If you happen to be by the Parkersburg City Park on a Monday night from Memorial Day to about the middle of August you will see a larger than normal group of runners and walkers gathering by the “gossip corner” gazebo near the pond.

This group has been coming together weekly starting on Memorial Day and meeting through the Monday before The Parkersburg News and Sentinel Half Marathon since 1993, according to long time member and board member of the River City Runners and Walkers Club (RCRWC), Joe Corra. In 2006, walkers were added to the training.

“The half training was started by Mona Moore in 1993. Mona was the president of the River City Runners at that time and did not get to participate that first year, due to a stress fracture,” Joe Corra said. “Most of the routes have changed over the years, except the five and nine mile courses.”

Former board member and club RRCA State Representative, Tom Kramer, now leads this group. Tom brings a bit of humor and the encouragement of a coach cheering participants to the finish line. Tom provides the crowd with a pep talk, course information, reminders of safety and water and Gatorade along the course (thanks to his faithful volunteers) and at the finish.

Each week members and nonmembers are invited to join the training runs that start at 5 miles and add a mile each week. This training also includes the unique opportunity to run the course prior to the half – typically around the last Sunday in July. The River City Runners and Walkers Club provide these training runs at no cost.

Participants enjoy seeing familiar faces and getting to find their pace within the group as well as connecting to other runners or walkers at their speed each year.

“The training has allowed me to find runners at my same pace that have turned into friends that I run with all year long,” two-year member of the RCRWC Samantha Clements said.

Anyone can join in any week, the complete list of mileage, times and dates can be found here: http://www.rivercityrunners.com/training

Of course the ending point of this training is to make sure you are ready to complete The Parkersburg News and Sentinel Half Marathon that takes place during the Parkersburg Homecoming each year in August.

Want to stay connected to the River City Runners and Walkers Club? Visit them on Facebook. To find a calendar of local races, mapped training runs and information about joining find them at www.rivercityrunnersandwalkers.com

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On May 9th, Downtown PKB’s design committee members and board members partnered with area students from Parkersburg Catholic High School and Caperton Center Engineering Technology Program as well as other community members who just wanted to come out to help during Downtown PKB’s Cleanup and Greenup Project.

Wendy Shriver, executive director of the Downtown PKB stated, “Over 40 volunteers helped during the two hour clean up. The clean up areas included Market Street, 2nd Street, 4th Street and Juliana Street.”

With the help from the City of Parkersburg, Scots Landscaping, the Department of Transportation and the Tree Commission, volunteers cleaned up trash and planted flowers to help beautify the streets.

After the clean up, volunteers were treated to pizza and ice cream at the Point Park Marketplace.

Community member and a mom of local students that came out to help, Jessica Barnhart said, “My family and I enjoy walking in downtown Parkersburg. We were very happy to have the chance to help with cleaning the flower beds. We are looking forward to the fall clean up and helping again.”

Downtown PKB is a non-profit organization whose mission is to functionally enhance, revitalize and aesthetically improve downtown Parkersburg so as to better support existing commercial establishments, foster investment and entrepreneurial activities create downtown living opportunities and promote tourism. To accomplish these things through Main Street’s Four-Point Approach (organization, design, promotion and economic restructuring,) Downtown PKB seeks to preserve, grow and diversify Parkersburg’s central business district.

Another Cleanup Greenup Day is planned for the fall under the direction of Downtown PKB’s design committee members. Intersted volunteers can contact Wendy Shriver, executive director of Downtown PKB, at wendy@downtownpkb.com. To see a list of all the events that Downtown PKB is involved in visit their website or visit them on Facebook.

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If you have ever met Ginger McConnell, you could not forget her. Her love of life radiates into everything she does.

It would not come as a surprise to anyone that this two time cancer survivor, was thinking of others as she was in the mince of fighting her second battle. Ginger is the founder of Firefly – A Spark of Hope, which was born after her own spark of hope, a benefit in her honor. She left that benefit not only thankful for all those that came together to support her, but also for how others needed their own spark, their own support team to give them hope when they are down, possibly at the lowest point in their lives.

