The Story Behind Tommy and Happen, Inc.

    Before departing on my church's mission trip to Cincinnati, we were all given a packet of information about what parts of the community we would be serving in. A business called Happen, Inc. was one of the first things that caught my eye and that lead me to google what it was all about. In general, I discovered they have multiple programs for children of all ages. They have pottery, toy-making, film-making, all kinds of things. I really was hoping I'd get the chance to check it out, especially  since it seemed unlike anything we had in our area. Well, let's fast forward to the trip... across the street from the church we slept in this week in Cincinnati was that place, Happen. Little did I know, I would soon get my chance to work with Tommy, the mastermind behind the organization, later in the week. Below is a picture of him (source):

    The sixty of us volunteering in Cincinnati were split off into groups of five to eight with at least two adults. I was put in the "West End" group along with some others from church and a couple from the Pennsylvania church. We began working at the YMCA on Monday and Tuesday, however, Wednesday and Thursday we walked across the street to help Tommy with whatever he needed to be done. Another group had already spent the first half of the week with him sweeping the sidewalks and cleaning up gardens for him; I was interested in what we would have to do. What I remember most distinctly about Tommy and my experience with Happen, Inc. is what I came here to write about in the first place- his story.

    On Wednesday after lunch, both my "West End squad" and another clan of youth met inside Happen and awaited Tommy's instructions on what we would be doing that afternoon. We had been working on cleaning the sidewalks and streets of Cincinnati by picking up trash, pulling weeds, and everything imaginable. We were exhausted, and the air conditioning felt nice. He asked if we had any questions, and I remember Caden said something along the lines of, "How do you do all of this?" He was referring to the fact Tommy explained to us he had already been everywhere around town working with other programs he runs, yet he didn't even seem to slow down. I'll explain the background information he gave us.

    After his parents divorced, he transitioned from private school to public. What made it even worse is that his father taught at the same school he would have to attend, although he had 500 feet restraining order from his dad. This was a situation unlike anything the school had ever seen, and so it was left up to him to handle the situation. At the beginning of the school year, he would sit on the front steps outside the building waiting for his mom to come pick him up. For the first couple of days, he had to bear watching his father walk by him without saying a word when all the teachers were released to go home until he could no longer bear it. At this point in the story as he explained it to us, he compared himself to Forrest Gump. He also had the leg braces like Forrest had, but after school, he just started running rather than sitting just so he wouldn't have to see his dad. The initial time he did it, one of the coaches he knew saw him running along the side of the highway and asked him if he needed a ride, and he said no. From that point on every day he would run, the teacher would honk his horn at Tommy, and that would let him know that the teachers had been released so he could start running back to the school to wait on his mom.

    Beyond that, he also told us about the entrepreneurship part of his life. He started out by co-founding an advertising company which seemed to do nothing but climb in popularity. Yet in 1999, he gave all the up to start up Happen, Inc., a non-profit that helps children in Cincinnati area learn how to be creative and it gives them hope. He has gardens that he's helping build up through Happen that he plans to make wheelchair accessible, travels so many places to help out kids, it just blows my mind. The two things he said that really stuck with me are this- "Let hope live.", and "Community isn't where you are, it's who you are."

    This man's story and his accomplishments are something I hope others can see the greatness in as well. "That was the long answer to your question," he said to Caden with a smile. I don't if my words or phrases are even clear or coherent enough to convey the impact this man is having on the community, or even the world, but you could hear his passion in his voice. You could see it through his dedication to serving the community in more than one way- he hosts cookouts, allows them to design, make, and sell t-shirts to learn early on how to live a professional lifestyle, and much more. God is working through him and all of his volunteers from what I can tell, and he mentioned that sometimes they do struggle to keep the lights on a cover the bills, but God always finds a way. He trusts God wholeheartedly. Cincinnati has unique individuals and places everywhere, and I'm going to do my best to write about them in much detail as I can while I can.

Love always,

Allison