ReInvention Stories

This week on ReInvention Stories, we meet Tonya Thomas and James Wilson, a couple from downtown Dayton. Tonya spent a decade working as a cook in Georgetown, Ohio before a divorce turned her world upside down and brought her back to Dayton. Tonya’s been with James for almost two years now. She’s in her mid-forties and he’s ten years older. They are both unemployed and struggling with health issues. James is looking for work as a truck driver.

This story was produced by Emily McCord, Steve Bognar, and Sarah Buckingham.

WYSO has been bringing you ReInvention Stories on the radio each week, accompanied by short films on the web. But, there is a third component to our ReInvention Stories project: an interactive web documentary at  www.ReInventionStories.org, featuring seven new stories from Dayton.  

ReInvention Stories is a multimedia storytelling project that asks the question: How does a city of inventors reinvent itself? Sarah Buckingham has this week’s story.

Brenda Dewinter was laid off from her job at Wright-Patt on September 29th, 2012 and she went on unemployment. But since December she’s been pursuing an associates degree in network system administration -  at ITT Technical Institute in Dayton. 

This ReInvention Story was produced by Shawndra Jones, Julia Rechiert, Steve Bognar, and Sarah Buckingham.

This week, Kimberly Collett tells how she re-invented a landmark Dayton restaurant: The Wympee drive-in on East Third Street. It was a burger place, open since in 1938, and it was closed for only one year before Collett re-opened it as Olive: An Urban Dive in 2011.

Collett brought a wide range of skills and experience to her business. She had backpacked across Europe, she’d been a caterer, a set builder, and an event planner. But when she became a single mom, she focused her considerable energy…

This ReInvention Story was produced by Liz Cambron.

Last summer the ReInvention team met Karen Stephens while she was walking her dog in South Park, where she lives. Her reinvention story is about coming home.

This ReInvention Story was produced by Emily McCord, Steve Bognar, Julia Reichert, Kyle Wilkinson, and Sarah Buckingham.