When Life Hands McConnell Marketing Lemonade, They Sell It For United Way!

This past Saturday, October 6, the McConnell Marketing team headed to Alliance, Ohio and joined Raider Relief and the Regula Center to participate in Lemonpalooza, a community-wide lemonade sale.

According to the Raider Relief press release, “The goal of Lemonpalooza is to raise funds for the United Way of Stark County while promoting awareness of their presence in Alliance.”

From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., lemonade stands were set up in front of various businesses along State Street in Alliance. The lemonade was sold for $1 per glass.

Marilyn Miller, Raider Relief member and Lemonpalooza location leader said, “Lemonpalooza is not your average fundraiser. It’s taking a classic childhood pastime and engaging students and the community to help a great cause.”

Together, all volunteers helped raise a total of $1,580.27! The proceeds were dispersed to United Way agencies throughout Stark County.

Raider Relief is a student-driven organization at the University of Mount Union that recognizes the needs of people less fortunate, and helps those in need with passion, love and good deeds.

The Ralph and Mary Regula Center for Public Service and Civic Engagement was created to support Mount Union’s mission to prepare students for fulfilling lives, meaningful work and responsible citizenship by being a place where members of the campus and wider community can work collaboratively in service of the greater good.

Great job, team! And a special thanks to Calvin, Olivia and Brennan for helping out, too!

Megan’s Visit to Watson Elementary

A while back, I was asked to read to one of the Kindergarten classes at Watson Elementary School in Austintown, Ohio (which I happened to attend a LONG time ago and where my mom currently teaches).

One class of 25 soon turned into two classes—with a total of 50 kids! Naturally, I was a little nervous to see all those little eyes staring up at me, and I was crossing my fingers that I chose the right books. I chose one book about dinosaurs and another about bears, and thanks to my mom, I had puppets to go along with them! The kids were amazing and so well behaved. We had a great time and made sure there some goodbye hugs …. 50 to be exact.

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Clean the World Donates Soap to Mentor Leader’s Trip

Clean the World donated 600 bars of soap to a Mentor Leader’s mission team at Tabernacle Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Austintown, Ohio, where our own Katie Hively attends.

Take a look at the Mentor Leaders packing the soap to take on their trip!

The mission of the trip was on hygiene, and after an 18-hour bus ride, the team delivered the soap to Gbenchal, a small village in Togo, West Africa.

Many thanks to McConnell Marketing for making the connection, Clean the World for the soap and Brown Horse Garments for covering the shipping costs.

Local 5K RunWalk a Success!

About 100 people attended the first annual Willing Togo 5k run/walk this past weekend at Austintown Township Park, Ohio to help support the orphan children of Gbentchal, Togo, West Africa—some of which ran with 5 gallon water jugs to reinforce the conditions in the village. Our goal was to raise money for the orphans in Gbentchal and awareness within our own community. 

I became involved with a group from my church who’s working with national humanitarian organization, Mentor Leaders, after my sister signed up to go on a mission trip to Gbentchal this coming June.

Mentor Leaders is a non-profit organization whose community-based efforts are to provide basic education, fresh water wells, sanitation and create economic stability, all while maintaining the dignity of culture. They offer a variety of ways to support their cause: internships, run water (half and full-marathon fundraisers) and sponsoring a child. Check out www.mentorleaders.org.

My sister and I created the t-shirts for the event and had an amazing time designing the shirts and the storefront as well as marketing them as a mission project in and of themselves. It’s been rewarding to get to do the marketing/branding that I love, while helping a cause that is so worthwhile. I am blessed to have two young healthy children. It is unimaginable to me the conditions the 1000+ orphans in Gbentchal live in. After hearing their story and seeing an opportunity to make a change, our t-shirt company was formed to help this cause. We hope to continue to do so, check it out www.brownhorsegarments.com. Order a shirt, become part of the story. ~KatieImage

Clean the World

This past week, the Katies made an appearance at the Orlando Clean the World as part of National Volunteer Week. We had an awesome tour of the facility and even had the opportunity to get our hands dirty…or maybe it should be clean!

We spent our time working alongside 30+ other volunteers from Disney, UGG and other area companies. While at the recycling operation center Katie and I put together 100 hygiene kits to be distributed to local homeless individuals and used for disaster relief around the world. In the few short hours we were there, the group as a whole put together 360 hygiene kits, and cleaned 2,300 lbs of soap. That will make approximately 2,000 bars, which equates to 300 families.

It was such an awesome experience; we can’t wait to go back! If you’re curious how you can help Clean the World check out their site or their facebook on how you can get involved. And don’t think that because you don’t live in Orlando or Las Vegas you can’t help…find out what you can do in your own community!