We are honored to announce a recent UCBMA grant recipient: PARACHUTE:  Butler County CASA. This non-profit agency is dedicated to providing trained community volunteers to children who are in the Juvenile Court system due to abuse, neglect or abandonment; these volunteers are willing to take a stand for the Butler County's most vulnerable children.   The CASA concept is based on the commitment that every child has the right to a safe, permanent home, as soon as possible.

Since 1988, PARACHUTE has helped over 2,000 Butler County children find safe, permanent homes by recruiting, training and supervising 524 concerned community members to serve Butler County Juvenile Court as Court Appointed Special Advocate Volunteers.  CASA volunteers have attended 6,500 court hearings to speak up for the best interest of local abused and neglected children.

A Family’s Appreciation

We were very grateful that Diane was chosen as our granddaughter’s CASA volunteer. She is an amazing woman who truly advocates for a child’s best interest. Our granddaughter dearly loved Diane and was so excited each and every time she came to visit our home to spend one-on-one time with our granddaughter. Diane is remarkable in every way - we cannot say enough positive things about her. There were times I felt I may not be handling things just right and Diane would talk to me and reassure me to just love our little granddaughter, do the best we can, and to always put her needs first. Diane is smart, caring, loving and someone I could talk to easily. I trusted her advice and it always worked out for the best. Parachute has a wonderful volunteer in Diane and we couldn’t have asked for a better advocate, not only for our granddaughter but also for me and my husband.

- John & Joanne, Grandparents for a CASA child

Learn more on their website!

UCBMA meets every month for many different reasons. Most of our meetings follow a particular plan, but some of our meetings are more casual. We post all meeting minutes on our website as well as in meeting follow-up emails. 

During our meetings we:

1. Select local non-profit organizations for grants and sponsorships through our voting process
2. Plan and organize upcoming events
3. Network
4. Share announcements and news
5. Give back to our local community
6. Grow our businesses
7. Learn about other businesses in the area
8. Keep up the momentum of the group

If you are looking for a fun way to give back, come to a meeting! We'd love to have you join the fun! Click here to view the calendar.

Each year we choose a deserving non-profit organization to benefit from the UCBMA Food Truck Rally. This year we chose The Heroes' Fund, which provides one-time emergency financial assistance to combat zone veterans. The organization was founded in 2007; since then they have contributed $135,000 to local veterans in need. Veterans who would like to be considered need to complete an application (www.heroesfundoh.com).

All of the organization's board members are volunteers. Many of their members are veterans who represent all branches of the United States Military. Their mission is to help veterans who need emergency assistance. Each recipient can receive up to $5,000 for bill payments or other personal needs such s child care or car maintenance.They will consider veterans who live in Butler, Hamilton and Warren County. They follow this application process for each applicant:

1. Applicants must apply through a printed application
2. Each eligible applicant is assigned to a Veteran who interviews him/her and completes a report to submit to the committee
3. After the committee reads each report and approves an application, it is sent to the board for final approval.
4. The funds are distributed to the veterans' accounts that have been approved for assistance

As this year's beneficiary of the Food Truck Rally, Heroes' Fund received $14,000 for their mission! Bill Lack, Board Member of Heroes' Fund advises,

"If your organization is lucky enough to be chosen as the Food Truck Rally beneficiary, promote the event and help man it! We had a blast!"

The Heroes’ Fund works closely with many local veteran’s organizations such as the Butler, Hamilton, and Warren County Veteran Services Commissions and the local branches of the VFW, American Legion, and Amvets. They are continually working to reach out to many facets of the community to make their fund more widely known in order to help more veterans in need.

You can help Heroes' Fund by sharing their mission with others! The more people that know about their mission, the more veterans they can help! Visit their website for more details: www.heroesfundoh.com

On November 23, 2015, the Journal News published an article introducing UCBMA to the community. Click here to read the complete story.