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Steel
Magnolia Nominations Extended To August 31
Nominations are now open for residents in
the vicinity of an AK Steel facility to be considered for the
third annual Steel Magnolia Award, the Middletown Community
Foundation has announced.
Women who have overcome obstacles to
positively impact their communities have the opportunity to earn
recognition as 2011 Steel Magnolia Award recipients in the program
funded by the AK Steel Foundation. Up to 10 awards are given
annually, limited to no more than one recipient per AK Steel
U.S. location per year. Each recipient designates a $1,000
donation to an eligible charity of her choice.
The award honors women of all ages who have
faced personal adversity and have shown exceptional strength,
courage, compassion and leadership through their work in support
of their communities.
“The courage and strength of the previous
Steel Magnolia Award recipients are an inspiration. In honor
and respect for women who have succeeded in spite of adversity,
The AK Steel Foundation is proud to fund the Steel Magnolia
Award,” said James L. Wainscott, chairman, president and CEO of
AK Steel.
Middletown Community Foundation Executive
Director T. Duane Gordon added: “Each year, we are humbled by
the tremendous accomplishments and achievements of the nominated
women. I sincerely wish we could honor them all.”
Nominations, which should take the form of
an essay of 500 words or less, must be submitted to the program
administrator, the Middletown Community Foundation, have been
extended to Aug. 31, 2011. Nominees must live in the vicinity of an AK Steel
facility. Association with AK Steel is not a requirement for
nomination and will have no bearing on the nominee’s
consideration.
Eligible communities are greater Ashland,
Ky.; Butler, Pa.; Columbus and Rockport, Ind.; and Coshocton,
Mansfield, Middletown, Walbridge, West Chester and Zanesville,
Ohio.
Click
here to
view complete requirements and obtain a nomination form. For
more information, contact the Middletown Community Foundation at
513-424-7369 or info@mcfoundation.org.
2010 Steel
Magnolia Awards
The second
Middletown and West Chester-area Steel Magnolias were recognized
by the Middletown Community Foundation and AK Steel Foundation
at a ceremony in Middletown. Shown are, second from left,
Middletown-area honoree Elsa Croucher of Monroe and, second from
right, West Chester-area honoree Barbara Condo of Fairfield,
with AK Steel Chairman, President and CEO James L. Wainscott,
right, and Middletown Community Foundation Executive Director T.
Duane Gordon, left. The award
recognizes women who have overcome adversities to have a
positive impact on each of the 10 communities where AK Steel
maintains a presence. Photo by Russ Beckner.
The Middletown Community Foundation and AK
Steel recognized several outstanding women with the second annual
Steel Magnolia Awards.
Elsa Croucher of Monroe and Barbara Condo
of Fairfield were selected for the local 2010 awards, which honor
women who have overcome obstacles to positively impact the
community. The program is administered by the Middletown
Community Foundation and funded by the AK Steel Foundation.
Nominations by essay were solicited in the
spring from the public in each of the 10 communities where AK
Steel operates a facility. Volunteer judges from the various
communities reviewed the essays of those who agreed to be
considered for the award, and one honoree in each community was
selected based on the judges’ combined scores.
Based on their places of residence,
Croucher was chosen to represent the women of the communities
surrounding the Middletown Works facility and Condo for those
surrounding the company’s West Chester corporate headquarters.
Croucher lost her daughter, Tina, to
domestic violence in 1992, placing her and her husband, Jim, on
the path to becoming the state’s preeminent domestic violence
education advocates. They founded Citizens Against Domestic
Violence (CADV) in 1996 focusing on educating school-aged young
men and women about the dangers of dating violence. Eventually,
their efforts resulted in passage of the Tina Croucher Act,
which requires Ohio schools to include dating violence education
in their health education curriculum.
“Elsa is an
incredibly strong woman,” wrote her nominator, Linda Croucher.
“It takes a lot of strength to continue to tell the painful
story of her daughter, Tina. Elsa continues to tell Tina's story
because she wants to make sure that others don't fall victim to
the same fate. She wants to make sure that her community is one
that is free of domestic violence.”
