By Shelby Stewart
Staff Writer
During the holidays the Ortonville United Methodist Church, 93 N. Church St., Ortonville did the red kettle drive for the Salvation army. They were posted at Bueche’s Food World for a few weeks, and in that time, collected the most money out of all of the participants through the Flint Citadel.
“We wanted to thank the community and Bueches,” said Laurie Owens. Her mother, Glenys Jahn, did the organizing for the bell-ringing for the last few years. She also did most of the planning for 2021 holiday season, but passed away in August.
“She had a big heart for doing this because when she was a child, her house burned to the ground, and they lost everything,” said Owens. “The Salvation Army was out there the next day with clothes and gifts for them.”
The Flint Citadel services Fenton, Grand Blanc, Burton, Flint and other surrounding areas. Out of all of those, the Ortonville collection garnered the most donations.
“It goes for such a good cause, and we are such a generous community,” she said. “A lot of people around here know one another. I had young teenagers returning pop bottles, cashing their slips and putting their money in the kettle. It was very heartwarming.”
They collected enough money that the volunteers through the OUMC were given an award from the Salvation Army, and Jahn was awarded a gold rose for all of her efforts and volunteer work.
“To be able to do that when there’s other places with hundreds of people walking in and out of these stores, that we got the most donations,” said Owens. “It was pretty impressive.”