At local workshop, donations abound

By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR STAFF Writer
BOARDMAN -- Gifts and candy for children who are less fortunate filled a table at the Meshel MASCO workshop.
Three years ago, the workshop started its Christmas Fill A Jar program. MASCO workshops are a division of the Mahoning County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities.
"We get donations from parents, guardians and staff," said George Gabriel, workshop director.
Dolls, stuffed animals, Matchbox cars, toy trucks, coloring sets, footballs and basketballs were some of the items that covered the tabletop.
Staff and volunteers will deliver the donations Wednesday to the Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley and Mahoning County Children Services.
How it started
Connie Daltorio, workshop specialist, said the project started when the facility received a donation of glass Mason jars. Not knowing how else to put them to use, staff decided to fill them with candy and attach them to gifts presented to charity organizations.
"We probably have about double this year what we got last year," Daltorio said, stopping briefly to fill a jar. "It's great."
Daltorio and Carolyn McCamon of Boardman, whose brother, Gary Joseph Nardelli, is a MASCO consumer, filled the jars with sweets, covering each with a swath of Christmas material and tying it with ribbon.
They then placed the jar and a gift together and wrapped them with cellophane and tied it with another ribbon to give to a child Christmas morning.
"The response we get is just wonderful," Daltorio said. "The woman we took the gifts to from Children Services last year was so grateful she just about cried."
Founded in the late 1960s, MASCO provides employment for nearly 600 Mahoning County residents in jobs such as assembly and packaging.