[TOLEDO, OH] – United Way of Greater Toledo (UWGT) and Lucas Metropolitan Housing (LMH) will kick off the 3rd Annual Thumbs Up neighborhood beautification on Friday, May 26.
Beginning Memorial Day weekend and running through Wednesday, June 28, the Thumbs Up initiative will provide opportunity for staff, community members, corporate partners, and residents to engage in beautification efforts and fellowship across various LMH properties. UWGT and LMH partner annually to help provide volunteer and financial support.
United Way’s corporate partners are a key component of the initiative’s success, providing volunteers and financial support through sponsoring various sites. This year’s sponsors are O-I, Owens Corning, Accenture, Trust Company Family Offices, and Columbia Gas.
The Thumbs Up initiative is designed to bring staff and residents together to beautify communities, while fostering resident engagement and fellowship. It promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion by inviting people of different backgrounds to work together around a common goal – adding value to communities and ensuring each family has a place they can proudly call home. Through this inclusive initiative, LMH aims to support diversity by celebrating, recognizing, and appreciating everyone for their unique talents and providing an opportunity to get involved.
“We are delighted to have LMH as an exceptional partner and leader in our community. Through our collaboration on the Thumbs Up initiative, we are dedicated to enhancing the living spaces of our residents and forging connections with our passionate corporate partners and community volunteers. By celebrating the importance and strength of resident engagement and the transformative power of community partnerships, this series of collaborative efforts works toward a simple common goal — creating homes where every family can take pride,” said Wendy Pestrue, President and CEO, United Way of Greater Toledo
“LMH is proud and excited to once again support the Thumbs Up initiative,” said LMH President and CEO Joaquin Cintron Vega. “Visually appealing neighborhoods help raise community and individual pride, with such noticeable benefits as increasing property values, attracting businesses, and improving the neighborhood’s image,” Cintron Vega said. “We also know from our experience that the Thumbs Up program can lead to more interaction among neighbors from diverse backgrounds, which is an incredibly powerful outcome that inspired LMH to participate this year.”
Each LMH community site is also seeking volunteers to join in this initiative by planting trees and flowers. After each planting session, there will be food and fellowship.
Planting dates are scheduled for May 26 through June 28. Eight LMH community sites are involved in the project and both residents and community members are encouraged to join the initiative.
Once all the beautification projects have been completed, each site will be judged and the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners will be announced.
To volunteer, please register by calling Nida Ammar at 419-246-3184 or email nammar@lucasmha.org or contact the Service Coordinator at each site who will be taking the reservations. The LMH sites include the following communities: Birmingham, Ravine Park Village, Weiler Homes, Northern Heights, McClinton Nunn, Elmdale Court, Mercer, and Port Lawrence.
Donations of flowers, trees or bushes would be gratefully accepted.
Media Opportunities
Friday, May 26, 9:30 – 10:30 a.m. & 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.
Staff and volunteers will be available for interviews. Additional opportunities will be available throughout the run of the program. To schedule, please contact Mike Nowlin, at (989) 450-0855 or nowlin@gudmarketing.com
For the Thumbs Up kickoff event on 5/26, Toledo Museum of Art (TMA) will be painting a mural with the After School All Stars program, and volunteers from O-I, who is sponsoring two sites and will be planting on site throughout the day.
This past month, students have been painting and creating colors and textures on many different pieces of paper. TMA will use pieces of these unique creations to create a mosaic, puzzling them together to create a fun and accessible work of public art inspired by the popular children’s book, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar.” The works will be placed onto a large piece of Masonite and installed.
Media Contacts
Mike Nowlin
Senior Public Relations and Policy Manager
Lucas Metropolitan Housing
nowlin@gudmarketing.com
(989) 450-0855
Ryan Bunch
Senior Director, Outreach & Advocacy
United Way of Greater Toledo
ryan.bunch@unitedwaytoledo.org
(419) 254-4711
About Lucas Metropolitan Housing
Established in 1933, Lucas Metropolitan Housing (LMH) continues to provide affordable housing to adults, seniors and children in its Public Housing, Housing Choice Voucher, Mixed-Income and Market Rate housing units. LMH also provides a myriad of programs and opportunities designed to improve the total quality of life for our residents, with the ultimate goal of achieving self-sufficiency. The programs and services are the results of successful collaborations with numerous community partners.
Our current housing portfolio consists of 2,633 Public Housing units; 4,657 Housing Choice Vouchers; 322 Low-Income Housing Tax Credit units; 198 Market Rate units and 107 Homeownership Properties. There are approximately 17,500 people who reside in LMH properties. Lucas Metropolitan Housing partners with ALL people and organizations willing to exchange ideas and efforts to enhance Toledo, Lucas County and the world. https://www.lucasmha.org/
About United Way of Greater Toledo
Uniting the caring power of people to improve lives. United Way of Greater Toledo brings a worldwide network into neighborhoods throughout Northwest Ohio. Proudly serving residents of Lucas, Ottawa, and Wood Counties, since 1918 we have believed that we all benefit from each other’s success. As one of the longest-serving charitable organizations in our region, we are trusted, innovative, collaborative and accountable. Most importantly, your contributions serve neighbors right here at home. www.unitedwaytoledo.org
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