The Villager Newspaper Online Your Community News – Cleveland's Westshore
Cleveland Angels’ President Gretchen Dupps speaking to guests about her personal connection to Foster Care & the organization’s mission.
On Friday, October 5 at BayArts in Bay Village, a new nonprofit organization held their first fundraiser under the lights. Cleveland Angels, the first chapter of National Angels outside of the state of Texas, began their mission in the Spring. The Cleveland Angels mission is to walk alongside children in the foster care system, as well as their caretakers, by offering consistent support through intentional giving, relationship building and mentorship. They are a 100% volunteer board with board members based out of Bay Village, Rocky River, Westlake, Avon Lake, & Beachwood.
Their first fundraiser at BAYarts was a Clambake that included a silent auction, raffle prizes, personal testimonies, live music & more. Through this fundraiser, Cleveland Angels raised over $21,000. Event sponsors included Custom Fabricators, Inc, Executive Class, Neverman Insurance, Sharpnack Chevrolet, Chase Stasek Group brokered by eXp Realty, This is CLE Live with Al Stasek, Kiddie Kollege, & 717 Inc. Companies that provided donations for the event included but are not limited to Thyme Catering, Sweet Melissa’s, Chick-Fil-A Rocky River, Tess Smith Photography, Willow Arts & Wellness Center, HKM Direct Marketing Communications, and more.
The venue was overflowing with raffle and silent auction donations from local businesses all around the Cleveland area. The most sought-after silent auction item seemed to be a private dinner for up to 10 people with chef Mike Smith of Thyme Catering. Out of the goodness of his own heart, he ended up donating 2 more catered dinners by the end of the evening to the 2nd & 3rd place bidders! There truly was magic in the air that night.
With over 175 attendees at the Clambake, the community seemed to be gleaming with generosity and passion about this new organization’s purpose. Personal testimonies from two sets of local foster-parents, and one of Cleveland Angel’s own board members who experienced the foster care system as a child, were exceptionally inspirational and really helped guests to better understand the need that this organization can fill within our foster care communities here in Cleveland.
You may be asking yourself what intentional giving, relationship building, and mentorship mean to Cleveland Angels. Cleveland Angels defines intentional giving as the giving of thoughtful gifts and resources that meet the real needs of the child and their entire family. One way they do this is through their Love Box program, where a group of volunteers is assigned a foster family to build a relationship with by spending time with them every month. This meet up is centered around a “Love Box” full of items the family needs. Relationship building is devoting time and energy to foster healthy relationships that promote healing through connection. To Cleveland Angels, mentorship means equipping and empowering our communities’ children to be prepared for adult living and reach their fullest potential.
Not everybody is called to foster or adopt, but everyone can make a difference in a child’s life. If you have interest in empowering children in foster care and their caretakers to succeed, go to cleangels.org for more information. There are many ways to get involved, so feel free to reach out at info@cleangels.org or (440) 476-0384 with any questions or inquiries.
