Over the past few years, Howdy, Neighbors has been able to help support the missions of several disability-related organizations. That's because we have so many beautiful neighbors supporting us! Today we are unveiling our Contributor Page that specially calls out the more than 200 friends who have provided financial support along the way. Among other things, these funds have helped provide your special neighbors a new transport van, adaptive baseball fields, and new day program activities.

All of us here at Howdy, Neighbors are incredibly appreciative of the support we've received, from long-time friends and family, neighbors, organizations and businesses, and many, many kind strangers who are now cherished members of the Howdy Neighborhood. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you!!

The Muffin Men (L to R): Casey, Matt, Jamie, Jason

One of our gigs at Howdy, Neighbors is Muffin Men Coffee. Every Tuesday morning at Saint Joe's Day Program, Jason and his friends Casey, Matt, and Jamie hang out at our muffin and coffee activity, an all-volunteer effort that raises proceeds for their program. They've been greeting and talking, laughing and fist-bumping with other patrons for 2 1/2 years, while we've raised nearly $3,500. We even named our venture after them--they are the Muffin Men!

As our reputation has grown, we thought it important to thank and specially recognize our top supporters. So we started a Loyalty Program to reward them with free stuff. The Muffin Man Loyalty Card gives the holder a FREE bakery item for every seven purchases.

But that's not all! If you are determined enough to complete a loyalty card, you're inducted into the highly exclusive Muffineers Guild, as Muffineer Apprentice. With each card completed, you rise through the Guild ranks, with more prestige and honor at every level. Rumor has it that one very dedicated soul has recently been anointed as a Muffin Scout. 

The Hall of the Rising Muffineer

How high can you go? How high can anyone go? Mysteries abound at Muffin Men Coffee...

And those Muffin Men pictured above? They visit every single week! For their dedication, they have risen to legendary status: the Exalted Muffineer Council

The game is afoot...come and visit us!

Junior Muffineer Jim

We've added several new Cincinnati-area disability services and activities providers to our Cincinnati Adaptive Events newsletter! These include:

University of Cincinnati Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities provides interdiscliplinary and collaborative training, workshops, and seminars for persons with disabilities, as well as their families, caregivers, and interested community stakeholders. 

Cincinnati Art Museum offers special sensory-friendly adaptations for enjoying the museum and provides art education activities for those with disabilities and their families.

Hearts in the Park conducts community-building activities and events designed specifically for those with disabilities.

Newport Aquarium hosts Family Inclusive Sensory Hours (F.I.S.H.) and related adaptive programming to maximize  enjoyment for persons with disabilities.

Boltz to Nutz Farm offers adaptive cooking and gardening classes on the site of a working organic and biodiverse farm

Learn about all of the organizations that currently provide event information for our newsletter

Subscribe to our Cincinnati Adaptive Events newsletter

Howdy, Neighbors arose from a child's consistent and determined hand movement. A simple wave, gifted to passing cars and people. Often the wave has been accompanied by gestures of joy--a smile, a laugh, a display of excitement. Increasingly, it has been joined by others--old friends, as well as new ones attracted to this joy.

We've come to learn that when Jason waves at someone, what he is really doing is extending a bond of trust. His wave exclaims, "Here I am! I feel happy, and I want to share my joy with you! Won't you join in too?" When he sees someone new coming, he often says "Who's that? A neighbor".

It's heartwarming to watch this wave of trust play out. When Jason is outside waving at cars, at first a driver is usually looking straight ahead, or looking at their phone (this is very common!). Perhaps they glance over, and typically Jason gets a look of bewilderment. The next time they pass by, they may give a shy half-wave. Pretty soon, they are waving consistently and looking for us. Eventually, many people honk, especially if they hear another car honking--sort of a permission slip for them to do the same.

All of these responses,--the smiles, the waves, the honks, the shouted replies--these are bonds being formed. Bonds of trust, started by Jason, completed by neighbors who have felt that joy and feel the desire to give it back.

That whole process is captured beautifully in this 16 second video: 

Here, Jason is greeting customers at one of his favorite hangouts, Starbucks Blue Ash. He sees a new "neighbor" come in and greets him enthusiastically. The customer seems a bit surprised but returns the greeting, accepting Jason's trust and completing the first bond. Then, feeling good, the customer demonstrates his own trust by asking Jason how he's doing. Now it's Jason's turn to strengthen the bond.

But what is most remarkable is when the customer goes into line to order a drink. He turns around to look at Jason, with a smile on his face. If you watch to the end of the video, he actually does this twice. The bonds have taken root, Jason has transformed a complete stranger to a new friend, and an endearing memory has been created in the process.

