Month: May 2020

The Far-Left Organization Behind Ohio’s Contact Tracing Program

Bill Gates, Strive Masiyiwa and Partners in Health Founder Dr. Paul Farmer
Source – Zimbabwe Today

Longtime Ohio statehouse observers were left scratching their face masks when Republican Governor Michael DeWine announced that the State of Ohio would be working with a Massachusetts nonprofit, Partners in Health, on contact tracing.

Why? Partners in Health has a long history of left-wing activism and receives substantial support from liberal donors that want to fundamentally remake American society.

Liberation Theology

Liberation theology has been defined as a “synthesis of Christian theology and socio-economic analyses, based in far-left politics, particularly Marxism.” Paul Farmer, the co-founder of Partners in Health, openly brags that he was influenced by liberation theology. In fact, the website of Partners in Health is replete with examples.

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Since prior to 2009, Partners in Health has received in excess of $23 million from Bill Gates’ namesake foundation. Most notably, the foundation spent hundreds of millions of dollars to implement Common Core education standards. Additionally, the foundation has donated over $82 million to various Planned Parenthood groups.

George Soros and the Open Society Foundation

The George Soros funded Open Society Foundation made its first $3 million grant to Partners in Health in 2007. In 2014 Soros dropped another $4 million to fight Ebola in Liberia. Soros in January denounced President Donald Trump as a “con man,” the “ultimate narcissist” and a “climate denier.” The Soros funded Open Society Foundations have spent billions on left wing causes around the world.

The Clinton Connection

When former President Bill Clinton was named a Special Envoy to Haiti in 2009, Dr. Paul Farmer was right there beside him as his Deputy Envoy. Additionally, Chelsea Clinton serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for Partners in Health and they have collaborated with the Clinton Foundation on numerous projects.

Left Wing Consultants

According to their financial reports, Partners in Health employs left wing political consulting firm Blue State Digital on an annual basis for digital engagement consulting. Blue State Digital was founded by former staffers of Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential campaign and provided services for the 2008 and 2012 Barack Obama Presidential campaigns. Blue State Digital was paid $335,966 in 2018, $317,869 in 2017, and $253,567 in 2016.

What if we’ve all been primed?

By Tom Nikkola

We’re all in this together. Stay home. Stay safe. We’ll get through this. It’s our new normal.

These words have been repeated so many times, you’d think they’re used for selling the latest superfood.

They’re not selling a superfood, but is it possible they’re trying to sell us something?

A Sequence of Events
Vanessa and I were playing our morning game of Sequence and drinking our coffee in early April (we’ve been playing card games before work since well before the COVID-19 chaos). Just before the news shifted to commercial, the newsperson stated, “Stay home. Stay safe.”

The commercials came on, with one after another using the phrases I mentioned above. That was the moment I first realized how often those phrases were coming at us. Of course, once you notice something like this, you can’t not see it and hear it anymore. Welcome to the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon. Perhaps my bringing it up to you will make you aware now too.

Whether the coordinated use of these phrases was some sort of nationwide scheme created by a group behind “the curtain,” or it was a simple coincidence, we’ve been primed, and it’s had a visible impact on people’s thoughts, words, and actions.

Behavioral Priming
Though its effects are controversial, psychologists, researchers, and marketers have tested behavioral priming since the middle of the 20th century.

If you’re not familiar with priming, it is the ability to influence someone’s thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors without them knowing about it, through exposing them to a previous stimulus. For example, repeating the phrase, “Stay home. Stay safe.” could be a form of priming, as it has the potential to impact the way people think (or don’t think and just do), speak, or act.
As John Bargh explains in his article, published in the European Journal of Social Psychology:

The past 25 years have seen amazing empirical advances in our knowledge of the kinds of psychological concepts and processes that can be primed or put into motion unconsciously. Social norms to guide or channel behavior within the situation; goals to achieve high performance, to cooperate with an opponent, or to be fair minded and egalitarian; emotions that shape our reactions and responses to subsequent, unrelated stimuli; and of course, knowledge structures such as stereotypes and trait constructs for use in the comprehension and encoding of often ambiguous social behavior. And social behavior itself can be produced unconsciously in the same fashion.
Still more recently, though, priming effects of even greater complexity have been discovered, such as in the nonconscious activation of deep cultural ideologies and other interpersonal relations…
Bargh JA, 2006

Consider this statement: We’re all in this together.
If you hear this over and over, and unconsciously believe it, then it means those who don’t follow the conventional recommendations aren’t in this with you. They’re outsiders. They are easy to target and hate and slander. It feels okay to treat them as outsiders because people believe they have the support of their pack to do so.

