NEWS

Woodlawn UMC gearing up for benefit

Todd Hill
Reporter

BUCYRUS – “It’s not just another church bazaar,” Bill Denton said of the benefit barbecue at Woodlawn United Methodist Church, Bucyrus, scheduled for June 6.

Denton may have a biased opinion since he’s project chairman of the event, but based on advance ticket sales, at least 12,000 people are expected to turn up at the church at 1675 Hopley Ave. Fifty local retailers have made donations, and another 70 retailers and people in the community have become event sponsors.

“Twenty-four churches have joined in and are working on this, along with the sheriff, the police chiefs in Bucyrus and Galion, the mayors. The whole community has jumped on board with this,” Denton said.

“It all started last year as a local mission. We wanted to benefit the county, but at that point, we weren’t sure how. We just knew we wanted to fight the drug problem. I did some research and checked out several organizations, which are doing different things in different ways.”

The church settled on the Alpha 12 Step Recovery Program, and last year, 800 attendees at the barbecue wrote a check for the Bucyrus organization, totaling $7,000.

“These folks do wonderful things. They spend their own money on this, they’re all volunteers, and those folks get a 50 percent recovery rate,” Denton said.

“We decided if we donated to them the money would go where it needs to go. They go into the jails and prisons to work with folks, and it’s a nondenominational, Christian-based program.”

Denton said this year’s barbecue and concert on the green will be larger than last year’s inaugural event.

Hailing from New Concord, the John Glenn High School Steel Drum Band will be featured at 6 p.m. Also appearing will be the local men’s chorus United in Harmony at 7:30 p.m.

This year’s benefit will be under a tent and will feature the guest appearance of former football punter and kicker of the 1980 Cleveland Browns, Don Cockroft. Author of the book “The 1980 Kardiac Kids — Our Untold Stories,” Cockroft will be on hand to autograph any book purchases.

There also will be a silent auction that will include a Joe Haden autographed helmet as well as autographed footballs from Brian Hoyer and Archie Griffin.

For information about the Alpha 12 Step Recovery Program, visit www.alpha12step.com or contact Alpha representative Margie Maddox at 419-689-1412.

Advance ticket sales for the Woodlawn barbecue at $1 off are available at Bucyrus True Value Hardware, Vanessa’s Good Food & Spirits, the Bucyrus Area Chamber of Commerce, Phil’s Deli in Galion and Corner Grill Restaurant in Upper Sandusky.

Donations are $8 for adults and $5 for children ages 3 to 11; children younger than 3 will be admitted free. Purchase of 10 tickets will reserve a table. For other ticket details, call Denton at 330-631-4724.

thill3@nncogannett.com

419-563-9225

Twitter: @ToddHillMNJ