Acknowledge their foresight.

Follow the organization from its inception through the present . Go through the organizational changes — facility changes, structural changes both physical and ideological, changes in function and philosophy, in leadership, in status and more.

APIOH for our Foundations & Founders also acknowledges the founders that impacted the organization’s growth along the way. The families who gave of themselves to pave the way for the organization of today. Reflect on their family composition and their organizational contributions.

APIOH for our Foundations & Founders also allows for family biographies and photo albums to share the memories of the initial days to be appreciated years later. Your members will enjoy sharing the stories and photos of those earlier years. Let the stories of our beginnings continue to occupy…  A PLACE IN OUR HEARTS

—–> Click Here for our APIOH for our Foundations and Founders- Brochure

“There is no better way to thank God for your sight than by giving a helping hand to someone in the dark.”

- Helen Keller

“The clock is running. Make the most of today. Time waits for no man. Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why it is called the present.”

 - Alice Morse Earle 

“I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish He didn’t trust me so much.”

- Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Is a name and title enough?  APIOH’s contention is that a name is not enough and that it is important to give history, understanding, a face and more to that name.  However when posed with the same question, we come across so many scenarios where organizations conclude that a name ‘is’ enough.   The displaying of a name of one being recognized has historically been the accepted, if not the preferred method of recognition.  Those who have been remembered by name alone were not as remembered as those who left behind a narrative.   

One need not look beyond the first few chapters of the bible to see this to be the case.  Of all of Adam and Eve’s children, Cain and Abel are best remembered because of their story of sibling rivalry.  However, the direct lineage from Adam and Eve to Noah and on to Abraham did not travel through Cain or Abel.  It was through Seth, of whom little more than his name is known.  [There is later mention of Seth in "The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament"].

A later attestation to value beyond just a name is from William Shakespeare who wrote in Romeo and Juliet, “”What’s in a name? That which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet.”  That is because the name does not define the rose.  The characteristics and traits do.

This month, ABC aired the season finale of Grey’s Anatomy.   There was a scene that demonstrated the difference between knowing someone exists and knowing something about them.  [Scene background: April Kepner, a Doctor on the show, is face to face with Gary Clark, a shooter in the hospital.  He is pointing a gun at her about to shoot.]

April: My- My name is April Kepner. I’m 28 years old. I- I was born on April 23rd in Ohi- Ohio. I’m from Columbus, Ohio. Uhm. My mom- my mom is a teacher and my- my dad is a farmer. Corn-corn. He grows corn. Their- their names are Karen and Joe. I have three sisters. Libby’s the oldest, I’m next and then there’s Kimmy and Alice. I- I haven’t done anything yet. I’ve barely lived. I’m not finished yet. No one’s loved me yet. Please- please, I’m someone’s child! I’m a person. I’m a person.
Gary Clark: Run.

Grey’s Anatomy 6.24 - “Death And All His Friends”

Let APIOH help your organization recognize the individuals behind the names; those who give substance to their names by the characteristics and principles they embody.

Dear Patrons,

May is the month of many holidays.   There are some very significant days that were set aside to pay tribute to those worthy of our honor.  We have National Teachers Day (1st Tuesday in May), Mothers Day (2nd Sunday of May), Nurses Day (May12), Armed Forces Day (3rd Saturday in May), National Maritime Day (May 22) and culminating with Memorial Day (Last Monday in May).  We like to set aside days of commemoration and space for their names to be repeated, but we seldom give time and space to state our admiration, motivation or sentiments that resulted in their acknowledgment.

At APIOH, we look forward to providing organizations the means to properly showcase those they wish to recognize.  Call us at (877) 289-4690 or email us at info@apioh.net so we can show you how we can help.

Steve Katz, CEO
APIOH - A Place In Our Hearts

Are we seeing a turnaround in the economy yet?  This is a question for our economists to contemplate and deliberate over.  For the rest of us, one of the biggest challenges we are facing is employment.  The hurdles are not only in making jobs available, but in satisfying our workforces with sufficient wages and benefits.  Times had been so good for so long prior to our economic tailspin, employees were getting spoiled.  Now, even a few years into this fiasco, those same employees are still finding it difficult to cope with shrinking paychecks and benefit.  Morale is hard to shore up as a result.

