ALBION – Village residents can hear directly today from the seven candidates running for the Village Board in the March 15 election.

There will be a forum on March 1 starting at 6 p.m. at The Lockstone, 160 North Main St. The event is sponsored by The Lake Country Pennysaver and Orleans Hub.

The event is set up as a forum and not a debate. Candidates will give opening and closing statements, and will respond to questions submitted by the audience. People unable to attend the forum in person can call (585) 623-0688 during the forum between 6:15 and 7:45 p.m.

The candidates include three people running for mayor: Angel Javier Jr., running on the Republican and independent “Better Together Albion Strong” lines; Vickie Elsenheimer on the Democratic and independent “Move Albion Forward” lines; and Kevin Graham on the independent “Albion Pride, Working Together.”

Four people are seeking two trustee positions on the Village Board. Tim McMurray and Dan Conrad are on the Republican line. Sandra Walter and Joyce Riley are under the Democratic line and the independent “Move Albion Forward.”

The forum is expected to be posted on the Orleans Hub YouTube page.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION — Khabir Hillary of Albion speaks during a People Embracing Diversity event on Monday evening at Hoag Library. Hillary took to the podium after the speaker scheduled for the evening, Karima Amin of Buffalo, was unable to attend.

Amin was going to share a program about storytelling. When she was unable to be in Albion, several of the people in the crowd decided to offer their own personal stories.

Hillary spoke about the power of reading. He has always loved a book. He encouraged the crowd of about 50 people to inspire people to read.

“With a book you can go anywhere you want to,” he said.

Hillary also shared about many inventors who were Black, people who had an idea and brought it to the masses.

Sheila McCullough, chaplain at the Wyoming Correctional Facility in Attica, stepped in as an emcee to encourage people to share their stories.

McCullough talked about when she was a kid and saved up to buy her grandmother a new Bible. Her grandmother didn’t want a new one. She preferred the well used Bible that was full of her personal marks, highlighting important verses.

Her grandmother instilled in McCullough a passion “to read, read, and read.”

Joyce Riley of Albion, a past president of the Hoag Library board of directors, said she is one of 10 kids in her family. She said it’s an amazing how human kindness can lift a person. In her nursing career that has taken her to many countries and later in public service, Riley said she has learned to be “fearless.” And that fearless includes the courage to make mistakes and learn from them.

Riley said hearing stories from community members filled her with hope.

Henry Smith shared about being one of 24 kids in his family. He was born in South Carolina and moved to Rochester. He worked 32 years at Kodak, earned a master’s degree, and later served on the Gaines Town Board and Orleans County Legislature, as well as running a driving school.

Smith said his father didn’t have a degree, but was the smartest man Smith ever knew. Through it all, Smith said the greatest lesson he knows is “to treat your fellow man with respect.”

Malika Hill recalled her mother, who didn’t stay in school after second grade because she had to work on a farm. Her mother would hold up produce with her bare hands in a grocery store, and could tell you the weight to the exact ounce.

“Education goes way beyond books,” Hill said.

Kae Wilbert, one of the leaders of People Embracing Diversity, urged more community members to be part of the group. People Embracing Diversity has been meeting about five years with a goal of sharing stories and helping people to connect and get to know each other.

File photo by Tom Rivers: The basketball hoop at Bullard Park is pictured in this photo from Aug. 4, 2015. A group is pushing for two new basketball courts at Bullard.

ALBION – A group of community volunteers, including former Kendall and Syracuse University great Roosevelt Bouie, are pushing for two new basketball courts at Bullard park.

Bouie said he learned the game playing as a kid at Bullard, often against tough competition from Albion, Brockport, Batavia and Medina.

Bouie also worked during the summer at Bullard as a park supervisor. It was his first job.

“I owe quite a bit to Bullard park,” Bouie said on Friday during a Zoom call with others working on the project. “It used to be the mecca of basketball.”

The current court was described as decrepit without any upgrades in at least 30 years. The surface is cracked and heaves in places. The same basketball pole and hoops “have been there forever” and the hoops are tipped, said Tim McMurray, one of the volunteers working on the new courts.

