Lions Club thanks community for support of annual chicken barbecue

To the Editor:

The Hartville Lions Club sends a heartfelt thank you to the Lake Township community and businesses that supported its annual Chicken BBQ Fundraiser on June 7. The event, held in conjunction with the HWC Automotive-sponsored Come Back Car Show, took place in the Hartville Commons parking lot, the site of the former Longaberger Basket parking lot. Thanks to the community's support, the event sold out.

Funds raised through this and other club fundraisers are not used for club administration. Instead, they support a variety of causes, including disaster relief efforts at the state, national and international levels, juvenile diabetes, pediatric cancer research, Lake FISH, the Lake Community YMCA and scholarships for Lake High School graduates in partnership with the Uniontown Lions Club.

The club also provides gift cards for local families at Thanksgiving and Christmas, sponsors Hartville Boy Scout Troop 45, supports a local Girl Scout troop, conducts youth and adult vision screenings, and helps provide eyeglasses and eye surgeries for community members who cannot afford them.

In addition, the club has collected more than 20,000 pounds of recycled plastic and donated eight Trex benches to the community through those efforts. The club continues to collect plastic as an ongoing community service project.

The Hartville Lions would like to extend special thanks to the Joe Robertson family of Robertson Doors and JJ Robertson Concrete and their associates for providing the chicken, barbecue expertise and special sauce. Additional thanks go to Hartville Kitchen for providing the potatoes, coleslaw, rolls, butter and cookies; Hartville Printing for producing flyers; and MD Body for supplying tickets.

The club also appreciates donations from Patrick Helderman of Edward Jones, Starkey & Runkle LLC, Hartville RV, Arnold Funeral Home, and Jim and Georgia Corbett. A special thank you goes to Pastor Ross Miller for allowing the use of the Evermore Church kitchen to wash, wrap and bake potatoes and package rolls and cookies, and to Carol B. Bradley for her assistance.

Finally, the club thanks Boy Scout Troop 45 Life Scout Colson Hostler, Star Scout Nate Miezin and Scout Leader Erin Hostler for their energy and hard work, along with the many Hartville Lions Club members who sold tickets and worked the event.

The event was a success because of the support of the entire community.

Pete and Sandy Procaccio
Co-chairs, 2026 Hartville Lions BBQ Fundraiser