Or take this one: Stay home. Stay safe.
This implies that by staying home, you’re doing something that helps protect people. To not stay home then, would mean putting others at risk. It sets the stage for people to easily buy into the idea that if you don’t stay home, you’re selfish.

There’s nothing to prove this statement is accurate. Recent data says the opposite: 66% of hospitalizations in New York are from people sheltering in place.

Yet, if you asked the average person what they should do to protect themselves and others, they’d say, “I should stay home to stay safe.”
Behavioral priming can lead us to believe something is a fact even without evidence to support it. It would explain why some people feel it’s okay to throw stones at those who believe in something other than staying home. They want to slander doctors who suggest we’re actually safer being at work. Maybe their strong emotion comes from the fact that they’ve been well-primed over the past couple of months.

And finally, what about this? A new normal.
What a perfect phrase to prime you to accept a life that’s different from the life we lived up until 2020. If you believe whatever we’re told to do next is the “new normal” after hearing that phrase a thousand times, you’ll be less likely to question whatever that suggested normal might be.

What if?

I’m not suggesting this is some sort of global conspiracy, or that a group of evil-minded people decided to take advantage of the situation we’re in right now to create a different way of living.

It’s possible somebody simply threw a few phrases together, and they took off faster than a contradictory video on YouTube, but with far less pushback. Maybe it was just a coincidence.

I’m only asking the question, “What if?”

What if the phrases we’ve constantly heard have shaped the way we think about our actions, the way we judge others’ actions, and the way we might accept life in the future, if it becomes different from what we’ve experienced in the past?

What if there are motivations behind all of this that aren’t pure? The only way to find out is to ask questions. The weird part in it all is that once people begin asking questions, they’re often met with an onslaught of hate and anger, which makes you wonder even more if there isn’t something behind it all.

What if, by you simply asking, “What if?” you start to feel less concerned about COVID-19, and more about where we’re headed as a country?
Of course, I could be way off base with my questions. If I am, I don’t mind. I’m simply asking questions worth considering. Wisdom comes from asking.

We all need to ask more questions rather than accept all answers.

About the Author

Tom Nikkola
Tom uses his 20 years of experience, and observation, and education in health and fitness to write, teach, and train men and women to feel, look, and perform better than ever. When he’s not working, you’ll find him hanging out with his wife Vanessa, or playing golf with their grandson Asher.

Workforce is Called back but Childcare Remains Closed Until May 31

Lack of childcare does not excuse an employee from returning to work when called.

Ohioans are being called back to work this week as more and more businesses reopen, but childcare will not be available to working families until Sunday, May 31, at the earliest.

Gov. Mike DeWine announced that daycares will be allowed to reopen, but they won’t be the same as before. Class sizes will be significantly reduced, and other mandatory policies and practices must be in place. Infants and toddlers will be restricted to six per room with a maximum of nine permitted per room for older children. Masks and other precautions for staff members will be a requirement.

DeWine said more details on those requirements will not be made public until Friday.

State Representative Susan Manchester is calling for the governor’s administration to make reopening childcare a priority so that Ohioans can return to work with confidence that their children are being cared for and safe.

Most childcare providers are fundamentally small businesses. It is unknown how many will decide not to come back after being closed for over nine weeks. Daycare services operate on a narrow profit margin and some may decide that reopening is futile.

For those do reopen, it will be necessary to significantly increase rates due to smaller class sizes. This will hit families at the lowest income levels the hardest.

The childcare sector, which was already fragile and in need of strengthening and expansion, now appears it will be weakened further and may be inadequate to meet demand and unaffordable to lower-income families.

This will undeniably put added stress on Ohio’s working families.

“We know that Ohio’s childcare providers will need assistance as they reopen,” said DeWine.

He said Ohio is utilizing more that $60 million in federal dollars through the CaresAct funding to provide reopening grants to Ohio’s childcare providers. DeWine said these grants will be available to both public and private daycares for two to three months. More information will be posted on the state website.

DeWine announced that summer day camps can reopen on May 31st as well if they can meet safety protocols. Protocols will be released by the end of the day tomorrow.

