ASHLAND — The Ashland County Women of Achievement will have its induction ceremony on Nov. 16 at Brethren Care Village Wellness and Community Center, 2000 Center Street, Ashland.
The public is invited to attend. Past recipients are encouraged to attend to be recognized. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., ceremony at 7 p.m., with a light hor d’oeuvre and dessert buffet.
A check for $20 per person serves as your reservation, and may be mailed to Women of Achievement c/o Barbie Lange 890 Williamsburg Court, Ashland, Ohio 44805.
RSVP’s should be received by Nov. 10. The following are the 2021 nominees and Young Woman to Watch.
Dr. Deborah Sullivan
If you are in Ashland Ohio and hear the word “wellness,” the first person you think of is Deborah Sullivan. Dr. Sullivan has spent her almost 40 years at Ashland University helping to nurture and enrich the bodies, souls, and minds of not only Ashland University students, but those of our community and beyond.
Dr. Sullivan led wellness initiatives and education as the chairwoman of AU’s Family and Consumer Sciences Department, a position she held for 16 years. In that time, she also led collaborations with university colleagues in Nursing and Sports Sciences, to help all of their programs expand and impact more students than they could individually. Deborah’s impact was not just on students, but on the university and growing its wellness profile.
During Deborah’s time at Ashland University, the Family and Consumer Sciences Department grew from 36 majors to 81, and endowments doubled, creating the most endowments at the university, and included an endowed chair. Deborah has been a member of numerous national organizations that advocate for the betterment of Family and Consumer Sciences, where she has held leadership positions, presented at state and national conferences, and written articles and book chapters.
She has been a leader in helping people to recognize that wellness is more than just eating your fruits and vegetables, and founded several initiatives that focus on whole body wellness, which includes sleep, movement, and de-stressing. In 2016 Deborah became the Ashland University Director of Campus Wellness, ensuring that all students, faculty, and staff could benefit from her knowledge and passion.
Deborah Sullivan has shared her leadership and knowledge with our entire community. She has served on countless committees, groups, and boards in Ashland, including the Ashland Center for Non-Violence, Ashland University Title IX Committee, the Samaritan Hospital Board and Samaritan Hospital Foundation Board, the Ashland Heroin Task Force, and Ashland Social Agencies, to name just a few.
Her list of awards is even longer, including receiving an Ashland University Mentor Award several years, the Award of Excellence from the Ohio Association of Teachers of Family and Consumer Sciences, Ashland University’s Honor and Integrity Award, and being named one of only three American Association of Family and Consumer Services Leaders in the country in 2018. Dr. Deborah Sullivan has dedicated her life to showing us how to better take care of ourselves, and has enriched our lives with her knowledge, her passion, and her leadership.
Lindsey Roberts-Gasche
Lindsey Roberts-Gasche has been an Ashland resident for just a decade, but in that time, she has made an incredible impact on our community and on those who are fortunate enough to work with her. She has embraced her community and works to help make it a better place for those living here. As co-owner and funeral director of Denbow-Gasche Funeral Home and Crematory, Lindsey is flourishing in an industry that is still overwhelmingly male.
To be able to succeed in this industry means that she had to overcome prejudice and stereotypes during her education, and still does to this day. Lindsey has persevered, and now runs her successful business side-by-side with her husband. She has also made sure to promote, support, and empower fellow women in our community. Lindsey’s skills and vision are welcomed on the many boards where she serves.
She is not afraid to do the hard work and ask the hard questions that make organizations successful. Lindsey doesn’t shy away from the work involved to make our community stronger. She has been a valued and productive member of numerous boards in Ashland, including the Ashland Symphony Orchestra, Ashland Main Street, the Ashland Bookcase Project, Ashland Cancer Association, Ashland Symphony Women’s League, and Ashland Rotary Club.
Currently, she is the Chairwoman of the Ashland County Community Foundation Women’s Fund Childcare Marketing and Fundraising
Subcommittee. This group has been actively addressing and finding solutions for one of the most fundamental issues in our community and in our nation- finding quality, affordable child care. Lindsey’s identification of this need and her work toward finding a solution for it is just one of many examples of her leadership and vision.
Lindsey Roberts-Gasche was educated in helping people cope during a family death. Luckily for us, the compassion and knowledge she exhibits in her work she also shares with the rest of our community, as she helps enrich Ashland and its people.
JoAnne Weber
JoAnne Weber has dedicated most of her life to generously caring for those on the margins, the very young and the very old, the overlooked and the underappreciated. Of all of these, she has spent the most time serving those with developmental needs and disabilities, whom she proudly refers to as her “personal heroes.”
When JoAnne became the coordinator of Special Olympics for Ashland County, she immediately began to expand the program to serve more Ashland County residents, bringing the number of athletes from 58 when she started, to over 110. More athletes meant more need, and she addressed that too, expanding the sponsorships to the program.
JoAnne is also the Evening Events Coordinator for the Ashland Board of Developmental Disabilities, and she makes sure that her clients have fun social events available to them almost every month.
These events benefit more than her clients – JoAnne has worked to increase the number of community volunteers to engage with the clients and help at the events. Her partnerships include involving the Hillsdale football team, who volunteer every year to help with the summer picnic.
JoAnne supports not only her clients, but their families as well; as a Respite Caregiver she opens up her home to those with special needs, allowing their families and caregivers much needed rest and self-care, and peace knowing that their loved ones are in qualified and caring hands.
JoAnne has spent almost 20 years supporting the VIP Camp at Round Lake Christian Camp, where individuals spend three nights away from home enjoying a camp experience. Not only does JoAnne help plan for camp, work the camp, and financially support the camp, she also mentors and assists the staff members with her, helping to train and grow more people in the work that she so loves.