“Cancer is an unknown world.  There are so many new and scary things that overwhelm you – physically, emotionally and financially.  With all of the new burdens that go along with a cancer diagnosis, patients still have to deal with the day-to-day stresses of life.  My goal is the help lessen that stress,” Ginger explains.

With all of the new burdens that go along with a cancer diagnosis, patients still have to deal with the day-to-day stresses of life.

This added stress is something no one that has heard this diagnosis should have to worry about, but they do. This is where Ginger, as I proclaim her a nonprofit-preneur, assessed the needs of a community and took the steps to create a resource that delivers.

Still in its infancy, Firefly-A Spark of Hope, is gaining momentum. The board of directors are being gathered, the by laws are taking shape, the appropriate forms have been filled out and most importantly the packaging for corporate good is being lined up.

Without the support of corporations whether they are able to donate a little or a lot, nonprofits like this one could not succeed. You would be hard pressed to find an organization where one of its very own were not directly affected by cancer. Ginger and her team will be calling on these fine folks soon so that they can push forward with their mission to provide hope to cancer patients in Wood, Washington and surrounding counties by easing their financial burden so they can focus on what really matters – winning their fight against cancer. Individual donations are accepted as well.

It says so much about this community when I can just mention Firefly and our mission, and they are eager to know how they can help.

“I have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support that Firefly has already received,” she says. “It’s sad to say but a huge number of people in this area know the toll that cancer can take on a person.  It says so much about this community when I can just mention Firefly and our mission, and they are eager to know how they can help.”

Firefly may not be 100 percent ready to accept its first application but they are committed to kicking it off this summer. Created to give cancer patients and their families some relief from the financial worries that they are facing, Firefly expects to provide financial support for individuals who are battling cancer and need help with household expenses. These expenses can include, but are not limited to: rent or mortgage payments, utility bills, medical bills, prescription costs, medical equipment and travel expenses. You can follow their journey to accepting applications on their Facebook page.

To learn more about Ginger and Firefly-A Spark of Hope please visit the website. And most importantly share this information with those in need in the Mid-Ohio Valley.

The post Firefly – A Spark of Hope appeared first on Clutch MOV.

Networking is key to success as an entrepreneur and so is coffee….am I right?

These two things go hand in hand in so many industries, across not only the marketing world I live in, but CPAs, writers, Executive Directors, sales folks – the list goes on and on.

I first heard about the 50 Cups of Coffee Project from a fellow solopreneur whom I chat with about business ideas, challenges and opportunities from time to time. I think his exact words were “this sounds like you.”

From the first time I viewed this video (and yes, I have watched it several times over the last couple months), I knew this was something that I wanted to take on and make my own.

What attracted me most to this project was the personal aspect. I love online networking, chatting with people during Business After Hours and a good lunch meeting – yet, that first step to get there isn’t always easy for everyone. Thus, bring in the coffee.

The key to the Cup of Coffee Project is that everyone has time for a cup of coffee. It’s not a large commitment like asking for a meeting, or as scary as anticipating a stuffy lunch with someone you don’t really know. Coffee is informal. It’s fun. It’s like social media before the invention of the Internet.

Once I committed to this challenge I had to make it mine. The original challenge says 50 cups of coffee in 50 days with 50 different people. Not exactly my style or something that would fit into my business/life balance.

As with everything I’ve tried to do in my business, I thought I would start small. Not try for a certain number of people, but when I came across someone that I wanted to chat with more I would just ask to meet for a cup of coffee. Looking back over the past three months that has averaged to one cup of coffee per week (which did include a week of four coffee meetings where I am sure I did not sleep for another week).

Some of these meeting were the result of others saying to me we should meet and I suggested coffee which I felt set the mood of the meeting to light, no agenda and made for better conversation. That is how my first Coffee Cup Project meetup formed. A retired executive director of a current client wanted to meet me to give me insights to the history of an organization. What I remember fondly is the stories he told. Good marketing is all about the stories. He gave me so many great pieces to put together to take the organization into the future. I feel that meeting for coffee helped the ease of the conversation making it mutually beneficial.

