Assistance League of Greater Cincinnati will honor John and Eileen Barrett and Chris Bochenek at its annual Aspire Cincinnati Award™ luncheon on Friday, May 5 at the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza in downtown Cincinnati. (See sidebar to purchase tickets.)
The theme of this year’s luncheon is “Community Commitment and Caring in Action.”
Eileen and John Barrett
The Barretts are long-time community leaders and have received many awards for their philanthropic work.
John Barrett is chairman, president and chief executive officer at Western & Southern Financial Group, a Fortune 500 company with assets totaling $68.5 billion.
He serves on the board of directors for Western & Southern Financial Group and Cintas Corporation and is a member and former chairman of the Cincinnati Business Committee. He serves on the executive committee of the Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC) and is active with REDI Cincinnati and the University of Cincinnati and its foundation.
Eileen W. Barrett serves on the board of trustees for Central Clinic Foundation; Barrett Cancer Center; Children’s Protective Service-Families Forward; The Children’s Home of Cincinnati; Cincinnati Country Day School; Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden; and The Springer School. She is co-chair for Ride Cincinnati; former United Way Campaign co-chair; and helped raise more than $1 million in 2011 at the Queen City Ball Gala benefitting the Barrett Cancer Center and the Lindner Center of Hope.
The couple live in Indian Hill and have three adult children: Christine, Anne and Charles.
Christine A. Bochenek
Christine A. Bochenek is vice president and senior program officer for human services with The Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr./ U.S. Bank Foundation.
Bochenek served 28 years with U.S. Bank and has been with the foundation since it opened in 2007. She serves on the board of trustees for the Women’s Crisis Center and the Hamilton County Job & Family Services Family Fund; Scholar House of Northern Kentucky; Homeless to Homes Plan; and Seton High School’s Advancement Committee.
She is also a Stephen Minister at Our Lady of the Visitation Catholic Church and lives in Bridgetown with her husband, Chris, and children Alex and Grace.
Assistance League created the Aspire Cincinnati Award to recognize community leaders and philanthropists who demonstrate a passion to share the spirit — to aspire and inspire — by breathing life into others with ideas and programs.
Assistance League is made up of volunteers who run programs dedicated to aid women and children in crisis, serving Hamilton, Butler, Warren and Clermont counties in Ohio, and Kenton, Boone, Campbell, Grant and Mason Counties in northern Kentucky.
Assistance League programs include: Operation School Bell, which has provided school uniforms to more than 20,000 students since 1998; the Trauma Care Program, which has provided almost 25,000 assault survivor kits and domestic violence kits for victims of rape, assault and violent abuse; New Beginnings, which provides household items for women seeking lives away from their abusers; and College Starter Kits, which provides essential school supplies for college students in need.
Assistance League is a Cincinnati Better Business Bureau 2012 Torch Award Winner and a Guidestar Exchange Gold Star Participant, which acknowledges Assistance League’s commitment to nonprofit transparency and accountability.
Tickets for the Aspire luncheon are $75 per person. Sponsorships and Table Host information is available. For complete details, call 513-221-4447 or email algc@fuse.net. New members and volunteers are always welcome. For more information, visit the chapter website.
