Medina Meijer donates $10,000 to The Giving Place

MEDINA — Meijer's Medina store donated $10,000 to The Giving Place to support the organization's mission of helping other local nonprofits. Medina Meijer Store Director Carol Lester said Meijer donates around 6 percent of its profits to organizations within the communities it serves. Every store is allowed to present either two $5,000 checks to two organizations or a $10,000 check to one organization. Each store gets to vote on which organization they want to give to, and the Medina location decided to donate to The Giving Place, she said. "We know that we want to be a good company for the foundations within the community," Lester said. "We know that it is extremely important to give back because they give so much to us too by coming in and frequenting us every day." Stephanie Furey and Angel Kiefer are co-founders of The Giving Place. Furey said the organization at 1095 N. Court St. in Medina accepts donations like clothing, furniture and home decor, and the proceeds from the sales go to local nonprofits. "It's only Medina County charities," Kiefer said. "We like to support people that are in need in our own backyard. That's what we set out to do when we first started this 2.5 years ago." To date, The Giving Place has given away around $492,000 to 42 charities over the past 2½ years, Furey said. The Giving Place has supported organizations like Feeding Medina County, the Free Clinic of Medina County, Habitat for Humanity, Project Learn and the Soprema Senior Center among others. "We pretty much support from birth to end of life and anything in between," she said. "We do a lot of food right now. It seems like a big need right now is food." Meijer's donation will increase the amount of funds The Giving Place is able to give out. For more information on The Giving Place, visit thegivingplacemedina.org. "We just wanted to make a difference in Medina County," Furey said. "We have. I think we've made a difference. Contact reporter Madisyn Woodring at (330) 721-4049 or mwoodring@medina-gazette.com.