The West Side Catholic Center, Cleveland, OH
2005 Cleveland Chapter Service Project Recipient
There is no better example of the Betterment Ripple Effect than the waves of goodness spreading throughout Cleveland, Ohio. In 2004, three national board members and 10 friends joined together with former Betterment Recipient Marc Milkie to host the first-ever Cleveland Betterment event -- Flappers and Philanthropists.
Since that event, the Cleveland event committee became Betterment’s first organized chapter and has hosted cocktail parties, a Clambake event, their second annual party, and have now taken on service projects to be more hands-on in bettering their community!
For their first service project, Cleveland Chapter volunteers built a fence to help the West Side Catholic Center save more than $8,000. The fence is critical to this center’s women and children’s shelter as it allows the children to play outside without the dangers of the road and alley, and it protects the women from view from the outside.
Twenty Betterment volunteers came out to lend a hand with the project and to cook lunch for residents. With beautiful weather, good company, and a lot of hard work, the group completed the fence ensuring the safety of the women and children at the shelter.
The WSCC’s Shelter Director, Sue Di Nardo expressed her appreciation and amazement at the quality of the handiwork done by the volunteers. She added, “The fence is terrific and the gate is a 100% improvement over our old one. Everyone has been commenting about this wonderful improvement, and the residents were also very appreciative for the cookout.”
Joseph Murray, WSCC’s Youth Advocate, shared these sentiments in a letter to the Cleveland Chapter volunteers, “I just wanted to take a quick moment and tell you how truly grateful we are to everyone that took part in the fence project. It looks WONDERFUL and the children in our shelter now have a safe place to enjoy their summer.”
“You are a special group to accomplish so much in one day.” ~Sue Di Nardo, Shelter Director
Since that event, the Cleveland event committee became Betterment’s first organized chapter and has hosted cocktail parties, a Clambake event, their second annual party, and have now taken on service projects to be more hands-on in bettering their community!
For their first service project, Cleveland Chapter volunteers built a fence to help the West Side Catholic Center save more than $8,000. The fence is critical to this center’s women and children’s shelter as it allows the children to play outside without the dangers of the road and alley, and it protects the women from view from the outside.
Twenty Betterment volunteers came out to lend a hand with the project and to cook lunch for residents. With beautiful weather, good company, and a lot of hard work, the group completed the fence ensuring the safety of the women and children at the shelter.
The WSCC’s Shelter Director, Sue Di Nardo expressed her appreciation and amazement at the quality of the handiwork done by the volunteers. She added, “The fence is terrific and the gate is a 100% improvement over our old one. Everyone has been commenting about this wonderful improvement, and the residents were also very appreciative for the cookout.”
Joseph Murray, WSCC’s Youth Advocate, shared these sentiments in a letter to the Cleveland Chapter volunteers, “I just wanted to take a quick moment and tell you how truly grateful we are to everyone that took part in the fence project. It looks WONDERFUL and the children in our shelter now have a safe place to enjoy their summer.”
“You are a special group to accomplish so much in one day.” ~Sue Di Nardo, Shelter Director
