sycamore District
and they noticed that there were severalkids in the area and their neighborhood who
(02:28):
needed some after school academic support andmaybe a little bit of mentoring, and
that might not have had the supportthey needed at home for whatever reason.
So they started after school tutoring andit has grown from there. It leaves
and bounds so and as I mentionedearlier, after school tutoring, and then
(02:49):
they also saw some food and securityin some of the homes and they developed
a little community food pantry that thesekids when they were done being tutored or
mentored, they could load up theirbackpacks and take some food home as well.
So that started around twenty years ago, and it is they've created such
an amazing blessing for the community.Yeah, it's blossomed to do a five
oh one C three and you havea board, and you've got several folks
(03:15):
on staff, and you're the executivedirector, so you deal primarily with the
Sycamore School District. We do.So that's how the organization originally started.
And over the years, maybe fivesix, seven years ago, we also
brought Sharonville into the organization as apart of our service area. And there
(03:37):
are several local trailer park homes veryclose to us, like a stone throw.
So really our service area is withina five mile radius of where we're
located, which is on Millington Courtin the heart of Blue Ash. So
your mission was to, you know, teach the kids, help the kids
with their school work. Now thatthe pandemic, I would imagine you were
(04:01):
leaned upon even more through the pandemic. How what kind of changes did you
see, how you know, mentoringthe students, did it stop, did
it start? Did they need morehelp when they got back? The food
thing was a problem. Kids weren'tin school. So tell me how you
survived the pandemic. You know,that's really I could probably say that's probably
(04:25):
the reason why we are as busyas we are. So I started three
years ago, which was right atkind of the middle of it all,
and we continued doing our after schooltutoring and we just went did it through
like the very safety precautions. Really, whatever Sycamore did, we followed their
lead as far as the health guidelinesand things like that. So now this
(04:50):
year, post pandemic, we servearound forty two elementary age children and our
tutoring program. During the pandemic weserved maybe twenty to twenty five, and
some of those students we did virtuallyas well, so we're kind of back
to our pre COVID numbers as faras the tutoring and then as far as
(05:13):
the pantry and the give back programsthat we provide, those numbers really have
tripled in number. And I wouldsay really the couple reasons. One,
a lot of the different organizations,be at the schools or the city,
or the police department, the firedepartment, people that might have been helping
(05:34):
a lot of those that were strugglingjust one on one with those folks,
they were so inundated with COVID precautionsand all that everything have to do with
COVID. And then also slim downon staff because people didn't come in,
so they really directed people to us, and we kind of became the hub
(05:54):
within the community of being able toprovide some of the things that we're struggling
to get, especially food, andso they couldn't do it themselves, so
like the school nurses would usually takecare of those kiddos one on one or
work with the family, they hadso much going on, so they then
were directing folks to us. Sowhen I first started our community food pantry.
(06:20):
We were serving around I'm gonna sayit like fifteen hundred people a year.
And again that's just a four zipcode service area. And I would
say we are heading towards serving overfour thousand people this year, and again
say service area. I think thatpeople they just know we're here now.
(06:41):
So it's people have been directed tous, and I think we're just the
awareness has just really grown. Soyou do the tutoring for free. The
kids go several times a week afterschool. Can you tell me how that
actually works? Sure? So thisis it's through the Sycamore School District and
we the principals or the counselors helpus identify students who are in need of
(07:04):
some extra academic and mentoring support.So they are actually bussed to us from
the school district or some of thekiddos they might get to us a little
bit too late. So we've hireda retired school bus drivers and they will
go pick up at a couple ofschools and they come to us Tuesday,
Wednesday and Thursday after school starting fromthree to fifteen to about five fifteen,
(07:29):
and then parent our guardian comes andpicks them up and we work hand in
hand with Sycamore. They allow usto look at their grades. Hand in
hand along with their teachers are tutors. We have maybe a pool of about
eighty volunteer tutors and that's pretty bigand that amazing, that is and they
(07:51):
range from high school kids all theway up to retirees. And some tutor
once a week, some tutor ortwice a week, some tutor twice a
month. So but we have actuallya coordinator who coordinates the volunteers and match
them up with the right student,the right personality. And it doesn't cost
(08:11):
the students or the family anything.No, nope, it's all free.