All in 16 seconds.

We've seen this scene play out hundreds of times at dozens of locations in Cincinnati and around the country. At shops and restaurants, on baseball diamonds and bowling alleys, on street corners and walking paths, at concerts and sporting events, at airports and on airplanes.

These bonds of trust build community. One might even think of community as being constructed entirely by these bonds. Trust is what binds us together. It allows us to feel safe. To feel valued..wanted..loved.

And they lead to something bigger. We see examples of this almost every time we are out waving. Invariably, someone stops to talk to us. It's usually someone who has been touched by Jason's friendliness. Most of the time, people want to know why we are out here. Or they excitedly tell us that they always look for Jason, or have been waving for years. Everyone is happy and clearly touched by the experience.

Best of all, almost everyone has a story to share. How they have a cousin with a disability. Or a daughter who works at Saint Joe's, where Jason gets many of his services. Or "I work at (wherever), would Jason be interested in...?". Suddenly, we are having conversations we would never normally have in a neighborhood. And we find ourselves engaged, listening with interest to what they are saying. Instead of what our phones are trying to sell us.

Maybe this makes Jason a superhero. His superpower is a simple hand movement that magically creates happiness. We invite you to be a superhero too.

Won't you join our neighborhood?

Here in Cincinnati, we are so fortunate to have so many adaptive activities available for Jason and his friends. One of our favorites is rock climbing, made possible by the tremendous volunteers at The Bridge Adaptive Sports and Recreation, in partnership with RockQuest Climbing Center. Danny Meyer, founder of The Bridge, has used his skill and insight as a Cincinnati Children's physical therapist to find and adapt a wide range of sports, from fencing to water skiing for people of all abilities. Together with great partners like RockQuest and an army of enthusiastic volunteers, The Bridge makes almost anything possible to anyone.

Jason has tried rock climbing four times, and each time he has become more comfortable, transitioning from nervous smiles to enthusiastic whoops. In this video you can see where he masters the "Wellman Harness" and graduates to the big wall, where he quickly gains confidence. What's next--climbing Yosemite's El Capitan? Don't laugh--it's already been done by someone with cerebral palsy, as shown in the astounding documentary Wampler's Ascent. So yes, anything is possible!

We are most grateful to our partner Saint Joe's, who provide a wonderful activities program and living environment for Jason and many of his friends. Today, Jason's getting profiled on Saint Joe's Facebook page as the latest "Mission Monday Spotlight" recipient!

To show our appreciation, we thought we'd share some of Jason's best Saint Joe's memories in this short video (also on the Howdy Neighbors and Saint Joe's Facebook pages):

Jason and Howdy, Neighbors are very grateful for being featured a number of times on local media. We thought it would be cool to have a page that shares some of the featured stories over the years. We've also included footage from a few of our most memorable events, such as Sharonville's impromptu Honks parade for Jason shown above.

Our In The News page

We hope you enjoy seeing some of these good times, and we thank you if you participated in any of them!

We've added several new Cincinnati-area disability services and activities providers to our Cincinnati Adaptive Events newsletter! These include:

Independence Alliance provides services for people with physical, sensory, cognitive, and/or psychological disabilities in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.

Luke5Adventures Cincinnati offers one-hiker, one-hike “Adventures” as well as multi-Adventures “Events” at area city, county and state parks to all individuals with physical and behavioral disabilities.

MayWeHelp is a team of engineers, industrial designers, inventors, welders, woodworkers, seamstresses, doctors, occupational and physical therapists who design, build and deliver custom devices for individuals with disabilities.

Mayerson JCC of Cincinnati provides programming for children, teens, young adults, and seniors with disabilities.

Learn about all of the organizations that currently provide event information for our newsletter

Subscribe to our Cincinnati Adaptive Events newsletter

Choosing plants is sort of like speed dating--you are selecting the best plant "mate", and (whether you know it or not), they are checking you out as well!  Here are dating profiles from a few of our most recent hotties, all of whom found wonderful homes this weekend.

We are very fortunate here in Southwestern Ohio to have a wide range of services, activities, and events available for those with disabilities. But a big challenge remains--how do we find out about them?

To help with this challenge, Howdy Neighbors has launched a new service called Cincinnati Adaptive Events. This newsletter collects, compiles, and sends out information about upcoming events hosted by a sizable number of organizations in the greater Cincinnati area who serve or provide special access to the disabled community. We've done this because we are always learning about new activities, and we've learned that we are not alone.

Click here to subscribe to Cincinnati Adaptive Events

Click here to find out more about this service