This Valentine's Day, Spread Love The HOBY Way!

It's Time to Spread the HOBY Love!

It's February, a month inextricably linked with love. We think it is time we use February as a spring board to help spread the HOBY love.  If you are willing to make an OUTSTANDING HOBY hug and send it to another Central PA HOBY alum or friend, you should sign up here!

The deadline to sign up is this Friday, February 10th. On February 11th, you will get an e-mail saying who you have been matched up with. Then you will send your valentine a message via the Elfster system to get their address and send them an awesome greeting! And, you will get a great HOBY valentine in return!

Meet another HOBY-ite and create some HOBY bonds that might not have otherwise existed by brightening someone else's day this Valentine's Day! Sign up at Elftster today!

HOBY Hugs to you all, and have an OUTSTANDING Valentine's Day!

HOBY Alums Call Donors To Say Thanks For The Memories!

What A Thankful Bunch! Our Thank-A-Thon Volunteers

To celebrate the start of 2012, a group of Central PA HOBY Alumns got together on the last weekend of 2011 and put a call into their past.  They contacted 150 of Central PA HOBY's donors who helped make our 2011 Leadership Seminar happen, just to say thanks for their support and how much it meant to them.

Every year, area businesses, individuals, civic clubs, and community grant programs donate the $90,000 needed so that 250 area high school sophmores can attend the 4-day seminar and learn how to hone their leadership skills without cost to them. This is the first year that Central PA HOBY has held a Thank-A-Thon to thank their donors by phone.

"It was a great way to let our donors know that their gift made a difference by hearing it directly from the students who attended the seminar," explained Catherine Shelly, Central PA HOBY Director of Fundraising.  "And hopefully that inspires them to continue giving."

"I was really proud of the students for coming out to thank donors.  21 students and friends of students participated. I think they had a great time making connections with those who make HOBY a reality every year," stated Anna Jordan, Director of Alumni Relations for Central PA HOBY.

Thanks to all the Team Alumni members and volunteers that came out to help make our first-ever HOBY Thank-A-Thon a rousing success, and we're looking forward to an OUTSTANDING 2012 seminar with even more donors to be thankful for!  If you would like to support the 2012 Central PA HOBY Leadership Seminar, please click here. 

Alumni Spotlight: Beth Awalt, HOBY Maryland '04

Beth, pictured here (2nd from left) with Ecuadorian students from her year of service in Ecuador.

Tell us a little bit about your HOBY story.  (when did you first encounter it, how you’ve been involved since your ambassador year).

I encountered HOBY in late 2003 when my Key Club advisor told me he had selected me for the conference in May. He told me some names of people who had gone in the past, but no one I knew well, so I just kind of signed up and went into the experience blind. I participated in HOBY Maryland 2004, and was overwhelmingly in love with the experience. My facilitator was awesome, and I really believed in the lessons we were taught. I knew I wanted to be a part of HOBY for years to come.

So I've stayed in touch! I was on TA in 2005, was the Director of Public Relations for the Alumni Association for three years in college and was a junior facilitator at HOBY Maryland starting in 2007. I loved HOBY so much that one weekend just didn't seem like enough. I contacted some HOBY friends and applied to volunteer with both HOBY Central PA and WLC. I am so excited I was able to join the Central PA HOBY family in 2008 - for three years (and counting!), I've led great groups! It's been a blessing to see another seminar, network with more incredible HOBYs, and see the transformation in more Ambassadors. I also facilitated a group at HOBY NJ 2010 - the year that Pete Cangemi and I did three HOBY weekends in a row!!

You’ve been involved with several different seminars, what do you think is the best part of your HOBY year?

The best part for me is in June. The Ambassadors are just processing their experience, and sometimes they write back and explain what their transformation was like. Seeing the incredible transformation they experience is so motivating. June is also about the time when the staff are all over Facebook and email, reliving photos and memories, organizing reunions to stay together. It's beautiful to see that HOBY spirit so strong. 

What other volunteering do you during the year?

The biggest news right now is that I'm starting a nonprofit organization! A fellow volunteer from my year of service in Ecuador and I began The Starfish Foundation, Inc. to empower Ecuadorian students to complete their high school degree. Check out our website at www.thestarfishchange.org or our Facebook at www.facebook.com/thestarfishchange! 

Also, I spend about 15 hours a week in the Immigration Legal Services Department of the Esperanza Center (part of Catholic Charities Maryland), helping with administrative tasks and speaking as much Spanish as possible! I also volunteer with Hand in Hand, a nonprofit that mentors youth ages 14-17 in the Baltimore City Detention Center who are being tried as adults. At my church, I am in charge of the high school Catechism class, and I am conducting a campaign (www.mycharitywater.org/sjpmd) to raise money for clean water! 

