30/10/2015
Kaela Allton, a beloved CiNBA intern and organizer for last year's "BuyCincy Independent's Week Event" lost her life in a very unfortunate accident last week. Please take a moment to read a note below from CiNBA Director Owen Raisch (posted last week) and you can learn more about Kaela in the article attached.
We are all saddened by the loss of Kaela and are proud to have served with her:
"Last night, a precious friend passed away (complications from a biking accident) and I want you to know that we've all lost a strong partner in life.
Some of you might know Kaela Allton from her work with the Greater Cincinnati Independent Business Alliance and our Independents' Week Event last year. Scrolling through old emails, I found audio from her interview with Jim Nolan. It made me proud of everyone.
Kaela I started working together after a mentor and XU faculty died from self-inflicted wounds. I was terribly upset and Kaela was president, I believe, of XU's organization most committed to the cause (Xavier Active Minds). She opened up to tell me of her battles with depression - a source of inspiration for her. Over the course of a month of two, we tried to figure out how to be a better resource to so many students and individuals whose wonderful lives are threatened by a rising risk of su***de. There is so much work to do. In this case, Kaela was a hero to me.. one of very few people passionately, and evenly, committed to a very important cause.
Awhile after, Kaela joined CiNBA for a summer internship, supporting another cause that she found important in life. Another one that we shared (she texted me just a few weeks back asking to join our new email list and to be kept in the loop!). But my relationship with Kaela is a small one of so many that she offered to the world.. kind words and celebrations of her life are filling my feed.
I want to spend more time learning from her but think it's important to share this note now. It's a thank you to everyone from CiNBA that worked with Kaela last year, to everyone who supported her through Active Minds. It's an unfortunate notice of tragedy in our global community.. that we've lost someone who made her life about others and worked through so much to care so much and share so much. Finally, it's a commitment from me to be more like her and to revisit some of our old ideas. They are needed.
(Here's a picture of Kaela with Ronald, prepping for our Holiday Event last year.. I had thought she was an introvert. She was maybe just a brave one.)"
