BUCYRUS — Helping others was the focus of a trip to Crawford County for Tina Husted, wife of Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted.
Tina Husted, a Bucyrus native, returned to her hometown to speak with a group at Bucyrus Church of the Nazarene to discuss a movement that aims to help others by doing more than giving a handout.
The Open Table strives to help people by creating a network to help sustain long-term life change.
Husted said a church she attends in Columbus became affiliated with the 501(c)(3) organization started by Jon Katov in Paradise Valley, Arizona. Katov began the organization after establishing a relationship with a homeless man and using his connections to help the man get his vehicle fixed, get a job and other life goals.
Husted said Katov discovered the importance of personal relationships in helping people get back on their feet and find success.
The Open Table has spread to 27 states and nearly 70 cities, according to the organization’s website.
Husted said the modern version of the care Katov showed that first man is now in the form of 6-12 people sitting around a table with a person or family and helping them connect with people who may be able to assist with services needed to improve their quality of life.
She said it’s more than handing someone a check and wishing them the best.
“It’s going from transactional care to relationship care,” Husted said.
She said that relationship care is crucial, especially to a certain group she is interested in helping. Husted said the 18-24 age group, especially those who have aged-out of the foster care system, are at a critical point in their lives.
Husted’s chapter currently is serving seven individuals, most of which are aged-out of the foster system.
Husted said she and her husband always had wanted to be involved in helping the foster care community in some way, as Lt. Gov. Husted spent the first month of his life in foster care before being adopted. The Husted family discovered The Open Table from an interaction in Cleveland.
Husted said the problems many people face are not exclusive to large cities, but affect some in places like Crawford County as well.
The best way to combat the struggles people face is to, sometimes literally, lend a helping hand.
“There’s this loss of almost human interaction, with technology and things, and we’re almost forgetting how important our human connectivity is,” Husted said. “When I recruit volunteers in Columbus, people light up with this idea that they can really make a difference this way.”
She said the commitment from the volunteers is one hour per week for one year for one person.
Husted spoke of a young woman in the program who has a 6-year-old daughter.
“The long-term goal in many instances is to combat generational poverty,” she said. “We don’t just want to help the woman, but also set her child up for a successful future as well.”
She said volunteers get to see a first-hand difference in their own communities.
“Think of it as a one-year mission trip,” Husted said.
She said, as opposed to international mission trips, volunteers with The Open Table get to see long-term results by utilizing the resources and connections they already have locally.
Information on The Open Table and how to volunteer may be found at The Open Table website.
Husted’s full interview on The Spotlight Show with Dave Bush may be heard Sept. 3 at 9 a.m. on Country Legends 107.5 FM/1540 AM WBCO.