Our Community Responds

SPONSOR A HONK

Including a short break to catch our breath, we’ve now started Week 4 of Honks for Jason, and things keep getting better and better. Need proof? Check out the new pictures below:

We have reached our first fundraising goal!!! In just a few days, we’ve already had more than 130 gifts that have totaled more than $10,000! This impressive sum will take us a long way towards the purchase of a new transport bus for the Home, which will allow residents and day program attendees like Jason a greater ability to interact with the community of Sharonville.
Through 3+ weeks, “Jason’s World Tour” has logged nearly 30 Honking sessions at eight different locations. Our most recent thanks go out to The Sharonvillains and Specialty Screen & Glass for their terrific community spirit and generosity.
The official count is up to 7751 honks! We are nearing our initial goal of 10,000 Honks and will be sure to let everyone know when we are getting close–so you can come celebrate with us!
Both this week and next, we have scheduled 4 more waving events. After that, we will take another week-plus break before resuming in mid-September. Be sure to come by to honk or wave with us, as many folks are doing already.
Because of the huge outreach from the community, we will be setting up at a number of events hosted by local businesses. These are great folks who love their town, so consider supporting them whenever you can.
Be sure to sign up for an event on Facebook if you can make it
Some of Jason’s peers and friends from St Joseph Home and elsewhere will be coming out to some of our events. Stopping by is a great way to meet them and see what the Home is all about.
Two of our most amazing events happened in the last two weeks–The Sharonvillains car procession and our Honks session at Specialty Screen & Glass.
The incomparable Sharonvillains have claimed the Honks for Jason Spirit Award! Without any help or even knowledge from us, this Sharonville Facebook Group self-organized a long procession of cars, trucks, motorcycles, even a well-decorated golf cart for Jason. Vehicles were decorated with window paint, balloons, streamers, and signs, and there was plenty of noise. An escort of Sharonville’s finest bookended the cars. Super organizer Mike Cheney brought up the rear in his vintage Ford Thunderbird Convertible and gave Jason a personal tour of the town afterwards. All the folks passed the hat to present St Joseph Home with a generous donation. Make sure you see the parade and Jason’s reaction here. What a great time!
Just yesterday, we were hosted by the great group at Specialty Screen & Glass. This long-time family business sits on Main Street in Downtown Sharonville. Brothers Joe and Tony provided well-needed fans for us on a scorching 97° day (which didn’t seem to faze Jason’s enthusiasm), and we collected lots of honks. Most wonderful was their donation–by far the largest we have received–one dollar for each honk we remained under our goal of 10,000! What a tremendous community spirit! Check out the pictures below.
More media coverage came our way recently: Spectrum News1 Ohio did a great story of our most recent visit to the Sharonville UPS Facility. Reporter Sheena Elzie and her team covered the event and also wrote an accompanying article. Thanks Sheena!
Not to be outdone, the Cincinnati Enquirer got into the action to write a feature article in their Local News section (unfortunately, it’s not available online).
So did the City of Blue Ash–we made their latest newsletter! Here is their video of the First Responders Honks parade.
As we mentioned above, we have surpassed $10,000 raised for St Joseph Home. We will keep going as long as we have more donations than Honks, and we have lots of already-sponsored Honks to collect!
Looking to contribute? Our fundraising site, where you can sponsor honks ($1/honk) is here.
We also have a TEXT to GIVE option for donations: Just text the word HONKS to 44321
In the next week, our highlight events will be at our hosts alReddy Café (8/26 at 11 AM-1 PM), Swaim Park in Montgomery (8/28 at 4 PM), and Starbucks Evendale (8/31 at 10 AM).
We are finalizing quite a few additional events at a number of kind local businesses and organizations, so keep checking the schedule. If you would like to host Jason and his friends at your place of business, please drop us a line at howdyneighbors.org@gmail.com.