The Post
Story by Jake Poole
May 18, 2008
The Newcomers Club's Generosity Shines
On May 8, at their annual Spring Dinner, the Wadsworth Newcomers Club donated $11,300 to nearly 20 specially-chosen local charity organizations, but that was hardly the group's first go-around at giving.
The Newcomers Club itself is anything but new. In fact, it's safe to say the club is well-seasoned. The 33-year old organization has quietly donated more than $500,000 to local charities over the past three decades, focusing more on helping others than grabbing headlines.
Each year, the group keeps raising money and then pouring it out at their Spring Dinner.
"Let's do what we came here to do and give away some money," member Diane Horlacher said to the woman-saturated crowd that filled The Galaxy's Starlight Room.
Under the ambiance of the room's fabricated nighttime sky, the Newcomers Club distributed donations to 18 selected charities - Care Baskets, Wadsworth FISH, Meals on Wheels, Kaleidoscope Park, Wadsworth Safety Town, Breakpoint, Battered Women's Shelter, Society for Handicapped Citizens, Medina Rape Crisis, Hospice of Medina County, Medina County SPCA, and the Wadsworth Public Library - each one coming with their own unique story.
The stories of the night were diverse - like the Salvation Army, which had its funding cut significantly in the past year and will use the funds to keep the organization open, or the Kaleidoscope Park project, which uses the donations to repair the playground each year, ensuring the safety of the children of the community. But the Kaleidoscope story runs even deeper.
During the mid-1990s, the Newcomers Club helped fund the construction of the unique, wooden play-castle. Mayor Robin Laubaugh, who at the time headed up the Kaleidoscope project during her Recreation Board and City Council service years, returns year after year to show her appreciation for the club's support while accepting the donation for the playground.
"She was very instrumental in starting Kaleidoscope," Newcomers Club member and former president Laurel Keller said of Mayor Laubaugh. "So we're very excited to have her this year, especially now that she's mayor."
Even with the mayor in attendance, the real stars of the night remained The Newcomers Club, which donated the money that had been raised at the club's Carrousel of Crafts, an annual event held the first Sunday of December at Wadsworth High School.
After distributing the donations, The Newcomers Club also announced their new 2008-09 board: President Maggie Fowler; First Vice President Julie Brecht; Second Vice President Roberta Morganstern Hopkins; Secretary Valerie Olcott; Treasurer Susan Kiel; and Parliamentarian Rose Horlacher.