Rep. Manchester urged the administration to form a workgroup devoted to planning for statewide access to childcare. “As Ohioans return to work, working parents need immediate access to reliable, safe and quality childcare,” Manchester said in a letter to the governor’s administration.

“Childcare programs already adhere to strict cleanliness and disinfecting standards and have indicated their willingness to comply with any additional requirements deemed necessary,” the representative said.

Lack of childcare is not a valid excuse for not returning to work, according to the state. Businesses have reportedly been told to report employees to the unemployment office if they refuse to return to work so that benefits to those individuals can be stopped.

Former State Representative Andy Thompson Dead at 57

We are very saddened to learn that Andrew “Andy” Thompson, former member of the Ohio House of Representatives, died suddenly today. Thompson represented District 95 from 2011 to 2018. He was unable to run for re-election due to term limits.

Thompson also served on Marietta City Council since 2005 and was co-publisher of his family’s magazine, Bird Watcher’s Digest. He was Eastern Ohio Development Director for Appalachian Ohio.

Thompson was married to Jade Thompson and the couple resided in Marietta. He was 57.

Thompson was a great conservative who cared deeply about all of his district and especially his home of Washington County. Those who knew Thompson say he was kind, generous and authentic. He will be missed.

When Will DeWine Authorize Childcare to Reopen so Parents Can Return to Work?

Parents of young children and owners of childcare centers are anxiously awaiting word from Gov. Mike DeWine on when or if day cares will be allowed to reopen.

With over 90 percent of the economy authorized to reopen by week’s end, parents are left hanging with no direction from authorities on what to do for childcare.

Last week DeWine said he would make an announcement on Monday regarding childcare. When Monday rolled around, DeWine said more time was needed to study the issue.

Barbers, salons and spas will reopen Friday and restaurants will be allowed to offer outdoor dining. But still no word from the governor on what parents are to do with their children.

Some think the reason for the delay is that health officials are looking for a link between Kawasaki’s Disease and COVID in children. So far, this is simply a theory and not backed up by any scientific data.

The majority of studies indicate that children are less susceptible to the virus. Children also have been found not to spread it, even when they do become infected. Essential workers have had childcare available to them all along with no spread of the virus being reported.

While lack of childcare leaves parents in a lurch, childcare centers themselves are becoming increasingly desperate, saying their small businesses are on the verge of collapse. Most childcare centers are private businesses, with ongoing rent and utility costs. The majority have had little to no income throughout the course of the shutdown.

What’s more, childcare centers will likely face additional expenses as they prepare to fully reopen, with social distancing requirements that will limit the number of children they can serve, reducing their revenue. Home-providers are not available for state unemployment benefits because they are classified as independent contractors.

It is hoped that DeWine will authorize childcare centers to reopen along with other Ohio small businesses.

When God Created Mothers

Throwback to Erma Bombeck’s, When God Created Mothers.

When the Good Lord was creating mothers… He was into His sixth day of “overtime” when the angel appeared and said. “You’re doing a lot of fiddling around on this one.”

And God said, “Have you read the specs on this order?” She has to be completely washable, but not plastic. Have 180 moveable parts…all replaceable. Run on black coffee and leftovers. Have a lap that disappears when she stands up. A kiss that can cure anything from a broken leg to a disappointed love affair. And six pairs of hands.”

The angel shook her head slowly and said. “Six pairs of hands…. no way.”

“It’s not the hands that are causing me problems,” God remarked, “it’s the three pairs of eyes that mothers have to have.”

“That’s on the standard model?” asked the angel. God nodded.

“One pair that sees through closed doors when she asks, ‘What are you kids doing in there?’ when she already knows. Another here in the back of her head that sees what she shouldn’t but what she has to know, and of course the ones here in front that can look at a child when he goofs up and say. ‘I understand and I love you’ without so much as uttering a word.”

“God,” said the angel touching his sleeve gently, “Get some rest tomorrow….”

“I can’t,” said God, “I’m so close to creating something so close to myself. Already I have one who heals herself when she is sick…can feed a family of six on one pound of hamburger…and can get a nine year old to stand under a shower.”

The angel circled the model of a mother very slowly. “It’s too soft,” she sighed.

“But tough!” said God excitedly. “You can imagine what this mother can do or endure.”

“Can it think?”

“Not only can it think, but it can reason and compromise,” said the Creator.

Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek.

“There’s a leak,” she pronounced. “I told You that You were trying to put too much into this model.”

“It’s not a leak,” said the Lord, “It’s a tear.”

