Avery Dennison® Teams with Local Graphics Company to Rebrand Transit Van to Serve as a Mobile Food Pantry for Senior Citizens

MENTOR, Ohio – February 22, 2021 – Avery Dennison® Graphics Solutions teamed with Akron-based Repros Color to rebrand a retrofitted Lake County transit authority (Laketran) Dial-a-bus to serve as the new Lake County Mobile Food Pantry. Since early January, the van has been visiting communities throughout the county to distribute 180 boxes of fresh produce to seniors in need each week.

Three Lake County senior services agencies worked together to secure food donations from the Greater Cleveland Food Bank, and each agency plays a role in taking reservations, sorting donations and distributing the food. Every month, 720  households will receive over 22,000 pounds of fresh healthy produce through the program, according to Laketran.

“Food assistance remains a top need among seniors during the coronavirus pandemic and while there are over 40 pantries throughout Lake County, this program is unique because it provides fresh produce,” Laketran CEO Ben Capelle explained. “We’re excited to be able to repurpose a bus to meet this community need. We have donations secured through April but anticipate the program will continue with the support of the Cleveland Food Bank.”

“This was an exciting project for us,” Repros senior account manager Anthony LaGuardia said. “We’ve been doing vehicle wraps for Laketran since 2014, but most people at Laketran wouldn’t have known Avery Dennison was our film provider. Laketran came to us before Christmas and said, ‘We’ve got a cool project we’d like you to work on. Do you know anybody at Avery Dennison? They’re donating the film.’

“Well, it was kind of a perfect marriage, the three of us coming together. Avery Dennison knew they could trust us with the installation because they’d trained our installers. And now Laketran knew they could trust Avery Dennison because we work with their films every day. Plus, one of our freelance installers who also does design work stepped up to create the design. It was a quick turnaround over the holiday break, but everybody jumped on board and did a really great job.”

“Avery Dennison is committed to the communities where we live and work,” said Daralyn Baldogo, senior marketing communications specialist, Avery Dennison Graphics Solutions. “We welcome opportunities where our employees and our products can make a meaningful impact and help others. The mobile food pantry bus for Laketran, and in conjunction with Repros, was an immediate opportunity where we at Avery Dennison could provide support and value to the community.”

“We are grateful for Avery Dennison’s generosity and desire to make a meaningful impact in our community,” Capelle shared.

Repros was founded in 1975 as an engineering blueprint company and later became a distributor of engineering copiers and plotters. Today the company is one of the country’s largest digital wide-format equipment specialists, with three wide-format machines, two flatbeds and two UV flatbeds.

“My uncle, who took over the company in 1999, saw the industry changing.” LaGuardia recalled. “One day he said, ‘Let’s see if we can make banners off of one of these plotters.’ That one machine grew into a company where half the business is large-format, wide-format graphics. We do a lot of trade show work and signage for major league stadiums and ballparks.

“Vehicle graphics represent about a quarter of our business today,” he continued. “In that segment, Avery Dennison’s MPI 1105 wrapping film is one of the primary films we use. It’s what we wrapped the Mobile Food Pantry vehicle with. The majority of our guys were trained by Avery Dennison, so they are always happy when a job comes in where we’re using the 1105. They know the film is going to stick, it’s going to conform to the different curves and shapes.”

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