Gala now a massive village tradition

FORT RECOVERY - Just before Christmas 2015, local radio show hosts Bob Staugler and Harold Fiely set out to host a holiday show.

"It was the Wednesday before Christmas, and they said, 'Hey, next week let's do a Christmas show,' Christmas Gala Committee member Jack Staugler said. "You know, maybe we could raise a few hundred dollars and give it to the school to buy coats and things."

Staugler and Fiely, along with Jack and another brother, Bill, Randy Bonvillion and station owner Neal Spencer decided to hold the first Fort Recovery Radio Christmas Gala.

Jack said right at the start the station had the community's support.

"We had somebody that pledged that if we raised $1000, they would match it," he said. "Before the show started, we had people showing up to drop off checks. We had kids that dropped off money from their piggy bank."

The three hour Christmas radio show, which can also be watched live on YouTube and Facebook, features various local entertainment including performances by Fort Recovery school choirs, talks from local priests, a word from the Fort Recovery mayor and more.

"We ended up that first year making I think close to $17,000," Jack said. "We were just absolutely floored that it would do that well. Each year, we've added some entertainment, we've changed the way that you can pay. Now you can use Venmo and you can send the checks in."

Jack continued that all of the proceeds go to the Fort Recovery Foundation Community Foundation and then get distributed from there to local families in need.

The gala has raised around $800,000 in its first eight years and helped over 150 families throughout seven surrounding counties in Ohio and Indiana, he said. Stand out years included 2020 and 2023, when the group raised around $200,000.

Jack attributed the gala's great success to several factors, including a widespread coverage area, a close knit community and donations from various local businesses.

Often the people and families that receive help from the gala are suggested to the group from work connections, Jack said.

"(If) somebody works at the Coldwater Hospital, and somebody else at the hospital is going through something, we'll hear something about it, you know?" he said. "We had a situation where a Fort Recovery lady worked with a mother from Darke County who had just lost her young son to leukemia, after losing a son in an auto accident a couple years earlier. When we dropped the check off, she said, 'I didn't know how I was going to get him a tombstone.'"

One thing that Spencer said has been really amazing is that about six donors were a part of families the gala helped in the past.

"Some families have donated that later, we had to help out," Spencer said. "It's just everybody knows somebody, and everybody knows it's just that close to being them."

Jack said the most rewarding part of the gala is being able to give locals an avenue to give back.

"We get thanked for giving people the opportunity to give and it's so strange because if you never watched it, it's just five guys sitting around saying stupid stuff."

For more information and ways to donate go to www.fortrecoveryradio.com/christmasgala.