Lubrizol, employees recognized for volunteer work | Bouquets and Brickbats

BOUQUETS>> To Lubrizol Corp. and the about 500 Northeast Ohio employees who participated in the company’s Building Bonds volunteer day.

Employees from Lubrizol’s four Northeast Ohio locations — in Wickliffe, Painesville Township, Avon Lake and Brecksville — participated in volunteer projects at eight locations in Geauga, Lake, Cuyahoga and Lorain counties. Work sites ranged from the Lucy Idol Center, a treatment and habilitation center for adults with development disabilities in Vermilion; to Hospice of the Western Reserve in Cleveland.

“For the past 12 years, Lubrizol’s Building Bonds day of service has become the company’s signature community engagement event in Northeast Ohio,” said Mark Sutherland, director of public affairs for the specialty chemical manufacturer. “Employee leaders have been working for several months to plan projects, assemble the necessary resources and outline the work assignments at the eight locations.”

About 75 of those volunteers spent the day at Camp Burton in Burton Township on building construction and maintenance and landscaping projects.

Lubrizol also sponsored a project at its Wickliffe plant and headquarters during which employees could work on making blankets for Project Linus. This initiative provides blankets for children who are seriously ill.

For Mary Jane Sanders, a community specialist at Lubrizol’s Painesville Township plant, the June 7 event at Camp Burton marked her 10th year as a Building Bonds team leader. Sanders said she enjoys how the program creates connections.

“What I like about is we get to make new relationship and friendships not only with co-workers we don’t normally see, but also make partnerships with community and nonprofit organizations.”

We like that too. And we applaud Lubrizol and its employees for their commitment to the community.

BOUQUETS>> To those involved with Euclid Schools’ new Fab Lab.

The facility, located in the Early Learning Center, offers an experience where preschoolers can be creative, and invent, explore and develop important inquiry skills and conceptual thinking.

Designing, building, tinkering, engineering and coding will enable young learners to build a deeper understanding of math and language skills that will help promote success as they enter kindergarten.

The lab also will support educators and pre-service teachers wishing to increase their digital fabrication skills for implementation into their curriculum, the district detailed. Euclid Schools is partnering with Teaching Institute for Excellence in STEM in Cleveland on the Fab Lab.

Jeremy Shorr, director of digital innovation for TIES, says:

“We have to do more than just tell our children they can become whatever they wish, it doesn’t get through, that’s not how the analyzing brain works,” Shorr said. “Our kids need to be touching things, they need to be exploring things, they need to be interacting and solving problems. What Euclid has decided to do is one of the most exciting things I have ever seen. What Karen (Brown, director of strategic initiatives for Euclid City Schools) and Sanya (Henley, Early Learning center principal) have embarked on is unique and incredibly audacious, especially since this is just a starting point, not the final lab. I work all over the country and I talk about this district constantly. It’s really exciting.”

We share his excitement and look forward to watching the Lab’s Fab-ulous future.

BRICKBATS>> To those attempting to scam Lake County residents with a jury duty phone con.

It goes like this:

A resident gets a phone call telling them that a warrant has been issued for their arrest for missing jury duty, along with a recommendation to pay money to stay out of jail for their transgression.

The scammer identifies himself as either Capt. Leonbruno, Sgt. Leonbruno or Sheriff No. 3. The scammer tells the resident that the Sheriff’s Office has a warrant for their arrest for missing jury duty.

The resident is then given a telephone number — 440-226-9283 — to call for more details on their plight.

“When they call the number, they’re told they have a warrant for their arrest and that they will be incarcerated unless they pay a bond over the phone that will keep them out of jail until they can go to court and get the matter resolved,” said Chief Deputy Frank Leonbruno of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

The similar sounding name, the local-appearing number. It seems like it could be real.

Don’t be fooled.

“We will not call you and tell you that you have a warrant for your arrest for missing jury duty,” Leonbruno said. “The Sheriff’s Office will not call you, nor will a police department call you.”

We hope these scammers — and others like them — are caught and made to face the consequences.