Lighthouse puts new twist on toy drive
Families ’shopping’ for children will donate $1 per child for orphanage
Sunday, December 14, 2008
By Shari L. Berg
Butler Township resident Jody Smith knows what it’s like to be in need, and that is why she is giving back to help others this holiday season.
“I think if you can help someone out, you should,” she said.
It’s a lesson she hopes her four children, Jason, 9, Jarred, 7, Courtney, 2 and Collin, 3 months, will learn.
She gives back in many ways, including donating her children’s outgrown clothing to The Lighthouse and the St. Vincent DePaul Society. But this year, she’ll be helping children at Lifeline International, an orphanage in Cambodia.
That’s where the donation she will make to “shop” the Lighthouse’s Toy Drive will go.
Mrs. Smith has used The Lighthouse’s food bank for about nine years, getting the extra help she needs to feed her family.
The Lighthouse, located in Middlesex, is a nonprofit organization that provides a food bank and other services to local families. It has been helping families in the community for over 20 years.
Jaime Carter, Lighthouse spokesman, said the toy drive has been offered since 1983. It started as a stuffed animal drive launched by Bakerstown Alliance Church member June Klinzing. Since then, it has grow into a toy drive that helps more than 400 families.
Families served by the Lighthouse food bank are invited to visit the toy drive for their children.
Items for the event are donated through several sources, including the Treesdale Country Club, Wal-Mart Angel Tree, St. Richard Church and a dozen other local churches. Toys grouped by children’s ages, and recipients are allowed to choose a large and small toy for each child and a few stocking stuffers and clothing items.
More than 30 volunteers help sort the toys, then man the stations during the shopping day for families.
“It’s been really nice,” said Mrs. Smith. “The people who donate [the toys] are wonderful. They pick out some really nice toys.”
Ms. Carter said this year, the Lighthouse is asking its toy drive recipients to contribute to help others less fortunate.
“We are doing a couple new things this year to get our families educated and involved in charity,” she said. “We are asking for a $1 donation for each child a parent or guardian shops for. So if someone has five kids, we’re asking them to donate $5.”
The money will be sent to Lifeline International, an AIDS mission for Cambodian orphans.
“We’re excited to get our food bank and family ministries involved in this way,” said Ms. Carter.
“I think it’s wonderful to be able to gather money for another wonderful cause,” she said Sandy Bizon, a five-year volunteer for the toy drive.
Mrs. Smith, said she, too, likes the idea of giving back, and has no problem with donating a dollar for each of her children. As her children get older, she plans to have them volunteer with her at the Lighthouse.
“It’s been a good experience for the kids because they are learning to help others while they are being helped,” she said. “I’m glad they’ve learned to appreciate what we have.”
The toy drive is being held at 9 a.m. Dec. 20 at the Lighthouse. For more information, call the Lighthouse at 724-898-4673.
Freelance writer Shari L. Berg can be reached in care of suburbanliving@post-gazette.com.
Lighthouse puts new twist on toy drive
Families ’shopping’ for children will donate $1 per child for orphanage
Sunday, December 14, 2008
By Shari L. Berg
Butler Township resident Jody Smith knows what it’s like to be in need, and that is why she is giving back to help others this holiday season.
“I think if you can help someone out, you should,” she said.
It’s a lesson she hopes her four children, Jason, 9, Jarred, 7, Courtney, 2 and Collin, 3 months, will learn.
She gives back in many ways, including donating her children’s outgrown clothing to The Lighthouse and the St. Vincent DePaul Society. But this year, she’ll be helping children at Lifeline International, an orphanage in Cambodia.
That’s where the donation she will make to “shop” the Lighthouse’s Toy Drive will go.
Mrs. Smith has used The Lighthouse’s food bank for about nine years, getting the extra help she needs to feed her family.
The Lighthouse, located in Middlesex, is a nonprofit organization that provides a food bank and other services to local families. It has been helping families in the community for over 20 years.
