Akron’s Janna Le TenHuisen is vertical and back to normal, thanks to the kindness of a stranger who happened to be in the right place at the right time.“Last Tuesday afternoon (11/1) I was on mile 4 of a 6-mile run. I don’t usually run along busy streets, but had some errands I needed to run and incorporated them into a 6-mile loop,” Ten-Huisen said.“Well, around 4 p.m. I was running along West Market, almost to Revere Road and I fell. Actually I passed out. I woke when I hit the ground.”TenHuisen said she believed she was crossing the driveway at Reflections Breast Health Center. “I was laying facedown on the sidewalk, slowly rolled over and then sat up,” she continued. “Suddenly, a vehicle pulled up, I’m not sure if it was a van, SUV. Some shade of red, I think. I heard a voice ask if I wanted her to call someone or to take me somewhere. For a moment, I couldn’t speak. The voice asked if I was OK, if I needed help. For a moment, my head was pounding and my vision was blurry. She handed me a wad of tissue to catch my blood. I asked if she would drive me home.“This angel of a woman put me, all bloody and gross, in the front seat and drove me home. I can’t remember her name, or what she looks like. I remember her hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She was so kind. She said she baby-sits 7-month-old twins and was on a break. She was on the other side of the street, found a place to turn around and came back to help me. That’s all I really remember about her, and I so want to thank her for her incredible kindness!”So, dear readers, if you know who this good Samaritan is, please let me know so she can be properly thanked.Clothes for kidsBig, beautiful bouquets to Michelle Grimmett, a ninth-grader at Akron’s East Community Learning Center, for her special outreach on behalf of children in foster care.East teacher Joan Gipson brought me up to speed: “A few weeks ago, she approached me to see if I could help her have a clothing collection to benefit the foster-care kids” at Summit County Children Services.Often the children just going into foster care are given a bag of sweats and underclothes to wear before their clothing vouchers can be issued. “Michelle wants to make sure that the kids entering the system have a better choice of clothes to wear until their clothing vouchers arrive,” Gipson said.A few calls to Children Services later, a collection was in progress. Michelle is collecting clothes in the school cafeteria, 80 Brittain Road, during lunch periods — 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.For information, please email gippy811960@aol.com.Food for studentsCharlie and Joan Dorow have a whole lot of thanks to spread around for those who supported the Peanut Butter & Jelly Outreach that benefits students at Akron’s Mason Community Learning Center. The campaign provides low-income students with food every Friday to take home for their weekend breakfasts, lunches and snacks.“Besso Clinic of Chiropractic in Stow each year holds Patient Appreciation Days,” Joan Dorow said. “On a scheduled day the patients receive free treatments all day. All the clinic asks is that each patient bring in food items or give a monetary donation, which they in turn donate to PB & J. This year over $800 and a pickup truck of kid-friendly food items were collected.“Also, St. Martha/St. Mary Circle at St. Mary’s Church in Hudson put together 50 Halloween-decorated bags to be given to the children. The bags included their kid-friendly food items to eat on Saturday and Sunday and also special treats for Halloween for the children.”Fill the BusMembers and prospective members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., Zeta Theta Omega chapter, are joining forces with volunteers from Akron’s Buchtel High School and East Community Learning Center to help supplement Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank’s food supplies.They have organized a “Fill the Bus” campaign from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday, collecting nonperishable food and cash at two Akron locations: Acme No. 1, 1835 W. Market St., and Dave’s Supermarket, 871 E. Exchange St.Food driveBeautiful bouquets to Mogadore Christian Academy, located in Mogadore Baptist Church, with an enrollment of 43 students in grades 1-12. Thanks 4 Giving, a food drive benefiting Ellet Good Neighbors, will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 19 at the school, 3603 Carper Ave., Springfield Township. “It is our desire to make a difference in our local area during this Thanksgiving season,” wrote senior Alexis Kreiner. For information, please email kreiner04@att.net. Concert is benefitWestminster Presbyterian Church, 1250 W. Exchange St., Akron, is holding a concert, silent auction and dessert reception at 6:30 p.m. Friday to benefit Rahab Ministries, a local nonprofit that works with women overcoming addictions, prostitution and criminal behavior through a Christ-centered message of hope and healing.The performance is by Praise Appella. Tickets are $15 at the door.Blanket projectDavid Parks, ninth-grade language arts teacher at Akron’s Firestone High School, is once again seeking fleece materials of all colors and patterns for his students and the Falcon Friends Club to fashion into blankets for Project Linus.Project Linus is the volunteer movement that provides blankets and quilts for patients at Akron Children’s Hospital. Parks’ goal is to have students make 25 blankets to donate in December.Interesting in donating material, not money? Please contact Parks at mrparks208@
yahoo.com. Locks of LoveKudos to Robin Jones-Taraska, Garrettsville Library’s youth services librarian, for generously donating 12 inches of her hair to Locks of Love Inc., which provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children who have suffered long-term hair loss because of medical conditions.“This is something that I’ve always wanted to do,” Jones-Taraska said. “When a child is going through something as traumatic as treatment for an illness, these hairpieces give them a little normalcy that they would not otherwise have during this difficult time.”Sauerkraut SupperTrinity United Church of Christ, 150 E. North St., Wooster, is donating the proceeds of its annual Sauerkraut Supper, 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, to the Wooster Volunteer network at the College of Wooster for its joint mission trip in March to Tijuana, Mexico, with Esperanza International.“The Sauerkraut Supper is a long-standing tradition at Trinity for more than 50 years,” said church spokesman Phil Starr. “Proceeds from the Sauerkraut Supper (sauerkraut, pork, mashed potatoes, green beans and pie) will help buy supplies for the mission trip.”Cost is $8, adults; $5, children 12 and under. For information, please call 330-264-9250. Crib donationsBeautiful bouquets to Barberton’s Misty and Jeremy Grether, who read in an earlier column about a couple wanting to donate a solid oak dining room table to a young family or a service family. The Grethers decided to make the same offer with two gently used cribs and “practically brand-new” mattresses.One of the cribs went to Sheila Adams of Clinton, who also got the table for her newly married son, an Army veteran with a baby on the way.“I just wanted to let you know that Sheila and her husband came and picked up the crib and mattress,” the Grethers wrote. “It was a wonderful lesson for our girls (Hadley and Adyson) to see how wonderful it is to give rather than receive.”Wounded WarriorsKudos to Castle Apartments Inc. of Akron, which is honoring wounded military veterans by contributing $25 from all new leases signed this month by veterans to the USO’s Wounded Warrior Project, whose mission is to empower and honor wounded soldiers.Last year’s Operation: Profound Gratitude, which also offers move-in specials and a preferred rent reduction to all veterans signing a lease this month, contributed $525 to the cause.Donations soughtMembers of Cross Road Unity Church, 357 Reed Ave., Akron, are seeking donations of clothing and food for next week’s trip to the Appalachian Mountains, where they minister to those living in dire poverty.Church spokeswoman Lana Butcher gave this list of needed items: shoes, winter clothes, baby items, toys, dental and personal hygiene supplies, nonperishable food and frozen turkeys.Items can be dropped off at the church or you may arrange pickup by calling 330-785-9080. Jewell Cardwell can be reached at 330-996-3567 or emailed at jcardwell@thebeaconjournal.com.