Outstanding citizens give to community in many ways

Orleans Hub each year highlights outstanding citizens from the previous year who made notable contributions to the community.

We are happy to shine a light on people who put their time, talent and resources into bettering Orleans County.

We are fortunate that so many look ways to help their neighbors, promote the community and preserve important local sites.

Here are some people who stood out in 2024:

Volunteer brought tenacity in getting new basketball courts in Medina

Photos by Tom Rivers: Medina Mayor Marguerite Sherman is joined by many kids and local officials on May 30 for a ribbon cutting at Butts Park for two new basketball courts.

Two full-size basketball courts went in Butts Park in 2024, with a ribbon-cutting on May 30. A Medina teacher and coach worked hard on the effort for four years, contacting contractors for bids, helping to secure funding and donations towards the project.

Melissa Valley

Melissa Valley said the outdoor courts have been long overdue. She has been thrilled going by the courts this summer and fall, seeing so many people playing on the courts that have a vibrant red and blue color for the Medina Mustangs.

“It makes me so happy when I drive by and see people out there,” Valley said recently.

She pushed the idea and people rallied, including the Medina Village Board and Shelby Town Board, which both approved a portion of their ARPA funds (American Rescue Plan Act) from the federal government. Medina allotted $110,000 in ARPA, while Shelby gave $10,000.

Valley also secured a $3,332 donation from the Medina Sports Boosters and contacted Shelby Crushed Stone owner Tom Biamonte, who donated 800 tons of stone valued at $9,000 towards the courts.

Valley worked on the project for four years. When restrictions lifted during the Covid-19 pandemic, she knew people wanted to get out and be with friends. Basketball courts would have been a great way to be active and have fun with friends, but Medina didn’t have any community courts.

Valley made it a mission to get them, contacting contractors to get bids for site work, seal the courts, and four adjustable backboards and hoops.

“People wanted the new courts,” Valley said. “It wasn’t just a one-man show. It was the community that got this done.”

Tattoo artist builds thriving business while backing toy drive, fundraiser for stray cats

Shawn Ramsey, owner of Canalside Tattoo, celebrated the opening of Canalside’s new location on Aug. 18, which was also Canalside’s annual “Caturday” fundraiser for the Cat by Cat, Inc. organization in Medina.

Canalside had 13 tattoo artists and other body piercers, as well as 150 gift baskets as part of the fundraiser that raised about $24,000. That is up from $18,000 in 2023 and $10,000 in 2022. The Medina “Cat by Cat” team cares for about 150 cats a year. Feral or community cats remains in “overwhelming” problem in Medina and Orleans County.

Ramsey last summer moved Canalside from Main Street to 627 West Ave. The business has steadily grown since he opened in 2015 in a small storefront on East Center Street. In 2017, he moved to Main Street at the former Curvin’s News, tripling his space from the first location. He then expanded next door on Main Street in 2020, giving him 3,500 square feet.

Last year he moved to the former AJ’s Play Date. Ramsey turned the site into the “Fantasy Factory” giving tattoo artists their own partitioned space, providing more privacy.

Ramsey also has hosted a toy drive during Medina’s Parade of Lights. The new Canalside site again was a popular place for people to give toys that were then distributed to children by Community Action and the Medina Area Association of Churches.

Ramsey and his staff bring a good vibe to Medina and show time and again their big hearts.

Social media star uses platform to help family that suffered heartbreak

Diane Shiffer has an enormous following on social media as “YourChubbyVintageNana.”

In an era when many go on to social media to complain, bully and belittle, Diane Shiffer has built a massive following for her kindness.

Shiffer may have the largest platform or megaphone in Orleans County. She has more than 1 million followers on both Instagram and TikTok. She uses the hashtag: “YourChubbyVintageNana.” She shares videos about fashion from a bygone era and her life at home in Albion, often sipping coffee and watering her plants. She tries to make her huge crowd of followers feel loved.

Shiffer, back in early May, did something out of the norm. She asked her social media followers to donate to a family in Medina that suffered a tragic loss. Those followers responded in a big way, donating $100,000 to a Medina family that suffered heartbreak.

Shiffer, a retired teacher, has a close friendship with Kelsey Dreisbach, who helps care for Shiffer’s daughter who has Down syndrome and often takes her on fun activities. Dreisbach and her husband John have two children. They were pregnant with a third child, but Kelsey had a miscarriage and then was hospitalized with septicemia.

Kelsey Dreisbach said the outpouring of support were very uplifting during such a difficult time.

