Solon Stampede Food Drive Will Help 150 Families This Holiday Season

Editor's Note: Solon Patch received this letter from Brett McCann of the Solon Stampede, and is publishing it verbatim.

On Dec. 11, the Solon Stampede Baseball Organization took part in the 8th Annual Curbside Food Drive. The drive was a huge success, as donations we received will help over 150 families this holiday season.

A quick recap of exactly what the food drive is: The Curbside Food Drive is now in its eighth year of existence. What started off as one family picking up food in the Preserve has become an almost city wide event that now sees over 50 volunteers, many of them Stampede players ages 8-13, pick up donations in over 20 Solon neighborhoods.

Volunteers drop off flyers in their neighborhoods typically the first weekend in December. The next weekend, volunteers will drive through the neighborhoods looking for donations left on the curbside; that’s right, we come to you; you don’t even need to leave your house! It is an extremely easy way to donate, and makes such an impact.

Our charities can vary from year to year based off of recommendations; this past year, we donated to the St. Vincent DePaul Society in Cleveland, located at Broadway and Harvard. Regarded as one of the most repressed neighborhoods in the country, our young men helped collect food that will help hundreds of people; our donation was said to be one of the biggest donations they received to date!

As a representative of the organization, I would like to thank the families and neighborhoods that took part in this year’s food drive. I would also like to thank the families of the Stampede organization, who gave up time during multiple weekends to make our Curbside Food Drive a huge success. And last but not least, thank you to Freeway Lanes for their generous donation of lanes and food during our ‘Volunteer Appreciation Event’ that our young men were invited to afterward. It was truly a great lesson and experience for our players during this time of giving, and we are already looking forward to next year!

John Cicero & Brett McCann

Solon Stampede