Season’s Harvest 2013 a Bumper Crowd

I N S I D E

T H I S

I S S U E :

Community

Garden & Or-

chard

2

Pizza Palooza 2

Wish List and

Thanks to Many

2

Program Up-

dates

3

NAIFA Golf

Outing

3

UCC 3

Volunteer Spot- 3

Director’s Note 4

S A N D Y C A L V E R T

E X E C U T I V E D I R E C T O R

F E E D I N G M E D I N A C O U N T Y

9 0 1 W . L A F A Y E T T E R D .

P . O . B O X 2 0 3 8

M E D I N A , O H 4 4 2 5 8

W W W . F E E D I N G M E D I N A C O U N T Y . O R G S U M M E R 2 0 1 3

Board of Directors

Pat Geissman

Jeff Plumer

Bill Frantz

Rose Viny

Terry O’Connor

Lucy Sondles

Matt Marquard

Sandi Sammon,

Business Manager

E D I T O R : S A N D I S A M M O N — C O N T A C T A T

S A N D I S A M M O N @ F E E D I N G M E D I N A C O U N T Y . O R G

To Volunteer Call

330-421-4816

The Ohio Farm Bureau’s 3rd annual

Season’s Harvest to benefit Feeding Me-

dina County was a huge success this

year with nearly 100 guests in attend-

ance. The August 15th event was held

at Willowvale Farms, Inc. in Spencer,

Ohio. Guests arrived at the farm’s main

entrance and were given a tour. Guests

were then escorted by SUV around the

bend to the farm’s pond. A long, beauti-

fully-decorated white table extended

alongside the pond allowing the guests

to dine in a spectacular outdoor area.

John Kolar, chef at Thyme Squared,

prepared the five-course meal which fea-

tured all Medina County fruits, vegeta-

bles, and meats. Andy Troutman, owner

of The Winery at Wolf Creek and Trout-

man Vineyards, paired each course with

an appropriate wine.

The guests were all very impressed

with the fine job by the Farm Bureau

and Willowvale farms. The proceeds

from the event will help Feeding Medina

County’s Weekenders program.

Sandy Calvert,Feeding Medina County Exectu-

tive Director, and husband Chuck Calvert

State Patrol’s ‘Operation Feed’ Funds FMC Program

On July 19th the State Highway Pa-

trol held the Operation Feed Golf Out-

ing with proceeds going to Feeding Me-

dina County. Local law enforcement

agents from all sectors came out for a

day of camaraderie and charity.

Mr. & Mrs. Rick Dumperth

The event raised

$2,830.00 to

fund Feeding

Medina County’s

Weekenders for

Children pro-

P A G E 2

Community Garden Growing Strong The Community Garden located at Feed-

ing Medina County headquarters on Lafa-

yette Road is yielding nice results. Hun-

dreds of pounds of radishes, blueberries,

beans, squash, herbs, and much more have

been harvested and used in the Staples for

Seniors program as well as the summer

feeding program for children. The Juve-

nile Court’s Community Service teens

have been working hard all summer weed-

ing, watering, and planting to keep the

large garden in order.

Fall will bring the planting of trees in

the orchard. A very special thank you

goes out to the Medina County Communi-

ty Fund, the Medina County Women’s En-

dowment Fund, and the Wichita Founda-

tion for providing funds to sustain the gar-

den and orchard effort. Thank You!

Wish List

Paper Shredder

Plumbing

Floor Scrubber

Vacuum Cleaner

Camera

Wastebaskets

Printer

Utility Sink

Call 330-421-4816 if you

can help.

Feeding Medina County in partnership

with Main Street Medina, AARP, and Arm-

strong Cable held the first Pizza Palooza on

the Square on June 8, 2013. The event fea-

tured a nonprofit showcase as well as a piz-

zeria contest to find the ‘best pizza in Medi-

na County’.

Thousands of people attended and put

their pizza tasting skills to the test. Mayor

Dennis Hanwell made it Medina’s official

“pizza day”.

Romeo’s Pizza won “People’s Choice”

and Domino’s Pizza won “Judges’ Choice”.

Please “like” us on Facebook. www.facebook.com/FeedingMedinaCounty

Pizza Palooza a Huge Slice of Success

Many Thanks To:

Waite & Son Funeral

Homes for the cooler!

Vernak Refrigeration for

installing it!

Cornerstone Chapel’s

youth group for painting

the warehouse! Great

House Painters and Sher-

win-Williams for donat-

ing the paint!

Program Updates

P A G E 3 S U M M E R 2 0 1 3

NAIFA Donates to ‘Putt’ Out Hunger

Volunteer Spotlight Staples for Seniors— Seniors in the program

have been enjoying the fresh produce from the

Community Garden.

Weekenders for Children— The summer feed-

ing program went really well and wrapped up in

August. Over 6,000 pounds of food was distrib-

uted to the children this summer. Weekenders

for Children starts on September 12th.

Free Food Distribution— The Expanded Free

Fresh Produce Distributions have proven very

popular this summer. In Wadsworth, Brunswick,

and Lodi hundreds of families have received

fresh produce to help feed their families.

Free-Transit Service for Pantries— The Feed-

ing Medina County truck has been very busy

lately delivering thousands of pounds of food

every week from Akron-Canton Regional Food-

bank to local pantries that feed the hungry.

