Latest news with #KnockoutHomelessness
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Following PETA protest, Panos' Restaurant and customers spread generosity
After a demonstration from PETA in front of his restaurant, the general manager of Panos' Restaurant on West 38th Street is giving back to the community. The general manager says Panos has seen an outpouring of support since the PETA protest on Thursday. PETA hosts peaceful protest over Erie restaurant special menu item In fact, a customer made it his mission for as many people as possible to try Panos' special fried chicken brown sugar bacon waffle sandwich. Shaun Huegel, owner of Independent Muffler & Brake Shop, gave Panos 500 dollars. PETA suggests subbing Punxsutawney Phil with 'weather reveal' cake In return, Panos asked the community to pay it forward. They're requesting customers bring a canned good or non-perishable food item to be donated to the Erie City Mission. You can also write down one act of kindness you're hoping to do for someone this week as well as post a positive message about someone on social media, and tag Panos. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now If you do any of these three items to spread generosity, you could be eligible for a free chicken sandwich or chicken pot pie. 'My first thought was that I wanted everything to be peaceful and wanted to turn this into a positive,' Evan Lagace, general manager of Panos' Restaurant said. 'There's so many negative things that are always happening and talked about, I just wanted to do something positive for the community and spin it in that direction,' he continued. 16th annual Knockout Homelessness fundraising event takes place Tuesday That deal only lasts until 9 p.m. Friday night or until the tab runs out. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
What's being done to combat blighted properties in City of Erie?
There are currently 276 addresses on the City of Erie's blighted property list. And for 85% of those properties, city officials said there's no opportunity for reuse of the structure standing there, and demolition is the only option. 'We have people who are responsible each for a section of the city. Anytime we get a complaint about a problem in a neighborhood, they go and look at it and if they see the house is in disrepair, they'll declare that and will start a process where it has to be either fixed up or torn down,' said City of Erie Mayor Joe Schember. On average, it takes about a year and a half for the city to get to some of these properties and take action on them. However, they do have a scoring system of sorts that prioritizes them based on situational conditions. 16th annual Knockout Homelessness fundraising event takes place Tuesday 'If it's a stable block of housing and there's one blight of property in it, that gets a higher score than potentially where we're trying to get an assemblage of properties. Maybe we've had a lot of interventions in that area in the last two or three years so we're going to continue that level of intervention to help raise that neighborhood up,' said Aaron Snippert, executive director of the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Erie. While the property may be declared blighted, they don't immediately assume ownership. 'The common misconception is when we blight a property that it's instantly the redevelopment authorities and it's not. We want to work with that property owner to rehabilitate that property,' said Snippert. 'We're working with them, we're managing them, we're keeping up to date with them and making sure that they're continuously moving forward to improve those properties.' About 100 of the 276 on the blight list fall under some level of intervention by the current owner. Local shelters provide warmth as homeless population battles bitter cold temps. Once either remediation or demolition is finished, it not only becomes a possible source of tax revenue for the city again, but it could enhance the value of neighboring properties. And prompts owners to invest. 'We have this investment of money from Erie Land Bank and through the City of Erie and the American Rescue Plan to mitigate blight with the redevelopment authority and so we're working to acquire those properties and ultimately try to improve neighborhoods and improve property values associated with that,' said Snippert. As of Wednesday, February 16, there are currently 16 addresses on the blighted property list right now that are scheduled for demolition. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Gannon University, PennWest Edinboro to host 2025 CCA Women's D2 Tip-Off Classic
