'Got Green?' to Draw Fun, Funds for Lakewood Organization

What better place to enjoy delicious food and raise money for a community-centered organization than a community garden?

 is hosting its second-annual "Got Green?" fundraiser at ’s community garden on Sept. 9.

Greenhouse Tavern chef Jonathon Sawyer and Chris Hodgson’s Hodge Podge truck will provide the food, Great Lakes Brewing Company and Wine Trends will donate beer and wine, and Kristine Jackson and KJ Blues will perform. The event is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.

LCSC Executive Director Trish Rooney said the goal is to raise $45,000 for the organization.

“2009-2010 was, as you would expect, just unbelievable,” she said.

In those years, Lakewood saw unemployment rates of 7.9 and 8.1 percent, respectively, according to the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services.

For non-profit organizations such as LCSC, that means more people need help feeding their children, heating their homes in the winter or paying their rent, and less people donating or attending fundraisers. Not to mention governments in Washington, D.C. and Columbus continue to slash spending to try to reign in debt.

The result, Rooney said, is that LCSC has seen by 23 percent, while its service units (number of people served multiplied by the number of times served) have increased by 27 percent since last year.

“It’s daunting,” she said.

The numbers may be daunting, but this Friday's event — and the garden itself — create a sense of community that is equally as poignant.

The event’s two largest donors, and University Hospitals, each gave $5,000, Rooney said. Other supporters include , Summers Rubber Company, First Federal of Lakewood, , and Community West.

The city of Lakewood gifted use of the 5,000 square foot plot in Madison Park to LCSC in 2009, and that December gave them $807,000 of $950,000 it received from the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, 84 percent of which Rooney said went directly to clients.

“Since then, we’ve helped 455 Lakewood households stay housed,” she said.

Students from and built the garden’s fence out of 70-year-old wooden bleachers and propagated the plants. Overall, 1,900 volunteer hours have gone into the garden.

Oh yeah, the event will also feature live music. Blues artist and Lakewood native Kristine Jackson, who opened for B.B. King at The House of Blues in Cleveland — at King’s request — will perform at Friday's event. Jackson donates a portion of her contract to the LCSC.

 “The garden is all about community pulling together, and this event is all about community pulling together,” she said.