our mission
our vision
Our basic goal: integrating services that wrap around relationships
Our focus is to build, maintain and strengthen bridges between our schools and the local community to better unite the Toledo Nickel (The 05).
The Eastside Community Pride Foundation starts in the schools by collaborating with administration, teachers and staff, business partners and individuals to give support. We then work with families and students, often teaming up with other non-profit and city and community outreach organizations, to give additional help and offer more events to a larger number of students and families than in recent years.
We accomplish these goals by first identifying the ever-changing needs of our students. We then reach out to the schools, their teachers and staff, parents, children, and interested citizens and organizations to tackle the issues we all face and to find solutions that support and improve the lives of the families in our community.
We believe it takes a village to start a movement of this size, and our goal is to build the Eastside Community Pride Foundation into a legacy for generations to follow.
— Our Story
The Eastside Community Pride Foundation was created in 2018 by a small group of Waite High School alumni with the goal to improve the learning environment of our students.
When we first gathered as a group of friends and Waite High School alumni, we discussed short-term and long-term goals for the “group.”
We knew from the beginning that we wanted to allow families now living in East Toledo to feel the strong community ties and neighborhood pride that we grew up surrounded by back in the 1980s and 1990s.
We knew we wanted to give back to the community that supported us throughout our childhood and the people who impacted our lives.
We wanted to continue this legacy we for generations to come . . . for 
future Eastsiders to live, see and feel the pride we feel when they say, “I’m from the Eastside” and “I grew up in the Nickel.” For us, being from the Eastside means much more than just where we were born and raised. Our goal is to pass on the traditions that our families, neighborhoods, schools, community centers and friends shared with us, keeping these values and great memories alive today and for years to come.
Our plan was to start within the elementary school communities and wrap our community effort around the high school that we all attended together. The “adoption” of Waite High School is an important long-term goal we keep near to our hearts and in our plans.
Our elementary school experiences and neighborhoods were different during our kindergarten through 6th grade years. Then we came together at East Toledo Junior High for 7th and 8th grade. After two years of combining our groups of friends and teams of players into one, we then went on to Waite High School, where we united as classmates who continue to walk through our lives together.
This deep bond we have with so many classmates . . . one that is important to us all . . . will be what the future generations also share with the success of the Eastside Community Pride Foundation.
Co-founders Oakdale teacher Ann Hornyak and principal Dr. Robert Yenrick were able to pilot a giving-back program inside of the school that year.
Now the Eastside Community Pride Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to giving back to our community and lifting up those around us in the tradition which we were raised to follow.
— Future Indian Pride In The 05
We intend for our foundation to be here for generations to come. We know there’s hard work ahead of us. The issues, concerns and needs of this community did not develop overnight, nor will they be solved quickly.
But we’re willing to start the change.
And we want you all with us . . . every step of the way. Together, we can change our community for the better by providing for our children and teaching them to be the future leaders.
— Our Team
The Eastside Community Pride Foundation is sustained by a tireless group of volunteers, sponsors and community members who share our vision for our kids and our neighborhood.
The ESCPF board members all have Eastside and Oakdale roots that go back for generations. We also have ties with the rest of the school system, as we and our immediate family have or are still attending East Side Central, East Toledo Junior High, Waite High School, Oakdale Elementary, Raymer Elementary and East Broadway Elementary.
Our pride runs deep, as does our commitment to help The Toledo 05 community.
Eastside Community Pride Board Members
Introducing the tireless and always enthusiastic ESCPF members! Click on their names to read a bio and see more pics!
Kara Schnabel Acors: Co-Founder, Board Member, Secretary
Diana McClellan Bush: Board Member
Ann Hornyak: Co-Founder, CEO, Past President
Holly Farrell Lewis: Board Member, Secretary
Emilio Victor Ramirez: Board Member
Lisa Taylor Sedlak: Co-Founder, Former Board Member, Active Volunteer & Donor
John Segura: Current Board President, Co-Chair annual Winter Warm-Up, Co- Chair annual golf outing
Theresa Ford-Wells: Board Member, Recording Secretary
Dr. Robert Yenrick: Toledo Public Schools liaison, Past Board Member
how you can help
Interested in learning how you can help us make a difference in our community? We’d love for you to be a part of the ESCP team . . . whether by helping to collect, sort or pass out items at our mobile pantries, donating funds or sponsoring a canned food drive.
There are so many ways to make a difference.
Click below to learn how.
