Meals On Wheels Of Stark & Wayne Counties Represented at MOWAA's 2010 Annual Conference in Atlanta

Meals On Wheels of Stark & Wayne Counties is represented at the 2010 Annual Conference in Atlanta this week.

Teresa Barry, CEO, and Nora Logsdon, program manager, left Sunday for the conference, which gets underway at noon today and runs through Thursday night. It is being held at the Omni Hotel at the CNN Center.

"Building Communities to End Senior Hunger" is the theme of this year's conference, which will include general sessions, breakout seminars, a vendor fair and several receptions. Guest speakers include longtime ABC news reporter and anchor Sam Donaldson, and Tony Hall, an ambassador to the U.N. under former President George W. Bush and now managing director of the Alliance to End Hunger.

The conference will also feature a march across Centennial Park in Atlanta, a symbolic effort to draw attention to the fight against senior hunger in America. Conference attendees are being invited to participate in the march on Wednesday, Sept. 1.

Terri's two-year term as chairman of the MOWAA board comes to an end during the conference. She'll continue to serve on the board as immediate past chairman, as well as on the board of the MOWAA Foundation.

CEO Discusses Boomers, Agency Programs on WHBC Radio Appearance

CEO Teresa Barry discussed the aging baby boomer generation and the services offered by Meals On Wheels of Stark & Wayne Counties during a radio appearance this morning in Canton.

Terri appeared with host Ron Ponder on "Points to Ponder," which airs weekday mornings from 10 a.m. to 12 noon on NewsTalk 1480, WHBC-AM. The station has dominated local ratings in Stark County for decades.

Ron and Terri discussed her recent op-ed piece published in The Repository, the daily newspaper in Canton, in which she outlined the challenges presented by an aging baby boom generation that will enter retirement age starting in 2011. For the two decades that follow, a larger number of retirees will place an increasing burden on Social Security and other entitlement programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid.

The two also discussed Meals On Wheels and the work being done both locally and nationally, including Terri's contributions the past two years as chairman of the board of the Meals On Wheels Association of America.

The segment featuring Terri ran during the last portion of the show, from 11:35 to 12 noon.

Kent Stark Freshman Students Lend A Hand to MOWSW

Twenty-five freshman students from Kent State Stark volunteered at Meals On Wheels of Stark & Wayne Counties this month as part of a service-learning project designed to involve them in the community.

Led by Marisa Naftzger, assistant director for first-year experience at Kent Stark, the students helped prepare and deliver meals on Friday, Aug. 13 and Friday, Aug. 20.

This is the second consecutive year that students from Kent State Stark volunteered at Meals On Wheels. According to Marisa, the project not only benefits the agency, but also the students, who become better acquainted by working together on the agency's behalf.

Kent State Stark, located in Jackson Township, is the largest regional campus of Kent State University, serving 10,000 students annually (5,300 in academic coursework and 4,700 in professional development courses). Fall classes at the campus begin Aug. 30.

Area Firestone Dealer Supports Meals On Wheels

The Firestone store at the Chapel Hill Mall near Akron held a Charity Event & Raffle on Sunday, Aug. 15, with 100 percent of the proceeds designated for Meals On Wheels.

The event took place in the store parking lot from 12 noon to 4 p.m. Free hamburgers, hot dogs, soft drinks and sno-cones were provided, along with an inflatable "Spider-Man" bouncing playground for kids, provided by Steve's House of Bounce.

Scott Wilson, store manager, got the idea for the raffle after attending a Firestone dealers conference in Florida. Enid Borden, president of the Meals On Wheels Association of America, spoke to the group and talked about the mission of Meals On Wheels and the need at local programs around the country.

Scott returned to Ohio and began working on the event idea. Raffle prizes were donated by area businesses such as O'Charley's Restaurant, TranzPro Transmission, Credit First National, Pepsi, and WONE 97.5 Radio, along with Bridgestone/Firestone and the mall management.

Ken Steel of WQMX 94.9 FM, shown at right in the blue shirt, was present at the event and phoned in updates throughout the afternoon. WQMX also held a raffle for concert tickets, with all proceeds also going to Meals On Wheels.

Firestone raffle prizes included four tickets to the Cleveland Browns 2010 home opener, five sets of tickets to any remaining Cleveland Indians home game in 2010, Akron Aeros tickets, aluminum wheels from Terry's Tire Town, Bridgestone golf balls, umbrellas and a Bridgestone golf bag, Bridgestone and Firestone hats, an iPod Touch, restaurant gift cards and more.

Scott Wilson is shown in the bottom photo as he assists one of the raffle entrants.

Almost $1,900 was raised on behalf of Meals On Wheels during the event. Our thanks to Scott and everyone at Firestone, and to WQMX for their support during the afternoon.

WKYC News Report on Jail Garden Project

The jail garden feature by WKYC-TV reporter Amanda Barren appeared on Friday night's news on the Cleveland station. Barren spent about 90 minutes at the jail that morning and completed several interviews with people who had been involved with the project.

A link to the story on the WKYC website can be accessed here. The site includes a link to the video feature that appeared on the news.

Jail Garden Project on Cleveland TV News

The Garden Project at the Stark County Jail continues to draw media interest. Now in its second year, the garden was scheduled to be featured on the 6 p.m. newscast on WKYC-TV 3 in Cleveland on Friday, August 13.

Reporter Amanda Barren visited the jail on Friday morning and interviewed a number of individuals who have been involved with the project, including:

• Teresa Barry, CEO, Meals On Wheels of Stark & Wayne Counties
• Nick Kennedy of the Stark Farm Bureau
• Maureen Austin of the OSU Extension Stark County
• Rudy Moyer, Master Gardener Volunteer with the OSU Extension Stark County
• Mark Henderson of the Stark County Sheriff's Department

She also spoke to one of the inmates, and videotaped inmates and jail personnel harvesting vegetables and loading them onto the Meals On Wheels truck.

Afterward, Rudy (pictured at right with some of the inmates) said the project continues to produce impressive results. "I really believe in the project," he said, "and in working with the inmates. We could involve even more in the future. There's tremendous potential there, but you've got to start small and grow."

He said the quality of the produce is second to none. "It's all natural. There are no herbicides, no pesticides, no insecticides. So you don't have to worry about something being on the food that could harm you at some point, whether it's now or thirty years from now."

About 100 more pounds of food was bagged and delivered to Meals On Wheels after the videotaping sessions were finished Friday morning.

Bumper Crop from Stark County Jail Garden Benefits MOWSW

The garden at the Stark County Jail is producing an excellent harvest so far this summer, yielding abundant crops that in turn are benefiting Meals On Wheels of Stark & Wayne Counties and its clients.

The garden, now in its second year, was started entirely from seed this year. Rudy Moyer, volunteer with Master Gardeners of Stark County, conducted a seed-starting workshop at the jail in the spring. Peppers and tomatoes were started indoors, then planted along with other produce when weather permitted planting outdoors. Seeds for the project were donated by the Stark County Farm Bureau and the OSU Extension.

The garden was planted by inmates at the jail, who also water and harvest the vegetables on a daily basis.

As of Aug. 10 almost 500 pounds of produce had been harvested and delivered to Meals On Wheels, including 130 pounds of tomatoes, 75 pounds of zucchini, 63 pounds of green peppers, 50 pounds of cucumbers, and 49 pounds of squash. Other items planted in this year’s garden include salad mix, chard, peas, onions, radishes, pole beans, leaf lettuce, and hot peppers.

Watch our blog for more details on the garden project.