Toni Ross Spirit Foundation assists families in memory of nurse struck by car

Staff report

HOWLAND

The Toni (Gatta) Ross Spirit Foundation awarded money throughout the year in 2014 to assist local families and organizations in memory of the foundation’s namesake, who was killed while walking in 2013.

Antoinette “Toni” Ross, 55, of Howland, a nurse, died Dec. 8, 2013, after a motorist fell asleep and drifted into the roadside ditch along King-Graves Road in Howland, where the vehicle struck and killed her.

Among the donations was $2,000 to the family of Tony Wells of McDonald, a bicyclist who was struck by a vehicle and killed as he rode along South Main Street in Warren Township last month.

The money was given to help with funeral expenses. The driver who hit him has not been identified.

Other donations included one given to a woman and her three children who were involved in a domestic- violence situation; the Howland Scholarship Fund; The Enrichment Center Inc. in Howland for mentally challenged adults; the Oblate Sisters for their missionary schools in Africa, India and Peru; Akron Children’s Hospital; Ronald McDonald House; and a girl with cerebral palsy so she could have a bicycle to use with her physical therapist.