I went to Dan Rodger's seminar on helping the homeless. He
wants to see them get back into the job market and an apt. He has
strict recovery programs for those that want change in their lives.
Toledo Banner store donated to Cherry Street ministries
The building where Toledo-area residents bought mattresses and furniture for decades soon will become a charity center.
Cherry Street Mission officials said they would expand the "Gift-in-Kind" program to the Monroe Street facility. http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080710/NEWS16/80...
The Karp family, owner of Banner Mattress & Furniture Co., has
donated its retail store at 3342 Monroe St. to Cherry Street Mission
Ministries. The building, dubbed "Lifebridge Center" by the ministries,
will serve as a community center.
Dan Rogers, the ministries' president and chief executive officer, said
his organization wants to find ways to focus the charity on prevention
of poverty and social ills rather than relief.
"We need to ask ourselves, 'How can we prevent people from being
homeless, or incarcerated, or uneducated?" he said at a news conference
yesterday.
With the donation, the organization now has eight locations in four different neighborhoods, Mr. Rogers said.
Ministries' officials said they would use the building to create a
"communitywide" furniture bank, where retailers and people would donate
furniture to be picked up by families in need.
The building also would include job-training programs for professions
such as plumbing and electrical work as well as a community center with
computers and other information to help with job applications.
The building was donated to the ministries in February.
The organization plans to open the furniture bank later this year.
The community center and education programs are set to begin in the summer of 2009.
Along with the ministries' volunteers, dozens of Lucas County employees
will volunteer to help refurbish the 91-year-old building and adjacent
warehouse.
Under a new program proposed by Lucas County Commissioner Ben Konop,
the county government's 3,500 employees will be encouraged to volunteer
for local charities during three Saturdays - the "Lucas County Days of
Caring" - throughout the year.
The program, called "Lucas County Cares," will not cost any taxpayer
money and will not provide incentives for employees to volunteer.
The first project will be July 26 to help the ministries with its Lifebridge project.
Mr. Konop said he expected at least 50 to 100 employees to participate in the program.
"I'm hopeful that it's going to have a good response," Mr. Konop said. "By and large, they want to help the community."
Other projects with "Lucas County Cares" will be coordinated by United Way of Greater Toledo.
