Leadership alumni prepare first Day of Service

Leadership Lake County announced its first Alumni Day of Service is Sept. 15 with community projects benefitting the Madison Public Library and Hannah’s Home in Mentor.

Interested organizations submitted proposals in July for consideration for a one-day project to benefit a Lake County nonprofit organization, according to a news release. Madison Public Library and Hannah’s Home were selected as the inaugural recipient organizations.

The project at the library will consist of selecting and stocking materials to fill the shelves of the new bookmobile. The project at Hannah’s Home will involve garage cleaning and donation organization.

Alumni service is an important component for Leadership Lake County with more than 300 active alumni committed to the social, civic and economic excellence of the county, the release stated. Alumni are members of nonprofit boards throughout the region and conduct hours of service within the community. It was within that spirit that establishing an annual day of service for alumni was a natural fit for Leadership Lake County, said Brett Fraser of Fraser Video Productions in Painesville Township and a member of the Signature Class of 2016.

“These organizations could really use the help, so if we have a chance to help somebody we’re going to do what we can to give back to the community,” Fraser, who co-chairs the Leadership Lake County Day of Service Committee, said in the release.

The Madison library obtained the bookmobile earlier this summer from the Geauga County Public Library, said Shawn Walsh, the organization’s emerging services and technologies librarian.

“It’s extremely exciting, this is something we’ve been working on for three to four years and the stars all fell together as for getting the bookmobile,” Walsh said in the release. “We now have a great community partnership with Leadership Lake County to come out to help us load the bookmobile.”

Hannah’s Home in Mentor provides a place to stay for pregnant women and mothers of newborn children. The organization takes donations for baby clothes, women’s and maternity clothes, baby toys, small household items and household supplies.

Hannah’s Home Volunteer Coordinator Charisse Patchin said residents, staff, volunteers and community will all benefit by the plans to clean out the garage and the organization will be more effective to meet the need of residents and the surrounding community.

“Since I began as Volunteer Coordinator at Hannah’s Home in November 2017, our garage area has been blessed beyond measure with donations,” Patchin said in the release. “We are in the process of putting systems in place to make our space and donations more effective, but have lacked the manpower.”