Thanks to All – Leave and Take

On Friday and Saturday, Sept. 4th and 5th, 2026, the West Geauga Kiwanis sponsored the ultimate recycling event. ” Leave and Take, where community residents brought usable items they no longer needed, and other residents took them home to use them.

From Ken Mantey – Chairman of The Kiwanis Club of West Geauga Leave and Take Event.

Whew!! We’re done.

A ¾ full bottle of Hand Sanitizer was left at the Admin table, anyone want to claim it?

I sent out the Help! Email a couple days ago and I just want to say that you all stepped up and made it work!  Signup sheets are still empty, but you all came through – just giving me a biggg worry.

Big thanks to Joel who was there pre-dawn ‘til closing most days, and re-laid the outside tent presentations so well things really started moving much faster. Linda Ebersbacher and Annette Moon are expert organizers excelling in sales presentation, can’t thank them enough.   Annette Moon and her father Joe Oprzadek were both fixtures Sat & Sunday, but Joe was ALSO there for Friday’s setup and Sunday’s breakdown!  Both have been personable fixtures for all 7 of these events since their beginning in 2019.

We also had some tag teams in Jim & Jeanette Metcalf, Les & Laura Scott, and Rich & Brenda Levine.

Just like Sign-UP, the Sign-IN log was also mostly ignored despite the hard work they put in: Ian Adams, Mike Kilroy, Don Misich, the whole fam damily of Murmann’s (Greg, Annie, Collette & Vivian), Pete Ronis, Robert and Emerson Schwartz.

And the accolades are not just from me.  I heard this many times, but this is just one example:

From: linda slaby
Sent: Sunday, September 13, 2026 8:30 AM
To: Kenneth L Mantey
Subject: Leave It Take It

“Hi Ken,

I was ready to get rid of the event flyer (into paper recycling, of course) and noticed your name at the bottom as the contact person.  I brought in two items yesterday and they were glommed onto before they left my hands!  It was very rewarding to meet the delighted new owners as both items had some memories associated with my husband.  With Goodwill or such, I’d never know if new owners were found. 

Thanks for all the work you and your Kiwanis team do.

Linda”

Congratulations to all of you for your outstanding efforts!

Ken