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Crayons To Classrooms

FUSIAN Returns Home To Open Restaurant #6

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11143467_1097496070265787_1872570988225188450_nAs first announced in February of 2014, a second FUSIAN location opens Thursday, May 28th in the brand new Oak Creek Crossing retail development.  This newly built  shopping center in SR-725 already is home to;

  • Zoup! – fast-casual soup concept restaurant with 12 rotating daily varieties and made-to-order salads and sandwiches. Opens May 14.
  • PetPeople – 4,500-square-foot store with high-quality, natural pet foods and supplies
  • Elements Massage– 2nd location for this therapeutic massage business

Coming Soon:

  • El Rancho Grande Restaurant – sit-down Mexican restaurant – Opening soon
  • Whole Foods – 45,000-square-foot store is this specialty grocer’s first Dayton-area location – Opening June 3rdFullSizeRender 6

The quick serve sushi concept opened their first restaurant in 2010 and the Washington Township store is the 2nd Dayton location, with 3 in the Cincinnati market and 1 currently in Columbus, with 3 more scheduled to open still this year.  In 2016 they’ll add at least 2 more in Cincinnati and when we asked owners Zack and Josh Weprin and Steve Harman, who are UD grads, about more in Dayton we got no answer but a sly grin, which I guess means more to come.  “We love Dayton… it’s where we grew up, and it’s where we consider home. Our continued efforts to bring our food and our company to new markets would not be possible without supportive communities, a great team, and amazing customers!”

A 10 piece sushi roll will set you back about $8 and you can add a  cucumber or seaweed salad or edamame side to your meal for just a few dollars more. Just like at Chipotle,  you move down the line to custom build your roll,  starting with a seaweed or soy wrapper, brown or white rice, choose a protein, salmon, chicken, shrimp, tuna, crab mix or tofu, then add veggies of your choice and top off with a sauce.  The food at FUSIAN is always fresh and sourced locally when possible.

fusian-04According to FUSIAN HR Manager Teresa Perretta 25 new team members were added to the FUSIAN family to open this location.  She said “staffing it was easy, we’ve had a wait list at the Brown Street store for 2 years.  Finding a crew that is passionate about what we do it makes all the difference in the world to us. We’re all about community and transparency, which is why this new design is a prototype for all our new builds now.  You can see from the front door to the kitchen and that’s purposeful.”

If the soft opening was any indication, we expect FUSIAN will be packed from the moment it opens its doors at 11am to 10pm seven days a week.  The 58 seat eater will donate all proceeds tomorrow from 6-8pm to Crayons To Classrooms.   And be sure and check out their  Olive + FUSIAN COLLAB Sushi Roll which results in a $1 donation to Crayons To Classroom for each one sold.

 

Olive + FUSIAN COLLAB Sushi Roll Benefit Crayons to Classrooms!!

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11169991_1088419841173410_4834251387783278191_n-2Fusian, locally owned and operated by UD Graduates Zach and Josh Weprin and Stephan Harman, launched a new collaboration series aka. the COLLAB SERIES  this past January in Cincinnati.  This spring they looked to Dayton for a partner!  The COLLAB SERIES features rolls inspired by like-minded chefs and restaurants in the community. It creates opportunities for us to continually infuse our menu with flavors of the world. With each collaboration, a portion of the proceeds will be donated to a local organization.

It makes total sense they’ve partnered with Kimberly Collett’s  Olive, an urban dive.  Together they present a  mediterranean inspired roll featuring house roasted kalamata olives, sundried tomatoes, Dorothy Lane Market’s pancetta, and Olive’s signature patio-herb dressing.

 

Proceeds from this fusianxolive roll will benefit Dayton-based Crayons to Classrooms, a free store for teachers from under-funded K-12 schools that serve children living in poverty in Ohio’s Miami Valley.  Through June 30, DC2C will receive $1 from each featured signature sushi roll sold at Fusian at 1200 Brown Street and their new store opening soon at Oak Creek Crossing at McEwen Road and Miamisburg-Centerville Road.