McMurray said the current court has too much heaving and is in too rough of shape to be patched up.

Bouie and the community volunteers want to have two new courts and they would be in an area close to Route 31 at a former skating rink and skateboard area, the part of a parking lot with blue paint. Their plan includes an 8-foot-high perimeter fence. There would also be “breakaway rims” that flex back up when there is a slam dunk.

The project could be about $100,000, McMurray said. The group has the Village Board’s blessing to look into grants and support from foundations.

“I think it would be great,” Mayor Eileen Banker said today.

The board has already said it would support having new courts near the front of the park by Route 31.

The village and the community group have Orleans County United Way grantwriter Matt Holland looking into funding options for the project.

The local group also is planning fundraisers. One includes having Bouie, who is nearly 7 feet tall, shoot hoops with people during the Albion Strawberry Festival in June.

File photo: Roosevelt Bouie attended a charity basketball in Kendall in March 2015 when Holley and Kendall teachers played each other.

Bouie said he could see Bullard again becoming a big basketball venue, especially for 3-on-3 tournaments and those events could raise funding for ongoing maintenance of the courts.

Bullard has recently received about $800,000 in upgrades with a splash park, playground equipment, amphitheater, and utility building with bathrooms.

The basketball court hasn’t been touched in more than a generation. That space could be used for parking, especially for events at the amphitheater, the committee said.

The group stressed that the Albion community lacks outdoor courts. There aren’t any at the school campus.

The community group wants to have an engineer assess the old rink and skate park to see if that surface can be salvaged for a basketball court or if it needs to be torn out and a new surface put down.

Susan Oschmann, one of Bouie’s Kendall classmates, recently moved to Albion and is pushing the new courts. She noticed the lack of courts in Albion especially when the parks were closed for several months in 2020 in the earlier days of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“All I hear is complaints about the youth,” Oschmann said. “But as adults and taxpayers it is our responsibility to put in the effort to give them something to do.”

She wants to see more recreational opportunities for children and residents in Albion. She is surprised there are so few outdoor courts in the community.

Others besides McMurray, Bouie and Oschmann in the effort so far include Steve Mowers, CRFS president; John Grillo, recreation director; and Holland, the grant writer.

Bouie is in the Syracuse University Hall of Fame and his number 50 has been retired by the Orange. He led the team to a record of 100-18 from 1977 to 1980. Bouie was a first-team All-BIG EAST Conference selection in 1979-80. He was picked in the second round of the 1980 NBA Draft by the Dallas Mavericks. Bouie instead chose to play professionally in Europe for 13 seasons.

He has moved back to Kendall. The school retired his jersey in June 2012, the first one picked by Kendall with the recognition.

Bouie was a force for Kendall in the mid-1970s when the school won five straight sectional titles. Kendall had a record of 65-1 during his sophomore, junior and senior years, including 55 straight wins during one stretch.

Bouie said he traces his basketball origins to playing at Bullard.

“That’s where it all started for me,” he said.

Photos courtesy of Jamie Traxler

ALBION – Cooper Traxler, 7, is pictured with seven sheets of pizza from Mark’s Pizzeria that he shared today with the second-grade class at the Ronald L. Sodoma Elementary School in Albion. Cooper bought each class a sheet pizza and juice bags.

Cooper Traxler sold cider and doughnuts for three days in October.

He raised the money in October by selling apple cider and doughnuts from his grandmother’s front yard on South Main Street. His second-grade teacher was among his customers.

Cooper wanted to provide the pizza as a way to push back against bullying. He was being teased by some kids at school over his long hair.

Cooper likes to keep his hair long like some of his favorite dirt bike racers.

Some of the kids at school told him he was a girl because of his shoulder-length hair. Cooper tells them he is boy – with long hair.

When Cooper sold cider and doughnuts many of the customers shared stories about how they had been bullied when they were kids.

“There was a lot of community support,” Cooper’s mother Jamie said this afternoon. “He felt very blessed and that he wasn’t alone.”

Cooper has some money left over from the cider and doughnut sales that he wants to use for other acts of kindness, his mother said.

