Road of Life sponsored last years season of Teacher Talk hosted by Sue Misiak.  She graciously did this interview to remind teachers in Columbus and beyond the Road of Life curriculum is available to download for free at our new and improved website: www.roadoflife.org

Listen to the show as Matt Youngner and I keep it very real with the teachers: Road of Life on Teacher Talk

Seeds 4 Social Change from Bill Babeaux on Vimeo.

This Wednesday January 12th, at 7PM. I will be leading a workshop entitled “Finding Meaning Beyond Profits” for Seeds 4 Social Change at the Ohio Staters Traditions room of the Ohio Union. I will be discussing my experiences founding Road of Life.

You can find more info here:

Alumni Fireside Chat: Rob Emrich
Sponsor: University Honors & Scholars Center

Nov 5 2009 6:00PM – Nov 5 2009 7:15PM

RSVP Required!
Location: Kuhn Honors & Scholars House Rm 201

Contact: Cheria V. Dial
Contact Email: dial.3@osu.edu
Contact Phone: (614)292-3135

Description:
Learn about social entrepreneurship and how you might consider starting your own nonprofit organization with Honors Program alum Rob Emrich.

A Note as I turn 30

Thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes.  I am flattered by your messages by email, facebook, post, text, phone, and everywhere.  Although I usually like to do something extravagant for my birthdays, this just didn’t seem like the right year.  Truth be told, I am not very excited to be 30, and I have to imagine that birthdays just get worse from here on out.  So in an effort to make birthdays better, I would like to pick up a tradition that learned from my Grandfathers.  On my birthday I will give presents to others.  I think it’s a much more fulfilling gift anyway.

This has been a fantastic year for me, despite the rough economy.  So, for my 30th birthday I have decided to start the Rob Emrich Philanthropic Fund, a donor advised fund, at the Columbus Jewish Foundation.  For those who don’t know, a donor advised fund is sort of like a philanthropic checking account.  I will use it to continue giving to my favorite cause, Road of Life, and a few others.  I think philanthropy is even more critical in tough times like these.  Anyone who has the capacity should consider starting a fund at any local community foundation, to consolidate and streamline your philanthropy. If you live in the US, you can  find yours here http://www.cof.org/Locator/

What do you want for your birthday? For everyone asking me what would like for my birthday, please consider making a donation to Road of Life.  You can donate online here:  https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=20213.  A $150 donation will sponsor an entire classroom of children, but donations of any denomination are appreciated.

So What are You Doing These Days? I’ll also take this opportunity to give a brief update on the projects I am involved with.

Road of Life: Our new site is up, and over 200,000 children have now used our program.  At $300 per child, that program has generated a $60 million social return on investment.  I couldn’t be more excited and proud of our impact. www.roadoflife.org

Consulting: My consulting practice has exploded this year and I am working with some wonderful clients.  The practice has morphed from nonprofit work into corporate digital communications.  Based on the spectacular response, I have increased our staffing and plan to expand the business. www.bamensch.com

SpeakerSite: This is such a fun business.  I started it with my good friend Artie Isaac (link) and in just over 5 months we have created the largest social network of public speakers in the world.  I have learned so much about the world of public speaking.  If you speak or need a speaker, check it out. www.speakersite.com

Book Writing: Unfortunately this has taken a back seat to other projects right now.  I have made some real progress in my thinking and writing, and would like to pick this project up later this year. www.robemrich.com

E-commerce: After founding Road of Life, I have always liked the enterprise of building a company, or nonprofit in that case.  After sharing an office at TechColumbus, a tech business incubator (link) last year, I really caught the bug.  I have built a few different sites which are going very well and continue to grow.  email me if you want more info

What are you doing for your birthday? If you are in Columbus there is a small gathering at Mac’s tonight at 8PM in the Short North 693 N High St.

Again thanks again to everyone who has contacted me, it means so much. Please keep in touch.

