In honor of all of our community partners, we are excited to announce that the theme of this year's Charity Ball is "You Are the Key to Our Heart."

On Saturday, January 31, 2015, we will showcase the ways in which CRS has made a difference in the lives of so many, as well as pay tribute to the many volunteers, organizations and businesses that have been the

With your help, we can unlock the door to another record-breaking year!

Please contact Pam at 933-5639 or [email protected] for more information. 

The campaign kicks off next month, and you should be receiving information in the mail about how to make a donation to support our on-going programs. On-line donations are also accepted, and can be made through our website at www.aalcrs.org. All money raised stays right here in your community to help local families in need.

 

Our friends from the Avon/Avon Lake Rotary have presented us with an exciting opportunity! By purchasing your tickets to their annual holiday concert through CRS, you can support your neighbors in need at the same time.  

 

Mark your calendars for this very special holiday tradition:

 

The Cleveland Pops Orchestra, under the direction of Carl Topilow, presents

 

"Rocking Around the Christmas Tree" with the Avon Lake High School Chorale 

 

Saturday, December 13, 2014

7:30 pm

Avon Lake High School   

 

Avon  High School Chamber Orchestra pre-concert will be from 6:45 pm to 7:15 pm. 

 

Advance adult tickets are $30 each, and for every ticket purchased through CRS, $10 will be donated to our organization.   

 

You may stop by our office to purchase tickets during normal business hours (Mon. thru Fri., 10 am to 2 pm), or call the office at 933-5639 to make other arrangements.  

 

Treat yourself to a festive evening of holiday music, and show your support for your local organizations! 

Christmas is a special time at CRS. In the last few years, many of you have been instrumental in one or more of our holiday programs, including Adopt-A-Family. Each of our holiday programs are completely donor driven and we couldn't have done it without such an amazing group of supporters.  

 

As the number of families seeking holiday assistance continues to grow, we feel it is in the best interests of our donors and CRS client families that we change the Adopt-A-Family program.

 

As many of you know, we have also had a Santa's Workshop available to a limited number of CRS client families in the last few years. We would like to move more in this direction and away from having children complete lists that are then given to donors for Christmas shopping. The Santa's Workshop has enabled "Mom or Dad" to make selections for their child (or children) from items donated through toy drives, coat drives, and individual donors.  

Last Christmas, a client Mom told us, "this is the first time in many years I was able to choose gifts for my children."  

 

Our Santa's Workshop has provided a wonderful Christmas for our CRS families and permitted us to keep the number of gifts for each child more equitable.

  

In addition, the idea behind our Family Basket program was developed in an effort to provide families with a basket of items that they can use (e.g. Cleaning Basket or Personal Hygiene Basket) or would enjoy (e.g. Family Game Night Basket or Kitchen Basket). We want to expand this program and provide more useful items rather than more "stuff." This idea is more in line with the mission of CRS to provide basic needs assistance.

 

We would appreciate your continued support in helping a CRS family this holiday season. We have an informational list of ideas and items we are seeking for our Santa's Workshop, Family Baskets, and other holiday programs on our website -- aalcrs.org.  

 

If you have any questions regarding Christmas, please call Melissa at the CRS office. Our office hours are weekdays from 10 AM to 2 PM and our phone number is 933-5639. Thank you for your generous support and best wishes for a wonderful holiday season!

 

CRS will once again be partnering with the Salvation Army to ring the bell and staff the Salvation Army kettles this holiday season.  

 

We are looking for volunteers to help us Monday through Saturday at Giant Eagle in Avon Lake, and Thursday through Saturday at Walmart in Avon. This is a great volunteer opportunity for clubs, organizations or families looking for community service hours.  

 

Please click on the links below to sign up: 

 

Giant Eagle:  www.SignUpGenius.com/go/20F0B4AAAAA22A75-giant2 

 

Walmart:  www.SignUpGenius.com/go/20F0B4AAAAA22A75-walmart2 

 

If you have any questions, please call Kris Greene, at 933-5639 or email her at [email protected].  

 

CRS has truly been blessed this month with many donations of school supplies, seasonal items and non-perishable items for our food pantry.  

 

Thank you to the following businesses and organizations:  Another 4H Club, Avenbury Lakes LOL Women's Club, the Employees of Freeman Manufacturing, Avon Lake United Church of Christ, Avon Lake Early Childhood PTA, Holy Spirit Food Bank, Westview PTA, PJ's From Grandma and Catamaran.    

 

This is in addition to the many individuals who bring donations to the CRS office on a daily basis.  We are so very grateful for all of the donations that help keep our food pantry well stocked and that help us continue our mission of People Helping People!