St. Susan Center officials and “Haul for the Holidays” sponsors

The 10th Annual “Haul for the Holidays” to benefit St. Susan Center will take place December 15 through 17.

Northwest Arena Executive Director Keith Martin will stand outside the Jamestown Cycle Shop for three days, accepting food and monetary donations.

Martin said the experience is heartwarming to see the support from the community, “I always say it may be cold outside for those three days, but each time somebody drives up and drops off a donation, you get all warm inside. So, I enjoy doing it. I enjoy seeing the people come in to help support St. Susan’s.”

St. Susan Center Director Cherie Rowland says the needs at the Center are as high as ever, “We’ve seen about a 15% from fourth quarter last year to fourth quarter this year. So, we’re on pace to feed 34,000 meals this year.”

Rowland said that Keith Martin’s goal was to try to raise enough funds to make it $150,000 total for the last 10 years, “He’s on track to do 150,000 pounds, am I right? [Keith Martin – “120,000”] 120,000 pounds. So, last year he collected 13,000 pounds and $24,000 for St. Susan’s. It’s truly been amazing.”

Rowland added that St. Susan Center remains open Monday through Saturdays, with a special Christmas Eve dinner being available noon to 1:45 p.m., Saturday, December 24.

The “Haul for the Holidays” donations can be dropped off at the Jamestown Cycle Shop, located at 10 Harrison Street, from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Thursday, December 15, 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Friday, December 16, and 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Saturday, December 17.

Groups and individuals may rent the main rink for low contact activities such as hockey clinics, drills and private figure skating. Skate and shoot times will be offered shortly after reopening, by reservation only.

Keith Martin, executive director at the Northwest Arena, anticipates that backyard curling leagues will resume Monday, Oct. 12 with registrations to be announced in September. For the time being, the walking track, Weight Watchers meetings, public skating, and ice bumper cars will be on hold, as will the reopening of the café and lounge.

Further details on COVID-19 protocols and guidelines will be released next week along with the launch of a refreshed website.

“We are looking forward to announcing further plans for reopening and expanding our offerings in the weeks and months to come.” said Martin.

For information about ice rentals, contact Craig Hinderleider, director of operations, at craig.hinderleider@northwestarena.com or call the Northwest Arena at 716-484-2624 during new office hours between 10 am and 4 pm, Monday through Friday.

The arena, located on the west side of Downtown Jamestown along W. Third St., features a dual pad ice rink serving Western New York and Northwestern Pennsylvania.

It offers youth and adult hockey, skating lessons, figure skating programs, along with public skate sessions. The arena is also home to the Jamestown Rebels junior hockey team in the North American Hockey League.

Keith Martin, Executive Director of Northwest Arena, said the facility is honored to be recognized as the number one skating destination.

As part of the collection effort, local resident and Jamestown Community College athletic director Keith Martin is stationed to collect items for the soup kitchen.

Donations can be made from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 16 and 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 18.

In addition to cash donations, St. Susan executive director Jeff Smith says other items are needed, including:

• 100% Fruit Juice
• Saltine Crackers
• Canned Fruit
• Laundry detergent (All or Era)
• Dawn dish soap
• Paper towels
• Plastic spoons
• Copy Paper
• Metal Forks
• Metal Spoons
• Mens Gloves.

All of the items are available at Sam’s Club. Gift cards to Wegman’s and Sam’s Club are also needed.

As of Thursday, St. Susan Center has served 113,602 meals in 2016 on its way to 125,000 by year’s end. That total is up about 5,000 meals from last year (119,831) and about 45,000 meals more than were served seven years ago.

Martin joined JCC’s staff in 1999 as the FSA Total Fitness operations manager and women’s basketball coach. He will continue to oversee the women’s basketball program.  Lindquist graduated from JCC in 1998 and earned a bachelor’s degree from Houghton College in 2007. More recently, he has been the athletics and recreation director on the Cattaraugus County Campus.