Code,999139,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Subject,Lyn Cooper Tomaszewski,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Date,4/13/2017,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Interviewer,Sarah Nemeth,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Abstract,"Lyn Cooper Tomaszewski, the founding Director of Interact of Great Cleveland, discusses the challenges and awe inspiring work of Cleveland's inter-religious non-profit. She describes her first day on the job at The Church of Transfiguration with only a folding table and a phone and then traces the growth of the non-profit until it closed its doors in 2012. Many of the service and collaborative programs that still exist day were once part of Interact of Greater Cleveland from the Hunger Center to The Homeless Stand Down. Her story exhibits the passion and sense of community that is Cleveland. ",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Tags,"religion, civic activism",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Special Notes,The sound quality is excellent. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
minutes:,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
0,Sarah Nemeth introduces Lyn Cooper Tomaszewski. Background information provided. She attended Case Western University. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
1,She worked at the University Hospitals MacDonald Women's Hospital clinics as a nurse. Her true calling was more administrative.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
2,List of the administrative projects she has been involved with. Her passion is to provide people with information for them to then apply that information to their own situations.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
3,ESIM (East Side Interfaith Ministries) started 1991. It was birthed out of the Euclid University Cluster in the 1950s. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
4,"ESIM started with a focus on basic needs. Loaves and Fishes, Hunger Center and tutoring. Incorporated in 1991 and expand beyond basic needs. ",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
5,Lists the religious institutions involved in the Euclid University Cluster. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
6,Campus Ministries were also involved in the Euclid University Cluster. All started with a inter-faith Thanksgiving service. There were no issues collaborating. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
7,"Served the Hough, Fairfax and University Circle area primarily. Hunger Center started in the 1970s, at The Church of the Transfiguration. ",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
8,"Hunger Center discussion continues, which is part of the Hunger Center Network. Suburbanites and college students were able to work in an urban environment. ",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
9,"ESIM's main goal was to have people work side-by-side, collaboratively that they normally would not associate. 2006 Hunger Center moves to a building formally owned by the Cleveland Clinic. ",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
10,The Hunger Center now is called the Bread of Life. The new location is more accessible. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
11,Hunger Center provided 3-5 days worth of food. Discusses the purpose of and coordination it took to properly run the Hunger Center. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
12,"Loaves and Fishes, organized by St. Agnes -- Our Lady of Fatima. Loaves and Fishes is a hot meals program, where suburban and urban churches meet. ",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
13,The workers ate with those they served. One church provided the food and another provided the space. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
14,"Shares a story of when the Nubian Police Association served hot meals at Calvary Presbyterian. The hot meal program now operates under the non-profit, Covenant Community and University Ministries. ",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
15,Feed My Sheep at Calvary Presbyterian was part of the umbrella meal program of the Hunger Center. ESIM also adopted a tutoring program that came from the original cluster. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
16,ESIM focused on urban family and children programs. Describes the summer youth and open doors programs. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
17,"Describes the Families Together program. Other programs included bring Jewish and Christian students together, Inter-faith Fellows. ",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
18,"Many of the programs started in ESIM/Interact have continued. The high school tutoring program is now in its 27th year, serving up to 100 students. ",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
19,Linda Wilson started and still runs the high school tutoring program. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
20,"ESIM programs provided help for families, ex-convicts, homeless and more. Mention of Partners in Action program. ",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
21,Discussion continues on Partners in Action. ESIM helped families and individuals. There was not one segment of the population served more than others. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
22,ESIM started with providing basic needs. The vision developed into a collaborative focus over time. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
23,Each program was a give and take process. The person served was treated as an equal and was encouraged to volunteer with other programs. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
24,"In the first 9 months, ESIM grew from 9 congregations to 21. After 10 years there were 50 congregations. In the end the type of congregations involved further diversified. ",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
25,She identifies an additional shift in ESIM's focus to inter-religious dialogue. September 11th impacted Interact. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
26,Opportunities for inter-religious dialogue sprung out of the devastation of 9/11. She was the founding director of ESIM in 1991 and was there until 2001. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
27,"She describes, Gene Olenbush, her successor. Olenbush filled the director position until 2006. Sister Donna Marie Wilhelm followed Olenbush. Interact closed in 2011/2012.",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
28,Before ESIM she worked for Metro Health. She describes her duties in that position. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
29,Discussion of working at Metro Health continues. ESIM started at the Church of the Transfiguration. They had a folding table and one phone. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
30,She describes her first day working for ESIM. She describes how the operation started to grow. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
31,She continues to describe how the ESIM operation grew. She notes the implementation of technology. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
