Can You Help Fill An Empty Shelf?

If you’re like me, you know what it’s like to be hungry. So you go to your refrigerator or your cupboard, open the door – and find yourself staring at an empty shelf. After a long minute, you slowly close the door and sit back down, still hungry. Then you get up, go out and buy some food.

There are a lot of people who face empty shelves every day. Unlike you and me though, they can’t just go to the grocery store. They don’t have the money. Their shelves are consistently empty. A lot of those people live here in Euclid. There’s a good chance you know them. You just don’t know they’re hungry.

If you knew how to help them, would you? Well, here’s your chance. On Thursday, June 14 the Euclid Hunger Center is having a fundraiser at Briardale Greens. It’s a great opportunity for a great cause - filling an empty shelf to feed a hungry person or family.

Before I give you the details, let me give you some stats on Euclid that emphasize the need that the Euclid Hunger Center addresses on a daily basis:

- In Euclid, approx 7,400 people live in poverty

- In Euclid, approx 3,800 Euclid Schools students are at or below the poverty level

- In Euclid, approx 6,100 households are headed by single parents

- In Euclid, roughly 2,200 working age adults are unemployed

- In Euclid, there are approx 7,800 Seniors living on fixed incomes

Now let me give you some stats on the Hunger Center. EHC is located inside Shore Cultural Centre and has been helping Euclid residents for over ten years. Every week volunteers bag food either donated by or purchased with donations from caring, concerned folks like you. Every month they distribute those bags to over 1,200 of our neighbors and friends.

And here’s a little known fact - Every $1 the Hunger Center raises provides 10 meals. Those volunteers know how to stretch a buck.

The Euclid Hunger Center helps everyone it can who needs help. It could be an elderly senior with little left over after paying bills. It could be a single mom making minimum wage while raising two kids. It could be your neighbor who’s been out of work for two years or a friend facing foreclosure and bankruptcy because of medical bills. 

Now if you’re willing and if you’re able, there are several ways you can help the Hunger Center fill a bag to fill an empty shelf. You can send a donation to EHC, POB 23446, Euclid OH 44123 or you can donate online by visiting their website here. You can also drop off your papers in the Abitibi bins behind Shore. Proceeds go directly to the Hunger Center.

And if you want to help AND have fun at the same time, you can join other supporters of EHC on Thursday June 14 at The Pavilion at Briardale Greens off Babbitt. The summer fundraiser is from 6-9pm, and for just $20 ($25 at the door), you can enjoy Food, Live Music and Prizes. All proceeds benefit the Euclid Hunger Center. 

The summer fundraiser is just two weeks away, so before you forget – call the Euclid Hunger Center today at (216)731-3329 and reserve a ticket (or two).

There’s almost nothing more disheartening then facing an empty shelf on an empty stomach and knowing it won’t be filled any time soon.

The Euclid Hunger Center’s mission is to help fill those shelves, but it can’t fill them with good intentions.  It needs your help. Whichever route you choose, your donation is appreciated by both the Hunger Center and by the people the Hunger Center helps.

Thanks for your time. I hope you can make the summer fundraiser on Thursday, June 14 between 6pm and 9pm at the Pavilion at Briardale Greens. It should be fun.

E.185 Alive, Jail on Hold, Speed Cameras Tabled & Farmers Market

Lots of little news to spread this week. For starters, Sat May 19 is E.185 Alive put on by Cleveland’s Northeast Shores Development Corp. Parade starts at Neff at 11am and ends up at VA/SJ. There will be sidewalk sales and activities throughout the day till 5pm. Abby Ave by Old World Meats and BG’s Old World Tavern is holding a one day street-garage sale from 9am-5pm with about 10 households participating. Should be a great time.

***

Last month in a surprise move, Mayor Cervenik announced at the Safety Committee meeting that the County recommended he put his $3MM new jail on hold. They wouldn’t/couldn’t commit to giving the City county prisoners – a revenue source the Mayor was counting on to justify the new building. In light of the news, the Mayor & Council should cut our losses by closing the jail except for a few holding cells. Such a move could save the City anywhere from $500k to $1MM. Then take the $3.2MM the Mayor was planning on borrowing and put it into a breakwall. Such a move would send a strong message to K&D that Euclid really is committed to lakefront development. Maybe strong enough to finally get a marina going.
***

Kudos to the south side advocates who came to the April 25 Safety Committee to speak out against speed cameras in school zones. At the April 4 meeting, the Mayor had admitted to the Committee he would use the money to shore up the depleted Workman’s Comp and Self Insurance Funds, and that he’d like to set up a fund for Retiree payouts. In other words, the cameras were to be a revenue source. Thanks in large part to the residents, the plan died in committee.
***

