A Few Great Ways to Do Good in Meriden this Weekend

Did watching the earthquake footage out of Japan last week make you want to get out there and do something…anything…that might help your fellow man? There’s a few things you can do to assist people both at home and abroad this weekend in Meriden.

On Saturday afternoon the Meriden Chamber’s Young Business Leaders group will be collecting food and monetary donations during the city’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade. If you head to the parade, you can bring non-perishables to plunk into the baskets of the members marching along. All donations will go to the city’s food pantry and soup kitchen.

From 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Sunday, the South Meriden Volunteer Fire Department will hold a bucket fund drive at the corner of Main Street and Hanover Road in South Meriden for the victims of the recent earthquake in Japan. The department will forward those funds to an as-of-yet undetermined agency that assists those affected by the quake.

According to the volunteer department’s fire chief Keith Gordon, proceeds will go to the agency that has the least administrative costs, so funds go directly to those in need and not to overhead. The department has raised much money for previous disasters, Gordon said, like more than $6,000 for Hurricane Katrina and $3-4,000 for firefighters in Iowa who lost their homes to tornadoes and floods.

“Times are different, but we’re hoping for a decent response.” Gordon said. “If you can’t go and help, try to do something.”

Correction: In the article, "Three Ways to Do Good in Meriden this Weekend" published March 19, we originally said the push ups for charity event at Club 24  was on Saturday, March 19, but it is actually on Saturday, April 16. The information is below:

On Saturday morning at 10 a.m., Club 24 is sponsoring push ups for charity at each of its gym locations (294 Pratt St., Meriden, 1267 South Broad St., Wallingford). Open to everyone, not just members, the gyms will have 3 teams compete – regular folks, the police department and the fire department – to see which can do the most push ups in 90 seconds. Proceeds go to the Wounded Warrior Project, which assists severely injured servicemen and women.

Editor's Note: Everyone makes mistakes... even us! If there's something in this article that you think should be corrected, or if something else is amiss, send Local Editor Laurie Rich Salerno an e-mail at laurie.salerno@patch.com.