Rob Emrich

Rob Emrich, founder of Road of Life: Cancer Prevention for Kids, was selected to represent Ohio at the Nonprofit Congress National Meeting, to be held October 16 – 17 in Washington, DC. Over 400 individuals from 48 states and the District of Columbia applied to be delegates for this unprecedented initiative to unite nonprofits and strengthen the charitable sector.

The Nonprofit Congress is a national movement to build a diverse network of local leaders to identify and address the challenges that all nonprofits face in meeting and advocating for community needs. Nonprofit Congress organizers Audrey R. Alvarado, executive director of the National Council of Nonprofit Associations, and Robert Egger, founder and president of D.C. Central Kitchen, were recently honored as NonProfit Times’ Power and Influence Top 50, an annual list of “leaders shaping the nonprofit world.”

At the National Meeting, hundreds of delegates from across the country will converge on Washington, DC to identify the values that all nonprofits share, develop a vision and priorities for the nonprofit sector, and exercise a collective voice. Their work will be informed by data gathered from over 100 Town Hall meetings in 40 states and the District of Columbia.

Nonprofit Congress delegates will represent the broad interests of the nonprofit sector and mirror the geographic and issue diversity of charitable organizations. Additionally, delegates will bring forward the concerns of traditionally underrepresented groups.

Registration for the National Meeting is open to at-large participants at www.nonprofitcongress.org/nationalmeeting.

“I am honored to represent Ohio at the Nonprofit Congress National Meeting,” said Emrich, the primary founder of Road of Life. “It will be invigorating to meet a group of committed individuals interested in strengthening charitable organizations. I hope to bring new strategies and connections back to Ohio.”

Rob Emrich, the Cleveland native who created a foundation aimed at teaching kids about cancer prevention, is a stand-up guy — literally.

The 27-year old founder/chairman of Road of Life, a nonprofit agency with a mission to educate children about cancer prevention, doesn’t even have a desk chair in his downtown Columbus office. Instead, he stands up while working on his podium-mounted computer, taking phone calls, and overseeing his 12-person operation.

Perhaps Emrich’s upright work habit is emblematic of his commitment to “take a stand” against cancer. At age 7, the Shaker Heights native lost his two-year old sister Keren to neuroblastoma, a pediatric cancer of the nervous system. His parents, Joyce and Ron, established a concert series at the former Temple Beth Am in her memory, and Emrich wanted to continue that tradition in one form or another.

While he was in college at The Ohio State University, taking classes in philosophy and deciding on a career path, cancer hit home again – twice. His cousin, a young rabbi in Calgary, died of the disease, and soon after, his mother had a cancer scare of her own.

He decided to organize a fund-raiser with the goal of making “a substantial difference” in the fight against this dreaded disease. However, while researching fund-raising ideas, he learned there was “almost no work being done in the field of cancer prevention and even less for kids.” This struck a chord with the tall, blond young man who lost his little sister so long ago.

“One out of three people develop some sort of cancer in their lives,” he says, “and one out of two (cancers) can be prevented.”

So instead of creating a fund-raising event, Emrich began plans for a bigger organization that would combat cancers in another way. In 2002, the enterprising young man sold his car and $5,000 worth of stocks his grandparents had given him, hires his best friend Matt Youngner (another Shaker Heights High School grad), and started the Keren Emrich Foundation. The foundation spawned Road of Life, an organization whose mission is to “educate children about the smoking, fitness and nutrition decisions they can make to lead a healthier life.”

The ultimate goal, says Emrich, is to raise a healthier generation of young people with “a significantly lower risk of developing cancer and diseases of excess.”

Road of Life offers interested educators a free, comprehensive, 22-lesson health curriculum. Lesson #10, for example, compares the nutritional value of water and soda pop, using activities like relay races and experiments with fresh fruit.

Two full-time employees of Road of Life, a social worker and a health-education specialist, create the lessons, which are then approved by the organization’s board of directors. This fall, educators all over the country will be able to access the lessons via the Internet.

