Mahoning Valley Businesses Share the Holiday Spirit
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- For many Mahoning Valley businesses, the holiday season is not just a time to toast the year past and celebrate with employees and their families, but an opportunity to give back to their communities.
In some cases that means attempting to fill an unmet need for families and individuals; in others, it is simply looking to fill a child’s eye with joy on Christmas morning, a challenge for some parents in this economy that the more fortunate often take for granted.
Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream & Yogurt, based in Canfield, is in the fifth year of its “Koins for Kids” campaign, an idea “we weren’t sure” was going to work that has morphed into a holiday tradition, says Jim Brown, chief operating officer.
“I don’t think any of us thought it would grow into where we’re at now,” he says. “What we were trying to do is help Akron Children’s Hospital raise money and awareness that they were in the market,” as well as instill in kids a “life lesson” about helping those less fortunate.
The children’s hospital provides treatment regardless of a family’s ability to pay.
The campaign is driven by more than just a desire to give back to the community, Brown acknowledges. Both he and Handel’s president/owner Len Fisher have had children who spent time in pediatric hospitals. When leaving Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh with his daughter, Brown recalls, “I made it a point that somehow, some way I was going to pay this thing forward.”
The Handel campaign kicks off with a firefighter’s boot collection drive in early November, which this year raised more than $25,000 during the four-hour event.
On Dec. 2, schools began collecting money through Dec. 13. Each student who makes a donation, of any amount, has his name put on a paper snowman icon. The school that raises the most money per student receives an ice cream social for the entire school and a disc jockey for a school dance.
Brown has found that the students are less concerned about winning the ice cream social and party than raising money to help other area kids.
“The schools ran with this. They came up with very creative ideas,” he says. Most of the money raised comes from kids in the form of change, he reports. Sponsors including ClearChannel and Walgreens drugstores.
Including the $47,000 raised last year, the campaign has raised in excess of $100,000 to date from the students and firefighters, Brown says.
Akron Children’s Hospital Mahoning Valley is the beneficiary of many businesses’ holiday drives, including support campaigns by area Eat ‘n Park restaurants, which does Tips for Tots nights and other events as part of its five-week Caring for Kids campaign to support the hospital.
Other efforts on behalf of the children’s hospital include drives at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Boardman and Books A Million in Niles, which support book-centered programs at the hospital, and Giving Trees for toy donations at the Starbucks restaurants in Boardman and Austintown.
During the holiday season, many companies “get their employees together to do something good for the community,” observes JoAnn Stock.
These include a potluck lunch where each employee is asked to bring an unwrapped toy or donate money, says Stock, director of development at Akron Children’s Hospital Mahoning Valley. Toys are distributed not only to the children in the hospital on Christmas morning but to children who come through the emergency department throughout the season.
“Toys are important,” she explains. “When a child is in the hospital or here as an outpatient, say, having chemotherapy treatments, the time can just drag. So we try to make their stay as enjoyable as possible. Toys they can quietly play with and can help to pass the time are important, as are books.”
Stock attributes the strong community support for the Akron Children’s Hospital Boardman campus, throughout the year as well as during the holiday season, to its presence in the Mahoning Valley the past five years.
The number of people grows who have been affected by the services it provides, whether through a child, grandchild, neighbor or friend. The campus has had more than 112,000 emergency room visits and performed more than 3,700 pediatric surgeries.
“The more people who are personally touched, the more closely they feel to us and the good work that we do in the community,” she says.
The Toys for Tots campaign by the U.S. Marine Corps has more than 200 collection boxes throughout Mahoning and Trumbull counties at sites as varied as bank branches, chain restaurants, retailers and car dealerships as well as tattoo parlors, tanning salons and manufacturers. Toys collected through the campaign go to families in need throughout the two counties, reports Sgt. Modesto Montano. Last year, more than 21,000 toys were distributed to more than 12,000 children.
“Our biggest challenge is ensuring that we are fair with the distributions and making sure that we help those in need,” Modesto says. “The local businesses are of great importance for this program and many are more than willing to contribute to such a wonderful cause.”
