Harrison Cultural Community Centre looks to increase role in community

LORAIN — Volunteers for the Harrison Cultural Community Centre hope that the back-to-school event they held on Saturday is just the beginning of a more involved and impactful relationship with the Lorain community. Families and kids from across the city and beyond visited the cultural center at 1922 Hamilton Ave. on Saturday to peruse activities and vendors, play a variety of games and enjoy free food to celebrate the start of school. The back-to-school event has been held before, but this year volunteers said they plan to follow up on it in a new way. Harrison Board member Mike Williams was the main planner behind the event, which he said he believes is just the first in a series of community events which will make the cultural center a more direct force in improving the lives of residents. "My goal, being raised in Lorain, is I just want to start trying to do more for the community and help the young people," Williams said. "I thought this would be a great event, even though school already started last week, to get families in and get kids backpacks." Volunteers handed out backpacks full of school supplies which were donated by the Lorain County Urban League. Williams said that Fligner's Market donated the food that was passed out, and additional support was provided by Lorain Safety/Service Director Rey Carrion and the Nord Family Foundation. Williams said that Harrison is working to adopt at least one Lorain school, making the organization a point of contact for students in need of supplies, support or connection. "Our goal is to adopt the school and then go from there," Williams said. "... I just wanna try to do things where we can just help people in the community. To me, if we could adopt two schools, that'd be great. We are just trying to figure out how we can do everything and just be active all year round." Cieria Ramon and her family live in Elyria, but she said she brings her kids to the annual back-to-school event on Saturday because she grew up attending events at Harrison and still has many connections to those involved. "My kids always look forward to this," Ramon said. "It's a great event, it's like community equals family, you know? We are all a part of this community, but we are also more than that. So we gather and support each other like a family." "We clean like a family too," Ramon added, as she sent her son to help break down tables. Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.