Ironton aLive’s recent Taste of Ironton was a huge success. There were a lot of moving parts that needed to come together to pull it off.

One unnoticed piece was the efforts of the guys from the STAR Community Justice Center. These incarcerated residents arrived early, spent the entire day assisting and busted their humps helping out.

According to local STAR sources “Our residents are selected based on their effort in the STAR program. We try to pick guys who are serious about changing their lives and have a track record of being respectful and hard working.

We have residents out in the community nearly every day in Scioto and Lawrence.”

Ironton aLive truly appreciated their services. Based on our conversations and experiences with these young men this outreach program is an extremely meaningful tool in their rehabilitation process. I encourage STAR and the communities to continue supporting it.

I have been following up with a few of our restaurant participants and they’re reporting that they are reaping the benefits of the event. Rax distributed wooden nickels at the event and over 25 have already been redeemed. Frog Town said they welcomed at least a dozen new customers in the last few days. These diners commented that food samples from the Taste of Ironton are what prompted them to stop.

Ironton aLive accomplished its goal of promoting our local businesses. Our community really pitched in by supporting the event. Your support helped rock this event.

The Taste of Ironton outcome tells me that there is plenty of community pride out there. Ironton, it is time to get involved and help redevelop our city. Ironton aLive is that vehicle. Contact me at 740-533-4559 or call@ohio.edu and I’ll discuss how you can get onboard.

Shop local. Dine local. Support our small businesses.

 

Steve Call

President Ironton Kiwanis Club, Member of Ironton aLive and Ironton in Bloom