“The money has literally changed our lives and allowed us to remove financial worries from the equation for the first time ever,” she told the Orleans Hub on May 8. “And the comments and messages from people all over the world have helped me heal more than I would have ever expected – so many people have made it very clear that we are not alone.”

Holley library director expanded children’s programming, embraced public art and outreach to veterans

Sandra Shaw is shown inside the children’s library at Community Free Library on Sept. 7. During her tenure as library director, the library doubled in size with dedicated space for children.

Sandra Shaw in her 16 years as director of Community Free Library in Holley expanded programming and outreach to the community, and embraced public art with two large-scale murals on the back of the building, embracing Holley’s canal and agricultural heritage.

Shaw retired on Oct. 17 after 19 years as director. She was back at the library on Nov. 11 for another one of her missions: leading the community in writing Christmas cards to local veterans. That effort usually results in 500 cards with hand-written messages for veterans in the community, including those in nursing homes.

Shaw was a regular at local municipal board meetings, updating village and town officials about the library and its programs.

She led the library in acquiring a former video store next door where the library expanded in 2008 and dedicated that space for children’s programs and materials.

Shaw secured grants from the state to replace the roof, air-conditioning and furnaces. She wanted the library accessible and comfortable for community members.

During the Covid-19 pandemic when the library was closed to the public, Shaw and the library staff took requests from residents for books, and then had the books ready in the lobby for pickup.

Sandra Shaw congratulates Arthur Barnes on Sept.7 for the completion of his mural on the back of the library. The huge painting celebrates Holley’s agricultural roots. Tony Barry painted the other mural in 2023 with a canal theme.

Holley student working at Subway springs into action, performs CPR

Provided photo: Leigha Walker is shown at the Brockport Subway. She started working there in February 2024. On June 9 she did CPR on a man who was unconscious after crashing into a support beam in front of the Subway.

Leigha Walker knows how to take charge of a situation. She has been catcher for Holley’s softball teams, a key member on the Sectional winning soccer team in 2023 and a horseback rider.

On June 9, she showed her ability to quickly size up a situation and spring into action. She was working the morning shift at the Brockport Subway. A man was driving a vehicle when he had a heart attack and became unconscious. He crashed into a pole outside the Subway where Leigha was working.

She heard the crash and immediately called 911 at about 10 a.m. Leigha grabbed a wooden rod so a bystander could break the passenger window of the pickup truck and then unlock the vehicle.

Leigha and co-worker got the man out of the truck and onto the ground. Leigha checked his vital signs. When the Brockport Fire District ambulance pulled up, a medic urged someone to start CPR.

Leigha did more than 30 compressions to keep the man’s blood moving. Then the Brockport ambulance personnel used an AED to get the man’s heart restarted. He was then transported by ambulance to a hospital.

The man, Jack Brennan, is doing well today. He is a longtime softball umpire and called balls and strikes at some of Holley’s games, with Leigha inches away as the catcher.

Leigha said she is thankful the school district offered a class where she learned CPR. That class is taught by her soccer coach, Renee Wolf. Leigha has since graduated from Holley and now plays soccer for Morrisville State College. Her quick response made a life-saving difference for Brennan.

Medina teacher and historian pushes preservation efforts at Boxwood Cemetery

Photo by Tom Rivers: Todd Bensley, center right, shows Dave and Gail Miller, the restored stained-glass window in the chapel at Boxwood Cemetery on May 18. The Friends of Boxwood Cemetery rededicated the window and invited the community to see a cleaned up chapel. Bensley has written two books about the cemetery and donated the proceeds to Boxwood.

Todd Bensley is busy working full-time as a teacher in Medina and part-time as the village historian. In recent years he has made time to promote and preserve Boxwood Cemetery.

He was able to get the cemetery on North Gravel Road listed on the National Register of Historic Places. He has written two books about the historic cemetery and donated proceeds to improvements at Boxwood.

Photo by Ginny Kropf: Todd Bensley is shown during a book-signing in April when his second book about Boxwood became available.

He is also part of an active group, Friends of Boxwood, that hosts a popular fundraiser, Boxwood at Night, where people can tour the cemetery at night and see lighting displays, guides portraying famous residents and some that may be overlooked, including people in a potter’s field. The Boxwood event gives a new and existing twist to a cemetery tour.

Bensley has connected students to projects at the cemetery, including gravestone cleaning, branch trimming and other tasks.

Bensley and the Friends of Boxwood completed a major milestone project at the cemetery this past year when a stained-glass window of an angel in the chapel was restored.

The volunteers raised $6,500 to have Valerie O’Hara from Pike Stained Glass Studio in Rochester repair the window. O’Hara took apart the bottom half of the window and rebuilt the artwork that is more than a century old.

