Autumn Aegis residents donate

Retirement community returns favor, donates to ‘LOCO Blue’

The residents of Sprenger Health Care Autumn Aegis Retirement Community in Lorain, gathered Feb. 20 to give what help they could to an organization that serves police who’ve been hurt on the job.

Shortly after bingo, the residents, led by Life Enrichment Director Koreen Brattoli, presented retired Avon policeman and vice president of the Lorain County Blue Foundation Pete Soto with $215 they raised through a fundraiser earlier this month.

According to Brattoli, Soto became familiar with the staff by visiting his mother-in-law, Bero Cortez, nearly every day.

“(He’s) very much an inspiration to our staff and our other residents,” Brattoli said. “He’s a very friendly guy, he’s always very uplifting and we know that (he’s involved with the foundation).”

The foundation was created in 2010 as a way to assist law enforcement officers that are injured or killed in the line of duty. Their members are comprised of officers across the whole county.

Soto said it was started after he was injured in a motorcycle crash while responding to a call in 2010.

Since that time, the foundation has raised money for families and police departments through multiple avenues, including the Annual Pete Soto Chili Cook-off in February, which was held at Lorain County Community College this year.

Soto said the foundation recently gave $500 raised at the chili cook-off to Genesis House.

According to Brattoli, the residents and staff made the connection between Soto and the cook-off too late to attend this year, but they wanted to help anyway.

“The Friday before Valentine’s Day, we sold carnations to our residents and staff to give out to the other residents and staff in appreciation of them,” she said. “They were, kind of, like flower-grams. We ended up raising $215 to give to the foundation.”

According to Brattoli, the flowers were provided by Flowerama in Lorain, which gave the community a discount.

Soto expressed his thanks to the assembled when he received the donation.

“We want to thank you all for the donation,” he said. “The monetary amount doesn’t mean as much as where it came from. It came from you guys raising money and it means a lot to us, it really does.”

Anyone interested in donating to the Lorain County Blue Foundation is advised to visit www. loraincountyblue.org.

ERIC BONZAR — THE MORNING JOURNAL Life Enrichment Director Koreen Brattoli presents retired Avon police Officer and Lorain County Blue Foundation Vice President Pete Soto with a donation of $215 on behalf of staff and residents of Sprenger Health Care Autumn Aegis Retirement Community,...

ERIC BONZAR — THE MORNING JOURNAL Retired Avon police Officer Pete Soto thanks staff and residents of Sprenger Health Care Autumn Aegis Retirement Community for their donation to the Lorain County Blue Foundation, Feb. 20. Soto’s daily visits with his mother-in-law, Bero Cortez,...

ERIC BONZAR — THE MORNING JOURNAL Retired Avon police Officer and Lorain County Blue Foundation Vice President Pete Soto (third from left) and his mother-in-law Bero Cortez (seated) pose for a photo with staff of Sprenger Health Care Autumn Aegis Retirement Community, in Lorain, Feb....