Participants go over edge to raise funds
By Sean Barron
YOUNGSTOWN
Ky’liah Finger has no problem occasionally living life on the edge.
“I’m not afraid at all, because it’s for a good cause. I always wanted to do something like this,” the 17-year-old Boardman girl said, referring to the prospect of being slowly hoisted up one side of Youngstown’s tallest building.
The good cause she alluded to Saturday was Beatitude House, the recipient of the second annual Over the Edge for Beatitude House rappelling fundraiser event. The all-day uplifting experience, which kicked off Friday, allowed participants to rappel down the 18-floor, 225-foot First National Bank building, 1 W. Federal St., downtown.
Over the Edge is a national company that hosts rappelling events in the U.S., Mexico and Canada to help nonprofit organizations raise money, said Julia Pisansky, Beatitude House’s development associate.
BH’s two main offerings are transitional and permanent-supportive housing for women and children who are victims of poverty, domestic violence and other difficult circumstances, she noted.
Transitional housing provides such families with six to eight months of housing while giving them support services toward finding a permanent home, employment and schooling. Permanent-supportive offers women and children with physical, emotional and mental challenges housing as long as needed, Pisansky explained.
Those who rappelled first had to raise a minimum of $1,000 each, which will go toward the agency’s programs, she continued, adding that last year’s event brought in about $110,000, a goal organizers hoped to match or exceed this year.
Ky’liah, a Mahoning County Career & Technical Center senior who has had her share of struggles, spent about two years living at Beatitude House, which helped her deepen her empathy toward others. The services also put her on a path to land a job as well as set the stage to attend Penn State University and study to enter law school.
“I have a job in a [hair] salon in Canfield,” she said proudly.
“Beatitude House helped me grow into a new person,” added Ky’liah’s twin sister, Ky’heir Finger, whose long-term goal is to attend law school to be a public defender. “Beatitude House taught me to be more mature and live life to the fullest, and that I can do whatever I put my mind to.”
In two years, the program allowed the twins’ mother, Robin Finger, to reunite with them, helped her son graduate from Ursuline High School and provided key assistance to her oldest son, who works with children on the autism spectrum in Stroudsburg, Pa., Robin said with pride. In addition, BH gave her a greater sense of stability and structure, along with tools to be a better parent, she said.
Unlike her sister, though, Ky’heir was more nervous than she had anticipated about scaling the side of the city’s tallest building in a harness and on a small seat. You might say she was glad to return to being down to earth.
The same could be said of brothers Daniel and Vince Vivo, 11 and 17, respectively, of Columbiana.
“I was perfectly fine, but up there to view the city, I was real nervous,” said Vince, a Columbiana High School senior. “The view was definitely unforgettable. It was sweet.”
“I was nervous up there, but it looked fun and I did it for the cause,” added Daniel, a South Side Middle School sixth-grader, who was said to be the youngest of the estimated 67 who rappelled over the two days.
The brothers could be part of a family tradition because their parents were in last year’s event; next year, two of their siblings could pick up where they left off, Vince added.
Before moving up in the world, participants took part in practice demonstrations in which Sara Kreps, an On the Edge training manager, familiarized them and allowed them to practice with main pieces of equipment such as full-body harnesses and ropes as well as hands-on descending and backup devices.
“They know they can trust the rope with their weight,” she said.
Main sponsors were 21 WFMJ-TV, The Vindicator’s broadcast partner; Living Bread Radio; the City of Youngstown; Greenwood Chevrolet; OH WOW! The Roger & Gloria Jones Children’s Center for Science & Technology; Covelli Enterprises Inc.; NYO Property Group; Cumulus Radio; Armstrong Group of Companies; Home Savings and Loan; the DeBartolo Corp.; LinqMyTeam; Involta LLC; Astro Shapes Inc.; and Farmers National Bank.