You also provide school supplies for kidsand backpacks. At the beginning of the
school year, I noticed that youhave some very cool fundraising opportunities. When
I saw the community yard sale.That got my attention because I'm always looking
for more junk for my house.You know what I mean. I should
(08:33):
have said stuff. I should havesaid more stuff for my house. So
tell me a little bit about howyou do your fundraising. Absolutely, we
do have just we try to dofundraising at a minimum as far as like
special events. So we have westarted two years ago a Lady's Luncheon which
has been a really huge success.It's been really nice and it's the first
(08:56):
week of May, the Thursday forThursday in May, and each year,
it's last years, it has beenheld at Good Shepherd Church. They just
have a nice, big open spacefor us. And we were able to
raise probably close to twenty twenty fivethousand dollars through sponsorships and raffle baskets and
all that good stuff, and that'sbeen fun. And we started that right
(09:18):
after COVID, just knowing how wewomen love to get together and have that
hour hour and a half just tosocialize with each other and just have some
really neat keynote speakers come in andtalk about the importance of supporting the local
community and supporting our school systems.And then we also have our annual Golf
(09:41):
Classic and that is held at theBlue Ash Golf Course and that is in
September, and again that raises prioraround I think this year at races around
thirty five thousand, and it's beena sold out event the last couple of
years, and we even did itduring COVID, so people were eager to
get out golf course then and againthat's through sponsorship in raffle baskets and fund
(10:05):
golf games and things. So andthen my job as a executive director,
I really just try to work handin hand along with a lot of the
local churches, organizations and companies andneighborhoods and then just you know, fundraising
that way and asking for corporate support. It's not easy to do. We
(10:28):
all know that, because everyone hasneeds and everyone has to prioritize their cash
and their time and their sponsorship dollars. But you sound like you've really been
able to figure out how to makeit work and grow Operation give Back.
I'm talking with Sheila Lichtenberg. She'sthe executive director of Operation give Back,
which helps the students and the familiesin the Sycamore School District here in Cincinnati
(10:52):
with mentoring and tutoring and food insecurityand what other opportunities. What other things
do the families enjoy from your organization. Right now, we're in the middle
of getting doing collections for upcoming holidaystore and this has become an annual event
(11:15):
and families actually call and register toparticipate in the event. This event is
the only one we do that isnot free. We do charge ten dollars
per child, and a family willcall register their kiddos and we will will
provide them with probably three to sixtoys, new pajamas, socks, a
(11:37):
blessing bag of food for each family, wrapping paper, usually a box of
home baked goods. When I firststarted, we probably distributed around four hundred
and probably four hundred and fifty kids, and then now three years later,
we will probably pass over a thousandchildren that will be supported through this holiday
(11:58):
store event, which is really exciting. Yeah, fantastic. So let me
ask you this, So if afamily isn't necessarily I don't even know how
to say it correctly, correctly,but you know, if they're not in
need, can they still participate inthat program? For sure? Absolutely?
And you know, we've kind ofgotten creative over the years because people like
(12:20):
to give in all different ways,and some people that's why we do the
blessing bag of food. Some peoplereally feel that providing food over the holidays
is important and that's great. Somepeople really enjoy donating new pajamas or new
blankets or socks ways to keep thekids warm. And some people enjoy donating
(12:43):
the toys they'd love to go andshop, especially all the fun stuff that's
out there, and some people,if they're too busy, they can just
make monetary donations. It will bea restricted gift, so the item,
the cash will definitely go just toproviding new gift items for the kids.
So they can access all of thaton our website ogiveback dot org and there
(13:05):
is a dropdown where you can seeour holiday store event and it gives a
list of all different ways that peoplecan get involved in, ways people can
donate. It's the only way wecan do this. Every single thing that
we provide through OGB Operation give Backis through generous donations. My guest as
(13:26):
the executive director of Operation give Back, a support organization for Sharonville and the
Sycamore School District, students and familiesmore coming up in a moment. Hopefully
they can use the money they're savingthrough coming to our pantry to apply that
towards maybe a utility bill or abroken down car or rent. Next on
iHeart Sinse, This is Iheard Sinsei, a public affairs program about Cincinnati and
(13:56):
North Kentucky. The problem solvers,movers and shakers, finding solutions and amplifying
those who are improving our community.I'm Sandy Collins. I spoke to my
guest Sheila Lichtenberg earlier this week.She's the executive director of Operation give Back,
which began twenty one years ago inMontgomery by a student's family who noticed
needs in their classmates and did somethingabout it. So, Sheila, you
(14:18):
run the organization that offers free mentoringand tutoring for elementary age students in Sycamore
Township schools. You also have afood pantry after noticing a lot of the
kids weren't getting enough to eat athome? How do you keep that pantry
stocked? Oh, that's a goodone. And you know right now,