 

YMCA Hosting Socks & Underwear Drive For Crayons to Classrooms

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socks & underwearThrough Friday, June 28th, a sock and underwear donation drive will be held at the YMCA of Greater Dayton branch locations in collaboration with Crayons to Classrooms.

Crayons to Classrooms is a nonprofit teacher resource center that helps under-funded teachers from low-income schools in the Dayton region obtain free school supplies and basic clothing items at no cost to the teachers, families or schools. Many students and families in our Greater Dayton area are unable to afford basic necessities such as socks and underwear.

A large collection bin will be available at each of the ten area YMCA of Greater Dayton branch locations to gather new socks and underwear for Dayton area boys and girls from pre-kindergarten to 4th grade.

For more information or to make a donation, please contact Jennifer Mueller at 937-223-5201, ext. 1023.

One Pencil, One Crayon, and one Notebook

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That is what Dayton’s Crayons to Classrooms (DC2C) believes helps disadvantaged students to succeed!  Basic school supplies are a luxury for thousands of students in our community.  In light of the back to school season, I met with Steve Rubenstein, Executive Director, to learn more about this organization and what they are doing to better our community.

DC2C is a free school supply retail store that serves teachers and students in 88 Dayton area schools where more than 70% of the students live at or below the poverty line.  The organization opened their doors to teachers from selected schools in January, 2009, but not before an abundance of work and research was completed to ensure the success of the organization.

Research began in 2006 when a group of Dayton businesses and nonprofit organizations began learning about the 38 resource centers across the U.S. that support student learning by collecting surplus, close out, and other useful materials for distribution to classroom teachers in schools serving lower-income families.  “If parents are struggling to provide for their children, they clearly have difficulty buying notebooks, pens, and crayons – the items all kids expect to have for school,” said Steve Rubenstein, Executive Director.  These civic leaders saw the need for such an organization in the Dayton area and began planning.  By 2007, an Executive Director had been hired and the organization had committed financial support from the Mathile Family Foundation and the Dayton Foundation.  Under a collaborative effort with Goodwill Easter Seals Miami Valley (GESMV), DC2C was given warehouse, retail, and office space at their facility located at 1511 Kuntz Rd. in Dayton.  The partnership with GESMV provides the organization with over 12,000 sq. ft. of warehouse storage, retail store space, office space, use of GESMV telephone system and technology network, and access to a fleet of trucks for pick-up services.

Currently DC2C serves 34 area schools that are ranked based on need, which is up from 23 schools served in 2009.  The retail store is open on Monday, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. for teachers from approved schools to shop.  The collaborative effort with Goodwill extends even further with the DC2C Classroom Solutions program, which aims to provide teachers with useful, hands-on products.  Community volunteers and/or individuals in the GESMV’s Work Experience Program create shaped pieces for student learning tools using die-cut machines.  Paper, cardboard, felt, and plastic can be transformed into many shapes and sizes for classroom purposes including alphabet letters, numerals, and geometric forms.

You can be a local hero to a child…DC2C is doing big things for our community with their small staff of 4!  They could really use our help to spread their mission and help them with day to day operations!  DC2C seeks friendly, compassionate people to help out in the retail store from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays assisting teachers with shopping and check out.  Have a small group that would like to give back in a big way?  Groups of 4 to 6 people are needed to process donations and re-stock the shelves of the store.

Cash and In-kind donations make it possible for DC2C to keep the shelves of the teacher free store stocked for our local classrooms in need.  Local businesses, organizations, and community groups can host a school supply drive for basic supplies.  To learn more about donating and ways to get involved, please visit www.dc2c.org.

This article is the first in a series that will be compiled by DMM.com contributor Jennifer Dean.  If you’d like to suggest a local nonprofit for her to write about,  just comment below!