November 21, 2018

Davis-Besse employees made their local community a little better with a pair of impactful donations last week. An overwhelmed and teary-eyed Susie Perry, founder of community outreach initiative Susie’s Coats, told members of the VOLTS behavior-based observation steering committee, “This is the most generous donation I have ever received.” Employees loaded up more than 100 coats for Susie’s Coats in recognition of exceeding the monthly goal for behavior-based observations in October and setting a site record in the process.

Susie started her winter clothing campaign on her 50th birthday by collecting 50 coats. Twelve years later, the need is greater than ever. “There are four schools in Toledo where 90-percent of the children do not have coats,” she explained. Susie distributes coats in the Toledo metro area and a few may even reach Detroit families.

Davis-Besse’s Women in Nuclear (DBWIN) chapter donated family games to Joyful Connections. Joyful Connections is a non-profit organization offering supervised exchanges and supervised visitation for families in Ottawa County.

Supervised exchanges allow divorced or separated parents to exchange their children in a safe and neutral setting to prevent the children from being caught in the middle of family/parental disputes. Supervised visitation allows children who are living with a relative or in foster care to visit with one or both parents in a safe, secure, friendly and home-like setting.

VOLTS Site Celebration Committee Members Linda Gerwin (l.) and Sam Farmer look over the team’s coat donation with Susie Perry.