Photos by Tom Rivers: Volunteers and staff at Community Action of Orleans County distribute food on Monday morning at the parking lot for the Main Street Store. A long line of people in cars and trunks showed up for the event in 10-degree weather.

The schedule is in place for pop-up food distributions through June in Orleans County.

The events tend to be three times a month in the Village of Albion, the west end of the Town of Albion at Fairgrounds and in Lyndonville.

The food is delivered by Foodlink and is available for free to residents.

The upcoming food distributions include:

Albion Main Street Store, 131 Main St.

• March 21 (Monday) at 9 a.m.
• April 18 (Monday) at 9 a.m.
• May 16 (Monday) at 9 a.m.
• June 13 (Monday) at 9 a.m.

Community partner: Community Action of Orleans & Genesee

Lyndonville Presbyterian Church, 107 North Main St.

• Feb. 25 (Friday) at 9 a.m.
• March 11 (Friday) at 9 a.m.
• April 1 (Friday) ay 9 a.m.
• April 29 (Friday) at 9 a.m.
• May 13 (Friday) at 9 a.m.

Community partner: Lyndonville Presbyterian Church

Orleans County Fairgrounds, 12690 Route 31, Albion address but close to Knowlesville

• Feb. 28 (Monday) at noon
• March 28 (Monday) at noon
• April 25 (Monday) at noon
• May 23 (Monday) at noon
• June 27 (Monday) at noon

Community partner: Cornell Cooperative Extension of Orleans County

Note from organizer: Upon arrival you may check in with staff who will be in the Trolley Building, or staff will greet you at your car in the parking lot to give you a pass for a specific time slot.

A variety of food was given away on Monday outside the Main Street Store in Albion.

Provided photos

ALBION – Mark Tillman, center, is pictured with Community Action employees Ernie Gursslin an Katrina Chaffee last week after Tillman’s Village Inn donated $1,500 of food to the agency.

The pasta, sauce, vegetables, crackers, ketchup and other food will go the Community Action’s center in Holley, where meals and lunches are served each weekday.

The Village Inn closed on Dec. 30 after the Tillman family operated the restaurant and bar for 70 years.

Some of the food items are shown that were donated last Thursday and Friday by Tillman’s Village Inn.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Staff and volunteers for Community Action of Orleans & Genesee were out this morning in about 10-degree weather during a pop-up food distribution at the Main Street Thrift Store’s parking lot, 131 South Main St.

Dana Jessmer of Albion works quickly to unload food from boxes. A team put produce and other food in trunks of vehicles. Jessmer is the daughter of Community Action human resources director Susan Jessmer.

The food distributions will continue to at least June. Orleans Hub is trying to get a schedule of the upcoming distributions. Foodlink delivered the food in a program funded through the state’s Nourish New York program.

About 100 to 130 vehicles have been attending the recent distributions, with the food given away on a first come, first served basis.

Jackie Gardner, Community Action’s chief operating officer and director of operations, was part of the team unpacking food and putting it in cars and trucks this morning. She enjoyed the camaraderie with her co-workers and volunteers.

Greg Gilman, a Community Action employee, cuts open a box. He has worked at most of food distributions in Albion for nearly two years. He is retiring for the second time on Feb. 25.

Dan Healy had the day off from his job and was happy to help with the food distribution.

ALBION – No sledding or snowboarding is allowed at Mount Albion Cemetery, Mayor Eileen Banker said.

She and village officials are concerned that many people have been snowboarding and sledding on the east side of the cemetery, where the oldest tombstones are located.

That section of the cemetery isn’t plowed regularly. Some people have been using the hills and even tombstones for their sleds and snowboards. Ramps have been built on some of the old stones, Banker said.

“It’s a historic cemetery and we don’t need damage to the stones,” Banker said. “It is sacred ground.”

The Albion Police Department will be increasing patrols at the cemetery, she said.

Kevin Graham says he has financial background to help village with $7 million budget

ALBION – A third candidate for Albion mayor has emerged in the March 15 village election. Kevin Graham submitted petitions to run as an independent in the election.

