It was with a roll of the dice and a flip of the card that a Halloween themed board game night ensued on Tuesday, October 24th at Ravenna Nutrition. The business came under new ownership in March 2023 with Rich and Ashlee Wolford at the helm working to serve healthy shakes and energizing teas while also trying out different ideas to function as a safe space for fun events.
Jonathan Floyd, an Honorary Way Recipient, attended Ravenna Nutrition’s first board game night in September. He was so enthusiastic about the prospect of it becoming a common occurrence that he contacted Colleen Brown, Advocacy and Community Resource Manager for the Portage County Board of Developmental Disabilities (commonly referred to as Portage DD).
“We don’t just want to be invited to the table. We want to be a part of the conversation,” said Brown. It was open to the community, so all were welcome to attend and play games alongside each other. “It was encouraging to see people trying the different games and excitedly explaining the rules to anybody who wanted to join in the next round.”
Brown, a frequent customer, was happy to be involved with the growth and experiences events hosted at Ravenna Nutrition could provide for clients of Unified Resources Recreation (URR) a part of the Portage DD.
Patrick Casteel, Brand Ambassador for Battlegrounds Game Center and Buckeye Residential Solutions, worked in combination with the Wolfords to host the game night. He said some of the games provided by Battlegrounds were: Tappal, Uno, Zombie Dice, and in keeping with the Halloween spirit, something called Not it! The Cryptid Hunters.
Katrina Shamblen, a URR client, was decked out in a white curly wig, wooden gavel and black robes as a courtroom Judge, was the winner of the costume contest. She was presented with a gift card to Ravenna Nutrition and a new game called Fluxx from Battlegrounds.
Ashlee Wolford explained that her eyes have been opened to how small businesses and community operate with each other. She and Rich were impressed by the turnout and in the future would like to host a youth game night, Yoga and Drum Fit classes.
“We want to help make Ravenna an attractive place.” Rich said. “We are planning on being here for the long term and helping the community.”
