The Chat

Straight from the desk of Kelsey Ridder, Chief Development Officer at OHB

What do you like to do for fun?

For me it’s traveling, playing card games, adventurous activities with my family and movie nights. One of the things that we like to do for our youth here at OHB is to bring a little fun into their lives.

In our recently published 2022 Impact Report, we shared that 62% of our youth have never participated in an extracurricular activity before coming to OHB. Sadly, this lack of participation isn’t by choice; it’s because of necessity. Much of our youths’ time has been consumed with struggling to meet even their most basic needs, leaving no room for fun activities that many teens enjoy.

Because of this, we strive to incorporate a wide range of diverse, recreational activities into all of our programs, not only to help our youth have a little fun but also to aid them in building life skills beyond what can be learned in the classroom or in a training class. This summer we hosted barbeques and went on trips to the zoo and baseball games. Fall brought Halloween decorating and outings to local pumpkin patches and the holidays were filled with lots of traditional activities, like making gingerbread houses, baking cookies and crafts.

Of course, we are the lucky ones who get to participate in these fun activities with the youth, hear their laughter, see their smiles and accept their words of gratitude, but YOU are the one who makes all of this possible.

If you would like to further support the extracurricular activities provided to our youth, let’s chat about ways you can get involved! I can be reached at 402-457-7014 or at kridder@ohb.org.

Kelsey