First Place Bank took a different approach with its toy collection drive this year, reports Alicia Miller, corporate vice president of marketing.
In October, customers chose among three potential recipients on the bank’s website and voted to select the Boys and Girls Club of Youngstown. Toys are being dropped off at First Place’s 18 branches in Mahoning, Trumbull and Portage counties. In addition, customers can contribute to an account to help pay for more toys to be donated
“We’re a community bank and we believe in dedicating our time and our energy and our resources in the communities where we all live and work,” Miller says. “It’s a good thing to be able to give back to your own local community, especially at the holiday season.”
Other business-based holiday campaigns aim at meeting more basic needs. Ankle & Foot Care Centers is collecting footwear for the Salvation Army through Jan. 3 at its 21 locations, says Michael Vallas, practice administrator. The company has conducted the campaign for 17 years.
“It’s within our mission of having better foot health and lower extremity health care,” Vallas says. The campaign typically collects 700 pairs of boots and shoes during the drive, donated by staff and patients alike. “We try to emphasize new or nearly new,” he says.
Through its Operation Santa Claus campaign, Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC is donating $50 for each new vehicle it sells through Dec. 31 to two organizations. The $50 from each Chevrolet sold will go to the Boys & Girls Club of Youngstown and the $50 for each Buick and GMC sold will go to the Salvation Army’s Red Kettle Campaign.
“We’ve had a great year and we’ve been blessed with a great product and a great customer base, and we just want to try to give back in any way we can,” says its president, Doug Sweeney. “In both these cases, we expect to be able to raise between $8,000 and $10,000 for each charity.”
In addition to sponsoring photos with Santa Claus at the main office in Canfield, Farmers National Bank has several holiday initiatives underway, reports Amber Wallace, senior vice president and director of marketing.
“We do so many things during the holidays, it’s kind of crazy here,” she remarks.
Farmers employees sponsor gifts for children staying with their mothers at Beatitude House in Youngtown and Warren. The kids write down what they want and employees or a department takes one child or more.
“They’re significant gifts,” Wallace says.
Farmers also furnishes gifts for the mothers.
In addition, Farmers collects for Toys for Tots and Second Harvest Food Bank and donates money from sales of money-holder envelopes to Akron Children’s Hospital. “We also donate a portion of our loan fees during this time of year,” Wallace adds, to the hospital as well.
Warren’s Covelli Enterprises owner Sam Covelli annually contributes $15,000 to Toys for Tots “because he knows what an important cause it is and the holidays are a time to give back,” says Liz Fiorino, company regional marketing director. Additionally, the company does an internal shopping spree and displays those items at the Panera Bread on Elm Road where customers are encouraged to add items.
“On top of that, this year we’re partnering with ClearChannel with our O’Charley’s restaurants. We have barrels set up at both locations and we’re collecting items for the Wounded Warrior project,” she says.
Customers are encouraged to donate toiletries, socks, toothpaste and other items for soldiers. Each donor receives a free slice of pie in return.
After several years of that program lying dormant, in 2003 the employee activities committee at Humility of Mary Health Partners revived its annual Festival of Trees. The tradition began 25 years ago with a single tree at St. Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown.
This year 85 trees will be raffled at HMHP’s three hospitals. Employees come up with a theme for each tree and decorate them, says Patricia Rush, HMHP senior public relations specialist.
“They’re so colorful and creative. It’s just amazing,” she says.
Proceeds from ticket sales at the St. Elizabeth’s main campus benefit the Reach Fund, which helps employees facing crises. Sales at St. Joseph’s Health Center in Warren benefit that hospital’s Mission Fund that supports several projects including Adopt-A-School. And ticket sales for the St. Elizabeth Boardman Health Center’s trees benefit the mission closest to patients and families who might need clothing and other supplies while at the hospital as well as the Helping Hands of Boardman Fund, Rush says.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story appears in the MidDecember edition of The Business Journal.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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