Jaime Carter, Lighthouse spokesman, said the toy drive has been offered since 1983. It started as a stuffed animal drive launched by Bakerstown Alliance Church member June Klinzing. Since then, it has grow into a toy drive that helps more than 400 families.
Families served by the Lighthouse food bank are invited to visit the toy drive for their children.
Items for the event are donated through several sources, including the Treesdale Country Club, Wal-Mart Angel Tree, St. Richard Church and a dozen other local churches. Toys grouped by children’s ages, and recipients are allowed to choose a large and small toy for each child and a few stocking stuffers and clothing items.
More than 30 volunteers help sort the toys, then man the stations during the shopping day for families.
“It’s been really nice,” said Mrs. Smith. “The people who donate [the toys] are wonderful. They pick out some really nice toys.”
Ms. Carter said this year, the Lighthouse is asking its toy drive recipients to contribute to help others less fortunate.
“We are doing a couple new things this year to get our families educated and involved in charity,” she said. “We are asking for a $1 donation for each child a parent or guardian shops for. So if someone has five kids, we’re asking them to donate $5.”
The money will be sent to Lifeline International, an AIDS mission for Cambodian orphans.
“We’re excited to get our food bank and family ministries involved in this way,” said Ms. Carter.
“I think it’s wonderful to be able to gather money for another wonderful cause,” she said Sandy Bizon, a five-year volunteer for the toy drive.
Mrs. Smith, said she, too, likes the idea of giving back, and has no problem with donating a dollar for each of her children. As her children get older, she plans to have them volunteer with her at the Lighthouse.
“It’s been a good experience for the kids because they are learning to help others while they are being helped,” she said. “I’m glad they’ve learned to appreciate what we have.”
The toy drive is being held at 9 a.m. Dec. 20 at the Lighthouse. For more information, call the Lighthouse at 724-898-4673.
Freelance writer Shari L. Berg can be reached in care of suburbanliving@post-gazette.com.
Fire damages transitional living home
Officials still are investigating the cause of a Monday afternoon fire that shut down a transitional living home in the city.
Blanchard House, a three-story house on Mercer Street, is owned by the Lighthouse Foundation.
It has three apartments occupied by one resident adviser and four otherwise homeless women.
City fire Chief Nick Ban said the fire was reported to emergency dispatchers at 1:11 p.m. as a couch fire.
But when firefighters arrived, the entire first floor was engulfed in flames and one female occupant had to be rescued from a second-story porch roof.
Ban said the fire began in a first-floor apartment that is home to two women, but neither occupant was there when the fire started.
One woman was at school. The other was returning from work when she walked into the apartment and saw the flames, Ban said.
The burned skeleton of a couch frame was among charred remains thrown into the yard.
No one was injured, but Ban said if not for the quick action of the first responders and assistance from off-duty firefighters who were called in, the fire could have been a disaster.
Neither fire officials nor foundation officials identified the homes’ occupants.
Several young women wearing street clothes or pajamas were standing outside the building as firefighters put out the blaze.
The Rev. Vernon Borchert, executive director of the Lighthouse, was on site and said the women would not comment.
Neither Borchert nor fire officials were immediately able to estimate the extent of the damage.
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Butler firefighters check for hotspots after an early afternoon blaze Monday caused heavy damage to the Blanchard House on Mercer Street. |
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Borchert said an insurance adjuster was on the way.
The state police fire marshal also was called by investigators.
Later, Jaime Carter, spokeswoman for the nonprofit agency, said the fire damage was significant enough that the building was being boarded up and the occupants were to be housed at different Lighthouse-owned homes.
Along with the Blanchard and the Penney House on Route 8, the foundation operates townhouses for single-parent families. An additional, emergency facility is planned to open this year in the city.
The Blanchard House, which was donated to the foundation in 2001, is home to women ages 18 to 21 who need a place to live.
The women are taught skills to prepare them for independent living, including driving and cooking, and are given aid so they can finish school or get a job.
In addition to the damage to the building, Carter said the occupants lost many of their clothes and personal items in the fire. Carter is seeking donors to replace those items.
City firefighters and Butler Ambulance Service were at the scene for several hours.
