The Drushal Humanitarian Award is named for alumni George and Adah Drushal and recognizes an alumnus/alumna who has dedicated their life to the service of humanity.
Noah grew up in a home full of reckless love. His parents were products of the “Jesus Revolution” of the ‘70s where a radical love for Jesus and people abounded. Naturally this led Noah into a life of serving others. Out of high school he traveled often serving others and spreading the Christian faith. He often spends time training Christian leaders in Central America, Africa, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. While he is proud of the many ways God has used him, he is most proud to say he is the husband of Michelle; his wife and best friend of 14 years. They have been gifted with three wonderful children: Caleb, Kennedy, and Camden. The family as a whole made the decision that live liver donation was an adventure in following Jesus to new depths. For them, it was a family accomplishment. They lead Compassion Church in Canton, OH.
Steve Witt, who was born and raised in the Cleveland, Ohio, area, has been a church planter in the U.S. and Canada for 35 years. He received a B.A. in Biblical Studies from Central Bible College and graduated with a Master of Arts degree from Ashland Theological Seminary in 1985.
He has a passion to “involve and solve” cultural problems, serving on Hydrating Humanity Board, an organization which has dug over 250 wells in Kenya and Tanzania; and has been involved in raising funds and deploying people to numerous nations for construction and relief projects. He also has trained teams to minister in over 25 nations. His passion has led to raising money to buy a bush plane, feeding 10,000 Africans a meal, putting a roof on a Haitian Refugee church; and ministering to the poor in the garbage dumps of Mexico. Locally, he initiated a community outreach for city transformation in Cleveland. After seven years, over 35 people have relocated to a marginalized Cleveland neighborhood and labored for transformation. Witt is founding senior leader of Bethel Cleveland and its three church campuses reach out with a mandate to bring God’s Kingdom to earth. Bethel Cleveland Church, which Witt leads, also has a food truck and through its outreach, homeless men have been trained in culinary arts and given opportunities to turn their lives around.
Viola majored in therapeutic recreation and psychology at Ashland University. During this time she volunteered at Camp Cheerful, Dancing Wheels and Fresh Air Camp, all organizations that support children and adults with physical disabilities.
After graduation, she joined the Society of African Missions as a lay volunteer under the Catholic Church and was assigned to Tanzania in East Africa. There, she worked at a community AIDS project for three years assisting in the overall running of the program. She helped organize five different HIV monthly support group meetings, one of which was for children, and provided therapeutic activities, education and food along with the center’s staff. She also ran the orphan and vulnerable children program, where she assessed and registered children to schools, provided support meetings and play opportunities, and organized special events such as Day of the African Child and World AIDS Day marches.
Her personal mission was to provide support and relief to those most abandoned through monetary contributions and compassion and to increase their quality of life one day at a time through laughter, play and community support. The lessons and awareness she learned in Tanzania has forever shaped her life.
She has been working as a recreational therapist in Colorado Springs, Colo., at a behavioral health hospital for the past three years. She provides treatment to children, adults, soldiers and their families with mental health issues.
A 2007 graduate of Mapleton High School, Justin Taylor came to Ashland University and earned his Bachelor of Nursing degree in 2011 as a member of the first graduating class in the Dwight Schar College of Nursing and Health Sciences. Justin is a charge nurse within a cardiovascular intensive care unit at OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital. He is a member of the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing. In 2017, he represented AU at the AACN Student Policy Summit in Washington D.C. Currently, Justin is pursuing a Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP) at AU and plans to practice as a Family Nurse Practitioner upon graduation in 2019.
In 2011, Justin traveled to the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas on AU’s first ever medical mission trip. Since then he has served on 12 medical mission trips and has set foot in 25 countries on six continents, including Peru, Chili, Romania, Guyana and Cape Verde. As part of a team, Justin worked in temporary health clinics set up in local churches to assist community members both physically and spiritually.
Locally, Justin serves on the Administrative Council at the Polk United Methodist Church. He is a volunteer in the Mapleton Local School’s STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) program, connecting students with community members through project-based learning opportunities.
Ted Emack graduated from Ashland College in 1972. After a career in sales, he pursued volunteer work as his passion.
Ted Emack started his own handicap equipment closet in Leesburg, Fla. Today, the closet has turned into an opportunity shop run by volunteers.
He then became involved in the Personal Energy Transportation (PET) project in Jacksonville, Fla. A PET is for adults and children who lack mobility in more than 95 of the poorest countries of the world. The durable scooters are made to restore dignity, self-respect and possibility to those who have been injured by landmines, attacked by animals, born disabled or hurt in accidents.
Emack serves as president of the Juanita Gregg Foundation, in memory of his mother-in-law who suffered with interstitial cystitis. The foundation provides funds to children’s charities, no-kill animal shelters and interstitial cystitis support.
Dick Steineman `77 first cultivated his desire for helping others at Ashland University in December of 1976. When a snow storm closed the interstate, Steineman fed, housed and comforted stranded individuals in Kilhefner Hall. Upon his graduation in 1977, he spent four years playing professional basketball in parts of Europe and South America. However, Steineman’s philanthropic calling followed him to those other countries. During a night in Venezuela, a local pastor escorted Steineman through a hillside slum area. Steineman stood at the bottom of the hill and made a commitment to God and to himself that when he finished playing basketball, he would strive to make the world a better place. Within two years, Steineman moved to the inner city of Cincinnati and opened up a soup kitchen and homeless shelter. In 1995, he returned to his hometown of Troy, where he launched St. Patrick’s Soup Kitchen that serves more than 2,000 meals per month. Steineman also co-founded other soup kitchens in local nearby communities. In 2004, Steineman started St. Joseph’s House, which is a 10-bed facility for homeless men. During their stay there, the men work on stabilizing their lives through avenues like finding employment and addressing personal issues. Upon the news of a man freezing to death along the riverbank of Troy in 2010, Steineman established a cold shelter that operates from December through March. The cold shelter provides a bed and a shower for individuals who are homeless and have yet to attend to their addictions or mental health issues. Recently, Steineman co-founded the Hope House, which is a five-bed rehab facility for heroin addicts. Aside from his humanitarian duties, Steineman taught physical education at Troy Christian Elementary for 12 years. He started coaching girls high school basketball at Troy Christian High and Troy High School in 1995.
Since 1999, Harold Nungester has been Co-founder, President and CEO for H.I.S. Home for Children in Lima, Ohio. In this role, he is responsible for the operations and functioning of a small, multi-national, non-profit organization with primary emphasis in the financial and business aspects. He also serves as organizational missionary in the Republic of Haiti, administering an orphanage with approximately 140 children aged from newborn to 17 years in four geographically separated facilities. He also has served as administrator of Morning Star Christian Academy in Port au Prince, Haiti, W.I. He was responsible for the administration and direction of a private Christian school to include human resources functions, purchasing oversight, transcript preparation and approval, scheduling of staff and students, discipline, communications with upper management, staff, and student body, oversight and administration of curriculum materials, and other duties as necessary.
Nungester has been a licensed minister since 1994. He served as Youth Minister and in various lay youth director positions almost continually from 1976 to 2001 in different locations and denominations. Nungester also served the U.S. Air Force, active duty military and civilian positions at various locations with primary emphasis in criminal investigations and electronics. He earned a Master of Business Administration in Executive Management from Ashland University in 1993 and a Bachelor of Arts in Applied Behavioral Sciences from National Louis University in 1988.
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