Communication Art, Inc. Ongoing
Community Service Project

Caring Clutter Helps Individuals in Need

Toledo based company celebrates a successful year of helping needy families in the community.

Communication Art, Inc. a 14 year old Toledo based company began their community service project, entitled “Caring Clutter” in January of 2008.  Each employee pledged to donate a minimum of three “Caring Clutter” items a week for the entire year.

The concept of the “Caring Clutter” project was to clean out the clutter in their homes and donate those useful items to a charity.  Connie Lutton, Client Liaison for Communication Art Inc. suggested “The Bridge” would be a good charity to donate their “Caring Clutter” items to.  Plus Connie and her husband Dr. Robert Lutton were active volunteers at “The Bridge.”  The charity is under the auspices of the Monroe Street United Methodist Church, Toledo, Ohio, whose mission is to serve people in need in the community.

“Our “Caring Clutter” contributions grew and grew and grew.” said Barbara Brock, President of Communication Art, Inc.  “It is unbelievable”.  Word spread fast about our project when the employees told their family members, friends and members at their respective churches about the “Caring Clutter” project.  All of sudden employees came to work with their trunks full of “Caring Clutter”.

“The Bridge” is always in need of numerous items. To date some of “Caring Clutter” items donated were vast amounts of nice used clothing for every member of a family, boxes of bedding, cartons of household items, many decorative items, books, glassware and cookware.  One day Pat Myers, bookkeeper for the company, came to work in a pick up truck loaded with furniture.  Cathy Hoffer, a friend, called and donated a king size bed frame.  Last winter Connie Lutton told the group “The Bridge” needed men’s coats.  Trudie Sonnenberg, Director of Publishing and Dan Seedorf, Educational director, told members of their church about the shortage of men’s coats.  The very next week they came to work with forty- five men’s coats donated by members of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Liberty Center, Ohio.  We even received “Caring Clutter” from South Carolina when one of our employees went there to visit her children.

The food need at “The Bridge” has more than tripled in just the last few months.  So without hesitation this group of joyful givers put the word out once again.  In just a few days bags and boxes of food, even bushels of locally grown pears, were brought to Communication Art Inc. to be transported to “The Bridge”.  Dr. Robert Lutton makes our giving possible when he makes his weekly trip to “The Bridge” with his car packed full to the brim of our "Caring Clutter”.

What began as a two fold project; clean out your clutter and donate the useful items to others, has now grown into a project of people helping people. During these tough economic times many of us can use a little extra help now and then.  With so many people out of work and more scheduled to lose their jobs the need for “Caring Clutter" continues to grow.  This project is truly a miracle.

Communication Art, Inc would like to encourage other businesses to use their idea of “Caring Clutter” and start their own community service project.  The employees at Communication Art, Inc. learned there is lots of “Caring Clutter” out there.  So please just ask your friends at work, at church or your neighbors if they would like donate their “Caring Clutter” to a charity that you choose.  It can help so many people and remember the joy of giving becomes your joy for living.

If you would like to contact Communication Art Inc. to ask how to start your own “Caring Clutter” project call 419-865-6131.  Employees there would be happy to tell you how they began this very worthwhile project.

Communication Art, Inc. provides educational workshops for health care professionals to learn how to use two tools that were designed specifically to assist them in the care of individual’s with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and other types of dementia.  The Reality Comprehension Clock Test is a standardized assessment that is capable of identifying cognitive skills and abilities, stage of deterioration and risk of falling in individual’s who suffer from AD and other dementias.  The company’s Social Model for dementia patients contains a curriculum of brain stimulating exercises that focuses on the patient’s remaining skills with a goal of more enjoyable contented days for the patient, their family members and the health professionals who care for them.  You can learn more about Communication Art, Inc on their website at: www.clocktestrcct.com .