South Avenue KFC plans Joe Kaluza Day

Roughly $18,000 has been donated at Huntington Bank, his sister said.

STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — Sunday is Joe Kaluza Day at KFC on South Avenue, with all proceeds going to the restaurant manager who is paralyzed after being shot during a robbery.

“He has good days and bad days, and now has pneumonia again,” said Anna Fitzgerald of North Lima, his sister. “He has a positive attitude. I don’t know if I could be him.”

She said he’s been alert and can talk a bit, but his words are mostly inaudible because of the ventilator tube in his mouth. Visitors have to be able to lip-read and sometimes write out what they think Kaluza said, to be sure they understand what he’s trying to say.

Kaluza, 42, of Youngstown’s South Side, is in acute care at Cleveland MetroHealth Hospital. He was shot in the neck March 24 after a light-blue Saturn cut him off on South Avenue and the driver purposefully caused a crash.

Taran D. Helms, 22, of West Hylda Avenue, and Hattie L. Gilbert, 20, of East Judson Avenue, are each charged with attempted aggravated murder and aggravated robbery. Police said Helms walked up and shot Kaluza after Gilbert staged the accident. The KFC bank deposit of about $300 was taken.

Fitzgerald said doctors are not optimistic about her brother’s prognosis. Once out of acute care, Kaluza will be transferred to the hospital’s program for quadriplegics, she said.

Donations for Kaluza are being accepted at any Huntington Bank branch. Fitzgerald said roughly $18,000 has been collected so far. She called the response overwhelming and much appreciated by his wife, Lisa, and children, Joshua, 21, and Tiffiny, 12.

Fitzgerald said the plan by KFC to raise money was a nice surprise. The business, she said, has been very receptive and helpful.

This Sunday, from 10:30 a.m. until 10 p.m., all proceeds from Joe Kaluza Day at KFC, 2705 South Ave., will go to the fund at Huntington Bank established to help the restaurant manager. The KFC is owned and operated by Morgan’s Foods Inc. on Belmont Avenue in Liberty.

Gloria Roy, executive assistant/office manager at Morgan’s Foods, said the company has also placed collection canisters for Kaluza, a 10-year employee, at 97 KFC restaurants in six states. Other franchises, such as Taco Bell in New York, for example, asked for canisters for 31 restaurants there, Roy said.

Local businesses, too, especially in the South Avenue area, are displaying collection canisters, she said.

Roy said the premeditated brutality of the crime leaves most people speechless. Those involved in the case — detectives, medical and insurance workers — have commented on the brutality, she said.