Local Matters Impacts Children Through Food
Local Matters is a Columbus-based non-profit organization designed to help the community learn about food, and not just how to eat it, but how food can impact lives. Their mission is to teach people good practices with food that will in turn help our health, the environment, and the economy. They have an amazing program called Food is Elementary based off of a curriculum designed by Dr. Antonia Demas, which focuses on instruction that teaches children in grades kindergarten through second about good nutrition, where food comes from, and how to prepare it. [Read More]
“Now, that’s da bomb!” is the phrase Megan and Rob Green frequently hear about their Stinkybomb Soap products, and it is very fitting - their top selling soap is in the shape of a hand grenade. They also create soaps in the shape of cassette tapes and baby doll heads, but the hand grenade made with aloe and olive oil is their most popular selling item.
Columbus is quickly becoming a hotbed of kids’ self-expression. Perhaps we can attribute that to our city’s spunky art-and-music loving parents who dress individually, think compassionately, and inspire their children to do the same. Red Rover is owned by one such parent, and her name is Wendy Pruden. In 2007 she opened Red Rover as a children’s consignment clothing store in Clintonville next to Wholly Craft. Last summer she decided to transition away from consignment and focus on her dream theme: a little bit retro, a little bit rockabilly, and a whole lot of rock and roll.
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The final week of holiday shopping is upon us! That means that if you still have gifts to buy for friends and loved ones, your time is winding down. In order to assist, we’ve reached out to a wide variety of local shops, stores, and boutiques to find out which of their three most popular “must have” items can still be found on their shelves.
Yesterday, a Dispatch 
Last year over a couple mugs of hot chocolate in their Worthington home, a husband and wife decided to make wooden toys for their two young sons and friends with children. The British master carpenter husband and marketing firecracker wife sourced all-natural local wood, designed kid-friendly shapes, and lovingly finished each piece. The buzz surrounding their charming hand-hewn playthings began to spread and they realized they might be onto something. So Amy Turn Sharp and her husband Joe founded Little Alouette, and now they process orders from around the world. 
There’s an interesting blog post today from Cleve Ricksecker on the “Right Now Downtown” blog titled 
Where a Child With A Life-Threatening Illness Is A Kid Again. A Kid Again began in 1995 as Adventures For Wish Kids, in Columbus, Ohio. Their quest was to enrich the lives of children with life-threatening illnesses, as well as their families, by providing healing times of respite through fun-filled group adventures year round. That year, two adventures took place for almost 500 attendees. By 2008, the organization grew to serve almost 1,500 children who were being treated at Children’s Hospitals in Columbus, Dayton, Cincinnati and Cleveland. As the organization grew across the state, they decided to apply for a service mark to own the name nationwide. However, to their dismay, they were denied by the Federal Trademark office and as a result had to change their name.
There’s no shortage of local art events in Columbus. Every week there are dozens of shows, exhibits, workshops, and classes to choose from. Many of these events are kid-friendly, but this weekend is the one time of year you can find something that is more than kid-friendly. 
