CLEVELAND — It has been nearly 2 months since the train derailment in East Palestine and while cleanup efforts are underway, the impact and uncertainty from it will last into the future. A group of Clevelanders wants the people of East Palestine to know that they will continue to be supported in the months and years ahead.
The digital brand, Cleveland Vibes, is hosting a fundraiser for the people of East Palestine this Friday at McCarthy’s Downtown on 1231 Main Ave. in the West Bank of the Flats.
Kaitlyn and Kyle Nickel’s passion is promoting the people and places that make Cleveland special. They are the founders of Cleveland Vibes and have nearly 100,000 followers on Instagram.
“Our focus is providing content for Clevelanders to help them live their best life,” said Kaitlyn Nickel.
They also have a passion for helping, and when the train derailed in East Palestine, they used their page to promote awareness about the situation.
“Thinking about the mothers and fathers there, people who feel completely helpless. Their land has no value. They don’t know if their water is clean. It is terrifying,” said Kaitlyn.
It spurred them into action.
“That emotional response led to us going, ‘well, we have to do something,’” said Mike Hamme, a Cleveland Vibes partner. “If we are going to talk about something bad then we better have something to do about it.”
They decided to host a "Don’t Mess with Ohio" fundraiser.
“We kind of had a realization that if we don’t speak up, nobody else is going to. If Ohioans don’t fight for Ohio, how can we expect anyone else to care? Cleveland should know better than anybody what it is like to live in the wake of decades worth of corporate pollution,” said Kyle Nickel.
The fundraiser is Friday, March 31 at 6:00 p.m. at McCarthy’s Downtown. It is free for anyone to show up, but proceeds from food, drinks and raffle items you buy will go towards the people of East Palestine via The Way Station.
“We have had so many donations. We have the Cavs, the Guardians, just tons of restaurants and companies left and right saying, ‘yeah, we can’t do a lot but we would love to help,’” said Hamme.
Cleveland Vibes is also donating the proceeds from its limited edition "Don’t Mess with Ohio" t-shirts.
“The money from the event, it’s not even going to scratch the surface in the support that these people need, but we are hoping that if people show up and show that they care, if they continue to put pressure on the situation that we will actually get results and these people will actually be compensated, at the very least, for all of the problems they’ve had to deal with,” said Kaitlyn.
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