By Andy Furman
NKyTribune reporter
The First Lady of non-profit organizations in the region recently took to the stage to thank the people – and businesses of Covington.
Judi Gerding, the founder and first-and-only president of The Point/Arc in Covington held a capacity audience of the Covington Business Council captive as she told the story of the 51-year-old non-profit.
“I’m thanking Covington today,” Gerding told the gathered crowd at the Radisson Hotel. “On June 6, we had a signature sign donated by Lee Scheben and Heritage Bank
“That sign – which welcomes people to the City of Covington as the Home of The Point/Arc means more than any monetary gift. In fact, the sign on 5th and Philadelphia Streets was unveiled on The Point’s birthday.”
Gerding took the group on a tour of days-gone-by in Covington. She remembered Woolworth’s on 7th and Madison and the hamburger stop where she and her Notre Dame Academy fellow students would share lunch.
Her magical ride stopped on August 6, 1982 – when the Point Restaurant was created.
“It was a dream come true,” she recalled. “The first social enterprise for us. All I can say is God makes us better people – he doesn’t make mistakes.”
Her goal – then and now – was that not one individual suffering with I/DD – intellectual or developmental disabilities — will ever be denied for work or even placed on a waiting list.
She has accomplished that, as she proudly told the assembled group.
The Point Restaurant has since been converted to The Point-Perk – a coffee shop – now undergoing a remodel. In 1996, she continued, The Point Laundry was created.
“At first it was behind our building in a garage,” she remembered. “Today, we’re a 17,000-square-foot operation on Lindsay Street in Dayton.”
She went on to say the laundry employs 13 full-timers and as clients serves Hollywood Casino, 21C, Hotel Covington and, hopefully, she said The Radisson Hotel.
“I can proudly say every piece of linen in the downtown Hilton Hotel, over a 20-year-period, has been handled by The Point/Arc seven-days-a-week.”
Add to the list The Apparel Company in Latonia, a Cleaning Company, and a Pretzel Company.
Judi Gerding and The Point/Arc has built a mini-city to help those in need.
Don’t forget the 16 residential homes that operate 365-days-a-year.
“Today,” she said, “was a message of gratitude.”
Judi Gerding is truly the Queen Bee of non-profits.
“It’s not how much a little can do,” she concluded, “It’s what you can do with it.”