Armed with a genuine concern about deteriorating urban neighborhoods and an unwavering love and compassion for people, a vehicle to transform blight into beauty and struggle into empowerment for the human spirit was born, known as Let's Grow Akron.  

The organization was officially established in 1988 with Elaine working tirelessly alongside neighbors to clear unsightly vacant lots and convert them into productive gardens where she taught people the skills needed to grow their own food and bring back a sense of pride to their community.

Elaine was truly a visionary and by no stretch of the imagination were the things she set her sights on improving in a neighborhood ever a small order.  In 1998 Elaine gathered children in the South Akron Summit Lake Neighborhood, paired with  teams of adult volunteers to clean up one of Akron's top ten dump sites.

Whitewater Technologies, an Israeli Company with U.S. headquarters in Akron, was selected as a 2013 New Energy Pioneers at the Sixth Annual Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit in New York City.  Akron was the first city in the United States to recognize the significance of the Israeli technology and to utilize it to secure its water system.

"Israeli technology is a world leader in water system security and I am proud that Akron was the first in the United States to recognize the importance and potential of this technology," noted Mayor Don Plusquellic.  "Whitewater technology allows us to increase security measures and enhance system performance with limited resources.  Our water system operators, from one control room, have immediate knowledge of what is happening within the watershed and distribution system, what to do in an emergency, who to call, what valves to adjust, and what treatment levels to manage...all within minutes." 

On Saturday, April 27, dozens of participants gathered together to send a wave of energy around the world through the art of Tai Chi and Qigong.

There are two terms that easily may strike fear in any individual: hospice services and palliative care. In part, the former certainly signals finality, that a life will be ending, the latter that there may be pain or side effects to be managed, among other things.

Some patients may start with palliative care and progress to hospice while others are placed straight into a hospice setting. And along the way, some may have the luxury of close friends and family to comfort them during their journey. But try to imagine there are others who do not, who have to go it alone, save for the medical staff overseeing their care.

Sickness and dying creates a host of challenges emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and of course physically, not only just for the patient but for the loved ones in the peripheral as well. And although it would be comforting, and frankly, ideal, for both patients and their loved ones dealing with mortality to know that there will be a strong support system in place, unfortunately, that's not always the case.