Everyone knows that both employers and employees are struggling.  Employers carry a great burden trying to keep their businesses afloat while trying to hang on to and help as many employees as possible.  This strain sometimes comes through as frustrations with work performance.  Appreciation can ease that tension.   A thank you goes a very long way.

Recognition systems are great ways to show such appreciation.  The value of an APIOH Employee recognition Solution is much greater yet.  Telling an employee they made the outstanding employee list is of value.  Telling them and everyone else why is priceless.

Give them their dignity.  Give them their respect.  Give them you gratitude and they will give you their dedication.

Employee recognition is not just a nice gesture.  It is a perk.

Sing their praises.

APIOH – A Place In Our Hearts has developed a unique web based product that provides organizations the ability to help their members create, present and celebrate those individuals who give of themselves to make our lives better.

Heroes are those who provide us with direction, hope and security. They are special people who become our role models through their actions. They push us to be the best we can be just by virtue of their actions.

True heroes do not look for accolades. They do not do what they do for praise or reward. Heroes do what they do because it is the right thing to do. Thanking them is also the right thing for us to do. Thank them in the right way. Share your feelings of appreciation the APIOH way.

APIOH - for our Heroes also develops chronicles to be appreciated long after their acts of heroism take place. Your members will enjoy sharing the stories and photos with their children and grandchildren and do so in the organization that has meant so much to them throughout the generations.

Let us hold a special place in our history for our heroes. Through APIOH, those special heroes can continue to occupy…

A PLACE IN OUR HEARTS

—–> Click Here for our APIOH for our Heroes - Brochure

Miep Gies is dead and most people say “Who?”

Anne Frank is a household name. You can read Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. You can watch The Diary of Anne Frank. You can even visit the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam.

If it wasn’t for Miep Gies, no one would ever have heard of Anne Frank.

Miep Gies was Otto Frank’s secretary. In the spring of 1942, he asked for her help in concealing his family from the Nazis, help she did not hesitate to provide, even though being discovered could have meant her own execution. For more than two years, she helped conceal the Franks, the Van Pels family and Fritz Pfeffer. Her role included ensuring that the eight people crammed in the tiny attic remained fed, despite war-time rationing. (What the Franks didn’t know was that Miep and her husband, Jan, were concealing yet another person, in their own home.)

After the Franks were arrested by the Gestapo in August, 1944, Miep and Jo Kleiman (who also assisted in concealing the families) gathered Anne’s diary pages for safekeeping before the secret annex became inaccessible to them. Anne and her sister Margot died in Bergen-Belsen, but their father survived. The diary was returned to Otto Frank, who had it published. And the rest is history.

Despite her courageous acts, Miep was known for her modesty. She didn’t read Anne’s diary when she rescued it; Otto Frank was only able to persuade her to do so when the diary entered its second printing. Miep did not allow her own story to be told until 1987. In an obituary that appeared in Time Magazine, Elie Wiesel quoted Miep as not considering herself a hero. Rather, she felt she just did what needed doing. This attitude is part of what makes her a hero.

The Talmud tells us that a person who saves a single life is like one who saves an entire world. J. Robert Oppenheimer, the “Father of the Atomic Bomb,” famously quoted Hindu scripture when he said, “I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.” Conversely, Miep Gies made herself into life, the rescuer of worlds.

The entire Jewish people – the entire world – owes Miep Gies a tremendous debt of gratitude, for both her actions and her example. Her name deserves to be as well-known as Oskar Schindler and Anne Frank. Miep replicated the acts of the former on a scale achievable by those of us who do not own factories, and she gifted the latter with two additional years of life.

Anne Frank famously wrote, “Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart.” If you knew Miep Gies, you’d feel that way, too.

- Rabbi Steven Burg, Managing Director, Orthodox Union
January 22, 2010