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Spaghetti dinner, raffle planned to help Cuyahoga Falls woman raise entry fee
By Jewell Cardwell
Beacon Journal
Published on Monday, Jul 14, 2008
If you don't have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true?
Mona Johansson isn't familiar with the tune from the musical South Pacific.
But the Cuyahoga Falls woman, 49, certainly has taken the lyrics to heart.
They propel the Akron North High School graduate every day in her volunteer activities: doing paperwork for Heartland Hospice Services, producing her own line of greeting cards and calendars and being an ambassador for the disabled.
In fact, those lyrics even led her to pursue the title of Ms. Wheelchair Ohio 2008, which she won.
It wasn't a pageant in the traditional sense.
Rather, Mona — who is in a wheelchair because of cerebral palsy, which also has left her with a voice that's difficult to understand— entered the contest online and won.
''Life is how you make it, not how you want it,'' Mona is fond of saying.
Mona, who has had 18 back operations, has as her next goal claiming the title of Ms. Wheelchair USA. The national pageant will take place Aug. 7-10 in Cuyahoga Falls.
Right now, Mona and her mother, Alice Johansson, dear friend Carol Dauberman and Bethany Lutheran Church are working hard to raise the entry fee of $1,800.
To that end, they're hosting a benefit spaghetti dinner and raffle from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, July 25, at the church at 815 Carroll St., Akron, and seeking sponsors.
For ticket information or to volunteer, please call 330-812-0780.
QB Quinn in Canton
Cleveland Browns quarterback and former Notre Dame standout Brady Quinn will be the special guest at the tailgate party for the Granted Wish Foundation's annual fundraiser from 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday, July 19, at the Pro Football Hall of Fame
in Canton.
Quinn's appearance is being made possible by grand corporate sponsor PatentHEALTH.
The foundation's mission is ''to provide wish fulfillment to disabled, disadvantaged and deserving individuals and families,'' said Stefanie Coletti, executive director of the nonprofit Granted Wish Foundation.
''The foundation has granted such wishes locally and nationally as eye surgery for a young man with cystic fibrosis. And he doesn't need to wear those big glasses anymore.''
In fact, that man — Patrick McGuinness of the Massillon area — will be a guest speaker that evening.
''We've also granted a wish for a little boy with spinal muscular atrophy, also from Massillon, who needed a wheelchair ramp,'' Coletti said. ''We have a Teens for Dreams program where high school students can earn community-service hours. . . . St. Thomas Aquinas and Canton Central Catholic schools had this competition and raised money for the ramp. ''
Other wishes have included:
• A mentally challenged woman's dream to sing with the legendary country singer Kenny Rogers.
• Underprivileged children participating in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
• Heating units for an animal shelter.
• A shopping spree for a man who lost everything in a fire.
• A young family whose father suffered severe head trauma.
• A funeral for a woman whose family had waited for weeks after her death because it had no money.
• The reunion of a father and son after many years apart.
This very special fundraiser will feature gourmet tailgate food stations, a 50/50 raffle and a touchdown prize (a new car from Waikem Motors).
Tax-deductible donations to attend are $95 per person (including autographed photo of Quinn). VIP tickets, which include a photo with Quinn, are $900. For information, please call 330-244-WISH (9474) or visit http://www.grantedwish.org.
Benefits for kids
Two area benefits are in the works to assist the family of heart transplant recipient Jakub Edwards, 6.
The Hartville lad — who was diagnosed with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (congestive heart failure) May 18 — received a new heart June 7 at the Cleveland Clinic.
His parents, Melanie and Bill Edwards, hope to bring him home in the next couple of weeks.
Kristino's hair salon, 606 E. Cuyahoga Falls Ave., Akron, will offer half-off haircut and manicure, facial and waxing specials from 1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday, July 20, with proceeds being split between the Edwards family and the family of a Kent boy, Zaveon Cobbin, 1, who is battling leukemia and is receiving treatment at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.
Jakub's church, Bethany Mennonite Church, 3497 Edison St. N.E., Lake Township, will sponsor a pancake-and-sausage breakfast and bake sale in his honor from 7 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 9.
Your support is appreciated.
Benefit trio
Friends of James Ashton Kania, 21/2, are preparing a Miracles for Baby James fundraiser to assist his family with his medical expenses.
The son of Bianca and James Kania of Brunswick, who is a patient at Akron Children's Hospital, was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia and is undergoing massive treatment — chemotherapy, spinal taps, blood and platelet transfusions and steroids.
The dinner/auction/raffle benefit is planned for 5 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 9, at the Ehrnfelt Event Center in the Strongsville Recreation Center. Cost is $25. No children, please. Auction items are still being sought.
For information, please contact Rachel Petrey at 440-554-3175 or rjp11@uakron.edu.
Haircut for a cause
Elaine Emerson is understandably proud of her son's recent generosity.
Jesse Holland, 22, who is working his way through college, got a major haircut last week, and donated over a foot of hair to Locks for Love Inc., which makes wigs for underprivileged children who have suffered medical hair loss.
Jesse, whose goal is to become a chef, donated hair in the name of his grandmother Dorothy Emerson, who died of multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow, before he was born. She had been a foster mother to more than 40 children.
Jewell Cardwell can be reached at 330-996-3567 or jcardwell@thebeaconjournal.com.
If you don't have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true?
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