The National Association of Insurance and

Financial Advisors came out to golf and help

Feeding Medina County on June 7, 2013. At

the end of the event golfers had the opportunity

to play in the putt contest. The winner reached

within one inch of the hole. Feeding Medina

County raised $310.00 from the contest.

Special Thank You to UCC

Feeding Medina County would like to extend a

special thank you to the United Church of Christ,

Congregational for their support this summer.

UCC coordinated the Shopping Cart Brigade and

collected 577 pounds of food and raised $200.00

during the rainy Independence Day Parade. This

is the second year for the Shopping Cart Brigade

and it is gaining favor among parade goers with

the festively decorat-

ed shopping carts.

Also, on July 27,

UCC had a packed

house featuring jazz

pianist Bill Dobbins.

The concert was

free, but the

$1,342.00 offering

that was collected

was donated to

Feeding Medina

County!

This edition’s volunteer spotlight shines a

special light on all the dedicated volunteers who

gave their time to help park cars at the Medina

County Fair. The 620 Corporation donated the

parking lots across from the fair’s W. Smith

Road entrance, and Feeding Medina County

was able to raise $7,789.00 to help feed the hun-

gry. It could not have been done without the

help of all the following: Rob White, Larry

Bergman, Wally Gordon, Mike Geary, Mike

Davanso, Rick Dumperth, Grace Bohn, Bob

Beres, Cheryl Mason, Theresa Saunders,

Mike Carlson, Mark Morse, Keith Rasey,

Daryl & Dylan Kubilus, Brian Williams , Ju-

dith Cross, Ray Fain, Mike Schmidt, Becky

Luth, Rick Wasmer, Nick Schmeller, Brian

Letts, Ed Karecki, Alex & Victoria Macron,

Nate Bowman, David Lariviere, and Thom

Whelan.

Director’s Note

Yes, I want to support Feeding Medina County

Send your tax-deductible donation to: Feeding Medina County, 901 Lafayette Rd. Medina,

OH 44256 To Donate online click here

Feeding Medina County is a tax-exempt, nonprofit corporation.

Hunger In Medina County! We all want a better Ohio, an Ohio where our people are strong, smart, healthy, and able to put their creativity and intelligence toward our better future. Food is one of our most basic needs. Food is also medicine. Food is ener-gy. Food is community. Food is hope. Yet over one in four Ohio children don’t always know where their next meal will come from. Hunger has incredibly damaging consequences for our children’s health, well-being, edu-cational attainment and future workforce productivity. SNAP (food stamps) is an integral part of the nutrition safety net here in Ohio. More than 12,000 people in our county are enrolled in SNAP about one-half of them are children. Many of the children, families, seniors, and vet-erans that we see in our food lines rely on SNAP to put food on the table. 1.8 million Ohioans get about $4.50 a day in SNAP benefits to spend on food. Feeding Medina County and the emergency food assistance network act in concert with this and other nutrition assistance pro-grams to ensure that our friends, neighbors and commu-nities have access to enough fresh, healthy food to stabi-lize themselves and to live active, healthy and productive lives. Without SNAP, other federal nutrition programs, and our network in Medina County and Northeast Ohio, many would face unbelievable hardship, poor health, poor educational attainment and poor worker productivi-ty. Feeding Medina County alone will distribute more than 800,000 pounds of wholesome food this year through the pantry network, has established a Staples for Seniors program, a Weekenders Program of meals for children, community garden projects and is constantly engaging our community in meeting the sustained de-mand for food that we see every day. We work with individuals, businesses and others to provide a charitable response to hunger but we need help. We need to find innovative solutions to ensure our children, our seniors and our families don’t want for food. Feeding Medina County appreciates all that has been done to support our efforts. Please visit us a www.feedingmedinacounty.org and help be part of the solution: volunteer, donate, get connected to hunger relief efforts online. Please join us today! -Sandy Calvert, Executive Director, Feeding Medina County

Upcoming Events

September 7—Hill ‘n Dale Club’s

24th Annual Charity Event, “Helping

Stop Hunger One Shot at a

Time” (see attached registration form)

October 11 &

12—Kick Up

Your Heels—

End Childhood

Hunger. (see at-

tached registra-

tion form)

March 1, 2014—Breaking Bread on

Bourbon Street, An Evening of Art

and Jazz.

Volunteer Picnic Summer 2013

The Volunteer Picnic held

June 25, 2013, was attended

by over 70 volunteers. The

volunteers were served a pic-

nic-style dinner that included

hot dogs, cole slaw, potato

salad, baked beans, chips,

assorted beverages, and choc-

olate cake topped with ice

cream. The Blue Groove Jazz

Trio entertained the crowd.

Papa John’s ...Fighting Local

Hunger One Slice at a Time

Papa John’s Pizza held a fundraiser for Feeding Medina

County that began on August 13, 2013. The pizza store

gave out free medium pepperoni pizzas

for a $5.00 donation to Feeding Medina

County. The first fundraiser was held at

the Medina location, and $1,662.00 was

raised. The Brunswick store held its

fundraiser on August 20, and $685.00

was raised. The third and final fundraiser is scheduled for

the Wadsworth location and will be held August 27th.