From Pies to Pages: Kiwanis Helps Put Books in Children’s Hands

An exciting live auction was held on Saturday 8/15 at the Mount Vernon Music & Arts Festival.
There were 15 pies up for bid in the 3rd Annual Kiwanis Club of Mount Vernon Pie Auction. All proceeds from the auction will be given to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library through the United Way of Knox County.

Childhood Literacy is one of the main initiatives for the Kiwanis Club.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a free book gifting program. The program is dedicated to inspiring a love of reading by gifting books free of charge to children from birth to age five. Knox County children received 27,039 books in 2024!

The Pie Auction Total was $4,910!

Thanks to auctioneer David McDowell for his support.

Thanks to the pie donors, bakers, bidders and buyers.

• Pie #1 was a Cherry Pie donated by CES Credit Union. This Cherry Pie was sold along with wood cake display stand and charcuterie board.
Buyer – ACS Title and Closing Services, Cindy McDowell – $250

• Pie #2 was a Blueberry Pie donated by Park National Bank. This Blueberry Pie was sold with a pie plate.
Buyer – Ruckman Group Auctions & Appraisals – $300

• Pie #3 was a Triple Berry Pie donated by Crystal Snell-Tomes, Realtor e-Merge Real Estate Champions. This Pie was sold along with a beautiful serving tray and the Book of Pie Cookbook.
Buyer – Greg Galiete – $460

• Pie #4 was a Strawberry Rhubarb Pie donated by Kenyon College.
Buyer – Jackie K’s Vintage & Venue – $550

• Pie #5 was a Strawberry Pie donated by the Mount Vernon School District.
Buyer – Alice Hutzel and Knox Community Hospital – $200

• Pie #6 was a Gluten-Free Pecan Pie donated by Happy Bean Coffee Shop.
Buyer – Jackie K’s Vintage & Venue – $200

• Pie #7 was an Apple Cranberry Crisp Pie donated by Nancy Jo Todd, Kiwanis Member.
Buyer – Diane Henwood – $200

• Pie #8 was a Dutch Apple Caramel Pie donated by ACS Title Company. This pie was sold with a fruit stand and some fresh apples.
Buyer – Mike Copley and CES Credit Union – $450

• Pie #9 was a Black Raspberry Pie donated by Ohio Easter Star Home. The raspberries were home-grown and it was sold with a wall decoration.
Buyer – Cliff Ruggles and Cliff’s High Performance – $200

• Pie #10 was a Crunchy Caramel Apple Pie made by 92-year-old Britta Bridges representing Mount Vernon Nazarene University.
Buyer – Wendi Fowler – $500

• Pie #11 was a Strawberry Rhubarb Pie made by Sandy Cable representing Mount Vernon Nazarene University.
Buyer – Ruckman Group Auctions & Appraisals – $200

• Pie #12 was an Americana Apple Pie donated by COTC.
Buyer – Kathy White – $200

• Pie #13 was Crystal Browning’s Famous Pecan Pie donated by the Knox County Career Center.  
Buyer – Wendi Fowler – $500

• Pie #14 was a Peachy Peach Pie donation by the United Way of Knox County.
Buyer – Miller Electrical Solutions – $250

• #15 in the auction was two pies donated by CenterWell Home Health – a Strawberry Cream Pie and a Reese’s Cream Pie.
Buyer – David McDowell Auctioneer – $300

Then David resold the Strawberry Cream Pie for $150 to Buyer Jackie K’s Vintage & Venue

Kiwanis Club of Mount Vernon collects Coats for Kids

The Kiwanis Club of Mount Vernon has kicked off their annual collection – Coats for Kids. Lisa Lloyd shared the exciting news of this year’s collection with Marcy Rinehart on The Morning Thing.
Click HERE to hear the full conversation.

The club first started hosting this collection in 1987! This year’s goal is to collect 434 coats. If they reach that goal, they will surpass over 20,000 coats since that first collection.