“What’s it for?”

“It’s for joy, sadness, disappointment, pain, loneliness, and pride.”

“You are a genius, ” said the angel.

Somberly, God said, “I didn’t put it there.”

Erma Louise Bombeck, born Erma Fiste, was an American humorist who achieved great popularity for a newspaper column that depicted suburban home life humorously, in the second half of the 20th century.

For 31 years since 1965, Erma Bombeck published 4,000 newspaper articles. Already in the 1970s, her witty columns were read, twice weekly, by thirty million readers of 900 newspapers of USA and Canada. Besides, the majority of her 15 books became instant best sellers.

Good First Step on Ohio Substitute Senate Bill 1

Statement From Rob Walgate, Vice President of The Ohio Roundtable: Good First Step on Ohio Substitute Senate Bill 1

Cleveland — Rob Walgate, Vice President of the Ohio Roundtable issued the following statement regarding Ohio Substitute Senate Bill 1 which begins the process of reforming Ohio quarantine laws.

“The Ohio House amended Senate Bill 1 and took a good first step at restricting the unlimited authority of the Ohio Department of Health to shut down the Ohio economy and strip Ohioans of their civil rights, businesses and future prosperity. The legislation was passed way too fast for public input and left out a number of key ideas that are essential to real quarantine reform. Therefore, we are calling upon the Ohio Senate to give timely and careful consideration to a full package of quarantine reform language.

Currently, Ohio law gives the Director of Health ‘ultimate authority’ over matters of quarantine. That authority has been around since 1908 (HB1268). Back then, the idea of a general population quarantine was unthinkable. This is the first time the state Department of Health has issued orders to close down the Ohio economy and lockdown civil liberties without the oversight of the elected General Assembly. That abuse of power has to end.”

The Roundtable is working with legislative leaders in Ohio to pass quarantine reform laws that will help address life-threatening, communicable diseases while protecting the civil rights of the general population. For more information please visit aproundtable.org.
__________________
The Ohio Roundtable is a division of the American Policy Roundtable, a non-profit, independent education, research and media organization founded in 1980. Rob Walgate has served as Vice-President of the Ohio Roundtable and the American Policy Roundtable since 2003. For more information or to arrange an interview with Mr. Walgate, please contact us at 1-800-522-8683.

Unmasking The Face Mask Controversy

 

Some people are convinced that wearing a face mask is necessary to protect their health. To go a step further, they think you need to wear one too.

For those of us who choose not to wear a mask, leaving home without one can be risky. Not because of the new coronavirus, but because it makes you the target of public shaming and verbal assault. We are often called selfish and are told that (somehow) we are going to kill other people.

Facemasks are not mandatory in Ohio, even though Gov. Mike DeWine apparently thinks they should be.

DeWine and Ohio Health Director Dr. Amy Acton spent weeks telling Ohioans that masks made little or no difference in the spread of COVID. Then they became a required component to reopening businesses. After some public pushback, DeWine made masks a recommendation, reminding us that business owners can still require customers to wear masks.

Even though they are not a requirement, some Ohio lawmakers are being called out for not wearing masks.

The Ohio Capital Journal reported Democrats are wearing them, but Republicans are not. It refers to the trend as the new “partisan divide.”

The Ohio Capital Journal credits Democrats for wearing them to “protect their colleagues and coworkers,” but at the same time berates Republican legislators for not wearing them, displayed by a “general distrust of the science.”

Republican State Representative Nino Vitale has been outspoken about choosing not to wear a mask.

The lawmaker has now become a celebrity of sorts for standing up for the rights of Ohioans.

In a Monday interview with Newsweek, Vitale said, “No one is stopping anybody from wearing a face mask. But quite frankly everyone else’s freedom ends at the tip of my nose.”

Vitale’s stand against forced masks has drawn a large crowd of followers to his Facebook page.

Why no facemask?

First, it is our right as American citizens to chose what we do or do not wear on our faces, protected under the U.S. Constitution. As if that alone isn’t enough, there are valid scientific studies concluding that masks do nothing to protect people from disease and can even be harmful.

This is especially true for children and people with medical problems.

“Wearing a mask may actually be harmful to some people with heart or lung disease because it can make the lungs work harder to breathe,” Said the CA Dept. of Public Health.

The World Health Organization recently released an updated guide. It stated that there is no evidence that wearing a mask in the community prevented healthy people from picking up respiratory infections including Covid-19.

