DIANE MAKAR MURPHY Super women create a font of charitable help

They may not be more powerful than a locomotive, nor able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. But one could make a pretty good argument that Laura Lonardo and Melinda McGowan are faster than speeding bullets.
And maybe even Superwoman, for that matter.
Last Christmas, Lonardo found out Canfield resident Chris O'Garek had cancer. By February, she learned it had spread to his colon, that this father of three couldn't keep running his business, that his wife had had to quit her job to care for him, that they had no insurance and that the debts were piling up.
Lonardo didn't know O'Garek. But she found herself moved by his situation. Canfield Community Chest had helped the family out at Christmas, but they typically only helped families once. The O'Gareks were seemingly on their own.
"How could this happen?" she wondered. "It could happen to any of us." Lonardo approached a coalition of six Canfield churches and asked for two volunteers from each to help plan fund-raisers for this family "for a one-time thing," Lonardo said. Among the volunteers was McGowan.
"I was having [surgery], planning other things, but I thought, I have to do this," McGowan said.
Nonprofit status
Although the volunteers thought it would be a "one-time deal," they soon realized businesses were more likely to participate if their volunteer group had nonprofit status. "All of a sudden, we're a 501(c)3," McGowan said.
Well, not exactly "all of a sudden," but certainly quickly. "Right away, we filed for it," Lonardo said. "Northeast Ohio Legal Services helps the indigent, and [attorney] Christine Legow filed all the papers for us without charge."
"We gave her the information, and in six weeks, we were nonprofit," McGowan said. Their organization was named Canfield Community Care Net.
The volunteers decided they needed a big event, something to get lots of money fast. In May, they came up with the idea of a golf outing ... and here's the speeding bullet ... by Sept. 9, they had launched the CCCN First Annual Golf Classic and raised more than $15,000.
The outing included golf, a luncheon, a Hole-in-One prize (a Chrysler donated by the Chrysler Foundation), a dinner and auction, and other prizes.
"Many businesses and individuals came forward to help," Lonardo said, among them course director and general manager Dave Chuba, who offered The Links at Firestone Farms in Columbiana before it was even open for business. Food donations came from Burger King; DiRusso's Sausage Inc., where Lonardo works; HoneyBaked Ham; Panera Bread; and Gia Russa Italian Foods, among others.
Keeping it going
Most important, notice the word annual in the fund-raiser's name. CCCN now plans to help other Canfield families as the need arises, working in conjunction with the Community Chest.
"People think Poland, Boardman and Canfield are wealthy communities that don't need help, but that's not true," Lonardo said. "We'll have to decide who to help on a case-by-case basis, based on the board's decision. Our first goal will be to exhaust every resource out there in helping people in Canfield."
To that end, CCCN has already begun to compile a resource book.
"It has been such a whirlwind," McGowan said. "We just finished mailing out the thank-yous."
Although others may receive CCCN's help, for now, resources are directed at the O'Garek family. "We're hoping to support the family for six months with gas, electric, rent and some food," Lonardo said.
"Chris just didn't believe a community would come together to help a person they didn't know, but they did," McGowan said. And when that happens, it is more powerful than a speeding locomotive.
murphy@vindy.com