Here’s a chance to do something to help Keep Akron Beautiful, to say nothing of the opportunity to win a professional front- or backyard makeover valued at $10,000.
Keep Akron Beautiful is responsible for planting and maintaining 39 Flowerscapes, a seismic annual effort we can enjoy so much during our walks or drives.
In order to keep doing what it’s doing, Keep Akron Beautiful needs an infusion of capital, hence the June 6 “Dreamscape” raffle. Tickets are $25 or five for $100.
The winner gets to work with lead landscaper Nick Roth of Nick’s Landscaping to plan your dream yard. The actual work will be done Aug. 5-9 by Nick and an amazing team of vendors.
Three other winners will get prizes, including four yards of mulch or compost blown into landscaped beds by TerraScape Ltd.; a birdbath donated by Suncrest Gardens; and a basket of gardening supplies from Graf Growers.
Raffle tickets are available at Keep Akron Beautiful at 850 E. Market St., Akron; or Dayton Nurseries Inc., Donzell’s Flower & Garden Center Inc., Graf Growers Garden Center, Paul’s Greenhouse and Suncrest Gardens.
For more information on Dreamscape Raffle 2013, please visit www.keepakronbeautiful.org or call 330-375-2116.
Young good citizen
Four-year-old Sydney Myers-Schoonover showed that you’re never too young to be a giving citizen of the world.
For her recent mitzvah (good deed), she donated 12 inches of her hair to Wigs for Kids Inc., which makes wigs for children who have suffered medical hair loss because of cancer treatment or alopecia.
Sydney, daughter of Sarah Hanselman-Myers of Wadsworth, attends the pre-kindergarten program at Akron’s Shaw Jewish Community Center’s Early Childhood department.
Sydney said she was happy to help kids “who are sick and do not have any hair.”
Honoring mothers
Battered Women’s Shelter is offering three unusual ways to honor mothers and to promote peace for every mother with special bouquet packages for Mother’s Day.
First a message from the shelter:
“We see extraordinary women use their strength to find the courage to flee a violent relationship, seek healing after a sexual assault, and care for their children in the face of emotional challenges. In 2012, we provided 24,137 safe nights of shelter to these extraordinary women and their children.”
All proceeds from the sale support the work of the shelter.
Here are the packages:
• All the Frills, $75 — Mixed bouquet with a card to be delivered between 9 a.m. and noon May 11, to your mother or special woman, and recognition in the Beacon Journal’s Mother’s Day edition. Also available for pickup at 947 E. Market St., Akron (delivery only available for Summit and Medina counties).
• Make Her Day, $35— Mixed bouquet with card, delivery or pickup.
• Grateful for You Corporate Tribute, $100 — Your company name highlighted in the newspaper’s Mother’s Day edition, and recognition on social media networks and in the newsletter.
Order online at http://bwsmothersdaysale.eventbrite.com; by phone at 330-860-5635. Deadline is 1 p.m. Friday.
Questions? Please contact Brittany Paliswat at 330-860-5635 or BrittanyP@scmcbws.org.
Legal clinic
Community Legal Aid Services Inc. and the Akron Bar Association are offering a free legal clinic 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday at the Job Center, 1040 Tallmadge Ave., Akron, for low-income and senior citizens.
Just walk in, or register by calling 800-998-9454.
Students pamper elders
Big, beautiful bouquets to Cuyahoga Falls High School’s Key Club, cosmetology students and several student volunteers for making a high school dream come true for senior citizens with “The Sunrise Senior Prom 2013” at Sunrise Senior Living in Cuyahoga Falls.
Fran Bevis, activities and volunteer coordinator at Sunrise of Cuyahoga Falls, shared the pageantry:
“First the ladies needed to be pampered. One station was helping with hairdos, another with painting nails. The men were busy too! Thanks to Nick from American Commodore Tuxedo at Chapel Hill Mall who was gracious enough to loan out colorful bow ties and white shirts for our gentlemen to wear at no cost. … Even some of our Sunrise team dressed in prom attire for the special occasion. … Handmade tissue corsages and boutonnieres adorned all the residents.
“For most of our residents this was their first prom, since many never attended their own prom due to the Depression and being called to serve our country during wartime. … As the excitement built up over several days of preparation, gowns were donated or skirts sewn just in time for the big day.”
The event was toasted with croissant sandwiches, cookies and lemonade punch. It was an evening that most never wanted to see come to an end.
Laugh along
The Laughing Club of Northeast Ohio is opening its circle to area residents for its annual celebration of “World Laughter Day” 1 p.m. Sunday at the shelter house at Akron’s Hardesty Park (off West Market Street near North Hawkins).
Why laugh? Carol Bailey Floyd, founder of the local club, answered: It’s fun. It’s a great energizer. It’s marvelous for stress relief.
The local club meets 10 a.m. every Saturday at the Cuyahoga Falls Public Library. New members are welcome. Please call 330-414-3505.
Earning their badges
Big, beautiful bouquets to eight girls who are members of Akron Praise Temple, 1316 Kentucky Ave., Akron, who recently fashioned and donated 11 artsy pillowcases to patients at Akron Children’s Hospital.
The girls range in age from 6-12 — Mariah Wallace, Kaylee Holler, Sara and Caitlin Selders, Ariel and Jasmine Smith, McKinsey Palmerie and Alina McCue. They earned not only a sewing badge but more importantly a GEMS (Girls Everywhere Meeting the Savior) badge for the project.
Leaders Sandy Litko and Stacie Holler, proud of their girls’ accomplishments, said the exercise is an opportunity for them “to learn how God wants us to love and serve others.”
OPEN M fundraiser
Lenny Morella, president of the South Akron Board of Trade, is inviting the community to the organization’s “Thanksgiving in May” fundraiser, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday at OPEN M (Opportunity for People Everywhere in Need Ministry), 941 Princeton St., Akron.
Cost to attend is $10 and at least one nonperishable food item. The event is limited to the first 100 who RSVP to lmorella @neo.rr.com. It includes presentations from several groups on the receiving end of South Akron Board of Trade donations.
Scooter donation
Major thanks to Judi Horak and her family for donating a motorized scooter via this column to a 29-year-old Barberton man, a shooting victim who is a double amputee.
Social worker Becky Richards with Mobile Meals made the plea on his behalf:
“Michael has expressed a need for a scooter because right now with just a wheelchair he is very limited where he can go. He does not live far from shopping areas and could use the scooter to do some shopping for himself instead of always having to ask someone else to do for him.”
Jewell Cardwell can be reached at 330-996-3567 or jcardwell@thebeaconjournal.com.