Following the Great Miami River

During our drive to Auglaize County, Erin and I passed through the best named town in Ohio: Russells Point. Since Wikipedia doesn't say why the town is named this, I am going to take the liberty of assuming that it has something to do with me. Russells Point is also home to Indian Lake.We've seen a lot in our travels, but in criss-crossing the interior of the state, seeing corn fields is much more likely than seeing a marina.

(There's also a McDonald's right on the lake, where all of their advertising is focused on desserts and ice cream. Something about the ads is really effective in the lakeside setting; I've driven past this McDonald's with two different passengers and both asked that I stop for an ice cream cone.)

Indian Lake is also the beginning of the Great Miami River. We followed the river downstream to Piqua for a health fair sponsored by Wright State University and the Second Baptist Church. We were only a block from the riverbank.

At the health fair, we ran into a problem that appears to be common throughout Ohio: People who were on permanent disability who didn't have Golden Buckeye cards. That is just like leaving money on the table. If you are on disability, please take your award letter or your Medicare card to your nearest library, senior center, or The Ohio Benefit Bank site. This is a five minute application process! You get a temporary card right then and there!

So, fellow OBB counselors, if you come across someone under the age of 60 on disability, you have your orders.

Celebrate Life and Health!

Below is a link to a slideshow of images from the Celebrate Life and Health Event in Dayton, a free community health fair in which the Mobile Express team participated. If you look closely, you can see a picture of our own Brent Sigley, regional coordinator extraordinaire, signing in at the event.

http://mediamoments1.photoshelter.com/gallery-slideshow/G0000BJX4fE4l4c8/?start=

Hardin County Achievement Unlocked

The Mobile Express has been on the road for about three years (over 66,000 miles if you're curious). In that time we've attended hundreds of events and completed thousands of applications. These are all good things.

But counting miles, clients, events, and applications is only part of the story. We also like to count space. We're an Ohio organization so we want to make sure all parts of Ohio are covered. In other words, we want to make sure we attend an event in every county. We're almost there.

We got a little closer on Wednesday, April 25.

For the first time, the Ohio Benefit Bank Mobile Express set up shop in Hardin County. Specifically, we were in their county seat, Kenton, at a soup kitchen at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. The kitchen is open in the last week of every month (smart; that's when the SNAP Benefits start to run dry) and also offered a free consignment shop for its patrons.

Erin and I started off a little slowly. A sad truth about events and distributions is that they often involve a lot of waiting around. There is no way around it. We can take advantage of that by using the dead time to talk to people about benefits. It's a lot easier to convince someone to apply for Medicaid if they're just going to be standing around. This event had no lines. Which is awesome! That is obviously a net positive. But it does make telling people about our services a little bit more difficult.

Thankfully, Erin and I did a good enough job with our 20-second elevator speeches when people arrived at the front door. After their meal, the kitchen's patrons came back. Erin and I completed half a dozen applications, most of them for food assistance. And, in what is becoming a pet project of mine, I helped an ex-felon register to vote.

A huge thanks must to go to Dorothy Hogue, the person who runs the soup kitchen and who allowed us to take their best parking space with little notice in order to be closer to her clients. That sort of support is instrumental in helping us reach out to low and moderate income Ohioans, and we truly appreciated her hard work in getting the people ok Kenton a hot meal and a submitted application in one fell swoop.

Now, only a few more counties to go until we've hit all 88 in the state! Butler, Darke, Auglaize, Wyandot, Delaware, Belmont, and Hocking: We'll be seeing you soon.