Who is your HOBY hero? (the one person you’ve met via HOBY who blows your mind)

Anna Custer from HOBY MD. She was my facilitator, and she has stayed involved in HOBY throughout the years. She taught me the best ways of keeping the HOBY spirit alive in Ambassadors (evident by the SEVEN Anna Alums that returned in 2009, all from various years! Many of us still return yearly). Anna is involved behind-the-scenes for HOBY MD, too, realizing the importance of working during the year to keep the program going. She was my first face of HOBY, and I am blessed to still have her in my life!

What is your advice for alums out there?

Stay connected. And if you've lost that connection - it's NEVER too late! My roommate from HOBY MD in 2004 didn't stay too involved, but she and I Facebooked occasionally. We finally met up for lunch in 2009, and it was like nothing ever changed. During my year of service in Ecuador, I didn't have a lot of means to keep in touch - so imagine my surprise to return home and find that my former 1K group member Matt Hockney has started an anti-bullying assembly program to share his story with high schoolers! HOBYs will continue to surprise and inspire you each day, and it's that HOBY spirit that is so important.  

A New Milestone Reached For Central PA HOBY!

Look how lovely our Board of Trustees are! Pictured from left to right in the front row: Tracy Rennecker, Board Treasurer, Bryan Tate, Board President, Stephanie Yentsch, Board Secretary.  Back row (standing): Carol Foley, CLEW Chair, Anna Jordan, Alumni Chair, Steven St. John, Board Member, Andrew Miller, Seminar Chair, Catherine Shelly, Board Vice President & Director of Fundraising, and Brad Small, Board Member

Exciting News! The Central Pennsylvania Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership (HOBY) Seminar Board of Trustees has voted unanimously to create a Central PA HOBY Endowment Fund with the York County Community Foundation. This endowment ensures our organization’s future of sustaining and implementing the annual Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership Seminar and other programs that benefit high school students throughout Central Pennsylvania each year.  

"We are so excited to establish the endowment fund for Central PA HOBY with the York County Community Foundation," stated Catherine Shelly, Board Vice President and Director of Fundraising for Central PA HOBY. "This fund will allow us to guarantee that dollars vital to holding our annual Youth Leadership Seminar and alumni programs each year are available, while also allowing us to grow our funds through strategic, steady investment so we can expand our programs in the future."

2012 will mark the 34th year that Central Pennsylvania has held a HOBY Leadership Seminar. It is a four-day workshop modeled after HOBY's World Leadership Congress, and hosts students from high schools essentially in the 570 and 717 area codes.  The creation of this endowment will allow Central PA HOBY to keep holding our annual Leadership Seminar for many more years to come.

Central PA HOBY is proud to partner with the York County Community Foundation to make this endowment a reality. Celebrating 50 years of philanthropy in 2011, York County Community Foundation creates a vibrant York County by engaging donors, providing community leadership, and investing in high impact initiatives while building endowment for future generations. 

Thank you to all of our Board of Trustees members, Seminar Board members, Alumni, and volunteers for helping Central PA HOBY reach this important organizational milestone.  OUTSTANDING!

Share What You're Thankful For At The CPA HOBY Alumni Thank-A-Thon!

After eating all the turkey you can stand and thinking of all the things in your life you are thankful for, we hope you will join us in working off some of those extra helpings of pie by thanking our donors that make the Central PA HOBY Leadership Semiar happen each year.

Forget fighting the crowds at the mall, have some fun with your fellow Alumni and get into the thanking spirit at the 2011 CPA HOBY Alumni Thank-A-Thon! The day each year where we get together to call our donors and let them know how much their contribution to the Central PA HOBY Leadership Seminar meant to our program in 2011, and inspire them to keep supporting Central PA HOBY for 2012!

Central PA HOBY Alumni Thank-A-Thon

Friday, November 25, 2011 – 5 PM

York County Community Foundation

14 W. Market Street, York, PA 17401

Free on-street parking at 5 PM

Please bring your cell phone and charger with you. Pizza and soda will be provided (we promise, no turkey!)

 

If you want to continue hanging out with your fellow Alumni after the Thank-A-Thon is over, we encourage you to check out a great live show of Hoots & Hellmouth at the Strand-Capitol Theater at 8pm, as part of their CapLive concert series. Tickets are just $14! You can purchase tickets here.

RSVP to Anna Jordan at anna.jordan@centralpahoby.org to let her know that you’re joining the Thank-A-Thon or for more questions!