IMPACTING GENERATIONS: BCF has annual dinner, awards Game Changers
PHOTOS BY CHRISTINA McCUNE | BGNN
Carol Hodanbosi, center, with Barberton Community Foundation executive director Josh Gordon, left, and BCF board president Lynne Hocomb, right, accepts the 2024 Game Changer Award on behalf of her husband, longtime educator and coach Phil Hodanbosi, who passed away in February. A large grant he wrote with Elissa Young for Barberton City School District was approved two days after he died.
In his first year as executive director, Josh Gordon called the BCF Annual Dinner a celebration of community. A record-setting 300 people attended the event.
Phil Hodanbosi, who died Feb. 28, was honored as a Game Changer for his years teaching 8th-grade math, among other things.
Ann Hutchison, director of the Barberton Public Library, speaks at the BCF’s Annual Dinner. The library was chosen as a 2024 Game Changer Award recipient.
By CHRISTINA McCUNE
BGNN managing editor
WADSWORTH Loud applause filled the banquet hall Nov. 7 at The Galaxy in Wadsworth for Phil Hodanbosi and the generations of students, athletes, families and fellow educators he impacted.
Hodanbosi passed away Feb. 28. He had many supporters at the Barberton Community Foundation Annual Dinner, which celebrated the community and the foundation’s work, and his wife, Carol, accepted the 2024 Game Changer Award on his behalf. Co-workers spoke highly of him and shared some tear-filled tributes in a video shown for the record-setting 300 people at the dinner.
Along with Hodanbosi, the other 2024 Game Changer Award winner was the Barberton Public Library. Like the longtime educator, the library has impacted generations in its more than 120-year history.
“We’re here to celebrate what makes our community so special,” said BCF executive director Josh Gordon in opening
remarks. “Looking around this room how can you not feel proud to be a Barbertonian.”
Public officials, previous and present BCF board members, community leaders, business owners, past scholarship recipients and many others gathered.
For the past 24 years, the foundation has presented awards to individuals and organizations who make a difference in the community and has encouraged others to follow the examples they have set.
Known as an eighth-grade math teacher for more than 30 years, a football and basketball coach at the middle and high school levels, and an instructional coach for Barberton City School District in his retirement, Phil Hodanbosi was nominated with support from co-workers who wrote a 32-page letter sharing their favorite stories.
Examples of his dedication, inspiration and legacy also were presented in a video along with a clip of Hodanbosi himself teaching.
As an instructional coach, Hodanbosi worked with Elissa Young to write grants for the school district. Young said the duo completed the largest and most difficult grant before Hodanbosi passed away. The grant was to the Ohio Department of Education for $1.4 million to bolster two Barberton High School Four Cities Compact programs: Advanced Manufacturing and Network Systems and Cyber Security. The schools received notice of the award on March 1, two days after Hodanbosi died.
A video also was shown before the Barberton Public Library was presented the Game Changer Award received by director Ann Hutchison. She and other librarians spoke in the video about how
the library is much more than just books and is a “community hub’ adapting to meet the changing needs of the community.
Hutchison mentioned the “Library of Things,” with items from pickleball sets to metal detectors. The library has 19,000 card holders, more than 63,000 print materials, more than 23,000 audio-visual materials and more than 2 million digital items. The independent library has been fine-free since 2022 and offers free fax services, and recently added passport and notary services by trained staff members.
Hutchison noted how she had worked with Phil Hodanbosi and he had brought esports to the library thanks to a grant and increased the number of computers at the high school.
Before the Game Changer Awards were presented, Gordon provided some information about the foundation and its funds.
“I believe in Barberton. I believe in our people. I believe in our future,” Gordon said. “And I believe in what this endowment can do and the foundation can do for the community. Twenty-eight years after our beginning, I’m proud to say that the initial gift of $86 million in our endowment has helped us to accomplish some pretty amazing things. The foundation’s awarded over $105 million in grants to nonprofits, our schools and our city, so far. Since our first scholarship class in 1997 we have awarded over $5 million in scholarships.”
Gordon said that since 2022 the foundation has invested just over $2 million in economic development programs to support job creation and business growth and vitality downtown.
“These gifts are only possible by our endowment and by generosity that frankly is unique in Barberton,” he said.
The BCF has 116 funds that provide support to a variety of important causes that advance the community, he said.
The endowment fund is the “biggest and best way to support lasting positive change in the community,” he said.
Gordon talked about the endowment fund making a lasting impact over generations by solving challenges and creating new opportunities for the future. He said breaking cycles that have prevented Barberton from reaching its potential can be accomplished with “four T’s,” which are time, talent, treasure and togetherness, and he thanked everyone at the dinner for sharing those four T’s.
For more information, visit www.barbertoncf.org.
