The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Club room dedicated to late teacher
Boys and Girls Club comemorates Anne Godlewski
The memory of the late Lorain City Schools Teacher Anne Godlewski now is a part of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Lorain County. A ribbon-cutting took place March 5 at the Desich Family Campus, 4111 Pearl Ave. in Lorain, for the dedication of a reading room created for youngsters in memory of Godlewski. Teachers, staff of the Boys and Girls Clubs, county officials and the family of Godlewski came together to celebrate the literacy room. Godlewski passed away suddenly in February 2017. Funds to create the room were donated by the Godlewski family through their Rock N Read program, which was created to pay homage to her. Godlewski enjoyed teaching youngsters, said her husband, Tom. Tom Godlewski said the program started in 2017 from when Anne was thinking of retirement. The idea included influencing literacy into children’s lives through a donation of books and rocking chairs for families because reading starts with the family, he said. “Rock N Read is simply a vehicle to help grandma, mom, dad get in the rocking chair to rock and read to (their youngsters),” Godlewski said. The family had their first fundraiser in November 2017 and raised just under $40,000 which provided them with money to buy 40 oak heirloom rocking chairs and 40 baskets of books, he said. The chairs and books were donated to Mercy Health Regional Medical Center. Mercy Health and the Boys and Girls Clubs have been a big support to the family, so they wanted to return the favor for the children in the community, Godlewski said. “We’re just getting started,” he said of the program. “We don’t do anything half-heartedly; we’re committed.” Mike Conibear, executive director of the Boys and Girls Clubs, said the group dedicated the literacy room to the family in order to honor their mission. Conibear said the room will teach children yearround and throughout their clubs because it’s an important part of what they do. The literacy room now will become a hub for the SPARK, which is an early literacy reading program where students work with tutors, he said. SPARK is takes place at two sites in Lorain City School, Stevan Dohanos and Larkmoor elementary schools, he said. The literacy room at the Boys and Girls Clubs will feature Anne Godlewski’s memories in several ways. Her daughter Meg, 31, said she could feel her mother when she walked in the room with the books and beach-themed items. Meg Godlewski is a kindergarten teacher for Berea City Schools. “She loved the lake, she loved the beach, the tranquility and the peacefulness,” Meg said. “That was her favorite thing other than teaching.” With the help of the community, the program wouldn’t be possible, the daughter said. The room is a great way to represent what her mother believed in, she said.
Food program
Conibear said Lorain County Prosecutor Dennis Will donated a check March 5 for the Boys and Girls Clubs’ food program. The food program serves youngsters at all club locations. Tony Dimacchia, director of operations for the Boys and Girls Clubs, said there are 22 locations, with 18 in Lorain. Dimacchia said last year, the Boys and Girls Clubs served over 220,000 meals to students with the after school and summer food programs. Each has support from Ohio Department of Education, he said. This year, the organization is averaging about 20,000 hot meals a month, Dimacchia said. The south Lorain facility soon will introduce a community kitchen open to all. “We’re a pretty large food program, so we partner with a lot of outside organizations,” Dimacchia said. It gets costly for transportation costs and food costs, he said. “At the end of the day, we just want to serve food to kids, and reach as many kids we can, because unfortunately, this could be one of their only meals that day,” Dimacchia said.