The Friends of Boxwood also cleaned out the chapel, painted the interior, and put in new doors on the inside leading to the room where bodies were stored in the winter.

“We’re trying to bring it back to life,” Bensley said during the May 18 open house at the chapel. “The more people we get in here, the more people who will want to support the cemetery.”

Bensley has helped bring renewed pride and appreciation for the historic site.

He has long been an energetic participant in many community events and activities. He has coached T-ball and powder puff, served as president of the Medina Historical Society, and was a board member of Lee-Whedon Memorial Library, Village Board, and Medina Planning Board.

Medina woman helps make Christmas a reality for 200-plus children

Photo by Ginny Kropf: Sherry Tuohey-Sipple, the leader of the MAAC Christmas Barrel program the past seven years, is shown in early November with 40 barrels to be distributed into the community. Local businesses, churches and organizations host the barrels that are filled with donations of toys, hats, mittens, canned goods and gifts.

Sherry Tuohey-Sipple works all year to make Christmas a reality for more than 200 children in the Medina area.

The past seven years she has headed the MAAC Christmas Barrel program, where 40 barrels are set up at local businesses, churches and organizations for people to leave toys, gifts, canned food and other donations.

Tuohey-Sipple leads a team of volunteers that sort those donations, and go hunting in stores for more. Tuohey-Sipple keeps a close eye on bargains throughout the year for the holiday event.

“It requires a tremendous amount of behind-the-scenes work,” she said. “I want to be there for the community and help the community. There are so many families that are less unfortunate.”

The toys, mittens, hats and gifts are sorted by volunteers who organize them for kids by gender and age groups. Besides the 200-plus children, there are about 150 adults who receive food and a gift, often a crocheted blanket.

Many of the locations have hosted a barrel for years. But Tuohey-Sipple said some businesses and organizations close or relocate, so each year she typically finds two or three new spots for barrels.

She appreciates the community’s generosity in giving the gifts and donations, and a team of 25 to 35 volunteers who put in so much time, especially sorting out toys.

Canalside Tattoo Company also has been a big plus with its toy drive, and Medina firefighters for more than 50 years have delivered the barrels out in the community, picked them up and then distributed the toys and gifts to families in Medina.

Tuohey-Sipple has been the guiding hand behind it the past seven years, staying in contact with volunteers and others who help with a the mighty effort each year.

Retired teacher continues to welcome Holley first-graders to farm

Lynn Vendetti shows the students a pumpkin that was hit by hail by hail on Aug. 11, causing some scarring.

Photos by Tom Rivers

Lynn Vendetti leads a group of Holley first-graders in picking pumpkins on Oct. 4 at Vendetti Farms.

Vendetti, a retired Holley teacher since 2017, and her family have welcomed first-graders at the farm since 2008. About 60 students get to pick out a pumpkin to take home.

The students also meet farm animals, can see big tractors and farm machinery up close, and enjoy a hay ride. The kids play a variety of games with pumpkins including pumpkin bowling, tic tac toe, ring toss and pumpkin stacking.

Vendetti wants to help the students and teachers with their curriculum of learning about the fall, and also give them a memorable day out.

She and her family are  generous to students, and explain what they are seeing on the farm, which is a four-generation operation with crops grown on about 2,500 acres. It is an exciting day for the kids, who are delighted to pick out a pumpkin, pet a goat and walk through vines and dirt.

Vendetti Farms was started by Anthony Vendetti, who was followed by Albert, then Lynn’s husband Bob, and their sons, Bobby, Ryan and Andrew.

Lynn Vendetti also has coordinated the Girls on the Run program at Holley Central School, which encourages girls to be more physically active before they move up to junior-senior high school. She also serves on the board for the United Way in Orleans County.

Citizen tries to bring change with update of ordinances for backyard chickens

These inflatables of chickens were part of a Fourth of July float in Lyndonville’s big parade.

We don’t see to many citizen-led movements to change local laws these days, outside of people posting a comment or diatribe on social media.

But Kate Hardner of Lyndonville attended numerous local government meetings, pressed her cause in a float, shared pamphlets from a booth at the county fair, distributed yard signs, wrote a letter to the editor and looked up other municipal laws.

Provided photo: Kate Hardner of Lyndonville led an effort to have local villages update their ordinance to allow backyard chickens.

Her mission: to have backyard chickens in the four Orleans County villages. Hardner would like a small flock, up to six chickens, and no roosters. The chickens owners would have to keep the coops clean.