They are looking for coats in all sizes. There are 30 collection points around Knox County. Gault’s Plaza Cleaners takes care of cleaning all coats. Interchurch Social Services distributes the coats throughout the county. The deadline to donate is 10/31.

Kiwanis Club of Mount Vernon remains dedicated to its mission of improving the lives of children and families. For more information on how you can donate, call Lisa Lloyd at 740-392-3270, ext. 2.

2024 Kiwanis Coats for Kids Collection Points:
CENTERBURG
Centerburg Elementary: 207 South Preston Street
Centerburg Middle/High School: 3782 Columbus Road
Park National Bank: 35 West Main Street

DANVILLE
Danville Elementary/Middle School: 205 Rambo Street
Danville High School: 10 Rambo Street
Park National Bank: 4 South Market Street

FREDERICKTOWN
Fredericktown Elementary/Middle/High School: 111 Stadium Drive
Park National Bank: 137 North Main Street

GAMBIER
Gambier Child Care Center (Head Start): 119 Meadow Lane
The Peoples Bank: 103 East Wiggin Street
Wiggin Street Elementary: 207 East Wiggin Street

HOWARD
East Knox Jr./Sr. High School: 23227 Coshocton Road

MOUNT VERNON
CES Credit Union: 1215 Yauger Road & 400 West Chestnut Street
Gault’s Plaza Cleaners: Kroger Plaza, 855 Coshocton Road
Knox County Career Center: 306 Martinsburg Road
Knox County Chamber of Commerce: 501 South Main Street
Knox County Head Start (Hew Hope Early Education): 11700 Upper Gilchrist Road
Knox County Service Center: 117 East High Street
Knox Public Health: 11660 Upper Gilchrist Rd
Knox Technical Center: 308 Martinsburg Road

Mount Vernon City Schools:
– Columbia Elementary: 150 Columbus Road
– Dan Emmett Elementary: 108 Mansfield Road
– East Elementary: 714 East Vine Street
– Mount Vernon High School: 300 Martinsburg Road
– Mount Vernon Middle School: 298 Martinsburg Road
– Pleasant Street Elementary: 305 East Pleasant Street
– Twin Oak Elementary: 8888 Martinsburg Road

Ohio Eastern Start Home: 1451 Gambier Road
Park National Bank: 1 South Main & 810 Coshocton Avenue
Salvation Army of Mount Vernon: 206 East Ohio Avenue
SPI Spot: 400 South Main Street
The Peoples Bank: 11423 Upper Gilchrist Road
United Way of Knox County: 305 East High Street

The Kiwanis Club of Mount Vernon is bringing PIES to the Mount Vernon Music & Arts Festival

The Morning Thing is shining the spotlight on the 2024 Music and Arts Festival this week.
On Wednesday, we talked with Wendi Fowler from the Kiwanis Club of Mount Vernon. She shared the details about the Kiwanis Club Pie Auction which is a new event to the festival.
Click HERE to hear the conversation.

The pie auction will be held in conjunction with the wood auction on Saturday, August 10.
Bidding registration starts at 4:30pm.
The auction will from 5:30pm – 7pm on the Public Square.

There are 17 pies up for bid. Pies are being made by celebrities. Some of them include: Mayor Matt and Joanne Starr – All American Apple Pie, Bruce and Kathy White (from KCH) – Blueberry, Dr. Carson Castleman (MVNU President) – chocolate pie and Dr. Berry (COTC) – strawberry pie.
The Mount Vernon High School Key Club is also involved.

Wendi also shared how the money from the auction will be used. The Kiwanis Club supports youth and children in the community: Imagination Library, 4H, Babe Ruth baseball, and the Fredericktown Fire Academy.

If you would like to donate a pie, send an email to Wendi.fowler@parknationalbank.com

Wendi told us more about the Kiwanis Club of Mount Vernon. Some of their programs include: boots and coats for kids, literacy projects and gathering 1,200 books for kids this summer!
They also go into the Mount Vernon classrooms to read books to students.
Literacy has been the focus for 2024.

