Hand Up Gala 2014 Successful
A Unique Event to Provide a Fine Dining Meal to Homeless People in Cleveland 
The Hand Up Gala (not a Hand Out) was held on October 17 to celebrate 20 years of the Cosgrove Center serving hungry people in Cleveland. Unfortunately, the media did not show up to see what a beautiful spread the staff at Cosgrove put together. We have a gallery of photos on our website and a few on our facebook page. The Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless is a co-organizer of this event, and everyone I talked to enjoyed the event. Loh, a member of the Homeless Congress, gave it an 8 out of 10, and we served over 200 homeless people.
There were a lot of families with very young children at the event this year, which shows the huge increase in families over the last few years. The event could not be held without the hundreds of volunteers including Councilman Zach Reed and County Councilman Dale Miller pictured here. Berghaus Flowers provided the center pieces decorated in fall colors, and we had two musicians, Amanda Walsh and Tom Hosna, who gave their time to make the event elegant. There was a wonderful meal of chicken with an apple cranberry glaze prepared by Chef Sharon Delk and her staff. Executive Caterers at Landerhaven provided the fine dining amenities that are not often experienced by members of the homeless community.
Cosgrove Center has served hundreds of thousands over 20 years and is a critical component of the social safety net in Cleveland. They are open in the extreme winter cold days and the hot July days so homeless people do not have to be on the streets during the day. To assist with the celebration, politicians and board members of both NEOCH and Catholic Charities were on hand to act as greeters and servers. We put together a program book to remember the Cosgrove Center and their 20 years which we will post online in the near future.
This year has been a year of celebration the Diocese of Cleveland’s Catholic Charities and the Bishop Cosgrove Center for twenty years of "Providing Help and Creating Hope.” This event is also a fundraiser in which donors are entered into an auction of 30 local arts groups, sports organizations, and businesses who have offered tickets and gift certificates to support NEOCH and Cosgrove Center. We hope to raise funds to support the programming at the two organizations as we see more and more families showing up at our facilities looking for help.
We will not be doing the drawing for the auction until October 29, so you still have time to participate. You can make a donation on line or through the mail. Here are the auction packages that we are distributing this year. This was the fifth Hand Up Gala and it went off without a hitch thanks to Nicole Evans and her fantastic staff.
We have to thank the committee who worked since April to make this event special including Kimberly Miller, Nicole Evans, Randall York, Norman Wolfe, Gloria McCurdy, Sarah Novak, Terrel Valentine and Melissa Sirak. Also, we have to thank Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Cleveland for funding the Cosgrove Center for 20 years and making day shelter an important part of the downtown community. They have served millions of meals in those 20 years and provided hundreds of thousands bags of food to their neighbors all with a welcoming atmosphere of friendly staff. It was a great event this year to celebrate the Cosgrove Center. Thanks to Anthony Emory who came up from being a client to becoming a volunteer after finding stable housing for giving his testimonial about the value of Cosgrove Center at the event.
Brian Davis
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