‘It’s just what we do’ — Game Changers honored at annual BCF dinner
PHOTOS BY CHRISTINA McCUNE | BGNN
Ray E. Leach Jr. puts on his apron and jokes at the Nov. 6 Barberton Community Foundation dinner that’s how people best recognize him from Leach’s Meats & Sweets. He was named a 2025 Game Changer Award recipient along with the Barberton Police Department.
Barberton Police Chief Vince Morber and public information officer Marty Eberhart represent the police department.
By CHRISTINA McCUNE
BGNN managing editor
WADSWORTH In a video shared at the Barberton Community Foundation’s annual dinner last week, Ray Leach Jr., of Leach’s Meats & Sweets, provided a couple of instances of how both his father and father-in-law led by example.
After the showing of the video (filmed by Josh Troche of Pedal Stomper Productions), he challenged audience members to do the same: to find a need and work to fill it.
“My Dad – I watched him bring in homeless people off the street,” Leach said in the video on a big screen at The Galaxy Banquet Center in Wadsworth. “One day, it’s cold out, the man has no shoes on – he’s barefoot, no coat. He’s digging in the dumpster for food. My Dad takes him in the back gives him a sandwich, gives him a hot cup of coffee, he goes in the utility room gets a pair of his work boots out. Gives the man his work boots and a coat and gives him a couple dollars when he left – with another sandwich. And when I saw that I knew – that’s what you’re supposed to do.”
Leach said his father-in-law was head of St. Vincent de Paul Society in Barberton for 50 years and that he helped people every day.
“That’s what you do,” Leach said. “You find a need and you fill that need.”
The Barberton Community Foundation celebrated Nov. 6 at its annual dinner some of the individuals who make a difference in the community, and also announced a new scholarship that will make its first award this spring.
Ray Leach Jr. and the Barberton Police Department are this year’s BCF Game Changer recipients.
Josh Gordon, BCF executive director, shared with the hundreds in attendance that a word that came up recently when a friend asked him to summarize the foundation’s year so far was “momentum.”
“Momentum is that feeling of growth, that feeling of movement, that feeling of positive change and making progress toward thoughtful and defined goals – and that’s what we worked on this year,” Gordon said.
Gordon introduced board members and pointed out high school students and scholarship recipients in the audience that filled the banquet room. The BCF gives 50 scholarships each year from endowment funds and donor scholarship funds. He noted of the 50 scholarships in 2025, 30 were awarded to first-generation college students. Beginning in 2000, the BCF has recognized individuals and organizations. Outstanding organizations were recognized the first dozen years and lifetime achievement and memorial awards have been given over the years. From 2000 through 2013, outstanding citizens were recognized and since 2014, two to four individuals or groups have been recognized as Game Changers. Last year, Phil Hodanbosi and Barberton Public Library were recognized.
“We’re here to celebrate what makes our community so special,” Gordon said. “We’re here to celebrate the people, the organizations that create and validate the momentum that Barberton has and that we’re building together.”
Ken Cheatham provided the invocation to begin the annual dinner celebration Nov. 6 and Moriah Cheatham-Williams, board chairperson, welcomed everyone. Attendees were invited to bring items such as nonperishable food donations to the dinner to help those in need.
Gordon said the two Game Changer award recipients have something in common: “a deep commitment to service.” He said Leach told him: “It’s just what we do.” For the Barberton Police, it’s in their culture: “service above self,” Gordon said. Commitment to service is second nature to them, he said.
Videos were shown of each of the Game Changer award recipients. Dorothy Suchka-Somerville, executive director of Barberton Area Community Ministries, said she nominated Leach because “he is a wonderful man and does so much in this community.” She called him a “people person” with a hearty laugh who has helped out BACM and others and remains humble. Leach received much applause and cheering
from the audience. He also elicited some laughter when he put a white apron over his dark suit and joked that’s for people who didn’t recognize him. Leach said he has been doing what he does for 54 years and he thanked his family for their support and work at the store as well as for making their fundraisers successful.
“When there’s a need, Barberton shows up,” Leach said.
Leach’s Meats & Sweets has an annual Ray E. Leach Sr. memorial lunch and fundraiser and supports local causes such as BACM, Esther Ryan Shoe Fund, Ronald McDonald House and Barberton City School District. Leach mentioned in the video having a fundraiser for Ukrainian refugees and people lined up to buy cabbage and noodles and gave donations. Leach’s raised $13,000 that day.
“It was the cause,” he said.
Another fundraiser included selling spaghetti all week and raising $20,000 for North Carolina hurricane victims.
“I’m just an ordinary person like all of us here but when a handful of ordinary people can get together for a cause you can do extraordinary things,” he said, “and extraordinary things will happen.”
He encouraged others to help out in any way they can by joining one of the many local organizations, and volunteering and donating to help others in the community.
The video for the Barberton Police included interviews with the police chief and officers while they are driving in their vehicles. Many of the officers talked about growing up in Barberton and being part of the community and events.
Barberton Safety Director Jaime Iceman spoke at the beginning of the video and said she nominated the BPD because of their “steadfast commitment to our community. They don’t know what they’re getting into each day and they truly are putting their lives at risk, but with that they think what else could I do to be able to help the community? Our police department has so much to do with community involvement. Each time they say they do something I write it down. I did not realize myself how much they did until I made a list. And when I got up to 20 – it was just amazing to see.”
Some of the community involvement listed in the program for the dinner included Touch-a-Truck, Badges & Bobbers, Pop Up Po-Po, Barberton Reads Together, Trunk or Treat, Drug Take Back, senior fairs as well as outreach efforts with AMHA, local churches, civic groups and programs in the schools.
Vince Morber, Barberton police chief, and Marty Eberhart, public information officer and high school resource officer who also serves as the president of FOP 13, stood at the podium to speak following the video and to receive the Game Changer award. Morber also asked officers past and present who were in attendance to stand up.
“It’s been said that policing is one of America’s most noble professions and I believe that to be true,” Morber said. “The actions of a police officer in an instant can change a life forever and even shape a community for generations. That is both a tremendous responsibility and a sacred trust. So here in Barberton, in Barberton especially I feel like, that truth is alive every single day. We serve a community that values trust. It values compassion and courage. We wear our badges not as a symbol of authority but as a pledge, a promise that every action we take will be grounded in service and justice and fairness. So what truly makes it great to be at Barberton, a member of the Barberton Police Department, is that it isn’t just a job, it’s a calling every day – every day. … There’s an opportunity to protect, to guide and to make someone’s hardest day a little better. It’s a
quiet pride in knowing that you’re part of something larger than yourself. You’re part of a team, a family … and a legacy of service that’s shaped the city for generations.”
The 2025 Game Changers have scholarships through the foundation. In 2020, the Leach Family celebrated Ray Leach Sr. and his legacy through the Ray E. Leach Sr. Memorial Scholarship to honor the Leach family patriarch’s belief in hard work and practical skills. Since its creation, the fund has made five awards to Barberton students pursuing careers in the trades, according to BCF.
A new scholarship was announced at the dinner: the FOP Lodge 13 Service Above Self Scholarship. The scholarship was created by Barberton Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 13 in partnership with BCF. The scholarship is open to any graduating Barberton High senior who has demonstrated service above self through volunteerism, work, sports, or extracurricular activities. This scholarship will make its first award in April 2026. For more information, visit www.barbertoncf.org.
