North Coast Rotary

Pizza Bake-Off at Avon High School Cafeteria on Tuesday February 11th, 4:30 – 6:30 PM / 7 PM Jazz Fusion Concert at the PAC

/ northcoastrotary

Sample pizza from Dirte Pi, Master Pizza, Marco’s and Domino’s. Vote for your favorites! LCCC and their Fab Cab, a mini makerspace and Rotary’s high school youth group will be offering fun activities for kids.  Then head over to the Avon PAC for the Fusion Concert starting at 7 PM.

Bring your friends and family for a fun evening of food, community, and friendly competition!  Enter the high school through the “new” main entrance from the general parking lot.  The door is to the right of the front of the Performing Arts Center. Continue down the hallway to the cafeteria.

Hope to see you there!  You can buy tickets here or at the door:  2025 Avon High School Great Pizza Bake-Off FUNdraiser

Proceeds benefit North Coast Rotary Foundation’s youth and community initiatives. Thank you and our sponsors for your support.  

Avon Lake Public Library Discovery Works – Grand Reopening

/ northcoastrotary

North Coast Rotary is proud to have financially supported the Avon Lake Public Library Discovery Works build. Treasurer Larry Calabrese and Secretary Jamie Wise enjoyed the preview event and said they were very impressed with the new exhibits! A big congratulations to the ALPL leadership, staff and Friends for this achievement.

Screenshot

Education and literacy has long been an area of focus for Rotary and our local libraries and schools have been the beneficiaries of our support.  

In 2023, we worked with Avon Lake Public Library to rejuvenate their Story Book Trail. See more with the following link:

https://northcoastrotary.org/2023/08/27/a-rejuvenated-story-book-trail-in-avon-lake/: Avon Lake Public Library Discovery Works – Grand Reopening

Second Harvest Foodbank – Volunteering

/ northcoastrotary

North Coast Rotarians and friends volunteered Monday evening at Second Harvest Foodbank of North Central Ohio Nordson Food Distribution Center located in Lorain.  Rotarians filled backpacks and then inspected and sorted donated food.  The back packs were filled for Friday distribution to students in Norwalk.  

Many companies, retail stores, farmers and food manufacturers donate food and grocery products which need to be inspected for food safety then sorted for future distribution.  This is an ongoing volunteer opportunity.

For 40+ years Second Harvest has been a lifeline for thousands in need; and its vision of creating a healthier, hunger-free community is as important and relevant today as it was in 1982. Find out how to help here: https://www.secondharvestfoodbank.org/

Welcome new member Brenda Svec!

/ northcoastrotary

North Coast Rotary recently inducted Brenda Svec, Sheffield/Sheffield Lake City Schools Curriculum Director as a new member in Rotary.  Brenda has been working in education for 17 years. She has three adult children who attended Avon schools; Brenda and family have lived in Avon since 2001.  She explained that she sought to join Rotary because her children as well as the students in the Sheffield/Sheffield Lake School district have benefited from Rotary’s initiatives.  Brenda concluded that she strongly believes in giving back to her community. North Coast Rotary looks forward to working together with Brenda in support of our communities!!

Blankets – Keep Them Coming!

/ northcoastrotary

Our communities have rallied to supply blankets for the Blankets for Beds initiative, and Ridge Cleaners continues to clean, sanitize and wrap them for distribution.  

Rotarian Jamie Wise delivered fifty cleaned and sanitized blankets to Neighborhood Alliance in late November.  

Thanks to our collection partner, Good Neighbor Thrift Shop, Rotarian Ken Mather picked up 17 bags of blankets and took them to Ridge Cleaners and his wife picked up more the week after!  

Thanks to our collection partner the French Creek Family Y whose blanket box was overflowing with donations, many of which were new and were promptly delivered to Blessing House!

THANK YOU TO ALL for helping to provide warming blankets for those in need.

Above – Blankets delivered to Neighborhood Alliance

Below – Overflowing donation box from the French Creek Family Y

Senior Care Baskets for Neighborhood Alliance – Fun Packing!

/ northcoastrotary

Clubmembers and friends donated boxes and fun items  and Cathy Pugh, Jamie Wise and Jinnyn Tata provided the personal care items paid for by a Thrivent Community Impact Fund Grant donated by Gina Eschke.  Combining the donations we were able to pack 20 large Senior Care Boxes!  Personal care items, small games, warm socks, ornaments, gift cards and candy were some of the items included.  

Thanks to Pete Sandrev, who made the Avon Wine Room available for us to enjoy a social evening while we packed! Neighborhood Alliance appreciated receiving the care boxes valued over $500.

The Neighborhood Alliance organization has been caring for the community since 1927.  Today their services include daily meal delivery and nutrition services for seniors, emergency shelter, homeless outreach, in addition to programs for children. 

Avon S. O. A. R. through Parenting

/ northcoastrotary

The Avon Local Schools programs S.O.A.R. through Parenting are being supported by North Coast Rotary (financially and in-person) for the 2nd year.  Program topics that are immediately relevant to parents with titles such as “Raising Superheroes, Building Strong Relationships, Coping with Parental Stress and Calming the Storm” are identified by Avon Local Schools’ Social Workers Rebekah Bryson and Lauren Eigenbrod. They design the programs to include interactive presentations, group discussions, handouts, resource-links and one-on-one Q&A.  

Attending Families enjoy a light dinner then High School students in Honor Society or Key Club engage the children in activities, once the program begins.  

January 22nd and February 26th are currently the last evening sessions.  Avon parents look out for communications on future programming!

Medical Equipment & Supplies Collection and EMPTY BOWLS By the Lake

/ northcoastrotary

Rotarians supported two events on Saturday October 19th.  Sprenger Towne Center made available storage and a pick-up location for used but usable medical equipment.  Thanks to Sprenger and many donations from our communities, we were able to fill a truck with walkers, bath chairs, wheelchairs, a hospital bed, dental equipment and more. Big Frog donated a box of scrubs and several boxes of shirts which are always needed. At this time, Rotary is seeking a location to store future collections.  Once identified we will again accept used but usable medical equipment for this initiative.

Also on Saturday, several Rotarians picked-up soup and served soup with many other volunteers at the successful EMPTY BOWLS by the Lake fundraiser where all proceeds benefited Second Harvest Food Bank, Avon/Avon Lake CRS, Commodore Cupboard & other local food banks.

Please Welcome Mary Beth Allen – Rotary’s new member!

/ jinnyn

Avon Lake resident Mary Beth Allen was recently inducted into membership.  She brings expertise from her financial CFO career and her non-profit Treasurer experience.   Mary Beth said that  “The Rotary Club is a great service organization and a great vehicle for establishing local connections and gaining an understanding of the community”.  She recently volunteered with the MESA pick-up and looks forward to helping judge the 4-Way Test Speech Contest and 4-Way Test Essay Contest.  North Coast Rotary plans to become more involved in Environmental opportunities, and Mary Beth has volunteered to help!