The co-founders of the Columbus Chapter are Sara Reineck Resek and Lynn Maroney Vottero. Sara and Lynn both grew up in Findlay Ohio and both were members of that local CISV chapter, originally Ada Chapter then Ada-Findlay Chapter and eventually Northwest Ohio Chapter. Lynn’s parents, Dick and Joyce Maroney, were the first members from Findlay.
Lynn applied for the first Village delegation of the chapter but was not selected. The next year she participated in an Interchange with Hamburg Germany. She and her partner, Nicole Brahmst from this 1972-73 Interchange, remain close friends. Lynn went on to attend two Seminar camps and was on staff at a Village in Ada in 1981. Throughout her teen years, she was active in the local JB during which time she met her future husband, John Vottero.
Sara first participated as a Village delegate in Dallas Texas. She participated as a Junior Counselor in Chattanooga Tennessee and attended Seminar Camp in Cuernavaca Mexico. Sara was a village leader to Hamburg Germany, directed two villages in Findlay Ohio and staffed Seminar Camps in Haifa Israel and San Jose Costa Rica. Sara served in multiple capacities at both the local and national level.
Many years later, Sara and Lynn crossed paths when Sara taught at Cassingham Elementary School in Bexley City Schools and Lynn lived in Bexley. They decided it was time to bring CISV to the Columbus area. An Interest Group was formed in 2002 with the help of National Expansion Chair Phil Long who was from the Ada-Findlay chapter and had directed Sara’s Village in Dallas. Columbus was voted in as a Steering Committee in 2003. The original CISV Columbus Board included Sara and Lynn, Pam Bischoff Campbell, Ellen Maley, Linda Marous, and Barbara Northrup. Columbus sent its first Village delegation in the summer of 2004. The Columbus Chapter was added to CISV USA as the 21st chapter in 2009. We are so happy to have helped build global friendships by hosting multiple programs locally and having sent many local children and adults to programs around the world.