The group is also finalizing plans to provide all its health content for TeachForward, an online community developed at Harvard University. With TeachForward, educators can post their own lessons and search for, rate, and discuss lessons with teachers across the country.

It’s a misconception that all kids learn about eating their veggies and the importance of exercise during their regular gym and health classes, says Emrich. Lower income school districts, for example, don’t always make health education a priority.

“Ohio doesn’t really have health academic standards, especially for students ages 9-12,” he says.

To date, Road of Life has piloted its program in a number of schools around Columbus. Among other positive results, “we found that the program made students 26% more likely to know that smoking makes it harder to succeed at exercise and sports and 40% more likely to report eating fruits and vegetables every day,” says Emrich.

In April, the nonprofit received a $10,000 grant, one of 50 Compassion Capitol Project sub-award grants by the Ohio Governor’s Office of Faith and Community Based Initiatives. Road of Life is no stranger to grant money; in fact, most of the organization’s overhead is funded via federal grants.

In late 2005, Road of Life officially launched the “Extending the Road of Life” campaign to raise additional funds. The group’s goal is $1.4 million, and currently “we have commitments for over half,” Emrich says.

Because the organization didn’t want to depend on special events for funding, Road of Life focuses more on major gifts and corporate sponsorships.

Emrich’s organization is currently experiencing some significant growing pains, and its founder couldn’t be prouder. He plans on opening an office in Cambridge, Mass., this fall, and he’s slowly but consistently added new hires to his young staff.

Emrich would like to continue Road of Life’s national expansion and “create a sustainable organization without my being here,” he says. In the meantime, he’s being lauded for his work. He was recognized as one of Columbus’ “40 Under 40″ by Business First newspaper, and he served as a delegate at the World Health Congress. In his spare moments, Emrich also chairs the Young Jewish Professionals board of the Columbus Jewish Federation and sits on its Overseas Allocation committee.

Emrich’s Jewish background influenced his decision to start Road of Life, he says. “My parents and grandparents told me I need to be a mensch and do what’s right.” With the Road of Life, Rob Emrich certainly seems to be headed in the right direction.

Read the full PDF article on Rob Emrich from the Cleveland Jewish News.

He was a prep cook in an Israeli kitchen, a construction worker and a campaign manager for a woman running for a seat in the Ohio House. Rob Emrich was a congressional page, a political and business consultant and an emergency medical technician who ran for the Columbus City Council. He’s been a molecular-genetics researcher, an educator and lecturer, and a member of committees for such causes as the Tobacco Public Policy Center and the Columbus Jewish Federation.

And Emrich founded Road of Life, a nonprofit agency that teaches cancer prevention to fourth-graders. He’s 26 years old. Emrich said his ambition and strength to try new things came through a series of events that changed his perceptions of who he was and what he wanted to be. When he was 7 years old, his 2-year-old sister, Keren, died of complications from neuroblastoma, a cancer of the nervous system.

“It was a dark cloud that was always there,” said his mom, Joyce Emrich. “It changed all of us.”

Rob Emrich grew up in Shaker Heights, a suburb of Cleveland. Joyce teaches in Cleveland and his father, Ron, is a former chemist who now works as a computer analyst. He has a brother, Michael, 23, and a sister, Alexandra, 15. After graduating from high school in 1997, Rob Emrich decided to take a year to go to Israel and travel.

He worked on a kibbutz, a farm where all work is done collectively, in Jerusalem. On his second day there, during a trip to a popular market, three Palestinian suicide bombers dressed as women set off explosives strapped to their bodies. Emrich took cover and was unharmed by the blasts, which killed three Israelis and an American and injured 200. For months after his stay at the kibbutz, he said, he jumped at every loud noise.

“You have no idea how many things you take for granted,” Emrich recalled thinking after he came home.