Two local universities are looking forward to the weekend of November 7-9 as they prepare to bring the best in women's D2 basketball to the region. Gannon University and Edinboro Athletics will host the 2025 CCA Women's D2 Tip-Off Classic. Six teams, along with the Golden Knights and Fighting Scotts, will play a total of 12 games that will open up the basketball season. 'Erie loves quality basketball, loves talent and I can't give the names away but I have verbal commitments from really good teams. So it's going to be really exciting for them to come to Erie and for us to show them what Erie's all about,' said Cleve Wright, head women's basketball coach at Gannon University. 16th annual Knockout Homelessness fundraising event takes place Tuesday This is the first time a women's basketball tournament of this level is being held locally and both head coaches have the duty to recruit the teams. Gannon and Edinboro will be going head to head once the tournament begins, but until then, this is a rare opportunity for these schools to collaborate. 'Usually we're competitors and we're competing against each other but I think its really special that we get to collaborate in a setting like this for the community,' said Callie Wheeler, head women's basketball coach at PennWest Edinboro University. The games will be played in both PennWest Edinboro's McComb Field House and Gannon's newly renovated Highmark Events Center. Dozens gather outside Blessed Sacrament School to protest closure Not only will this bring teams from all over the country, but it will attract their families and new people to the area, rebounding the local economy. 'We haven't done any real solid estimated economic impact figures on this but we're certain it's going to be a positive impact on our community especially in early November,' said Mark Jeanneret, executive director of the Erie Sports Commission. 'It supports employment at our hotels and all of the banquet staff so it's a real plus for Erie and Erie tourism,' said Nick Scott Sr., owner of Scott Enterprises. Tickets will go on sale at a later date and additional details will be announced as they get finalized. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
16th annual Knockout Homelessness fundraising event takes place Tuesday
Some local celebrities went head-to-head in the boxing ring Tuesday night in a fight against homelessness. The Erie City Mission and the Bizzarro family hosted the 16th annual Knockout Homelessness fundraiser event at the Bayfront Convention Center. Local shelters provide warmth as homeless population battles bitter cold temps. This year's celebrity fighters were Chris Pine, executive director of Erie Events, and Drew Whiting, CEO of the Downtown Development Corporation. The event featured raffles, dinner, and of course, boxing matches to raise money for the City Mission's Men's Shelter Program. Crawford Co. residents impacted by stolen SNAP benefits 'Ticket sales are great. You see a sold-out crowd here… over 600 people and every single one of them here to support a really good cause,' said Erin Layden, director of development for the Erie City Mission. Layden also said the organization brought a live auction back to the event this year which was very popular. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
World Cancer Day – One Erie resident spent decades raising money to find a cure
Tuesday is World Cancer Day, and one volunteer has spent decades raising funds. One Erie resident is teaming up with the American Cancer Society to raise awareness and find a cure. Erie City Mission announces boxing lineup for Knockout Homelessness fundraiser 'Cancer has touched so many lives. My grandmothers, a lot of my family, there's a lot of colleagues we've lost along the way,' said Melissa Lesniewski, secretary of Gannon University's occupational therapy program. 'To see them go through what they did, it's really hard.' Meet Melissa Lesniewski — She's dedicated the last 35 years to raising funds to fight cancer. She, along with Gannon University's Support Staff Association wanted to contribute to the American Cancer Society over three decades ago. Since then, their campaign Daffodil Days has blossomed into something that brings hope when there seems like there's none left. 'I think that's what's so special about the daffodils when you see them come in the spring it's kind of like winter, you know that spring's coming and you see the flowers blooming and it just brings hope,' said Lesniewski. Lesniewski has distributed tens of thousands of flowers and the American Cancer Society is recognizing her with an award for the countless dollars she has raised. 'The fact that we actually know that Mellissa's been involved for 35 years is really special for us.''you get flowers in return for your donation and we have all sorts of opportunities from getting flowers yourself as well as making a donation of flowers being delivered to cancer patients,' said Michelle Ducharme, associate director of development for the American Cancer Society. Ducharme said she hopes World Cancer Day can raise awareness for not only those at risk but for the treatments that have developed. Erie County organizations awarded $328K for agriculture projects 'Tobacco still remains the one cause of cancers worldwide, obesity plays a huge role as well as alcohol consumption, sun exposure,' said Ducharme. One in two men and one in three women in America will be diagnosed in their lifetime and for that reason, Lesniewski continues to bring something bright to their campus. 'Everybody's affected by it. I don't think there's been anybody that can say that they haven't known or had a family member that has been touched by it,' said Lesniewski. 'It doesn't take a lot to raise money for a good cause.' Orders will be taken from now until February 18 and flowers will arrive the week of March 17. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