Lyndonville and Medina would discuss the issue at multiple meetings, and Lyndonville’s Planning Board presented a suggested ordinance to the Village Board to consider. But both Lyndonville and Medina ultimately didn’t pass updated ordinances.

Hardner deserves credit for bringing an issue to public debate, and doing it in a respectful way that engaged the community.

She didn’t get what she wanted, but she showed how citizens can try to bring about change.

Hardner and supporters of “For Cluck’s Sake” say a small group of chickens are not livestock, and they provide nutritional and mental health benefits for families.

Hardner had chickens on her Lyndonville property for seven years with no neighbor complaints until being told to remove them by the village code enforcement officer. Her family initially had them for her daughter’s 4-H project but saw chickens as a sustainable food source for the family, especially during Covid with food supply shortages and in times of fluctuating egg prices.

“Orleans County, with its strong agricultural history, is woefully behind the times in its viewpoint of backyard chicken keeping,” she said. “At this time in our lives, it is easier to own chickens in the suburbs and in the city then it is out here in rural America.”

Dog trainer guides incarcerated women in working with dogs, making the canines more family-friendly for adoptions

Provided photos: (Left) An incarcerated woman at Albion Correctional Facility is pictured with Rogan. (Right) Dawn Spencer, the volunteer trainer, is shown with Rogan and Aries. Two dogs went through 12 weeks of obedience training led by Spencer.

Dawn Spencer of Kent, a dog trainer with more 25 years of experience, has volunteered her time in recent years, working with incarcerated women in Orleans County to train dogs.

The dogs learn obedience training and become more family-friendly to be adopted from PAWS Animal Shelter. Spencer goes to the prison once a week and instructs the incarcerated women on the 10 skills the dogs must master through the AKC Canine Good Citizen Program. She did two 12-week programs the past year at the Albion Correctional Facility.

The incarcerated people find joy and acceptance in working with the canines. Prison officials say the dogs’ presence provides an uplifting element to the prisons.

Spencer runs Eye of Oden K9 Training. She has led about 20 dogs through the program at Albion Correctional, making them better pets for their new homes.

Photos by Tom Rivers: Dawn Spencer of the Eye of Oden tosses glitter into the air on Main Street during the Strawberry Festival Parade on June 8. Spencer and about a dozen people from Eye of Oden walked with dogs in the parade. The Eye of Oden participates in many community parades throughout the year, demonstrating the dogs’ obedience skills.

A rocking concert in opera house and a Christmas float in honor of Santa School founder

Lou Gramm gave a high-energy performance on June 23, belting out tunes from Black Sheep, a Rochester band from the 1970s. Michael Bonafede plays drums for the band. He welcomed the group into the Pratt Theater in Albion.

Michael Bonafede has long been a community volunteer and advocate in Albion, serving on the Board of Education for many years, leading the Strawberry Festival, opening his Gaines Basin Road property to youth soccer, and many other efforts.

In 2024, he pulled off two major victories for the community: Hall of Fame rocker Lou Gramm performed to full houses at the Pratt Theater and Bonafede led volunteers in building a signature float in honor of Charles W. Howard for a lighted parade on Dec. 14.

Bonafede was a drummer in Black Sheep, a band with Gramm (then known as Lou Grammatico) before Gramm went on to fame with the band Foreigner.

Bonafede and his wife Judith Koehler own the Pratt Theater with the third floor opera house. They have poured their time, talent and resources into the building the past two decades. One June 23, Gramm took the stage to a capacity crowd of 300 people. It was a thrill for the crowd and the Black Sheep band, which played a reunion concert. Bonafede wants to make the stage available for more community events. The Pratt and Day buildings, which the Bonafede family owns, are a bright spot on Main Street, home to several tenants.

Michael Bonafede and a team of volunteer made a float in honor of Charles W. Howard. They worked about a month on the project.

Later in the year, Bonafede wanted to help build on the momentum with Albion’s ties to Charles W. Howard, who ran a Santa School in Albion from 1937 until his death in 1966. Howard remains revered among people who portray Santa.

Albion has been trying to honor Howard’s legacy and create more holiday magic. The committee working on a lighted parade named the event the Charles W. Howard Hometown Parade.

Bonafede and group of volunteers wanted a signature float in Howard’s style to cap the parade. They built a 20-by-10 foot deck on a trailer for the float. It had enough room for an 8-piece band on the back of the float with a sleigh for Santa in the middle and the reindeer up front. The reindeer appear to be taking off in flight.

Bonafede and the volunteers did the float in Howard’s style, taking pieces and materials they found and using creativity and a flair.

The float was finished in time to give Santa and a band a ride in the parade on June 14.