The five City Presidents for the decade were – Karen Post, Vickie Taylor, Ginny Myer, Ruth Wiley, and Sheila Maxwell. Our CCHMC areas of commitment were: Division of Adolescent Medicine, Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, and Division of Asthma Research. In 2002 Rich Dineen took over responsibility for Corporate and Foundation Relations at CCHMC, a position he held until his retirement in 2012. Since this included all the hospital fundraising auxiliaries, he became the Kindervelt Liaison to the hospital. Rich not only worked closely with the KV City Presidents but also with Barbara Fitch – one of the KV Founders, a former City President, and CCHMC Board of Trustees Member. He couldn’t say enough good things about her and the other Kindervelt Founders “who really knew what they were doing when they started Kindervelt.” Barb’s enthusiasm, continued support of KV and CCHMC, and sense of purpose is inspiring and is why in 2005, at the suggestion of Rich, the Kindervelt Board of Trustees under Ginny Myer, created the Barbara Fitch Award to recognize members who exhibit an enthusiastic and positive attitude toward the goals of Kindervelt. Barbara Fitch was the first recipient of this award named in her honor.
The early 2000s was a decade of resilience and finding strength. Though it got off to a shaky start, it didn’t derail Kindervelt from its focus on what was important. Membership began to grow, some of the older groups merged and new groups formed. We raised $3,910,000 for our CCHMC Commitments! The KinderKlaus Markt continued as the major city event and by mid decade we changed “Preview Party” to “Gala.” We were also encouraged by Rich to celebrate Kindervelt milestones and so in 2006 we celebrated 35 years of Kindervelt at the Sharonville Convention Center.
