Outstanding Volunteer Fundraiser: Aundréa Cika Heschmeyer
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – As Aundréa Cika Heschmeyer tells the story, her first experience in volunteerism wasn’t exactly voluntary.
“So much of my life is driven by Dolores,” as in the late Dolores Cika, her mother, says this year’s Outstanding Volunteer Fundraiser honoree.
Heschmeyer was in grade school when her mother, who was involved at the time with the Polish Legion of American Veterans, organized a picnic for disabled children. At the picnic, she and her sister were assigned to go play with the kids.
“I wasn’t necessarily a willing participant, but I learned right then that we have service to the community as a thing,” she remarks.
Over the years, her family would host several people from the Solidarity movement who her father met in Poland. There was a sense of obligation, a lot of it drawn from her family’s Catholic roots, to be engaged in the community and make it a better place.
Today the former journalist puts her skills to work for several local nonprofit organizations. The list includes the Autism Society of Mahoning Valley, where she previously served as director and now serves as board president; Polish Youngstown and Simply Slavic, both of which she founded; and Rotary Club of Youngstown and Youngstown Press Club.
She was nominated for the volunteer fundraiser award by Robin Suzelis, the Autism Society’s current director.
During the time she and her husband, Mark, lived in Virginia with their young family, she organized Halloween parties and other social activities to help people get to know each other, and began working at the local homeless shelter.
Heschmeyer and her family moved back to the Mahoning Valley in 2015. She remembered her Polish heritage being more robust when she was growing up, and her children questioned the lack of that heritage’s representation.
“What had happened is that people were working in little groups, not with each other,” she says. She brought in Agi Khouri, now senior art director at her company, Marquee Creatives, and other people “from different facets of the community” to work on bringing together the Polish community.
When she later began working for the Autism Society, the organization needed someone who had public relations, events and fundraising experience.
“But when I met the people, particularly the young adults, I fell in love with this,” she says. “I had five kids at home at the time, and I thought to myself, God gave me this job because He’s teaching me how good I have it. I have five neurotypical children at home, and I think I have challenges. It’s nothing. The challenges I have are nothing compared to what these people have.”
Through her work with the Autism Society, she became involved with community members working on other projects and organizations, including the Mahoning Valley Historical Society, Mill Creek Park and the various Polish initiatives. Many of the people she worked with happened to be Rotarians, which inspired her to attend a meeting of the Youngstown club.
“It didn’t take long after spending time with Rotarians to know that these are my people,” she says. “Service above self,” Rotary’s motto, “is my vibe.”
Pictured at top: Aundréa Cika Heschmeyer