Sylvania site collecting items for Sandy’s victims

11/3/2012

Last March, Joni Meyer-Crothers of Sylvania taught a class on couponing at a church in Jersey City, N.J. At this class was Erika Thomas, wife of Gregory Thomas, the music ministry leader at Times Square Church in New York City. She and other members of Times Square Church came as couponing students, and left as friends.

“Their church feeds the hungry,” Mrs. Meyer-Crothers says, “and that’s what my mission is with my blog.”

Today, feeding the hungry is at the forefront of their actions. Mrs. Meyer-Crothers and her friend, whose church is on Broadway in Times Square, exchanged texts Friday as the city was in the early recovery period from superstorm Sandy. “She told me the urgency that’s there right now, and as a Christian, how can I sit at dinnertime and eat a meal knowing that families are going through garbage?” Mrs. Meyer-Crothers asked.

So Mrs. Meyer-Crothers, known nationally for her couponing and featured on TLC’s Extreme Couponing, is acting quickly. Today, donations will be collected at Sylvania Area Family Services, 5440 Marshall Dr., from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. for Times Square Church to distribute. “When we’re called to do something,” Mrs. Meyer-Crothers says, “We need to do it. They said, ‘Can you get the stuff for us by Sunday?’ ”

She says she can. As she stated on her blog at www.freetastesgood.com, “Please don’t discount the smallness of any donation. They all matter.”

All donations of cash and goods will go to Times Square Church. Mrs. Meyer-Crothers said that, according to the church, especially needed are all types of food, water, diapers and wipes, trash bags, candles, flashlights, batteries, and blankets and coats, the latter of which she said “can be gently used.”

“The main thing is, in our community, the devastation isn’t here but we need to step up and help out, because when it happens to us we’ll need other people to help us. One or two things to somebody who has nothing, that’s a lot. Don’t ever discount the smallness of anything.”

Contact TK Barger at: tkbarger@theblade.com or 419-724-6278.