After working in construction for a few months, he took a 1,000-mile hike from Georgia to New York along the Appalachian Trail. He said the three month trip helped him focus.

“I was processing things,” he said, “reinforcing to myself the decision to do good work that had an impact.”

In 1998, he went to Ohio State University, where he majored in philosophy and pre-med. In 2000, he returned to Israel to study at the BenGurion University of the Negev. But it wasn’t long before the United States imposed a travel warning, and his visit was cut short. It was about this time that his cousin Seth died of a brain tumor. Rob Emrich said the death spurred him to raise money for cancer research.

“There’s two directions you can go in,” he said. “Get over your anger and be stronger, or let it affect you your whole life.”

He sold his car and some stocks for about $5,000 — just enough for startup costs — and created the Keren Emrich Foundation in his sister’s name.

“I didn’t want to start an organization,” he said. “I just wanted to make a significant difference in cancer research.”

He rounded up his friends, the “best and the brightest” he knew, and asked for their help. Matt Youngner, who has known Emrich since they were classmates at Shaker HeightsHigh School, didn’t hesitate to join.

“It seemed cool, interesting, fun, memorable,” Youngner said. “Not knowing what you’re going to get paid, it’s part of the adventure.”

Their work led to Road of Life, the group within the foundation that teaches children how to prevent cancer. The programming is simple: Volunteers from OhioState teach fourth-graders about smoking prevention, nutrition and exercise. Last year, Youngner, executive director of Road of Life, and Emrich launched a pilot program at Franklinton Alternative and Hubbard elementary schools. Michael Emrich, who is studying political science and international studies at OhioState, set up a Road of Life chapter at OSU and rounded up volunteers.

“I’ve learned so much from my brother and Matt,” Michael Emrich said. “It’s just the idea of turning an idealist thought into reality.”

Rob Emrich said he hopes to spread the program to all fourth-graders in Columbus this fall and eventually across Ohio. Since 2002, Road of Life has raised more than $500,000 to support cancer-prevention programming. Emrich walked 312 miles from Cincinnati to Cleveland to raise money for the program.

“He’s devoted the best years of his life to a cause while most people his age are just trying to make money,” his mother said. “He was born with this strong spirit, and it just gets stronger.”

His success has led a number of groups to ask him to join their boards and committees. In his spare time, Emrich goes to the gym and hangs out with friends in his Italian Village apartment, hikes with his dog, Calvin, and keeps up with politics. In August, he was one of 29 candidates to turn in applications for the City Council seat left open by Richard W. Sensenbrenner’s departure. Although he didn’t make the cut, Emrich said he still sees politics in his future.

But for right now, he’s content with the journey that Road of Life has in store for him.

See the full PDF article on Rob Emrich in the Columbus Dispatch.

Rob Emrich, Founder and Chairman of The Keren Rebecca Emrich Foundation, dba Road of Life: Cancer Prevention for Kids, is honored as one of Columbus’ Forty Under 40, based on the nomination of Carleen Taylor, customer service for Labcorp.

After witnessing family and friends suffering and dying from cancer, 25-year-old Rob Emrich decided that he would try to make a difference. Selling his car and personal stocks, Rob created Road of Life, a nonprofit organization devoted to increase cancer prevention and awareness and support for underfunded cancer researchers.

Road of Life educates children about fitness and nutrition decisions. It also strives to raise a generation of children with a significantly lower risk of cancer.

Road of Life is best known for its 312-mile relay walk across Ohio. Held in the spring, the event culminates a year of study for fourth graders and their college mentors that focuses on fitness and cancer prevention. The fund-raiser also raises awareness for cancer prevention in children in under-served communities.

Road of Life created and piloted a curriculum focusing on cancer prevention techniques for two Columbus Public Schools that was designed to meet Ohio proficiency standards. Additionally, Rob helped raise more than 350,000 in funding and in kind donations to fund Road of Life’s Mission, including grants from the AmeriCorp Vista Program and the Columbus Foundation.

