The clock is ticking down, albeit not nearly fast enough for the young passengers selected to fill two train cars on the Polar Express, leaving Akron’s Northside station Friday.Those who make this happen for critically and chronically ill children and their families, and children of active-duty military who serve in harm’s way, include Tom Dye, retired sergeant with the Akron Police Department, who does the fundraising, and his donors: Akron Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7, Akron FOP Auxiliary 1, Police and Firemen’s Insurance Association, D&G Uniforms, SACS Consulting & Investigative Services Inc. and Akron FOP Associates No. 6.I also want to thank those who made colorful fleece blankets for the little passengers, including Janet Shively, coordinator and chief needler, Ev Wolfe and Wilma Hardman; mittens, Tracey Dardene and her family, Pat Janeiro, Charlotte Fisher and her People Helping People group, and Vicki McKenic; hats, Shirley Kennedy, Nancy Gruber and Wilma Hardman; donors of fleece or money to buy it, Mary Stenger, Ellen Dimoff, Bobby and Dorothy Livingston, the Mostow family, Susan and Bruce Coe, Gail and David Emmitt, Shirley Kennedy, the Donaldson family, The Chapel, Barb Werab, Sharon Custer, Paula Brandt, Tammi Turnbaugh, Betty Farr, Lisa Zuchek and Sue Harris. Shively said her volunteers actually start working on this campaign in April to make sure they have enough time.And a very special thanks to Melissa Wise, who coordinates finding the military families.New to the project this year are Jan Householder of Wadsworth and her volunteers, who made scores of soft-sculpture Giving Dolls for these special passengers. Special thanks to the Herculean efforts of the Doylestown “Giving Dolls” group for of their handiwork.Alcoa workers pitch inBig, beautiful bouquets to the employees of Alcoa’s Barberton facility, which produces wheels for the truck market, for their community action.“More than 40 employees and family members partnered with Neighborhood Conservation Services [NCS] to help refurbish a home, and clear a neighboring field over a two-day period in late October,” said Jackie Johnson, general supervisor of quality at the Barberton plant. “The employees gave up their Saturday and Sunday pay to participate. Alcoa Foundation also contributed $3,000 to NCS in support of the volunteer activity in a program called ACTION [Alcoans Coming Together In Our Neighborhoods].”There’s more:• Employees sponsored a pizza and hot dog sale that netted $2,365 for the Esther Ryan Shoe Fund, which provides shoes for schoolchildren in Barberton.• The plant conducted a “Feed the Need” food drive that resulted in more than 4,014 pounds of canned goods for the Barberton Area Community Ministries.• Through its “Share the Warmth” campaign, employees have donated more than 700 pounds of winter clothing to JC’s Place aka “The Free Store.” The goal is 1,000 pounds. Hicham Wazni, managing director for the Alcoa facility, said: “I am extremely proud of our employees who are living the Alcoa values and showing active passion and engagement in making a difference in their community.”Mini golf at Lock 3“Ididaputt 2011” is the mini golf contest and winter sledding race being organized for 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Dec. 17 at Lock 3 Park. Proceeds from the event, sponsored by Akron Kiwanis Club, will go to help needy children in Akron.The nine-hole mini golf course will be set on the snow-capped landscape of Lock 3 Park, where two-person teams will complete as many holes as they can in one hour.According to Mark Fairhurst, one of the organizers, “teams must also pull a sled (a wagon) along the course filled with donated children’s toys, clothes, hats and gloves.”Teams are to collect pledges. Downtown businesses, University of Akron fraternities and others are supporting the cause.Fairhurst said the Ididaputt concept was inspired by the Iditarod race that commemorates the 1925 dog sled delivery of diphtheria serum to save the lives of children in Nome, Alaska.Please call Mark Fairhurst at 330-612-2142 or email topdog@Ididaputt.org and provide the following information: your’s team’s name, members’ names and addresses, contact information and preferred starting time.Shoeboxes filled with giftsMajor, major kudos to Operation Christmas Child and its volunteers who recently collected and filled 1,649 shoeboxes with gifts for children in need around the world.Spokeswoman Renee Bartlow brought me up to speed regarding this holiday campaign:“I kicked off our local Operation Christmas Child ministry on Oct. 24 with our three-week Chick-fil-A event with the help of volunteers from New Hope Christian Fellowship.”The Cuyahoga Falls restaurant was stocked with 500 shoeboxes. Employees handed out fliers with each meal, explaining the campaign and asking customers to take a shoe box, fill it and drop it off Nov. 12 to receive a coupon for a free sandwich. A total of 503 shoeboxes were collected. “We have one family who compiled 60 ‘boot’ boxes by themselves and also a family at the end of the event who showed up with 149 shoeboxes,” Bartlow said.New Hope Christian Fellowship Church collected 1,436 additional shoeboxes that week from other churches, individuals, Brownie and Scout Troops, Kent State University and Firestone High School students, preschools, parochial schools and employees of YRC. A tractor-trailer, donated by YRC, delivered the bounty to Crossroads Community Church in Doylestown for distribution.Bartlow and company are happy to report that 528 more boxes were collected this year than last.Military families adoptedMany thanks to Lenny Morella, president of the South Akron Board of Trade, whose group adopted eight military families with local ties for the holiday season, supplying gift cards.The presentation was made recently to Melissa Wise, coordinator for Troop & Family Assistance Center, Region 1, Northeast Ohio, Ohio Army National Guard.Generosity overflowsA huge round of applause to these generous benefactors:• Heartfelt thanks to Monica Miyashita and Lydia’s Hope, a foundation she established in memory of her daughter Lydia Li-Mei Eiko Miyashita, who died at age 5 in 2009 of acute myelogenous leukemia. She donated $3,053.12 toward the purchase of a much-needed van for an Akron family.A grateful Michelle Gardner, whose situation was profiled in my column, needed the vehicle to transport her son, Mikel Dijak, to doctors’ appointments in Cincinnati.Mikel, who has Schwachman-Diamond syndrome, an inherited condition affecting many parts of the body, underwent a bone marrow transplant April 7 at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.Jim Stafford, who is retiring this month as parking director at the University of Akron, graciously contributed $700 to purchase a new front strut and tires for the vehicle.• Akron’s Linda Benjamin donated her Harry Potter book series to the Ohio chapter of the Pajama Project, which provides new pajamas during the cold-weather season and books to children in need. For more information, please call Patty Gillespie, president of the local Pajama Project, at 330-253-5109 or email her at patty@pajamaprogram.org• Akron’s Stan and Phyllis Martin donated an electric wheelchair to Connie Dishman for her husband, Romey, who has many medical maladies and is unable to walk.Seniors on paradeMajor kudos to Kristen Martin, activity director at Hickory Ridge Nursing Home & Rehab Center of Akron, for involving the residents in a festive Thanksgiving Day Parade, complete with costumes.“This includes our residents marching throughout our facility with big helium balloons in a variety of characters [our floats], residents playing our rhythm band instruments and also an appearance from our special Santa Claus.”Help for orphansAkron photographer Tim Hollister is producing Atilo Photo Show Dec. 9-11 at his studio in Canal Place, Building 4, Suite 452, with proceeds going to benefit the nonprofit whose mission is to build an orphanage in the village of Kpando, Ghana.“I was part of a group that traveled there this past October to assess the needs of Missahoe Children’s Home,” Hollister said. “The group consisted of several doctors and nurses as well as a filmmaker. Most of us are from the Akron area.”Show hours are 7:30 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.Jewell Cardwell can be reached at 330-996-3567 or emailed at jcardwell@thebeaconjournal.com.