Kevin Graham

He will face Angel Javier Jr. who has the Republican line and Vickie Elsenheimer who has the Democratic Party line.

Javier and Elsenheimer also submitted petitions today to run on independent lines. Javier’s independent line will be called “Better Together Albion Strong” and Elsenheimer will be on the independent “Move Albion Forward.”

Candidates on the independent line need at least 100 signatures from registered voters in the village who weren’t at the Democratic and Republican caucuses on Jan. 25. Today was the deadline to submit petitions.

Two other Democratic candidates – Sandra Walter and Joyce Riley – also submitted independent party petitions to be on the “Move Albion Forward” line.

Graham, 57, graduated from Albion in the same class with Elsenheimer. He has worked as a certified public accountant for 23 years and currently is in the finance department at the University of Rochester Medical Center. The East Avenue resident previously was the chief financial officer at the Arc of Genesee & Orleans, an organization with a $23 million budget. He was there until last April. That Arc has since merged with the Arc in Livingston and Wyoming counties.

Graham said he would bring “a fresh set of eyes” to the village government, including a $7 million village budget.

He believes that skill set with budgets would be an asset to village taxpayers and the village employees.

“I want to jump in and help out the community,” Graham said. “My qualities, I have a lot of experience I could bring to the job. Finances are my forte.”

Graham went door to door collecting signatures in the past week. He heard from residents they want a more vibrant downtown, stronger neighborhoods and more improvements in the village parks.

He praised the current Village Board for seeing through major upgrades to Bullard Park, which includes a new splash pad, amphitheater and utility building with a pavilion and bathrooms.

“They’ve done a great job with Bullard Park,” Graham said about the current board. “I’d like to continue the effort with the parks, and have more community events.”

Graham admitted he doesn’t have much political experience. He is a not affiliated with a political party.

“I am a true independent,” he said. “ I can work with anybody – Republican or Democrat.”

Trellis Pore leads ‘judgement free’ congregation

Photos by Tom Rivers: The Rev. Trellis Pore was voted in on Nov. 21 to serve as pastor of Shiloh Church at 3286 Crandall Rd. in Albion. Pore became a licensed ministerial candidate at age 19 at Shiloh. He returned to Shiloh after 13 years as the associate and youth pastor at the Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Batavia. The church services are at 11 a.m. on Sunday, with Sunday school at 10 a.m.

ALBION – Step into Shiloh Church and Trellis Pore says it will feel much different than what many people may expect to experience inside a church.

Pore said atmosphere is overwhelmingly welcoming, a “judgement free” environment where the past isn’t a focus, but rather the present and future.

“The atmosphere is very relaxed and uplifting,” said the Rev. Pore, who was voted in as pastor at Shiloh on Nov. 21. “So many people have encountered ‘church hurt.’ People shouldn’t feel beat down if they go to church.”

Pore, 38, sees Shiloh as a hospital, a place to help people get better and to see how to live better.

“My ministry is unlike any other,” he said. “We’re focused on the overlooked and those who made mistakes. Your past is your past. We’re more concerned about your future.”

Since he was a young boy, Pore said he has felt very close with God, and a call to help others feel God’s presence in their lives.

Pore grew up in the church, and in what he said is a very spiritual family with lots of prayer and praise for God, even during times of trial and pain.

Pore at about age 5 sang publicly with his family in the Cooper Family Gospel Singers. They performed all over Western New York. He continues a music ministry with the Trellis Cooper Band that performs in the community – often outside of a church.

Photo courtesy of Jesse Colmenero: Trellis Pore is part of the worship band at Shiloh. He looks forward to Shiloh hosting gospel concerts. For many years Pore has performed in the Trellis Cooper Band. He also has been a part of the Cooper Family Gospel Singers since he was a kid.

Since started as pastor at Shiloh , he has brought many of his musician friends to be part of the worship band.

“We have one of the most amazing and anointed music departments you can find,” he said.

The music is a big part of church as Shiloh, and so are the sermons from Pore, and his determination to connect with everyone.

