Shopping spree will help many families
COSHOCTON – They say that one good turn deserves another and Monday morning at Buehler’s was a fine example of this playing out in our community. Each year the Cosmetology Department at the Coshocton County Career Center donates several food items to the New Life Ministries food bank for the holidays.
Doug Nagle, who is the school counselor at the Career Center, was aware of what the Cosmetology Department students do each year and when he won the 90 second shopping spree at Buehler’s with the ticket he purchased from the Coshocton County Fatherhood Initiative as a fundraiser he promptly donated it to the students to help with their donation. The class chose Kirsten Kiefner, a junior, to be the “runner” for the shopping spree.
Kiefner said, “Well, when we found out that Mr. Nagle had donated the winning ticket to our program, Miss Wagner (Cosmetology Department instructor) looked around and said, “We need a runner”. All the girls pointed to me and I said, “Oh my gosh”. So I said, “Okay, fine. That’s how we got here.” Miss Wagner said, “You’ll be the perfect runner.”
“Each year we bring in boxes and items for the food pantry, canned foods and other things. Mr. Cichon’s group (Culinary Arts Program) normally bake a turkey for us to take also.
“This was empowering – I was so excited because I’m giving back to my community. This is great because I get to help other families that are less fortunate than I am.
Kiefner came in with a plan. “My stepmom, Kori and I came to the store yesterday (Sunday) and we said we can’t go in blind, we need a plan. We were here about 45 minutes or so, scoping things out and making sure what aisles we needed to go down to get the right stuff. This morning (Monday) we came in about 30 minutes early so I could get the feel back again.”
“The ladies at the store were super helpful – they were wonderful. They were putting out meat in certain places for me, and stacking it up so I could really get a lot of food. One lady took pies out of the freezer and put them in another freezer that was closer for me. Thanksgiving items were my priority. “
“My top priority was to get meat because that’s your high priced items for your meal. So we said we need to get some turkeys, hams, and beef, whatever we can grab. I was slingin’ turkeys!”
“I love it because it’s helping the community and it’s helping people that are having less fortunate events than me.”
“I love this store. I just want to say thank you to Buehler’s. This is a great deal, they’re helping out their community and they’re really giving back. It’s awesome.”
Kiefner collected $985.97 worth of food items during her well planned 90 second dash through the store making turkeys, hams and beef the top priority along with mashed potatoes, frozen pies and other Thanksgiving meal related items. In fact, she grabbed enough turkeys, hams and pies to start 15 Thanksgiving dinners.
While Kiefner was making her shopping spree dash, a couple in The Mill restaurant at Buehler’s heard about the spree. They had made the trip to the store to find a larger turkey to replace two smaller turkeys they had. The couple donated the two smaller turkeys to help further the shopping spree.
Nagle said, “This was terrific. Kirsten and Kori came out here and strategized on their own time. They scouted the area to maximize the opportunity to help a lot of people in the county. It’s really great at this time of the year. Thanks to Buehler’s and the Fatherhood Initiative, this is just a great thing for the community.”
Cosmetology students and the staff at the Career Center are bringing in donations of stuffing, potatoes, rolls and vegetables to complete the Thanksgiving meals. That will add about another $160 to the total being donated to the food pantry, bringing it to over $1,000. Another 50 pounds of hamburger, bacon, sausage and pork was tossed in the cart to be donated as well.
Category: Education