The Garrettsville Fraternal Order of Eagles will once again be celebrating the giving spirit by hosting their fourth annual Fill-A-Truck charity drive at the corner of 8149 Water Street on Nov. 26 beginning at 12 p.m.
“We find it real exciting,” Auxiliary President Kelley Reynolds told The Weekly Villager on Nov. 20. “We put a truck out on the corner. A lot of Eagles members stand out there and when people drive up, we take their donations; some people stop and give money.”
From 12 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., the Eagles Club members will stand outside next to a pick-up truck, accepting donations in all forms from Garrettsville residents and generous citizens who live in surrounding communities. According to Reynolds, all donations are distributed to either the Nelson-Garrettsville Community Cupboard, the local food pantry, or the Garrettsville People Tree Sharing Program, a non-profit organization that assists the community through various outreach operations, servicing families, youth and the elderly.
“We love to help the locals,” Reynolds noted. “We know it is going to Garrettsville, Windham, Hiram, Nelson and we know that this is helping all local people in need.”
All material items go The People Tree Sharing Program. The Eagles Club gives notice to the community as to what essentials the less fortunate need, including hats, coats, gloves, socks, underwear and shoes.
Reynolds said that the Eagles Club’s partnership with The People Tree Sharing Program has continued expanding.
“We have got great members,” she said. “We have built a great partnership and a great friendship. We are all about our charities and the motto of the Eagles is ‘People Helping People’.”
Reynolds said that the Eagles Club’s Fill-A-Truck Charity Drive originated several years ago after the local holiday event Shop With a Cop was discontinued. A member of the Eagles Club who had worked on that event persuaded the Eagles Club to come up with a new holiday charity event.
“It is all donating,” Reynolds said. “You can donate clothes, stuffed animals, toys, and batteries. People who don’t have a gift drive up and make a monetary donation. A lot of it is our club members and a lot of it is the wider community.”
Just last year, the Eagles Club raised $500 in cash and gift cards and also filled an entire truck with donated toys.
The Charity Drive is one of two charitable events happening during the week of Thanksgiving, as the Garrettsville Sarchione Chevrolet Dealership is hosting a toy drive, which is already ongoing and lasts until Friday, with all donated items also being distributed to The People Tree Sharing Program.
“It is very rewarding,” Reynolds acknowledged. “I stand out there all day. At the end of the day, we are all smiles and we are happy. We stand out in the rain, snow and cold and we all find it rewarding.”
Reynolds praised how the Garrettsville regulars and residents from surrounding communities have all risen to the occasion annually to give back to families in need, calling their generosity overwhelming. She spoke of several individuals who are experiencing difficult stretches in their lives but have still found the time to give back.
She also noted that several Eagles Club members also volunteer for The People Tree Sharing Program, which assists in coordinating a successful charity drive each holiday season.
“We all work together, and it is friendships,” she noted. “We don’t look at it as a need to do, we look at it as friends helping friends and everybody just works together. We have great relationships with all of them.”
As the Eagles Club has continued becoming more active with charity drives throughout each year, Reynolds spoke of how membership has increased weekly because of how involved the Club has been.
“We get new members every week wanting to be involved who never knew the Eagles were there but they have seen us maybe at the Trunk or Treat or at Summer Fest,” she added. “We do a lot of meals, we do steak fries, we do fish fries, we have wing nights, we have people come into those things and see what the club is about. Our membership is growing every day.”