people have been incredibly generous with fooddonations and it is done literally through food
(14:43):
drives at companies, churches. We'vehad, we've had neighborhoods that just all
come together and we give them alist of the most requested items and people
just go to work. And wehave with collection barrels that we can let
people borrow and they'll just put themout at their office space or in their
church lobbies and then they will bringthem. It's funny like now is when
(15:07):
we receive our most donations, whichis wonderful, But during the summer is
when we have our most need,usually because kids are home, and that's
when we receive our least amount ofdonations. So if anybody would love to
do, I'm always plugging. Ifanybody would love to do like food collections
starting in June through August, wewould greatly appreciate it. If someone makes
(15:31):
a monetary donation, we will takethose cast donation and buy the items that
people don't think to purchase or todonate, like cleaning supplies or feminine hygiene
products or cooking oil. So wewill use those restricted donations. And then
we also have wonderful partnerships with theSoup and an organization called Last Mile Food
(15:58):
Rescue, which they both have reallychanged how we can service those families because
they provide us a lot of theperishables, the fruits and vegetables and frozen
proteins and dairy that the families canreceive when they come and shop at our
pantry. So when folks come,they will leave like a family of four,
(16:18):
family of five, go'll leave withabout three to three hundred and fifty
dollars worth of groceries, and thatwill include perishable and non perishables and then
hopefully they can use the money they'resaving through coming to our pantry to apply
that towards maybe a utility bill ora broken down car or rent. We
hope that people will think about itin those terms, and please feel free
(16:41):
to reach out to us, andyou have to make an appointment, but
we welcome, we welcome new shoppers. The website is the letter O give
back dot org. Yes, ma'am, okay, yeah, the O at
the beginning, it's just the letterO O giveback dot org. Is the
is the web site with all theinformation in it. The students that we
(17:02):
have that come to us on aweekly basis, they really become our kids,
like they become the part of theOGB family, and we really want
to embrace the whole mentoring and alsojust exposing these these students to possibilities like
what is all out there. Oneof our board members is a graduate of
(17:25):
Vager University. A lot of thesekids come from homes where their parents don't
go to college, which is fine, it's not for everybody, but at
least we want them to know thatthis is an option that after high school,
and if you work hard in highschool, you might be able to
go to college. So we tooksome a group of kids down to Zager
University and did a tour and therewas one young lady and as she was
(17:48):
walking along and they were all justamazed that college kids looked just like them,
like sweatpants and backpacks, and shelooked at our program director and just
said, you know what, II never knew what college was and I
never thought this is something I wouldbe able to do. And she said,
I think I want to go tocollege. I think this is something
(18:10):
I can do. And you know, if you can make a difference in
just one kidd's lives just kind offear them in the direction that they're meant
to go, then I think it'sa job well done. No kidding,
Sheila. It's people like you andthat organization that saved a person like me
from not knowing where to go andhow to do it. And eventually,
(18:30):
you know, people start caring andstart pointing you in the right direction and
suddenly you're off and running. Sothank you so much for absolutely for what
you do. Sheila Liechtenberg, andshe's the executive director of Operation give Back
and they're centered there in the Blueash area and serve Sycamore schools and the
Sharonville area. Thank you, Sheila. Do you need anything else from us?
(18:51):
Do you need any volunteers or youknow when You're always looking for volunteer
tutors, after school tutors. Andit's not a huge commitment, like I
said, once a week for twohours, and I promise it's really not
tough stuff there. I've had togoogle some of the questions. He's been
some of the math homework. Itisn't work on. But it's really I
(19:14):
think it's really rewarding and it's fun, and it's a great there's just great
energy, it's positive, it's warm, it's welcoming. So we are always
looking for after school tutors. Andif any company, local company, being
the Sycamore District or Sharonville outside ofthat, I would welcome the opportunity to
speak with you about the organization.And I love giving tours because it is
(19:37):
a special place and when you walkin you get that sense. So I
welcome you, Sandy, You're welcomebecome a visitors anytime, and if any
of the listeners want to visit us, I do love to show off our
special space, that special space isOperation give Back at ten eight ninety one
Millington Court in Blue Ash. Thewebsite is OH Giveback dot org. It's
(20:00):
the letter O giveback dot org.Find out how you can get help,
give help and inspire young children toachieve their potential and help provide some of
the tangible things that they need aswell. This show is here to help,
So if you have questions or anyshow ideas, maybe a group who's
doing great work or needs help,just shoot me an email. It's Iheartsincy
(20:22):
with an I at iHeartMedia dot com. That's Iheartsinsey at iHeartMedia dot com.
Plus check out this week's episode anddozens of others on the Iheartsincy podcast.
It's free on the iHeartRadio app.All you need to do is download it
from your app store till next week. iHeart Sinsey is a production of iHeartMedia, Cincinnati,
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