LIMA — Whether it was watching the Fiesta Bowl at home or going out on the town to ring in 2017, Lima offered a lot of choices for people to bid 2016 a fond farewell. While some took in the Lima Symphony Orchestra give their take on Earth, Wind and Fire and Chicago, one group turned Lima’s City Club into a masquerade ball.
Fight Like a Redhead, a charitable organization that has held fundraisers for a variety of causes, held the masquerade event Saturday, hoping to help people support a worthy cause while celebrating the new year.
“Everything here tonight is to benefit the West Central Ohio Autism Community,” according to Matt Fish of Fight Like a Redhead. “Drew Duhlebohn was a teammate of my son, and he was killed in an automobile accident, and his family is very involved in WCOAC. We started planning on doing this event then, and everything we raise will be given in his memory as a way to honor Drew.”
The event featured a catered meal, a viewing of the Fiesta Bowl, karaoke and plenty of celebration.
“We’ll be here until about 1 a.m.,” Fish said. “We are a charity, so we wanted to do something charitable, but at the same time, we wanted to try to bring something to Lima that was safe, classy and fun to do.”
However, not everyone chose to ring in the new year with champagne and celebration. For Church Women United, the organization behind the Mizpah Center, New Year’s Eve was spent in a prayer vigil seeking divine guidance and provision for the community center in Lima’s south side.
“This board has been through the biblical refiner’s fire,” Mizpah board President Vickie Fowler said. “We’ve looked at the finances and we’ve been sweating them for the last couple of months.”
The center is facing an increasingly large debt for utilities and other expenses, coupled with a severe shortfall in monetary donations. Many agencies and businesses that had supported the center in the past have diverted money elsewhere, many under the impression that the center had already closed.
“They were told back in July and August that the Mizpah Center was closing,” Fowler said. “The south end had heard we were closing.”
While a search continues for a new executive director, board members have been giving of their own time and money to try to keep food distributions and after-school programs running.
“Board members have paid for things out of their pockets,” Fowler said. “They have put gas in the van to pick up the kids from school. They have paid for paper products and cleaning products when they were needed. When you look at this, you just think, ‘We’ve got to do something.’”
In starting with prayer, the board hopes to see the center grow and truly be a ministry in Lima’s south side.
“God is calling us for a purpose,” board member Suzette Clemons said. “He is stretching our faith.”
.neFileBlock {
margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
padding-bottom: 5px;
padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
font-size: 85%;
}