Ward 1 Councilman David Gilliham announced his resignation effective July 1. Council will have to pick a replacement. Any Ward 1 resident interested in representing the southwest corner of the City until the Nov '13 elections should contact City Council at 289-8123 for info.
***
Starting Fri May 25th from 4-7pm, the Farmers Market returns to Shore each Friday. The Farmers Market is a great use of public space that benefits everybody (see my Sustainable Culture page to find out why)

While Euclid Goes Green, the Administration Stays Gray

Last month Council narrowly passed the Administration’s sewer rate increases 5-4. The increases will show up on June water bills and are intended to:

- offset OM&R increases

- prop up the mandatory 60 day reserve fund the Administration depleted

- eliminate SSOs (Sanitary Sewer Overflows)

- recoup the 2mill levy dollars voters rejected in 2010 to fund Maintenance, Operations, Management (MOM) EPA requirements

- further fund the Peterson Sewer Line fund

- further fund the Waterline fund

- raise money for an as yet to be approved plan to eliminate CSOs (Combined Sewer Overflows)

- begin raising money for an as yet to be approved plan to increase the Wastewater Treatment Plant’s capacity and efficacy.

Green streets divert water out of sewers &
into the ground



Interestingly, the Administration had no provision for introducing green technology to divert water out of the sewer system. Wd 7 Councilman Daryl Langman has been researching cities around the country in the same EPA predicament as Euclid, which have incorporated a combination of gray and green technology. At his urging, Council introduced and passed a resolution “supporting the development of green solutions to the control of storm water and infiltration into the sanitary sewer collection system as an integral part of the overall wastewater improvement project and authorizing the Administration to develop requests for proposals for qualified firms to partner with the project engineers in the development of a comprehensive plan.”

Green technology covers so much that rather than explain it here, I recommend you read Councilman Langman’s Post Going Green: A Stormwater Alternative Plan.

My own research has uncovered a very comprehensive Milwaukee Plan - Fresh Coast: Green Solutions - a 28 page pamphlet that is successfully combining Gray & Green Technology. By combining the two technologies, cities are saving money in capital expenditures while at the same time diverting water out of the sewer system.

It’s been almost a month now and there is no word on the Administration’s progress in going out for ‘Green’ proposals to partner with its ‘Gray’ engineering firm CT Consultants.

Workshops invest people into
the Rain Barrel concept - Slow it down,
spread it out, soak it in!



Meanwhile, last Sat Apr 21^st saw the 4^th Annual Rain Barrel Sale on the south side of town at the Euclid Historical Museum. Despite the cold and overcast skies, between 50 and 60 people showed up between 9:30-10am to assemble their purchased rain barrels, learn about rain gardens and composting, join Friends of Euclid Creek and inquire into the Community Garden. 3 Councilpersons showed up – Council President Holzheimer-Gail, Wd 2 Councilwoman Scarniench and Wd 7 Councilman Langman. While they have shown up every year, to my knowledge not one member of the Administration has taken the time to even make an appearance. They don’t know what they’re missing.

There was a Worm Farm with instructions, a battery backup Solar Fountain that was cheerfully working throughout the overcast morning and container-grown lettuce. There were also copies of the City’s Rain Barrel, Compost Piles and Downspout Disconnect Legislation that Council passed in the last 4 years to bring the City into the 21^st century and up to speed with Green Thinking.

Now I'll bet you didn't know you could legally disconnect your downspouts. Not surprising, since the City is loathe to promote it. Chicago, Shaker Heights, even CMHA has all but mandated downspout disconnect in order to divert water out of their sewer systems and encourage an eco-friendly environment. Meanwhile, Euclid hides its legislation under a bushel.

Over the past 4 years, 287 people have either put together or purchased 215 barrels at the sale. The Euclid Rain Barrel Sale accounts for over 30% of all Rain Barrels we know of  that have been installed in the Euclid Creek Watershed’s 9 cities. Way to go Euclid! The folks out there get it. But that’s not surprising. The private sector usually drives the public sector. Just how long it will take for Euclid officials to find the gas pedal and actively promote Green Technology is anybody’s guess. If and when Council sees proposals for qualified firms to partner with the project engineers in the development of a comprehensive sewer plan, then I’ll know the Administration’s foot is at least on the pedal. But unless Council stays on top of the Administration, I’m not holding my breath.