She is also their beloved and favorite BINGO caller, where she makes sure to involve all the campers in a winning experience. JoAnne provides around the clock care to her camper and is always available to help other campers.
What JoAnne Weber provides for her clients and their families cannot be measured. A smile, a laugh, a face filled with happy emotion; the joy of inclusion and trying a fun activity for the first time. These gifts, and more, are what JoAnne gives to our county’s developmentally disabled people, and by extension, to our entire community.
Ruth Rafeld
When you are facing one of the worst crises you have ever experienced; you hope that you have someone like Ruth Rafeld at your side.
From her time as a nurse at Med Central Health System, to her 17 years at Hospice of North Central Ohio, Ruth has made sure her patients and families had the best and most compassionate care, and that the staff and agencies she worked with provided exceptional support while these families dealt with the most trying of circumstances. Ruth took all this knowledge and experience with her to the Ashland County Prosecutor’s office, where she has been the sole Victims’ Assistance Coordinator for eight years.
She is on the front line of rendering aid and assistance to crime victims in Ashland County, which results in her assisting an average of 400 victims annually. Her roles include making sure that the victim’s direct needs are met after a traumatic event or experience, helping those people get the medical, emotional, or monetary assistance they require, making sure they understand the complex judicial proceedings that will come in the future, and serving as the person who will help them through that experience.
Ruth works diligently to ensure that all victims know what is happening in the process and what that means for them. She attends every court case with each victim, calls them frequently, and corresponds on their behalf to attorneys, case workers, and law enforcement. She ensures that no victim is denied the opportunity to be heard. Sometimes this involves different victims of different crimes, all on the same day.
Ruth juggles all this with compassion, concern, and a network of people who help her serve her victims and meet their needs, whether that be finding them a place to stay, or verifying that proper protocols are being followed. It is no wonder that Ruth was named Ashland Elks Lodge 1360 Citizen of the Year in 2017.
The criminal justice system is a complex and foreign place to the average person. It is a terrifying and frustrating place to those who have experienced the trauma of victimization.
Ruth Rafeld, to those so affected, is the shelter from the storm. Her ability to guide victims through the criminal justice process allowed Ashland County to be a place where wrongs are righted Justice is nothing more than an empty promise if it is gained by re-victimizing those it seeks to make whole.
Thanks to Ruth Rafeld, no victim is left forgotten at the back of a courtroom.
Kristin Aspin
Here’s a word you may not associate with her when speaking of Kristin Aspin: “growth;” but you should, because everything Kristin touches grows and becomes better.
Even her career as the Ashland County Community Foundation is steeped in growth — from her start there performing basic clerical work, Kristin has grown to office manager, then program director, and now Chief Program Officer of the organization. Her work at the Foundation is critical — people have invested with the Foundation are being used to benefit and grow our community in the best possible ways.
In her three years as a member of Ashland’s Rotary Club, Kristin has helped that organization grow in its membership; its reach (with the establishment of several endowed funds, including a scholarship fund, and an expanded emphasis on club service); and its community impact, by leading the effort to ensure the Rotary’s 4th of July Fireworks are fully-funded.
Kristin’s role at Park Street Brethren Church has grown from being a nursery volunteer, to her current positions as both a member of the Park Street Executive Committee, and as that committee’s representative on the Park Street School’s task force, which met to re-examine the school’s mission, operation, and finances. Kristin’s leadership on the task force was instrumental in maintaining the school’s presence in our community.
The Ashland County Community Foundation’s Women Fund has done nothing but grow, thanks to Kristin’s leadership. Kristin helped start the organization with the support of Dr. Lucille Ford, and this agency has become a powerhouse in the community, spearheading opportunities to support, recognize, and empower women across the county.
Its most recent project, the Childcare Initiative, promises to revolutionize the workforce of Ashland County, and Kristin is leading the way in developing the path forward for this initiative. Kristin volunteers to share her skills in other areas of our community as well; she is a member of both the United Way Community Investment Committee and treasurer for the Ashland County Humane Society.
Kristin Aspin has been a driving force in the growth of our community for over a decade. She is community-minded, action-oriented, and solution-focused, which is the kind of triple threat that makes good organizations and good communities great. We are lucky to have Kristin working on our behalf to make Ashland County a better place for us all.
Jenna Book
It’s no surprise that Jenna Book was selected as the Ashland County Woman of Achievement’s Young Woman to Watch for 2021. Although still in high school, her resume is two pages long, and reflects a wide variety of interests and accomplishments.
She has volunteered for Loudo Church of the Nazarene, McMullen Assisted Care, the Ashland County Dog Shelter, Akron Children’s Hospital, the Loudonville Fair Board, and the LP Schools Music boosters.
Her accomplishments in FFA are wide-reaching and varied; from competing at district and state competitions to being chapter secretary, then vice president. Her selection to the National FFA Band marks the first time in over 30 years that a Loudonville student has achieved that honor.
Academically it should be no surprise that she has received all A’s every year she has been in high school, along with being inducted into National Honor Society, being a member of the Academic Challenge Team, representing student council as both freshman class president and then student council president, and being elected Homecoming Queen.
Jenna is the top student in her class, and her 4.0 GPA includes over half of her credits coming through the College Credit Plus Program at North Central State. Jenna plays in the marching and pep bands, concert band, and jazz band, on three different instruments.
What makes Jenna more than just a great student, and a young woman for us all to watch, is evident in what her teachers and principal say about her. That “she is a great role model”. “That she will continue to do great things in our world.”
That she “demonstrates the highest levels of leadership, cooperation, motivation and thoughtfulness.”
We look forward, along with the rest of her peers, family, and teachers, to see what is next for this Young Woman to Watch.