Condo, herself a victim of abuse and
neglect as a child, including a period of homelessness in
Cincinnati, used her own experience to create One Way Farm
Children’s Home, a facility in Fairfield for abused and
neglected children from surrounding communities. Over the past
32 years, she has assisted approximately 8,500 children.
“She is never
too busy to stop, listen and comfort or advise a child in the
role of a mother, teacher, mentor or friend,” noted her
nominator, Teresa Casey.
Each recipient is able to designate an
eligible charity of her choice to receive a $1,000 donation in
honor of her selection. Croucher chose CADV, and Condo chose One
Way Farm.
The Steel Magnolia Award honors women of
all ages who face personal adversity and have shown exceptional
strength, courage, compassion and leadership through their work
in support of their communities. Nominees were required to live
in the vicinity of an AK Steel facility. Nominators and
nominees did not have to be associated in any way with employees
of AK Steel.
The honorees were presented their awards in
a Middletown ceremony by
James L. Wainscott, chairman, president and CEO of AK Steel, and
Middletown Community Foundation Executive Director T. Duane
Gordon.
Honorees from other communities were:
Traci Couch of Zanesville: Born
with spinal bifida, one eye and several physical misalignments,
Couch was told she would never walk. By the age of 24, she could
walk with crutches and drive a car. By 42, she had spent more
than a decade in volunteer positions with area churches,
self-help groups and non-profit organizations. She chose
Eastside Community Ministry for her donation.
Maria Stephan
Goodwill of West Lafayette (Coshocton area): A childhood
cancer survivor, she lost a kidney at age 8 and underwent two
years of intense radiation and chemotherapy. Now a 34-year-old,
she has dedicated her life to helping others heal as a
registered nurse at Coshocton Memorial Hospital and LPN
instructor at Central Ohio Technical College. She chose the
Coshocton American Cancer Society Relay for Life for her
donation.
Cheryl Jarvis
of Butler (Mansfield area): Legally blind due to macular
degeneration and pigmentosa retinitis, she also fought crippling
rheumatoid arthritis since the age of 18. Confined to a
wheelchair, she managed to establish and administer Kats ‘N’
Kittens, a nonprofit charity that spays and neuters stray and
feral cats, provides vaccinations and has found more than 1,400
adoptive homes. She chose Kats ‘N’ Kittens for her donation.
Cheryl
Schaefer of Butler, Pa.: A two-time survivor of stage 4
breast cancer, Schaefer is coordinator for the Butler Breast
Cancer and Women’s Cancer Support Group, having expanded it from
just breast cancer to all women with cancer. She sits with
families when a loved one is in surgery, drives them to the
doctor and serves as a caring friend on the other end of the
phone day or night. She chose the Cancer Support Group for her
donation.
Beth Stein of
Lamar, Ind. (Rockport, Ind., area): A domestic violence
survivor, Stein founded Crisis Connection Inc., a charity that
provides comprehensive, free services to the victims and
survivors of domestic abuse, sexual violence and stalking in a
five-county area of southwestern Indiana. She chose Crisis
Connection for her donation.
Marty
Vannatter of Ashland, Ky.: A high school drop-out and teen
mother, Vannatter was a domestic violence abuse victim who took
control of her life at age 21, leaving her husband, earning a
GED and eventually earning a nursing degree. She lost two sons
in a 1978 automobile accident. In 2002, she was diagnosed with
ovarian cancer and lost her second husband in an accident. She
created Longest Day of Play to promote physical fitness,
tobacco-free academies, Parking Lot Picnic for immunization
promotion, Ladies Day Out for breast and cervical cancer
awareness and HIV/AIDS education programs. She chose the
Vannatter Memorial Scholarship Fund, established in memory of
her sons for seniors at Boyd County High School, for her
donation.
Watch the ceremony honoring our
second annual Middletown and West Chester recipients in the player
above. Video courtesy TV Middletown.
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