Wendi invites residents to visit the next meeting for Kiwanis on Monday, 8/12 at Noon at the Gallagher Center at the Ohio Eastern Star. They meet on the 2nd and 4th Mondays of the month. 

The festival runs on these dates:
Thursday 8/8 – 5pm – 10pm (They will have a soft opening on Thursday at lunch time so that people can access the food trucks on the public square)
Friday 8/9 – 11am – 10pm
Saturday 8/10 – 11am – 10pm
Sunday 8/11 – 11am – 3pm

Find out more at mvmaf.org

Kiwanis Club of Mount Vernon collects Coats for Kids!

The Morning Thing shared a conversation about an exciting collection to benefit families in Knox County.
WNZR’s Alyssa Sidle talked with Lisa Lloyd, Program Director for the Knox County Foundation and Kiwanis Member about the club’s annual Coats for Kids Collection. You can access the full conversation below.

The Kiwanis Club of Mount Vernon is excited to partner again with Gault’s Plaza Cleaners for the drive. During the month of October, gently used coats will be collected at various locations throughout Knox County. The coats will be cleaned by Gault’s Plaza Cleaners then taken to Interchurch Social Services and the Salvation Army to be distributed to children in need before winter arrives. There are 29 different partner locations in Knox County accepting donations through the 31st.

Interchurch and the Salvation Army are predicting that the need this year will be even greater than previous years. Salvation Army’s Captain Christine Moretz said “We have seen an increase to our food pantry and hot meal needs.  It would not be surprising to see the increased need for coats as well this coming winter season.”

Carolyn Fergus, Executive Director of Interchurch Social Services agreed, adding “Our numbers have doubled since the beginning of this year. There are so many families needing help making ends meet. A warm coat at no cost will go a long way to meet their needs.”

Kiwanis is dedicated to improving the world one child and one community at a time.

Since 1987 there have been 19,226 coats donated, cleaned, and distributed through Coats for Kids.
For more information, call Lisa Lloyd at 740-392-3270, ext. 2.

Drop off Locations:

CENTERBURG
Centerburg Elementary: 207 South Preston Street
Centerburg Middle/High School: 3782 Columbus Road
Park National Bank: 35 West Main Street

DANVILLE
Danville Elementary/Middle School: 205 Rambo Street
Danville High School: 405 South Market Street
Park National Bank: 4 South Market Street

FREDERICKTOWN
Fredericktown Elementary/Middle/High School: 111 Stadium Drive
Park National Bank: 137 North Main Street

GAMBIER
Gambier Child Care Center (Head Start): 119 Meadow Lane
The Peoples Bank: 103 East Wiggin Street
Wiggin Street Elementary: 207 East Wiggin Street

HOWARD
East Knox Jr./Sr. High School: 23227 Coshocton Road

MOUNT VERNON
CES Credit Union: 1215 Yauger Road & 400 West Chestnut Street
Chamber of Commerce: 501 South Main Street
Gault’s Plaza Cleaners: Kroger Plaza, 855 Coshocton Road
Knox County Career Center: 306 Martinsburg Road
Knox County Head Start (Hew Hope Early Education): 11700 Upper Gilchrist Road
Knox County Service Center: 117 East High Street
Knox Technical Center: 308 Martinsburg Road
Mount Vernon City Schools
Columbia Elementary: 150 Columbus Road
– Dan Emmett Elementary: 108 Mansfield Road
– East Elementary: 714 East Vine Street
– Mount Vernon High School: 300 Martinsburg Road
– Mount Vernon Middle School: 298 Martinsburg Road
– Pleasant Street Elementary: 305 East Pleasant Street
– Twin Oak Elementary: 8888 Martinsburg Road
Park National Bank: 1 South Main & 810 Coshocton Avenue
Salvation Army of Mount Vernon: 206 East Ohio Avenue
The Peoples Bank: 11423 Upper Gilchrist Road
United Way of Knox County: 305 East High Street

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