This year, Clean Channel is donating the use of a digital billboard throughout December, and the Cuyahoga County Public Library is encouraging people to drop off peanut butter at its two branches in Parma.
People can also leave donations at the Parma Area Chamber of Commerce; at the University Hospitals Parma Medical Center; or at Studio Zia Salon on Rockside Road. Monetary donations to All Faiths Pantry will be accepted with thanks.
Five years ago, Sean Brennan, president of the Parma Council, had a dream about peanut butter, and woke up with the idea of organizing a drive to collect the stuff. Peanut butter is a staple in the larder of many low-income families, and Brennan had read an article about how its price had risen, putting it out of reach of many people.
Brennan called John Visnauskas, the All Faiths Pantry's director, to see if he thought the idea of a peanut butter drive was workable. Visnauskas liked it, and that was the start of the drive. Visnauskas began by asking people to make monetary donations, since it was possible for his organization to buy peanut butter in large quantities, at lower prices than they could individually. Brennan says the drive raised about $1,000 its first year.
Brennan and Visnauskas could work with a poster printing company on display items to post throughout the city, announcing the drive.
