Cleveland Metal Holiday Food Drive Receives Record Donations For Seventh Year In A Row

Fans attending the Cleveland Metal Holiday Food Drive on December 5th at the Beachand Ballroom & Tavern were encouraged to bring food and cash donations for the Greater Cleveland Food Bank and Friends Of The Cleveland Kennel animal rescue group. The event featured 12 bands, burlesque performers, a Black Sabbath tribute by the School Of Rock kids and a Playboy model.

Here are the final totals:

Food Donations:
8,803 lbs. (2015)

3,873 lbs. (2014)

+127.3%

Cash Donations:

$6,001.00 (2015)

$5,972.22 (2014)

+0.5%

“We had another record breaking year!”, says event organizer Bill Peters (WJCU, Auburn Records). “We collected 4.5 tons of food and over $6,000 in cash. That’s unbelievable! Heavy metal fans are the most generous when it comes to supporting good causes. It feels great to be able to give something back to our community to help those less fortunate during the holiday season. We have a very special music scene here unlike any other. This event has always been a labor of love for me. There are a lot of people who contribute to its success. It was a total team effort!”

Pet donations increased significantly this year with 120% more in food and 40% more in cash collected.

“We would like to thank the Cleveland Metal Community and Bill Peters for their continued support of Cleveland’s homeless dogs and cats in need”, says Friends Of The Cleveland Kennel founder/director Becca Britton. “Their continued commitment to this cause, and compassion for these lives is incredibly appreciated! Thanks to this year’s food drive at the Beachland , Cleveland Animal Controls shelves are fully stocked! We can’t thank you enough for all you do.”

Playboy model Daniella Dior (pictured at top) collected food donations at her local events and appearances throughout the year. She was able to raise a total of 4,710 lbs.

“We had already surpassed 2014’s weight total before the show even started with Daniella’s donation”, says Peters. “I could not believe how much food she had in her apartment for us. It was stacked in boxes everywhere! We had to transport it by truck on pallets to the Food Bank a few days early because there was so much.”

There were many other acts of kindness and generosity as well. The band Sparrowmilk donated all of their merch sales from the show to the Friends Of The Cleveland Kennel; the 50/50 raffle prize winner gave back all of his cash prize earnings to the Food Bank and Kennel; the School Of Rock made a sizeable cash donation; and many fans brought entire car loads filled with food to donate. In addition, original Alice Cooper bassist Dennis Dunaway and Ventura, California metallers Night Demon heard about the event and donated prizes to the raffle.

“I can’t thank our sponsors enough for the incredible raffle prizes”, says Peters. “We were giving away an XBox One, Denon turntable, guitars, Derek Hess artwork, a ton of CDs and LPs, concert tickets and more. We sold thousands of raffle tickets. The woman who won the XBox only purchased one $1 ticket the entire night. She was with her teenage daughter and wanted to give it to her for Christmas. She was so excited when I called her number from the stage. It was so cool to see someone like her win this prize. We wanted to give something back to the fans with these raffle prizes for supporting our food drives all these years.

“We also collected cash donations for our Cleveland metal family members Jim Lippucci (Soulless), Kaycee Zack (The Red Hot Heathens) and Jim Konya’s parents who were in need of financial assistance with medical expenses. The outpouring of support from this music community to come to the aid of those in need should help restore your faith in humanity. There are still a lot of good people in this world today. You just have to look beyond the front page headlines to find them.”

WJCU General Manager Mark Krieger issued the following statement: “For the seventh consecutive year, WJCU is gobsmacked by the dedication and generosity of northeast Ohio’s Metal Community as it raised the bar once again with an epic return of support to those in need across our community. WJCU would like to both congratulate and thank all of the following for their incredible efforts that made the 7th annual Cleveland Metal Benefit a record-setting success:

-The 12 bands, stage performers, hosts, and additional production staff who selflessly donated their time and amazing talents. What a show, what an outcome!
-The legendary Beachland Ballroom for totally opening up their venue at no cost and making everybody feel at home. Cleveland would be a much poorer place without Cindy and Mark.
– Auburn Records, The Exchange, and “Iron Ingo” Stührenberg for all their material and promotional support.
– The generous listeners of WJCU and the entire Metal community. Without them, none of this would be possible.
– and of course, to our own Bill Peters…because, well…he’s the man.”

“The 7th Cleveland Metal Holiday Food Drive Festival is over and we topped last year’s donation totals again”, says Iron Ingo Stührenberg from his home in Wiesmoor, Germany. “Thanks so much to everybody involved who made it happen again. Thanks to all musicians, sound and light engineers, the Red Hot Heathens and Daniella Dior for bringing in even more sexiness, thanks to all friends who help every year with everything, thanks to Bill Peters who´s the founder of this great event and last but not least thanks to YOU the metalheads who are the most generous people in the world when it comes to helping out people and animals in need! THANK YOU! I will see you in Cleveland next year. Have a great rockin´ Merry Christmas everybody!”