A cadre of enthusiastic Barberton residents are in the throes of planning “Tour de Barberton,” a June 23 benefit for the Lake Anna Relay for Life.
While I can’t guarantee it will be raining purple confetti, a great time is promised.
Formerly known as the Pub Crawl, the tour seeks not only to showcase the city’s hospitality and good eats, but most importantly to raise funds for the American Cancer Society. The Lake Anna Relay will take place in July.
The project was the brainchild, seven years ago, of Dave Incorvati, whose father Dan died of cancer.
The first effort drew 144 participants; the latest installment has already grown to more than 1,300, according to Sherrie Sanchez, who with her husband Martin owns Casa del Ranchero. The Mexican restaurant is among 13 stops on the tour. The others are Angie’s, the Barberton Moose, Center Court, David B’s, the Green Diamond, Hodge’s, the Hungarian Club, the Liedertafel, the Slovene Center, the Sokol, Tony’s Speakeasy and Willy’s — all in Barberton, of course.
“The Tour Committee, all members and past presidents of the Magic City Kiwanis Club, include Diane Breiding, whose mother Frances Snowball died of cancer; cancer survivors Elizabeth Wilson and Jean Hurbean, and Dave Incorvati,” wrote Wilson, whose husband Craig (a longtime veteran of the Beacon Journal’s newsroom) lost his cancer battle in 2007. “Hurbean’s father John died of colon cancer and her brother John J., of cancer of the mouth.”
“Some people try to visit all 13 [stops] during the 4 to 9 p.m. tour hours,” Wilson continued. “Others pick three or four places and linger a bit longer. Some people buy the shirt and don’t even attend. This is a wonderful opportunity to showcase Barberton and encourage local business … Proceeds go to sustain the Magic City Kiwanis Relay Team at the Platinum Level, $15,000 or more.”
The only requirements for participants is that they be adult age and purchase a 2012 Tour de Barberton T-shirt: $15 for sizes S-XL, $18 for 2X and above. T-shirts are being sold 6 to 8 p.m. today at the Green Diamond; 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Hodge’s; 6 to 8 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, and June 18 and 19 at Casa del Ranchero; 7 to 9 p.m. Friday at Center Court. For more information, please call Wilson at 330-745-3358.
“Every person participating in this event is an adult,” Sherrie Sanchez noted. “They make their own choices regarding what and how much they are going to eat and drink and they know the laws about open containers. Every Barberton business on the list is responsible for what and whom they serve. The committee’s job is to sell shirts.”
Marrow drives
Recent postings on Facebook about the urgent need for organ and tissue transplants are paying off big time. Lisa Radecky is sharing one of those lifesaving postings, affecting a former classmate and his wife:
“I am writing this to you to help spread the news about a wonderful event happening in Stow. We are coming together as a community to bring awareness to bone marrow donation.
“A few days ago I happened to be on my high school class page (Stow Ninety-Nine). It said the wife of one of our classmates was in need of a bone marrow transplant and she was in need of a match. The post also stated that a couple of our classmates were planning to have a drive and were in need of volunteers and donors. Within minutes our classmates started responding with ‘I’ll be there’ and ‘What can I do to help?’ It has now turned into a social media event with over 3,500 people invited to several physical locations (Stow and Randolph Center, Vt., where my classmate James Patterson … and his wife Amelia P. Lincoln live).”
The local stem cell/bone marrow drives are 5 to 8 p.m. today and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday at Christ Community Chapel in Hudson (main atrium), and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, June 23, at Stow-Munroe Falls High School.
Janice Patterson of Stow said her daughter-in-law, who experienced a recurrence of acute leukemia, is scheduled to undergo a transplant in Boston later this summer.
The Facebook posting further reads: “Amelia needs a life-saving transplant, using donor cells. You could save Amelia’s life — or the life of someone like her — by joining the bone marrow registry. It just takes a swab of your cheek to determine whether your match might keep someone alive. Monetary donations also encouraged.”
Giving Doll Tea
Interested in stepping out in your Sunday best while at the same time supporting a worthy cause?
Consider the Giving Doll Tea fundraiser planned for 1 to 4 p.m. Sept. 15, at the Blue Heron Banquet Center in Medina. This is advance notice for an event that surely will be sold out.
The Giving Doll Inc. — in the event you’ve missed hearing about this wonderful ministry in past columns — was founded by Wadsworth native Jan Householder, who has copyrighted a personalized, soft cloth doll that is replicated by area volunteers for distribution to children going through difficult times.
The group’s mission is “to give faith, love, hope, joy and comfort to children at times of special need.”
Householder said the project was started “to give dolls to children dealing with cancer. The organization’s mission has since broadened to include children whose families have been left homeless, child victims who receive dolls through police and fire departments, dolls given to children whose parents are being deployed into combat zones and others.
“So far, the Giving Doll Inc. [in six years] has distributed nearly 12,000 dolls to children in every state and 28 foreign countries.”
Tickets for the Giving Doll Tea — which will feature Betsy Kling, Copley native and WKYC-Channel 3’s chief meteorologist, as honorary chair — are $25. They can be purchased by sending a check made out to the Giving Doll Inc., and sent to P.O. Box 972, Wadsworth, OH 44282; or buy at the Giving Doll headquarters, 229 College St., Wadsworth, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. Deadline is Sept. 4.
In addition to an elegant tea, the afternoon also will include Chinese, silent and live auctions of handmade items and theme baskets.
Jewell Cardwell can be reached at 330-996-3567 or jcardwell@thebeaconjournal.com.