During 2003 and 2004 Rob was a member of the Social Entrepreneurship Panel for City Year Columbus. He was a seminar speaker at the John Glenn Institute in Washington, D.C. He is a member of the Columbus Jewish Federation’s Overseas Allocations Committee.

In 2003, Rob was selected by Northern Ohio Live as a recipient of the Time to Care – Four People Whose Bright Ideas Bring Light to Others. He received the Katz Fellowship from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Beer-Sheva. Israel, for bio-ethics.

See the complete PDF article from Columbus Business First.

On top of a small hill in central Ohio, between Danville and Wooster, two men in a beat-up pickup truck pull up beside Rob Emrich. They hand him an apple, two crumpled dollar bills and some loose change. “It’s all we’ve got,” one says before speeding off down the road. This exchange didn’t last more than 30 seconds, but for someone walking across the entire state of Ohio, small gifts like these make all the difference.

A year and a half ago, cancer struck Emrich close to home for the second time in his life. His cousin Seth, a rabbi from Canada with a wife and two kids, died of a brain tumor. “I was one of the people at the funeral shoveling dirt into his grave, and I still remember the thud of the dirt hitting the coffin,” Emrich says. “That’s still with me, and the sound, the rhythm of that thud stays with me, especially when I’m walking – and often that’s the pace I walk at.”

The first time Emrich had dealt with cancer was the death of his sister Keren, who was two and a half years old when she succumbed to neuroblastoma, a form of cancer that affects the nervous system. Emrich was six years old at the time.

Thus, 19 months ago, Emrich founded a nonprofit organization, Road of Life, devoted to cancer prevention and awareness as well as to the support of underfunded cancer researchers. Having worked in a lab as an Ohio State honors student in philosophy, Emrich knew how difficult getting funds from the government and private foundations can be for younger, less-established researchers. “The young researcher I worked for had a good background and a lot of good ideas,” Emrich said during his walk toward Columbus. “We talked about what an ideal system of funding would be: one designed by researchers and for researchers.”

He intends to help fund researchers whose innovative ideas get overlooked relative to larger, more traditional labs. But his new grant-giving foundation, the Keren Rebecca Emrich Cancer Research Foundation, is years away from writing checks. For this reason, Emrich walked 312 miles this past September, from the banks of the Ohio River in Cincinnati to the shores of Lake Eerie beside Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. His walk was just a beginning for the Road of Life, the fund-raising arm of the foundation, which solicits the support of private individuals as well as corporations that want their brand to be affiliated with such a cause.

In conjunction with educational programming aimed at both college students and fourth-graders, Emrich hopes to travel across Ohio again next summer, walking with people in each major city and in rural areas. Along the way, he will offer cancer prevention outreach to under-served communities. Eventually, he plans to begin walking the 16,000-mile Pan-American Highway, from southern Argentina to northern Alaska.

Born in Delaware in 1979, but raised in Shaker Heights, Emrich was an avid adventurer and outgoing child. He played hockey throughout high school and also became an Eagle Scout. Before entering the Ohio State honors program in 1998, Emrich hiked most of the Appalachian Trail, from Georgia to New York. The following year, at Ohio State, he earned an Emergency Medical Technician certificate to work in ambulances. During his third year of college, he studied in Israel, concentrating on medical ethics. He camped and hiked whenever he had spare time.

By the time Emrich was back in Columbus, studying for his medical school entrance exams, he had already made the decision to create Road of Life. “About a year ago, I was looking around to see what my friends were doing and seeing what type of effect they were having on society. I know my friends are talented and thoughtful, and I was sort of disappointed that they were not using their talent and thoughtfulness to make change.”

Emrich felt there were not enough opportunities for young people to make direct, positive changes to the world. “I saw that people could join a large nonprofit and become a small part of a larger machine and do menial jobs. And I saw their youthful idealism wasn’t really being utilized.” Other friends decided it would be better to try to earn more money, in order to support the philanthropy later in life. For Emrich, Road of Life is a way for young people to make an immediate impact on society.

