NOURISH’s success will foster growth for Village Project

A crowd of over 425 guests gathered at Hyland's Building 3 in support of Village Project at this year's NOURISH.

Village Project’s third annual NOURISH fundraiser was a triumph for everyone involved.

On March 3, over 425 guests filled Hyland’s Building 3 in Westlake to enjoy delicious food and take in the ambience of a street fair, complete with colorful lanterns, music, games and a caricature artist. Additionally, many people participated by buying chances and bidding to win tempting raffle and auction items, including a grand prize of $3,000 toward a vacation of their choice.

Smiles abounded on guests’ faces at the end of the evening as they anticipated the fun of enjoying their prizes, such as prime seats for Indians and Cavs games, an Italian-chef-prepared dinner for eight, a signed Kevin Love basketball, a Lake Erie boat cruise, a rustic vacation in a 3,000 square foot “cabin” in western Pennsylvania, and a weekend’s use of a Mercedes – to name just a few.

Over $90,000 was raised to sustain Village Project’s mission of coming together as a community of all ages to provide meals and extended care and service to families experiencing cancer in Bay Village, Westlake, Avon, Avon Lake and Rocky River. All proceeds from NOURISH will enable Village Project to continue its work, so needed by their clients, in the most caring, thoughtful and economical way possible.    

Currently, Village Project delivers an average of 150-200 meals each week and has experienced an extraordinary growth of 600 percent since its inception in 2010. The organization seeks to reduce food costs by purchasing food in bulk and freezing food from their organic garden for winter use. Lack of storage, refrigeration and freezer space currently limits their efforts. With this in mind, funds from NOURISH also will be used to support the facility expansion plans that are currently underway.

Information about this expansion, Project Pillar, was unveiled at NOURISH. Village Project is now in the planning stages to enlarge their headquarters by renovating the former Thomas & Thomas Photography studio located next door and incorporating it into their facility. This will offer many benefits to the organization. As Executive Director Barb Harrell explained, “By expanding into this space, we are going to be able to double the number of meals that we provide each week. We are also going to be able to offer educational classes and have a little bit of a retail space, allowing us to have an income stream.”

To find out more about Project Pillar and Village Project, as well as to get more information about their next event – Project Pedal, a charitable bike ride to be held on June 16 – visit ourvillageproject.com or call 440-348-9401.

Diane Frye

I am a Bay Village resident and a volunteer for Village Project. 

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Volume 10, Issue 7, Posted 9:41 AM, 04.03.2018