Business & Tech
Hundreds Come to Share Holiday
The final day of 19 Action News' donation drive was held at Levin Furniture in Avon Commons.
at Avon Commons hosted the final day of 19 Action News’ week-long Share Your Holidays donation drive on Friday.
Through Thursday, the drive collected more than 1,200 coats for City Mission, 1,200 toys for the Salvation Army and helped the Cleveland Food Bank provide meals for 10,000 families, said 19 Action News reporter Denise Dufala. Numbers for Friday were not available.
"We're a really big supporter of charities, both national and local," said Levin Furniture sales manager Ginger Pieragastini.
Find out what's happening in Avon-Avon Lakefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The drive took place at different businesses across northeast Ohio last week. Friday's event featured the likes of Harlem Globetrotters Jet and Firefly, ’ mascot Stomper and several reporters from WOIO, but the event was really about regular people donating what they could, no matter how big or small.
“I’m working solid, my wife’s working solid, and we realize there are a lot of people out there not as fortunate as we are,” Mike Haney, 56, said after he dropped off a coat for City Mission and a bag of food for the Second Harvest Food Bank, which was invited Friday in Cleveland Food Bank's place. “Hopefully this helps someone out.”
Find out what's happening in Avon-Avon Lakefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Some people decided to donate in bulk; two men in a truck donated seven boxes of turkeys from , and a woman dropped off two boxes of Jif peanut butter – one creamy, and one crunchy, of course.
Susan Bartosch, community engagement officer at Second Harvest, said donation drives like Share Your Holidays provide the community with an opportunity to come together and give.
“In four nights, we’ve gotten enough food to help feed 7,700 families,” she said. “How could one person do that?”
Michaela Kekedy, marketing and communications at City Mission, a multi-faceted Cleveland nonprofit organization serving the homeless and impoverished, said as Cleveland continues its economic struggles, more and more people are coming to City Mission’s homeless shelters in need of necessities like shelter, food and clothing.
“In this economy, these necessities are critical,” she said.