Our Story
Hey! Im Kendra- one of the co-founders of Ohgo. I also am a photographer for Blink Photography and Z MEdia and im the Children’s Director at Faith Memorial Church.
and this is Christine, the other co-founder :) She is also an elementary teacher, a wife and mom of two happy girls!
Together we have spent years planning fun events for children’s birthday parties, Vacation Bible School, Right to Read week programs, school book club events, children’s church curriculum, and community outreach. We always knew we wanted to take this further and reach more of the community, primarily children who are in need. Event after event, we began to realize that the children we really wanted to reach had no way of coming to us. That is when we decided to go to them! We were determined to reach out to these families at their homes and in their neighborhoods.
How awesome would it be to go mobile, to deliver gifts and items of need to their doors, to throw events and bookmobile visits on their streets? We wanted to give these children opportunity to thrive in their own environments. That was the beginning of a new non-profit, OHgo!
Where would we begin? We had no prior experience with starting a brand new non-profit organization. That next morning, Christine’s husband looked up what his next Masters class would be online. It just happened to be “Nonprofit Law!” How perfect is that?! In a short five weeks, with the amazing help of his experienced professor, we learned what we needed to begin our nonprofit.
With just one month under our belts, our first project, Project Happy Christmas, took off big! We had many community businesses, local schools and churches, and individual families all wanting to be a part. We collected 600 wrapped shoeboxes filled with Christmas gifts and toiletries. With the help of 60 volunteers, we delivered those boxes to families in need all over Erie County. The Sandusky Register tagged along and it was a wonderful experience for everyone involved!
Since then we have been planning upcoming projects and deliveries such as, Project Book-Give, Share-a-Smile, and more! We have made wonderful partnerships with local schools and small businesses. Through this we have determined which streets and neighborhoods we would like to concentrate on the most. We would love to gain more partners! If you feel that your family or business would like to partner with us, there are many ways to do so. Like our Facebook page, OHgo and Wheresohgo, to keep updated. You can sign up to become a member, make a donation, or to volunteer on our website under “YouGo.”
We go to help kids grow!