32,They built the organization from scratch. She did the accounting by hand at first. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
33,She notes how wonderful it was to start a non-profit from scratch. As the director she had her hands in every facet of the operation. She explains how irritating it was when vermin got into their food supplies at the Hunger Center. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
34,"Shares a story of a lawyer, turned Episcopal priest. She notes how her relationship with him started and how it changed over the years. ",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
35,"At the first Thanksgiving Service that they served a meal, the priest came to serve. Because the priest was black the other servers thought he should get in line to eat. She explains why the story is important to her. ",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
36,She does not remember blatant stereotypes being so pronounced again. Mentions the National Share Program. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
37,She further descriptes the Share Program. She explains how ESIM/Interact was able to offer so many service programs. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
38,She lists all of the coordinating that went into the Share Program. The woman that started the Share Program became ESIM/Interacts accountant. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
39,University School's decided to take on a holiday food delivery program. They delivered food to homes in the Hough/Fairfax area. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
40,The students expressed how humbled they were by the program. ESIM/Interact did 3 strategic plans. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
41,She used to be the Executive Director of Planned Parenthood Cleveland. 1993/1994 she was concerned the non-profit was not making a difference. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
42,"In 1995 Interact won two awards, which made her realize the importance of Interact. She describes the awards. ",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
43,She continues to describe the awards. In 1995 they had between 1000-1500 volunteers. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
44,They worked with Habitat for Humanity. Urban and suburban congregations would work together to build houses. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
45,They had an idea to do a restaurant in the Hough/Fairfax neighborhood and the executive chef of Ritz Carlton in Cleveland was involved.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
46,"The plan was to provide excellent food, a training facility for homeless and ex-convicts, and offer Cleveland restaurants with trained staff. ",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
47,Unfortunately the backer for the restaurant was affiliated with the Browns and that was the year they left for Baltimore. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
48,ESIM switched to Interact because they were starting to look at greater Cleveland and their programs were growing and expanding. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
49,She explains how ESIM's started to incorporate a more diverse focus. She attributes that growth to the need for the name change. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
50,For direct service programs they still focused on Glenville/Hough/Fairfax. But the locations of those involved started to spread. Notes the difference between inter-religious and inter-faith. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
51,Explains why the name Interact was so long. They moved from The Church of the Transfiguration in 2001.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
52,The offices moved to downtown on Perkins and then in 2006 they moved to Franklin Circle near W. 25th. She explains why she stepped down as director. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
53,She continues to explain why she stepped down as director. Usually after she provided a structural bases for an operation she stepped down. She stayed with Interact for almost 10 years. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
54,The first challenge came around 2001. Imam Fawaz Damra the Imam of the Islamic Center of Greater Cleveland on the west side. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
55,"Broad members in Spring 2001 were representative of Islam, Hindu and Bahia. A TV station dug up Imam Fawaz Damra's past. ",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
56,"The TV segment on Imam Fawaz Damra past spurred further problems, in conjunction with the state of the economy and 9/11. The Interact Board really stepped up against this negative publicity. ",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
57,After 9/11 the focus shifted to inter-faith dialogue. Students and clergy would get together to initiate dialogue. Funding became a challenge. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
58,Foundations started funding basic need non-profits instead of non-profits like Interact because of the economy. Operation expenses also depleted the programs funds. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
59,"Thanksgiving program, turned into a Thanksgiving of the Arts program instead of a service. Interact officially closed because of finances. ",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
60,She explains the process of how Interact closed in 2011/2012. Mention of the Homeless Stand Down. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
61,Hands on Northeast Ohio now operates the Homeless Stand Down program. She lists other congregations that took over other Interact programs. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
62,She reads from a Harvard publication the summarized mission of Interact. The mission was based on a two-pronged approach of dialogue and service. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
63,Interact was the only inter-religious organization that went outside of the Judeo-Christian faiths. Greater Cleveland Congregation may have now incorporated other faiths into their conglomerate. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
64,She describes the focus of Greater Cleveland Congregation. Interact was based on core values of collaboration and community; egalitarian values. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
65,"Some pastors supported Interact, but the challenge was that they did not encourage their congregations participation. By nature Interact's service model did not involve the heads of staff at congregations. ",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
66,Interact was Tomaszewski's pinnacle job. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
67,She is in awe of everyone who was involved in this program. Their skills and passion. She mentions two integral Peace Core volunteers. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
68,"She mentions some other dedicated staff, volunteers and interns. Mentions John Mandel and his relationship to the organization. ",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
69,The interview ends. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
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