NEWS

MANCI gives back to firefighters

Lou Whitmire
Reporter
The Mansfield Fire Department has a picnic table made by Mansfield Correctional Institution inmates. The inmates made the table from reclaimed wood. Friday, the table was presented to the city firefighters.

MANSFIELD – Mansfield Correctional Institution inmates Brian Grillon and Mathew Muhlhan used reclaimed wood to make an elaborately carved picnic table for the Mansfield Fire Department.

The extra touch, a bit of fire engine red paint, was not planned.

"That's kind of ... all we had," both men said, as one started and the other finished the sentence.

As part of the prison's Community Service Program, Warden Al Lazaroff said the prison was happy to present the table, made by inmates who work on the MANCI farm and live in the honor camp.

"It's kind of a token of our appreciation to the community and I really appreciate the folks on the farm, the staff, the inmates, who thought of this idea," he said.

Lazaroff said he is proud of the relationship with the City of Mansfield.

The six-foot shiny varnished table, with an engraved helmet and axes and the number "343" painted in the center in honor of the firefighters who were lost on Sept. 11 at the World Trade Center, was carefully loaded onto a flatbed truck and delivered Friday to the main fire station on Third Street.

Assistant Fire Chief Chris Speelman was on hand for the presentation with fellow firefighters.

"That's all free-hand and that is something never done before for us and it looks very nice and we appreciate all the work these guys did," Speelman said.

The inmates said they worked on the project in their spare time. Penny Gosser, community service coordinator at MANCI, said the carpenters earned 90 hours of community service for the project.

Charlie Moore, farm coordinator at MANCI, said the inmates came to him with the idea. He said an Adirondack chair made by the inmates, positioned near the picnic table, is headed to the Ohio Beef Expo to be auctioned during a Youth Angus Association event.

The Mansfield Fire Department has received other items made by MANCI inmate/carpenters in the past.

MANCI spokesman Scott Basquin said, "It's all part of giving back for the service the firemen provide. It's just a small token of our appreciation."

Anyone who would like to propose a project for the MANCI community service program for a school or non-profit organization may contact Gosser or Basquin at MANCI, P.O. Box 788, Mansfield, Ohio 44901-0788 or at 419-526-2000.

lwhitmir@nncogannett.com

419-521-7223

Twitter: @LWhitmir