Mt. Vernon Physician Dr. Laura Murnane agreed that asks can sometimes do more harm than good.

“When ambulating, you should not have something on your face,” said Murnane. “This actually increases your chance of getting sick from breathing CO2.”

Murnane said that to help avoid getting ill from any virus, wash your hands frequently, get adequate sleep, don’t cough on people and take vitamin C as well as D3 daily.

Wearing a mask outdoors is pointless, as outdoor transmission is exceedingly rare, according to a study released last month that tracked 318 clusters of COVID-19 in China.

Two Bakersfield, California physicians, Dr. Dan Erickson and Dr. Artin Massihi, cited mountng evidence against wearing masks in a viral YouTube video. The pair reportedly owns the largest COVID testing site in Kern County, CA.

The video was censored and removed from You Tube but portions of it can be seen in this clip from Fox News.

Said Erickson, “We understand microbiology, we understand immunology and we want strong immune systems. Our immune system is used to touching. We share bacteria, stephanotis, streptococcal, bacteria, viruses. We develop an immune response daily to this stuff. When you take that away from me, my immune system drops. As I shelter in place my immune system drops. You keep me there for months, it drops more. And now I’m at home washing vigorously, washing the counters, worried about things that are indeed what I need to survive.

“The building blocks of your immune system is virus and bacteria. End of story.”

Scientific Researcher Judy Mikovits said that wearing a mask can activate your own viruses.

“You’re getting sick from your own reactivated CV expressions,” said the scientist.

Mikovits authored the book, Plague of Corruption: Restoring Faith in the Promise of Science.

Mikovit’s interview on YouTube has been removed.

Yet another reason to forego a mask: Vanity.

Wearing one for extended periods can result in pressure damage to the soft tissue of the face, said experts.

Sweating and moisture from warm exhaled air can result in a rash and infection, as can the sides of the mask rubbing against facial skin.

The Director of the Institure of Skin Integrity and Infection Prevention at the University of Huddersfield in the U.K. Karen Ousey and was part of a team that conducted detailed research into the pressure damage that can be caused by a wide range of medical devices, including face masks.

Finding and recommendations of the study were published in February.

DeWine Scores a “C” on COVID Response & Reopening the State

Ohio ranked number 30 of 51.

Governor Mike DeWine was scored a “C” on his plan to reopen Ohio by The Committee to Unleash Prosperity and Freedom Works.

Governors were graded on how they have responded and continue to respond to the coronavirus. The scorecards were released on Monday.

Governors with “A” and “B” grades have already moved toward restoring freedom and economic opportunity and are trusting their citizens to follow best practices or to isolate themselves based on their own risk assessments, said the report.

Taking into account the severity of the virus in each state and the need to keep their citizens safe and healthy, the report assesses how measured or damaging their actions have been with respect to safeguarding the economic well-being of their citizens.

“The premise of the report is that, with a few exceptions in some metropolitan areas, the time is long past for every state to reopen safely, smartly and judiciously so as to end the economic destruction and despair from the lockdowns,” said Steve Moore, President of the Committee to Unleash Prosperity.

Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Virginia and New Jersey received failing marks.

The state of Ohio is already suffering the economic consequences of the shutdown, with DeWine announcing Tuesday that Ohio has lost nearly a billion dollars in tax revenue. Meanwhile, much of the state’s economy is still shuttered.

To make up for the lost revenue, state agencies will undergo budget cuts, with Medicaid, K-12 education and higher education taking the biggest cuts.

“If we don’t make these cuts now, the cuts we will have to make next year will be more dramatic,” said DeWine. The prison system is the only budget that will not be reduced.

Ohio was ranked number 30 on the list released by the Committee to Release Prosperity and Freedom Works.

The groups examined lockdown orders, business closures, hospital and outdoor activity orders, and the degree of punitive actions on enforcing these measures. Most importantly, the report measures the start dates for reopening in each state as the evidence is very strong that states with late start dates will have much more severe recessions than states that open earlier.

“There must be appropriate urgency to the task of reopening the country, because there are significant direct and indirect health and economic consequences of delay,” it was stated in the report.

DeWine said previously that the rate of reopening is being determined by Ohioans, but that he was also speaking with other states in the region.

“We’re [going to] do it. You know, it’s going to be an Ohio decision made by Ohioans. But you can always learn something by talking to other governors, other people who are in similar circumstances,” DeWine said. “You know, we’re not going to go lockstep.”

