For the past 15 years, Lakewood’s Help To Others, or H2O, program has offered middle and high school students the opportunity to discover the power of volunteerism. This summer, 200 middle school students will participate in one of four 2-week long community service-oriented day camp sessions. When combined with the efforts of nearly 250 high schoolers and 80 middle schoolers, H2O students can be found giving of their time and talents at approximately 90 community functions this year.

However, on April 25th, 2008, H2O suffered a harsh blow to their otherwise vibrant and growing programs. Following a day of water-main construction near H2O’s Madison Avenue office, a hydrant line burst, causing massive flooding of the basement. When H2O director, Celia Dorsch, came into work that morning, she was met with emergency alarms sounding and standing water in the basement. At the time, the basement was being used primarily as storage space for H2O summer camp supplies, with other program equipment for widely publicized events, such as Pumpkin Palooza and Spring Fling, in storage in other buildings.

The water was pumped out with the help of Lakewood Fire Department, but with estimated water levels reaching nearly 4 feet, the damage was already done; and the timing couldn’t have been worse. The flooding occurred in the midst of the big push of preparations for summer camp programming, which will begin in mid-June. A basement that had been filled with everything from craft supplies and carnival decorations to the stacks of t-shirts to be distributed to campers as a memento of their summer camp experience, was now full of garbage. The water lifted plastic containers and boxes off their shelves, filling them with water, and splaying their contents across the basement floor. This made clean up simple enough: everything simply had to be thrown away.

Although insurance will take care of some of the losses, a large portion of the coverage will need to be put towards large ticket items, such as a furnace and electrical work for the building. With the first session of summer camp only weeks away, H2O needs our help for a change. H2O is dependent upon a combination of funding from the City of Lakewood and individual grants/donations, with the summer programming being run largely through the generosity of these individual contributors.

H2O’s truly unique service programming is designed to both build upon the core of kids who are already serving their community as well as further developing Lakewood youth as an invaluable resource to the larger community. In order to help H2O maintain and expand upon this already largely successful mission statement, please make checks payable to The Lakewood Foundation/H2O. The foundation is a 501(c)(3), so your donation is 100% tax deductible. Donations can be mailed to H2O c/o Lakewood Division of Youth - 12900 Madison Ave. Lakewood, OH 44107.

While monetary donations can be made at any time, please also note that after June 16th, clothing and school supplies can be dropped off at any of Lakewood’s fire stations. Clothes will be resold at nominal prices at the annual H2O “Clothes 4 Kids Sale,” with all proceeds being used to help fund H2O summer camp. The school supplies will be re-packaged into back-to-school kits, with more than 250 kits distributed through the Lakewood Christian Service Center last fall.