How Does a Person Help Make Community?
A conversation with Ruth Anne Wolfe
Founder of Community Happens Here
Blog #3 By Josh Botkin.
This week I got to sit down and talk with Ruth Anne Wolfe, the founder of Community Happens Here. Before we sat down, I was hoping I would be able to find the one point in her life where the idea sparked that she would start CHH. Instead I left with something much better than a story about one big day that made her want to start this organization. I heard a life story that was filled with moments that were designed perfectly to lead her to the point where she is today and where the roots of Community Happens Here came from.
Ruth Anne in her element
Let’s go back to the beginning of Ruth Anne’s life. Ruth Anne grew up in West Newton, PA and lived on a farm where they raised 300 sheep. During her time at the farm she would spin the wool to sell at arts festivals. She learned many hospitality skills at the arts festivals along with gaining a good work ethic from a young age. As Ruth Anne got older she went to college in Massachusetts, and then found herself living in Japan for five years as an English teacher. After living in Japan, where she passionately studied and experienced another culture, she moved to Cincinnati, OH as an interpreter for Japanese companies. Following many moves in Ruth Anne’s life, she found herself feeling rootless and decided to move to Pleasant Ridge where she could be within walking distance from a Library and Coffee Shop. She got immersed into the community when her neighbors asked if they could use her lawn for the yearly block party. To immerse herself even more she started to volunteer in the community clean-up days. This experience opened her eyes to seeing the need for people to step up to better the community. During this time Ruth Anne’s daughter was attending the neighborhood public school that was very diverse. When Ruth Anne attended one of the school plays, it filled her heart with joy to see people from all social and economic backgrounds come together. But she noticed that although two people from vastly different backgrounds might be sitting next to each other, they often wouldn’t talk with one another enough to lead to a meaningful connection.
A visitor to Community Happens Here
Ruth Anne shared with me that she saw the need for something that would bridge the gap from being a diverse neighborhood where people go about their own ways, to becoming an actual community where people know one another. And for 20 years she has stood in the gap, intentionally connecting people across differences in the school and neighborhood. Community Happens Here is a continuation of the life work she has been doing for years, because Community Happens Here exists to create spaces of hospitality to connect people across differences. Its foundations are built on the life lessons she’s learned, and its programs, such as Sidewalk Hospitality, are the result. They are opportunities where students in the community have the chance to learn the same skills of hospitality that Ruth Anne learned while selling wool at art festivals. As Ruth Anne was a bridge into the community for Japanese companies by being their interpreter, Community Happens Here is a bridge for folks to talk to each other in their community.
The events that were placed into Ruth Anne’s life show me that she was well-equipped through a balance of professionalism and community engagement to become the founder of Community Happens Here. And that is exactly how any person can help make community, through their life experiences that equip them to be a leader in their communities.
Interview written by Josh Botkin, UC Sophomore, Journalism Intern
This Saturday from 3-6 pm come out for the Open House and meet Ruth Anne and see for yourself the outstanding community that has been brought together. Enjoy free food, snow cones, art, games, music, tours, and more! It’s your chance to visit this local non-profit in Pleasant Ridge that is here to create spaces of hospitality to bring the community together through neighborhood parties, community cafe, work spaces, networking luncheons, sidewalk hospitality and so much more!
Ruth Anne and her daughter Amelia.