by Cassie Mattia
Loveland, Ohio – The Holiday season is here which means giving back is at its peak here in the Sweetheart of Ohio!
Recently Editor in Chief David Miller spoke with Loveland’s City Manager David Kennedy and Lisa Craig, the City of Loveland’s Utility Billing Clerk, in which they informed Miller that an anonymous donor settled 28 past due water bills. The total donation was nearly $7,000! Although the donor wanted to remain anonymous, the donor himself asked if we would share this information in hopes that other “copycats might do something similar.” The donor said in an email, “The more people that can help, the better.”
Kennedy said that in his 36 years of government employment he had never experienced anyone doing something so generous.
Kennedy told Miller in a phone conversation that Craig worked with the private donor all week to help identify those community members that had been heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“He’s overpaying each account by $100, so each of them are going into the new year with a credit of $100,” Kennedy explained to Miller, “He wanted to remain anonymous, but he thought if there was a way to get the word out, maybe other people would help. It ended up being 28 accounts that he picked to help these people out. The private donor worked hand and hand with Lisa Craig, herself a long-time Loveland resident, and our utility billing clerk to do this. She could not have been more impressed with what this person did.”
Craig was also very much touched by this anonymous donor’s generosity.
‘He was looking for people impacted by the pandemic that were really trying to make the effort to set up payment plans with us,” Craig said, “When he first called he said that he had heard something on the news about someone doing this in another community. He and his wife were inspired to do something for people living in Loveland. They wished to remain anonymous, but was hoping that going public with the story without disclosing his name would inspire someone else to help out.”
Inspired and want to do your own holiday good deed?!
Craig told us that all anonymous donations sent to them would be applied to where they felt it would be needed the most! Craig also informed us that anyone who sent a check would remain anonymous.
So where can you send your anonymous donation?
“I hate to put out a number, but I know there are people really struggling to make it,” Craig said, “We really don’t want to shut anyone’s water off. Especially this time of year. Any time of year is hard. But this time of year, and with the struggles of twenty-twenty…need I say much more!”
Anyone wishing to be a copycat donor can reach out to Lisa Craig at 513-707-1451 or email Lisa Craig at [email protected]. Lisa may be able to take your donation “on-line” with a credit card.
You may also send a check to City Hall. Please address to “City of Loveland, 120 West Loveland Avenue, Loveland, Ohio, 45140.”
If you would like to reach out to City Manager Dave Kennedy you can do so by phone at 513-707-1454 or email at [email protected].
City Hall office hours are Mon-Fri 8 A.M. to 4:30 P.M.
Cassie Mattia is the Associate Editor of Loveland Magazine and lives in Historic Downtown.
