BOARDMAN — An organization that plans fundraisers to support Akron Children’s programs and services made its return in a different capacity.

The Kids Crew of the Mahoning Valley welcomed 285 attendees at its Holiday Hopes and Wishes event at Mr. Anthony’s Banquet Center on Friday morning, as they enjoyed brunch, a ticket auction and silent auction, as well as a bake sale.

Attendees also had the chance to win a guitar signed by singer-songwriter Taylor Swift and two tickets to watch the Kansas City Chiefs face off with the Cleveland Browns in Huntington Bank Field’s 7Up City Club seats Sunday.

Janelle Nagy, who has served as a volunteer board member for the Kids Crew in a marketing and logistics capacity for the past two years, took over as the event’s chairperson this year.

Nagy explained while the organization is in its 15th year, this is their first year operating independently from Akron Children’s.

“We are a new organization that has existed for 15 years, which is confusing. This last year, there was some restructuring and the Kids Crew became its own 501(c)(3) organization,” Nagy said. “We are still committed to supporting the families and the mission of Akron Children’s (hospital.)”

Acting separately from the hospital also was “logistically easier”, she said, as it’s easier to handle money, put on events such as Holiday Hopes and Wishes and track records. The hospital also has one less thing to worry about, too, she added.

Nagy said they choose a different program at the hospital to support every year, but chose the sports medicine department because representatives said funding was needed there.

“So there’s a need for concussion awareness; we go to Akron Children’s and say, ‘what’s most needed?’ Concussion awareness and sports trainers,” Nagy said. “They needed funding for sports trainers to be on-site to help kids. When they do cross country in the summer, the kids get overheated, so they need people to stop the dehydration.”

“The more hands you have, the better, and there’s so many young athletes,” she added.

Dr. Christopher Liebig, medical and sports medicine director at Akron Children’s, recalled adapting to a new role as the sports medicine department’s director in 2014, after two years as one of its physicians.

“It was uncomfortable; one physician, one athletic trainer. It was a challenge, those first months, those years,” Liebig said. “But we weren’t alone, there was a team here, it was already established and they opened their arms and they were super helpful.”

Liebig recalled a mural painted on the side of the Southern Park Mall that caused controversy several years ago, “you can’t break a city built from steel,” saying he related to the message, as someone who moved to Ohio from West Virginia a decade ago.

“It’s that hard-knock culture, that grittiness, that gets into you, and I felt it right away and it was motivating,” Liebig said. “As somebody who came from another state who’s been beaten down, has a little bit of a chip on our shoulder as a state; me personally, I can really get on board with that.”

Liebig recognized his athletic trainers, calling them the program’s “true face”.

“They’re out there in the trenches with your children, with your grandchildren, wiping up blood sometimes, sweat and tears,” Liebig said. “And those children are straining and striving to reach their goals.”