“So as I told the people of Ohio yesterday, the monster is still loose and it’s going to be out there in Ohio and across the country until we get, you know, the shot that will take care of and will protect us,” DeWine said on “Bill Hemmer Reports.”

Some have expressed opposition to the state reopening the economy and think it is too soon.

David Pepper, Chairman of the Ohio Democrats, tweeted on Monday, “Ohio needs to reconsider what it’s doing now. Forecasts are going up. Testing is not.”

A full copy of the report, including an analysis of each governor’s plans to reopen their state, can be found here.

Hope for the Hope Fund

By Del Duduit
The COVID-19 pandemic is taking its toll on the area businesses and communities all over the nation. But a Portsmouth foundation is making sure that kids in Southern Ohio do not go hungry

Mark and Virgie Hunter, founders

That is the mission of Mark and Virgie Hunter, who founded and operate Steven’s Power Pack program under the umbrella of the Steven A Hunter Hope Fund.
The fund was established in January of 2006, in memory of their son, Steven, who died suddenly at the age of 21 from an undetected heart disorder while he was at Milligan University in Tennessee.

Steven was a 2003 graduate of Portsmouth High School and an accomplished tennis player.
His smile and enthusiasm inspired those around him, and living by his strong Christian faith, he spent his life trying to encourage others; helping those in need, not only of resources, but also of friendship. His parents felt the need to keep his acts of kindness alive and help area students.
Southern Ohio has its economic issues, and many students receive a state-funded lunch.


The Power Pack Program sends back packs full of food home for the weekend for more than 1,300 elementary students in the area, in three surrounding counties of Scioto, Pike and Adams.
But now schools have been closed because of the virus for the remainder of the academic year and that has brought another challenge to Mark and Virgie.
“In the beginning of this pandemic, I was worried about the mechanics of getting the power packs to the students, and I reached out to a few of the schools,” he said. “But they have all come up with different and unique ways to make sure the students get their food, and their power packs. They have been fantastic.”
One aspect that Mark was concerned about was the FreeStore Foodbank in Cincinnati, which makes and delivers the power packs to Steven’s Hope Fund in Scioto County, about two hours away.
“They had to shut down their packing operations as far as bringing in the large number of volunteers because of COVID-19” he said. “That was a big adjustment.”


In early April, Mark, who works full time at the Hunter-Williams Insurance Agency, said he and some volunteers from Portsmouth City Schools and Lifepoint Church had to pack about two weeks-worth of power packs because of the shutdown.
Some schools that could store a month’s supply were in good shape, but there were others who were out of the power packs.
“We’ve been trying to get more food in to make things better for our kids,” he said. “But we know God always provides. It’s just been a challenge.”
One need that was met was when the Ohio National Guard delivered 34,000 pounds of extra food for students in Scioto County.
“That was a big answer to prayer,” he said. “They were very substantial, and each box had 30 to 35 pounds of food, in addition to their normal Power Packs.”
The other area of concern that lingers in the back of Mark and Virgie’s minds will be donations for the foundation this year.
The Steven A. Hunter Hope Fund is a non-profit charity that operates on faith.
“All of our big annual events right now have all been canceled because of the pandemic,” Mark said. “It might be a rough year and I have looked at applying for some grants to help us through the next few months to offset the lack of fundraising.”
But people have recognized how important the Power Pack Program is to local schools, and some have stepped up to help.
For example, The Friends of Portsmouth organization, which is home to Mark and Virgie, donated $10,000 to the cause. And others have stepped up to the plate.
“That was such a blessing,” Mark said. “People will rise up and help a good cause.”
He feels confident he will be able to stay focused through the middle of May, when school typically dismisses for the year.
But this has not be the typical school year.
“We have never seen anything like this before and our mission is to make sure the kids enrolled in the power pack program stay fed,” he said. “There are a lot of hungry kids out there who need us.”
Mark and Virgie have poured their hearts into this foundation to honor their son. They have worked to ensure young children are fed when they go home for the weekend through the Power Pack program.
They are determined not to let a pandemic stop their mission.
What do you do to help those around you in need?

Financial contributions can be made here.

Del Duduit is an award-winning writer and author who lives in Lucasville, Ohio with his wife, Angie. They attend Rubyville Community Church. Follow his blog at delduduit.com/blog and his Twitter @delduduit. He is represented by Cyle Young of Hartline Literary Agency.