Welcome Tony Wells!
We are so excited to introduce our latest amazing member to join the team at Community Happens Here: The Commons. His name is Tony Wells, and we got to know Tony through his son Abram, a student of the Coffee Cup Entrepreneurs Class at Pleasant Ridge Montessori. Tony has a huge heart for the community, and was super supportive of Abram becoming one of the Student Hosts for Sidewalk Hospitality this summer. In the process we decided to link our collective futures and so Tony has become our “Chief Advancement Officer.” This means he will lead our membership and fundraising efforts to allow the community to fully support and participate in this community venture. Here is what Tony says about why he decided to join Community Happens Here:
“It isn’t every day that I meet someone that is truly changing the world and inspires me in such a way that it moves me to be different! I am grateful that my path crossed with Ruth Anne Wolfe, the Founder of our local nonprofit called Community Happens Here, in my little neighborhood, Pleasant Ridge. My oldest son Abram has found community and has learned foundational skills by being involved with several of her community programs.
Our neighborhood is unique in that it is one of the very few neighborhoods in Cincinnati where neighbors actually move here for diversity! As a small community we love our neighbors, our schools, and our small businesses no matter what path it took us to get here. This spirit of pursuing and valuing diversity did not “accidentally happen” overnight. It has taken individuals and families, with their time and resources, to stand in the gap over the years for Pleasant Ridge to be different.
Ruth Anne is the embodiment of this spirit of diversity and togetherness. She is deeply moved that if a diverse neighborhood like Pleasant Ridge cannot do community, then community cannot happen anywhere! Thus the idea of Community Happens Here was born. She believes that every single person is worth getting to know and that each person has a gift to share with the world. Community must happen here!
She has served her life as a professional, community activist, and a mother. Instead of spending the rest of her years in a vacation home, she is using her time and resources to build a home in our neighborhood where ‘Community Happens’ … a place where professional and charitable work together to make a neighborhood impact. Simply put… it’s a place to share a cup of coffee and ‘Do Good Work.’
I believe in her and her mission to make Pleasant Ridge a better place, and that if we can do it, it will change the world! I am excited to join her team as The Chief Advancement Officer and grow the organization by connecting the community to the mission of Community Happens Here.”