“When he says he loves you he truly means that,” said Ocie Bennett, a deacon at the church since 2003 and the Sunday school leader. “He is trying to do great things in our community and bring our community together.”

The church attendance has already jumped from about 10 on Sunday mornings to about 100 – in the past six weeks.

Trellis Pore is shown in the pastor’s study at Shiloh Church. Pore also works full-time as a corrections officer at the Albion Correctional Facility and is a member of the Albion Board of Education.

Pore leads the push for a “judgement free” environment that Bennett said has brought many people to church who hadn’t been inside a church building in years.

“We don’t look at people’s past because we all have a past,” Bennett said. “No one is perfect. We all need help. We’re one big family at Shiloh.”

The church is located at a former one-room school house at the corner of Densmore and Crandall roads. Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church started in 1966. It has been a predominantly African-American congregation.

The church is dropping Missionary Baptist from its name to de-emphasize a denomination. Pore wants everyone to feel welcome. “Heaven doesn’t have denominations,” he said.

Pore works full-time as a corrections officer at the Albion Correctional Facility. He also is a firearms instructor, chemical agent instructor, and CPR and first aid instructor for the Department of Corrections.

He worked downstate his first three years as a corrections officer and has been at Albion Correctional the past 17 years.

Pore also is a member of the Albion Board of Education, in addition to leading the Shiloh church. He and his wife have two kids, ages 4 and 9.

Pore acknowledged he is busy, but he said he feels energized, especially with the new role leading a church in Albion.

“I’d rather wear out than rust out,” he said. “I’m grateful to be back in my own community.”

For the previous 13 years he worked as an associate and youth pastor in Batavia at Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church.

Pore has felt a calling since he was a young boy to ministry. He became a licensed minister at age 19 at Shiloh, where his late father, Jimmy Pore, was a deacon. Trellis grew up attending the St. Paul Baptist Church on Ingersoll Street in Albion where his late grandfather, Willie D. Cooper, was a deacon.

Pore’s grandfather proved a great mentor for Pore in a life of faith.

“He taught me how to pray, to sing hymns and he shared his pastoral handbook,” Pore said. “I’ve been very blessed and thankful.”

Trellis Pore gave the keynote address on June 2, 2019 during the Albion baccalaureate service at the First Baptist Church, a voluntary service for soon-to-graduate high school seniors. Pore, a 2001 Albion graduate, shared about David and Goliath, how David beat a much larger warrior, a shocking defeat for the giant, which is described in 1 Samuel in the Bible. The graduates will face many Goliaths in their lives, Pore said. There will be self doubt after a failure, grief, financial stress and lots of “haters,” people who are jealous and don’t want the grads to reach their dreams. “You will face multiple Goliaths in life,” Pore said. “You will get through one and then there will be another.” Pore urged them to not run from their Goliaths. He shared the verse, Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Pore for the past two decades preached at some local churches on pulpit supply when the pastors were on vacation. Those preaching opportunities increased in recent years at the Eagle Harbor United Methodist Church, First Presbyterian Church of Albion and the First Baptist Church in Albion.

The Albion Ministerium in 2019 picked Pore to give the keynote address at baccalaureate, a religious service for high school seniors who would graduate later that month.

The Rev. Sue Thaine, pastor of the Presbyterian Church, has had Pore preach for her when she is on vacation. The congregation has been very responsive to his messages.

“He’s dynamic,” Thaine said. “His faith is very alive. He is also a people-person. He comes with all these gifts and abilities, but he is accessible.”

She sees Pore energizing the local Christian community.

“He is amazing partner in ministry,” Thaine said. “I look forward to seeing what God will do through him. The people who encounter Trellis want to be near him. Everybody loves him. He uses his music, in cooperation with the word he is preaching.”

Pore found a larger audience in the community through Facebook. When the Covid-19 pandemic closed churches to in-person services in mid-March 2020, Pore started delivering sermons on Facebook – from his dining room.

“We turned Facebook into ‘Faithbook,’” Pore said.

There were several hundred views on those sermons, and Pore believes those messages helped make church more accessible to many in the community.

