ORWELL — Kennametal Inc., 180 Penniman Road, invited its leaders from all over North America Wednesday to assist the Village of Orwell with hands-on community service for Kennametal in the Community/Day of Caring. Employees built and assembled handicapped ramps, painted the Country Neighbor building, gave away vegetables and cleaned up Orwell Community Park. Volunteers also were seen in the middle of Orwell, collecting donations for United Way of Ashtabula County.

Fifty executives from across the globe represented the multi-national corporation. Kennametal, a global market leader in tooling for the mining and highway construction industries, promotes community service where its facilities are located. Work Wednesday began at Country Neighbor’s main facility, located at 39 South Maple Street, Orwell.

Country Neighbor is a charitable organization who has served Ashtabula County for more than 35 years with a variety of in-home and wellness programs.

“Country Neighbor is the main distributor of for food pantries in Ashtabula County. The elderly and working families come here to get vegetables, and fruit,” said Barb Klingensmith, director of Country Neighbor.

Employees and those who serve on the board of directors for Country Neighbor worked alongside Kennametal during the Day of Caring.

United Way of Ashtabula County also participated in the community service day. Russ Tucholski, Kennametal Orwell plant manager, and Tama Justen, human resources representative, chose to partner with United Way and Country Neighbor for the Day of Caring because of the many services they give to the community.

“Every year the plant managers meet at one of Kennametal’s sites. They have an administrative meeting and stay for a week. Every September the company has a Kennametal in the Community Day. This year we combined the events,” said Justen, who helped host the activity.

“This is the biggest company event we’ve had in Orwell,” Tucholski continued, “We took advantage of having the large number of executives here to give back to the community.”

Randy Jones, executive director of the Ashtabula County United Way commended Kennametal saying, “They’re great supporters of the United Way and that’s why we’re part of this event today. The employees in Orwell give thousands of dollars to the United Way through employee pledges.”

A picnic lunch was furnished by Country Neighbor and served by employees from Area Agency on Aging from Niles before the community service commenced.

Several awards were given to Kennametal during the lunch. Klingensmith, of Country Neighbor, thanked the group for their generosity and “for knowing us and being our friends” as she presented them with a plaque.

Peggy Carlo, Joe Moroski and Dan Claypool, Ashtabula County commissioners, recognized Kennametal with an award.

Carlo expressed gratitude for having Kennametal in Orwell. “We honor and commend Kennametal and hold them up as an example.”

Jack Nettis, village manager of Orwell, joined by David Hartz, Village Council president, honored Country Neighbor and Kennametal with a plaque.

Nettis stated, “The Village Council recognizes the importance of Kennametal in the community.”

Acknowledgments of thanks were also sent from the offices of Senator Capri Cafaro and State Representative Casey Kozlowski. Cafaro sent an Outstanding Citizen Award to the corporation. While Kozlowski noted that the Day of Caring “will have a long lasting impact on the community.”

Scott Bentley, director of human resources at Kennametal Corporate Headquarters in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, summarized his thoughts on the Day of Caring events. “This is great. This is what Kennametal is all about.”

Pinelli is a freelance writer.