“We are blessed to have the support of the community to enable us to host an event like this!” says Susan Shrewsbery, Director of Helping Hands of St. Louis, noting this was their largest turnout ever. “What a great day, filled with many smiling faces and happy feet! A special thank you to the City of Toledo and the crews who kept up with their timeline to finish and open the roads out front just in time for our event. The children dedicated the new street with some wonderful sidewalk chalk renderings!” Check out all the pictures on Catholic Charities Facebook page.
Over 160 volunteers from many different churches, organizations and friends washed and tickled 7,000 toes this past weekend! Seven hundred pairs of new shoes were given out. And thanks to a generous donor and another matching gift donor, 75 more pairs of shoes have been purchased for those children who patiently waited in line only to find out we had run out of their size!
Mercy Health was our biggest donor purchasing 525 pair of new athletic shoes. St. Ignatius Parish collected 1,100 pairs of socks and Hannah's Socks donated over 2,000 pairs. Christ the King Parish hosted a shoe drive and brought in many pairs of shoes. Cass Road Baptist Church packed up 500 snack bags for the kids and friends of Helping Hands of St. Louis packed at least 500 school bags/boxes sponsored by XF Construction to hand out to the children.
Bags of Love came and passed out goodie bags filled with love and books. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints hosted all the games. Mike Armstrong baked and passed out 700 cookies! Friends of the Rossford Public Library donated 100s of children's books after their sale. Doug Kaufman created over 200 balloon animals, and so many friends contributed so much more!
Thank you to the Oswald Supporting Organization Foundation for sponsoring this event and our other donors including but not limited to: AT&T Telephone Pioneers, St. Catherine’s Parish, the Sisters of St. Francis, Rudolph-Libbe Group employees, All Saints Parish, the 1687 Foundation, Trust Company employees, First Baptist Church of Ottawa, Illinois, St. Aloysius Parish, the East Toledo Family Center, and many other friends and supporters of Helping Hands of St. Louis!
“This was truly a living example of the Helping Hands of Christ reaching out into our community!” Sue adds. “Your Helping Hands are the reason we exist and we couldn't do what we do without you!”