This summer’s 17-day walk was only one part of Road of Life, which has employees and office space in Columbus. Along the walk, Emrich’s friend Matt Youngner, who is the chief executive of Road of Life, and his brother Mike set up information booths at Ohio colleges to get young people to form Road of Life chapters on campuses throughout the state.

During Emrich’s walk across the state, Road of Life also hosted a mile-dedication program on its website, www.roadoflife.org. For each of the 312 miles he walked, people could dedicate one mile in honor of someone who either survived or was lost to cancer. Once all the spots were filled, people could continue posting names. A resolution in the Ohio Statehouse, where Emrich had been an intern, as well as in the Senate, commemorated the names and recognized the walk as part of the official state record.

This kind of effort – remembering people’s names and getting local communities involved – is what Emrich hoped to do by founding the organization. The effect on him was palpable along the walk. He met many people who recognized him from the local coverage he received and would wish him well as he walked.

One energetic blond woman in her mid-40′s stopped him to shake his hand introduce herself as a cancer survivor. A few miles from Akron, on state Route 585, an elderly couple in a blue two-door car pulled over onto the shoulder a few feet in front of Emrich. Confirming that he was the man the couple had heard about earlier that day, the husband said, “We heard on the radio what you’re doing and want to let you know you’re a hero to us.” With the sun setting at his back as he headed northeast, Emrich marched on, with about 70 miles left to Cleveland.

As he walks, he points out the many landmarks and commemorative plazas for cancer survivors, but none for those who succumbed to the disease. One of Emrich’s main goals is to change this, and he wants to start by having cancer survivors and families that have lost loved ones come together during next year’s walk across Ohio.

“Everyone knows someone who’s been touched by cancer, but there’s not necessarily a way for all these people who’ve been personally touched to interact – and, while I see that as a lofty goal, I see that as one of the main goals of Road of Life.”

This summer, the walk will be considerable different. The cornerstone will be Road of Life’s fourth-grade curriculum, which tries to teach students the state’s geography as well as healthy, cancer-preventing lifestyle choices, like eating well and exercising regularly. College students will mentor the fourth-graders and implement the curriculum. They will also walk with the youngsters at different points along the way with Emrich.

In Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland, there will be long walks held as fund-raisers for Road of Life. Emrich welcomes and encourages all to come next year and participate. “It’s time for everyone to get involved in the fight. Give your time, make a donation, teach others, change your lifestyle: Get involved and make a difference.”

Read the full PDF article profiling Rob Emrich and the Walk For Cancer.

This month, in sync with Ohio’s Bicentennial, Rob will walk the 312 miles from downtown Cincinnati to Cleveland using a combination of bicycle paths and quieter roads. The walk, the first step in a program that may be taken to a national and even international level, is one of many initiatives the group’s founders want to accomplish.

As well as demonstrating the role fitness plays in health, the group is participating in school and college health fairs throughout the state featuring multimedia presentations on cancer facts and research. Rob will appear at each of the health fairs and will make appearances of other events, such as city festivals, along his route.

Next year, Rob hopes to take on a longer walk – the Pan-American Highway, which stretches from Alaska to Argentina – following in the footsteps of Briton George Meegan, who completed the route in the 1970′s. The group is working with Ohio State University’s Center for Latin American Studies developing a web curriculum that will help get its anti-cancer message to a wider audience.

Right now though, the friends’ goal is to raise funds for the first 312 mile walk; they aim to raise $100 per mile by October 1. For more information on Road of Life, or to dedicate a mile of the walk in honor or memoriam of a cancer sufferer, please visit www.roadoflife.org, email Office@roadoflife.org, or telephone (614) 221-1235.

For the complete article, please read the full PDF Shaker Life Magazine Features Rob Emrich.