Based locally in Hamilton, Ticket to Hope is a nonprofit with a mission to bring hope to individuals needing it the most by creating unforgettable experiences.
“Once more, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to the sponsors, volunteers, supporters and participants who made this all possible. As a token of our appreciation, we are sending 1,000 community members in need of hope to the Cincinnati Reds game on Aug. 7,” Foliano said.
“The Cincinnati Reds will do an on-field presentation recognizing the event along with the children and their families in the stands,” he said.
Community members can support the initiative by purchasing a “Cincinnati High-Five Capital of the World!” T-shirt, with 100 percent of the proceeds from Ticket To Hope going directly towards the community game.
The Journal-News recently spoke with Foliano in a Q&A to find out what his experience was like and how he went about achieving his goal.
Q: You accomplished your mission and what you set out to do. What’s your overall feeling after accomplishing this?
Foliano: Relief, more than anything. It was funny because I was telling my wife, starting about five days leading up to the first leg of everything, I just started really getting anxiety. And, almost to the point of a panic attack and I don’t know why. Throughout this entire process, I was so confident. Also, through the whole process my thought was like “Hey, I just want to do it to have fun, to raise awareness, fundraise, and build community.’ But, for whatever reason, four-to-five days beforehand, I got really anxious, and that stayed with me until I started that clock at 9 a.m. on Sat., May 6. Then, once 9 a.m. hit, I just turned into me, and I went to my five volunteers to start off with and got their high-fives. Then, I just started running up and down the street, getting anybody there. Once I started getting into that mode, I was so locked in and focused the remainder of the time. It didn’t really hit me until the very end, and then, once it hit me at the very end, It almost felt like this weight was lifted off of me. It was crazy.
Q: What was your motivation for achieving this?
A: I know that it was for a good cause. The reason behind it was to help those in need at the end of the day and have fun with it. I had so much fun, and the people that were involved, coming up to me giving me high fives, absolutely loved it. That’s what the intention behind it all was. That being said, I put so much pressure on myself, and I wanted that number. I told so many people about this, and I’d received so many different opinions, about what to do, what not to do, and everything, I felt that pressure. I ended up reaching that number Sunday morning, and once I got that number, I almost felt like this huge weight was lifted off of me. I had 45 minutes left, and for the remainder of those 45 minutes, I was still collecting high-fives but not as intense as I was prior to that.
Q: Can you talk about the experience. Can you walk us through a portion of what it was like for you?
A: We started at 9 a.m. We were at the finish line for the 5K finishers. So, right off the bat, the Captain America costume is tight and it’s not quite broken in yet. It’s a little chilly. I’m in this skin-tight outfit. Then, it was like people just turned a light switch on and we’re probably 30-minutes into this thing and I captured 1,500 people in a 45-minute to 60-minute time period. So, it would just come in these waves. I would sparingly be finding people to high-five, I’d get 100 here, or a 100 there. Then, the next thing you know, a light switch comes on and all these race finishers are coming through and I can’t even think straight. My arm was literally just standing up, pretty much straight, for 45-minutes, trying to connect with everybody. That was pretty consistent until about 11 a.m. or 11:30 a.m. Then, we go into search mode, and the sun is starting to come out, and it’s starting to get hot now. Once that portion was done,
I was a little less than where I wanted to be at that time in my mind, so I knew I needed to find something quick that attracted a lot of people. So, my camera guy and I, his name is Cody, the two of us just started hitting the streets. He had a sign, I had a GoPro Camera on my shoulder, and a Captain America costume, and people were just running across the street to give me a high-five. People were honking, and they’d stop their cars to give me a high-five. It was nuts. As we started walking up the hill, we started seeing runners coming down, and I realized they were coming from the Flying Pig Expo at Duke Energy Center, so I said let’s go in here and see if we can connect with anybody. We went up to the front doors, I opened the door for somebody, five people came out, and they all gave me a high-five. So, we decided to stand outside and see what we could get.
Over the next two-hour period, we probably got another 1,500 high-fives, which was huge. That was big, because I hadn’t planned on that.
Q: At 7 a.m. on Sunday morning, you still needed 3,000 high-fives before 9 a.m. How did you make it to 15,338?
A: … It was raining, I didn’t know what to expect, but then, the next thing you know, it was almost like it was at the 5K race. It’s like you just open up a garage door or something, and there were thousands of people coming out of nowhere. There were thousands, and thousands of people, and they didn’t stop coming. So, from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., that’s when I got the majority of the remaining 3,338 high-fives.
Q: What are you most excited about now that you’ve reached your goal?
A: Now, there’s the game. So, we are sending 1,000 of our local community members on Mon., Aug. 7 to the Cincinnati Reds game. My next challenge is coordinating all of this. I want to fill every single one of those seats…I’m really looking forward to that. Truthfully, I’m already looking forward to next year. My goal now is I’m verifying the record with Guinness, so I’m starting to put all of that into place and that takes some time. Once I get that officially verified, I want to take what I’ve done this year, put a plan in place, and I want to break the record again next year. I already have some ideas on how we can get 17,000 to 18,000 high-fives.