June 18, 2013

Joe Carroll, Jeff Rule, Dan Klus (Co-founder) and Hayden Davis (committee member)

If there is any caveat to donating money to charities, it might be that sense of, “where is my money going?” Helping Hands of Cincinnati (HHOC), founded by Joe Carroll and Alicia Logeman, fixes that problem. The goal is to help families that are affected by cancer, one family at a time.

Carroll founded the organization for two reasons: 1.) His family has been affected by cancer; 2.) He knew of a high school friend struggling to pay the bills while undergoing an experimental cancer treatment. Seems like a good enough reason to lend a hand.

Lisa Klus, Francesca Bryinski, Leigh McCauley (HHOC committee member) and Leslie Frittinger

The non-profit hasn’t been around for long. On Friday, June 7 it held its second annual golf outing at Ivy Hills Country Club. They doubled the amount raised, from $9,000 last year to somewhere between $17 and $19k. Beyond that, the organization has held one large gala and four or five smaller events in the shape of wine tastings, casino trips, and corn hole tournaments.

Title sponsors Advia Internet:Razorlight Media team

The golf event at Ivy Hills was a blast. For those who haven’t played it, the course is beautiful but a cart is definitely a must as the “Hills” in the name are no lie.

 
Ben and Nicole Correll                                                   Marianne Erb w/ her prizes

Normally able to garner a few trophies on the charity golf outing circuit, I was outperformed by a former UC Bearcat. Marianne Erb (’09 grad) took home the prizes for closest to the pin and longest drive. I knew when she beat me on my incredible drive that I was up against a pro. You’re killing me, Erb.

Harder to believe my own defeat, however, was the winning score of 48. Granted it was a scramble but still that means the foursome shot a completely unreal round. Key word being “unreal.” My group turned in a respectable 11 under par, 60.

Winning team of Lyman Smith, Mark Atwood, Pete Schuster, and Pat Currie (photo order is not correct, FYI)

The real story from the day and truly the reason we were all there was to raise money for the Correll family. Jeanean Correll was diagnosed with cancer in August 2012. She has had surgery and is currently undergoing chemotherapy. The money from the outing will help pay bills and relieve some of the burden on the family. (You can check out Jeanean’s story as well as some of the other families who have been helped HERE.)

Siblings Karen Gould and Tim Burns of Timothy’s A Spa, one of the hole sponsors

If you know of a family that could use this kind of help, please email HHOC at info@helpinghandscincinnati.org. Or, if you just want to donate in a fun way, the next big event is the second annual gala to be held in November at the Phoenix.

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More details can be found here: http://www.helpinghandscincinnati.org

Photo credits: A Ghra Photography

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