My business started with two clients, one being a non-profit. I was lucky enough to continue working with many non-profits over the last five years. Anytime I have an opportunity to bring an affordable training to them, or help in any way by speaking at conferences, luncheons, etc. – I always try to make it a top priority. My second Coffee Cup Project meetup was with someone that I declared is on the front lines of helping non-profits. This is an important person to the non-profit world and an important organization. Our meeting revolved around what their future looked like, some talk about personal lives and ended with me agreeing to a host a training on their campus for their non-profits. This meeting was something that needed to happen but with two busy people, coffee was the only sure fire way it was going to happen in 2015.

My third-ish meeting(s) involved a group of people that may not work alongside each other but all work with the same cause in mind…helping economic growth in the MOV. This three-ish meetings involved local chambers and local downtown initiatives all one-on-one but working toward the same goal. I love these folks. They are the ones that work hard for our small businesses, our large corporations and even a non-profit or two. They bring in tourists, new business, move the solopreneur into a storefront, help with expansions, offer marketing skills, and the best thing of all – word of mouth advertising. They are our local cheerleaders. We have been lucky in this area to have many of these folks around. Some have been in the position several years and some are brand new, all working towards the same goal and thinking outside the box to get there. In three short months we’ve planned trainings, events, future workshops and lots of ideas for the future of our relationships – all over coffee.

So what has lead to this challenge of drinking a cup of coffee with someone that I want to get to know better?

• Learning more. Learning more about my clients, my community and the people I work with every day.
• New Opportunities. I am more involved than ever before in my community. I am getting to know people on a different level than just saying hello at a networking event.
• New clients. Absolutely. Directly and indirectly these “coffee chats” as I fondly refer to them as have opened many doors for me this year – and its only March.

I am excited to see where this challenge takes me. As I log my coffee chats into my smartphone for the rest of 2015, I know that even if I don’t hit 50 Cups of Coffee, I have still have succeeded in this project.

Want to start your own 50 Cups of Coffee Project? Here is some helpful advice.

First encounter:

• Email/message the new person: Your/Your organization sounds interesting and I would like to learn more about it.
• Set the date/place/time: Would you be available to meet for coffee on Tuesday the 22 at 9 a.m. at The Coffee Bar on Market St?

When you meet:

• Keep it casual.
• Make it about them.
• Do not be sales pitchy.

Follow up:

• Thank them for meeting.
• Connect with them on social media (if you’re not already connected)

The post Bringing People Together With Coffee appeared first on Clutch MOV.

Are you ready for your next networking event? If you are like the majority of the population, you feel uncomfortable approaching a room of people that you don’t know with the expectation of small talk. Yet, this is what is expected in the realm of the networking world. As we evolve as professionals we know that this is the best way to grow ourselves personally and professionally.

The best way to jump into anything that makes you a nervous wreck is to prep! So lets start with  5 Do’s to get you ready to head to your first networking event as a new and improved Networking Guru.

1- Always be prepared.

Even non-girl scouts can agree, it’s always best to be prepared! Make sure you have updated business cards and enough of them on hand.

2- Prepare your Online Self.

After a networking event someone will inevitably connect with you through one of many social media means. Make sure your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram pages have the correct privacy settings in place. Updating your LinkedIn page to reflect your current position, skills and contact information.

3-Invite a Friend.

Misery loves company, right? Everyone feels better if you can come with a friend, just don’t stick to each others side all night. Go and mingle. No friends to go with? Check with the RSVP list or host to see if you already know someone attending. You can reach out before hand or, look for them when you first get there to help calm any nerves or jitters

4- Practice that Elevator Speech

Have something prepared that when someone asks you the “what do you do” question, you don’t stumble answering it, say nothing or even worse — say too much! A couple sentence and then ask them something about their job or background.

5- Connect After the Event

Make sure you gather business cards, make mental notes of those you would like to follow up with (think partnering with your current job or a place you would like to work one day) and make sure to follow up within the week after. A personal card, a short email or even a connection on LinkedIn can help you build relationships once this event is over.

The post Networking 101 appeared first on Clutch MOV.