It was December 1966, when Jerry Francis and Kenny Myer were sitting in Mancy's Steak House on Sylvania Avenue in Toledo. Ohio. The two entrepreneurs had finished dinner and began brainstorming ideas on how 'self-made men' could help the less fortunate families of Toledo without the help of a major 'agency.'
"We talked about a way to collect money and help the families that fall between the cracks," Kenny Myer said in a 2006 interview. "We wanted to leverage our entrepreneurial skills and turn them into relief for someone who was down on their luck, out of work, or experiencing 'tight' finances during the holidays."
After discussing their ideas, the two men stepped out of Mancy's and noticed a crowd of people in the saloon across the street.
"We originally went in to have a quick after-dinner drink and finish our brainstorming session," Myer remembered. "Once we got inside, we decided to set out a paper grocery bag to see how much we could collect for the less fortunate. The response was heartwarming. We had no idea what we were starting back then but we found out that others felt the same way we did about helping people who were down on their luck during the holidays - our experiment proved that we needed to create a vehicle for collecting donations from those that cared. The bottom line was...we just needed to 'do it'..."
That first "Do-It " Party on Sylvania Avenue raised enough money for Francis and Myer to contact a local priest in Toledo's south end and ask him to provide a list of a few families who were down on their luck.
"We met with the priest and he directed us to some families who could use our help," Myer recalled. "It was a beautiful thing! We bought and delivered groceries and the Do-It Party was born!"
Over time, Francis and Myer recruited friends to expand the team behind the Do-It Party concept. They formed a group of business entrepreneurs called the "Baker's Dozen" to manage the Do-It party and the distribution of relief to those in need.