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Spirit of Giving raises $33,660 for area charities

VIENNA – Eight Mid-Ohio Valley charities will split $33,660 thanks to the PM Company’s sixth annual Spirit of Giving fundraising event.

The PM Company, a Vienna-based real estate development and management group, treated more than 100 tenants and guests to a two-hour-long party at the Grand Pointe Conference and Reception Center Thursday night.

The party is a way for the company to give back to the local community, and has become a Christmas tradition that those involved with the PM Company look forward to every year, said Pat Minnite Sr., founder and president of the PM Company.

Minnite spoke for only a few minutes, thanking his guests for coming and for the donations they had made to the eight charities chosen as this year’s recipients. After his speech, Minnite urged the party to continue.

This year’s donations reached $16,830. The PM Company matched these donations, bringing the total raised to $33,660 for the Spirit of Giving.

In six years, the Spirit of Giving event has raised more than $130,000 for donations to the Mid-Ohio Valley, said Minnite.

“This year’s total is the largest we have ever had,” said Minnite. “The evening is a record breaker for both donations and attendance. I am tickled to death that it grows every year we have it. But I am most excited about the fact that all of this goes to meet the needs of the community. That is the purpose of the Spirit of Giving, after all,” he said.

Guests were treated to a variety of food and drinks throughout the evening. Door prizes were announced every few minutes, and a raffle was held for larger prizes that included a television and a carved wooden cabinet.

Around the room, displays set up by the eight chosen charities for the year showed guests the good that their donations make for the community.

The recipients of the donations this year are:

* Old Man Rivers – food bank.

* Family Crisis Intervention Center – domestic violence shelter.

* Robert E. Fouss Memorial Fund – provides shoes to children in need.

* Belpre Area Ministries -emergency food and lodging.

* Habitat for Humanity – house construction for underprivileged families.

* Boys and Girls Club of Parkersburg – safe location for children.

* Arthur N. Gustke Child Center – promotes well-being of underprivileged children.

* Strecker Indigent Patient Fund – assists area cancer patients with costs.

Standing beside their display, the Habitat for Humanity representatives were happy to be part of this year’s Spirit of Giving.

“We have a continual need of helping families in this area,” said Lisa Collins, Parkersburg Habitat for Humanity representative. “It is an honor to have been chosen for this, and it is wonderful to see a Christmas party that isn’t about ‘getting’, but about ‘giving’ instead,” she said.

Cortney Beymer, representative of the Marietta Memorial Hospital’s Strecker Cancer Center and the Strecker Indigent Patient Fund, was thankful for the chance to be included in the Spirit of Giving.

“We are so very lucky to be a part of this amazing night,” said Beymer. “We want to thank the PM Company for everything they are doing for our community.”

Minnite cited his upbringing as the reason that the Spirit of Giving party exists today. He told of how his mother always delivered food to the needy in his Clarksburg community before the family had a holiday meal.

“We used to give gifts to our tenants every year, but then we decided it would be better to celebrate Christmas by allowing our tenants to gather and donate to the community that gives so much to them,” said Minnite.

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