Point Pleasant, W.Va. – (April 29, 2019) – On Friday, April 26th, members of the Fruth family came to The Mason County Homeless Shelter to present a check from the Fruth Charitable Trust.
Mr. and Mrs. Jack and Frances “Babs” Fruth started the Fruth Charitable Trust in 1998. The Fruth Charitable Trust was established to help with community needs, such as educational scholarships and more.
Mrs. Frances “Babs” Fruth passed in January of this year and left instructions for her family to distribute funds to several organizations in Mason County to continue their good works.
The check for $52,000 was presented to the Mason County Homeless Shelter on behalf of Jack and Frances “Babs” Fruth by their children: Mike, Joan, Carol, Lynne, and John Fruth. Fruth cousins Jim and Sharry Rossi serve on the Advisory Board for the Homeless Shelter committee and were also available for the check presentation.
“Our mom had a passion for this place,” Lynne Fruth explained, “it was a quiet passion. At Christmas time she and her helper, Lynne Fetty, would put together gift bags for the people at the shelter. Mom always included socks, gloves, toiletries, and a Fruth Pharmacy gift card, so everybody here got Christmas; they got things they needed, but if they also wanted to buy a box of candy, they could buy a box of candy. She really got a satisfaction knowing she made someone’s Christmas better,” Lynne Fruth shared with members of The Mason County Homeless shelter staff.
Fruth also shared several stories Mrs. Fruth told her five children about when she grew up in a small Ohio town during The Depression and how her mother decided if she ever had the opportunity to help someone in the future, she would do so. One story included having to wear shoes too small as there was no money to get new shoes that year or watching her mother help feed “hobos” with bread and butter sandwiches.
“Even though some of us live in other places now,” John Fruth spoke to the committee, “Mason County will always be special to us. We will always have a heart for this community. Our parents wanted this donation to go to people in Mason County.”
“This donation places us at a point now where we can draw down the community foundation funds for preliminary architectural work for our new facilities, we are very happy about that. This gets us past one of our thresholds. Our plan is to name the new homeless shelter, The Frances Fruth Homeless Service Center, in her honor,” John Machir, Housing Director of the Mason County Homeless Shelter shared.
Machir informed the group that the new facility will have 3 family rooms, all with their own bath. There will be a women’s dormitory with a bath, a men’s dormitory with a bath, a laundry facility, a large kitchen, and living area.
Last year, 111 families were turned away due to space at the shelter.
If you would like to donate or if you need the services of the Mason County Homeless Shelter, please call 304-675-1840.
Fruth Pharmacy is a family owned company. Currently, Fruth Pharmacy has 31 locations in West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky.