The LFYO Fundraising Luncheon Is Just Over One Week Away
Sōw Plated Restaurant
Friday, September 18, 2026
Fundraising Goal: $500,000
The 2026 LFYO Fundraising Luncheon is right around the corner. The venue? Our favorite restaurant, Sow Plated! Attendees will be treated to an assortment of delicious hors d’oeuvres, exquisite lunch selections, and scrumptious desserts on September 18th. We’ll have an excellent lineup of speakers, with OSU men’s head basketball coach Jake Diebler as the featured celebrity. The room will be filled with some of Central Ohio’s most successful couples and influential business leaders. And every investment sponsor at our 2026 gala—all 38 of them—are people that I know and/or have a working relationship with as a client, customer, or community partner.
Here’s what I love about the guests who’ve attended our fundraising events over the past few years: They’re down to earth, which speaks to the issue of their humility. What’s even more impressive is that they are double-sided philanthropists, providing money in the form of financial support as well as meaning in regard to personal and professional development as life purpose facilitators. These LFYO investment supporters are just as generous with their time as they are their wealth. They visit our classrooms as knowledgeable mentors and welcome inner-city students into their businesses to experience life-changing field trips. Of course, proximity to success is the best (and fastest) way to achieve it, especially when you’ve been dealt a bad hand from birth.
In narrative form, a brief outline of LFYO’s game plan for the end of 2026 and into 2027 follows:
Empowering Single-Parent Moms Who Are Committed to Economic Freedom Initiatives (EFIs)
Moms matter. A lot. And for those taking care of children alone, my heart breaks for them. You see, I grew up with three older sisters in a single-parent home. Absent father, present mother. I’m shedding a few tears as I write, thinking about how difficult it was for my mom, Ma Dukes, to take care of four children in Central Ohio’s most dangerous housing project by herself. Sullivant Gardens, located on the city’s westside, was a war zone. Drug dealers. Gang-bangers. Roach-infested apartments. Hopeless residents. Low expectations. You get the picture. That’s why my wife and I are assisting single-parent moms in breaking free from runaway doubts, shattered dreams, and broken hearts. Economic freedom isn’t everything, but it can move a committed mom to provide for her child(ren) on a solo-caregiver mission. Thus far, we’ve presented single-parent moms with financial empowerment workshops, nutritional coaching seminars, and spa pampering sessions. Plus, their child(ren), through a custodial account, will receive shares of gifted stock from my wife and I to help them get started down the path to financial freedom. These moms deserve a hand up!
Equipping Fourth- and Fifth-Grade Students in the Areas of Math Competency and English Fluency
High school students from at-risk backgrounds are falling behind academically, with educational gaps compounding as each year passes. By the time many of them have reached ninth grade, they are two, three, or four grades behind. That’s why an upstream problem requires a downstream playbook. We teach fourth- and fifth-grade students how to bet on themselves without getting caught up in losing propositions. Hands-on activities using real-world simulations and sensory-based modalities are critical for student engagement. If a learning experience isn’t fun, disinterest quickly escalates, no matter who the presenter is. We integrate the fundamentals of academic concepts into every fun-filled activity, from managing a household to investing in the stock market to operating a healthy juice business to participating in a taste-test challenge. Packed with macro- and micro-nutrient goodies, participants receive healthy snacks during each learning session. These snacks are nut free, dairy free, gluten (and wheat) free, soy free, GMO free, sesame free, and shellfish free but not taste free. No cap.
Engaging Vulnerable Teens Inside and Outside the Foster Care System
The body, brain, and belly are the greatest accounting systems in the world. Inflows and outflows. Credits and debits. Assets and liabilities. And for our most vulnerable teens, they often find themselves as hurt players participating in the wounded games. As self-appointed referees, they must settle the score of personal brokenness and parental abandonment on their own accord, righting the wrongs of past injustices through present-day substitutions. Not good when every situation—even promising opportunities—is viewed from the unrelenting lens of pain. It’s not easy, but we help disadvantaged youth look ahead. To something brighter and better than what they’ve unfortunately experienced. For those who accept the challenge, their macro vision (of who they eventually become) in the distance will be shaped by each micro version (of how they improve today). They can be what they’re willing to see. No doubt about it.
