BLANCHESTER — Area residents are giving back to those on the front lines.
Some local citizens raised money to get gift cards/certificates so they can be given to the employees of the Blanchester Kroger.
Kerry Stanforth, the project’s organizer, wanted to find a way to show appreciation to the 150 Kroger employees who she feels are overlooked.
“We just wanted to let them we appreciate their hard work,” said Stanforth. “Both of my kids work at Kroger (one in Blanchester and one in Lebanon). So, I’ve seen their exhaustion.”
Stanforth put the word out on Facebook about what she wanted to do. After the first day of posting, $800 had been raised.
“I was shocked, at first. I thought ‘oh my gosh this is really going to happen’,” she said. “So we kept pushing to get people interested.”
Donors had two weeks to contribute money. Every day, Stanforth continued to encourage people to donate with Facebook posts.
“I think we had it in the back of our minds that if we didn’t get that much, we’d find a way to use what we had,” she said.
When the deadline was reached, they met their goal of $2,225.
“I cried. I couldn’t believe we did this,” she said.
They called local businesses about their project and were able to buy 15 $15 gift cards/certificates from each of the businesses.
Businesses who contributed included BDK, Chubby’s, Gold Star, Dilly Bar, Ron’s Place 2.0, Skyline Chili, Red Zone, Subway, AJ’s Pizza, and Subway.
The cards/certificates were given to the employees in an envelope along with a thank you note.
“It’s not much but for the whole community to come together, that’s whats important,” she said.