He is pleased that Shiloh is already nearing capacity, and may need to expand the building in the near future. Shiloh also will bring back popular church barbecues, and Pore wants to host gospel concerts.

But even more importantly, he wants people to be drawn closer to God when they are at Shiloh.

“I feel honored to be a pastor in my hometown,” he said. “I’ve always tried to treat people fairly, and as Christ would treat them.”

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Mary Grace McCormick, 10, of Albion wipes out coming down the sledding hill at Bullard Park in Albion this afternoon.

It is a perfect day to go sledding with lots of fresh snow, sunshine and temperatures in the mid 30s.

Allie Kekoe, 8, of Hilton carries an inner tube of a Narwhal, a whale with a large protruding tusk. Allie was visiting family in Albion and joined them in sledding at Bullard.

Joseph Dibley and his son Keegan, 4, of Albion head down the east side of the hill on a toboggan.

The father and son get ready to walk back up the hill for another ride down the hill.

This photo was taken up from the highest point of the hill, looking out on the south side of the hill. There were about 20 people sledding at 2 p.m. with some people serving hot cocoa from the parking lot.

Tosh Spilberg, 13, of Wayland rides a green disc down the hill. He was visiting family in Albion.

Susan Oschmann of Albion has fun going down the hill with her granddaughter Gemma.

Wild Flour makes food from scratch, will expand dining room

Photos by Tom Rivers: Beth Miller, owner of Wild Flour Deli & Bakery, holds a turkey Reuben sandwich which she calls Daffodil. Miller has 11 sandwiches on the menu which are all named after flowers and offers a build-your-own sandwich option.

ALBION – Beth Miller was making sandwiches and soups from scratch out of her kitchen in Albion during the early days of the Covid pandemic about two years ago. She made the meals for friends and family.

She wanted to offer a healthier option than fast food and pizza.

Miller received good feedback, and her friends and family urged her to take her skills to a bigger audience with her own business.

On Nov. 1, she opened the Wild Flour Deli & Bakery at 438 West Ave. in Albion. Initially, she prepared the sandwiches, soups and salads by herself, making deliveries and offering pickup from a hallway.

Beth Miller prepares soups – French onion, Wisconsin cheddar, and chili – in the kitchen at Wild Flor this morning.

Word soon spread about Wild Flour. Miller now has five employees. She added a dining area and soon will be opening a new room with more sit-down space.

Miller is pleasantly surprised by the popularity of the new business. She didn’t expect it to take off so fast.

“People are excited to have a different option, a healthier option,” she said.

Miller, 32, earned a culinary degree at Paul Smith’s College and worked seven years as a pastry chef at upscale lodges and resorts in Lake Placid. More recently she worked as chef at the Holley Falls Bar & Grill, a server and bartender at 39 Problems in Albion, and the front house manager and chef at Lures in Kendall.

She said she has dreamed of opening her own deli and bakery since she was kid.

“I did not expect it to take off the way it did,” she said about Wild Flour. “But I knew people would like the food once they tasted it.”

Miller, a Holley native, has named her 11 sandwiches all after flowers. They come in different combinations of meat, cheese, toppings, vegetables, sauces and breads.

One of the most popular sandwiches is the Aster with roast beef and cheddar on rye, with banana peppers, pickled onions and horseradish mayonnaise, toasted on a panini.

The bakery includes cookies, brownies, muffins, cupcakes, scones and turnovers.

Everything is made the day of. Miller makes her own soups, mayonnaise and salad dressings from scratch.

“It helps me to stand out,” she said about her menu with her personal touch. “They are getting homemade from scratch. It’s my own brain putting this all together.”

Wild Flour is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Miller is looking to open for breakfast too, offering gourmet parfaits, quiches, oatmeals and other “grab and go’s.”

Miller graduated from the Microenterprise Assistance Program offered by the Orleans Economic Development Agency. One of the class mentors, Dorothy Daniels, owns the building at 438 West Ave., where Wild Flour is located. Daniels tried Miller’s sandwiches and soup and encouraged her to open the business.

“She is a very talented individual,” Daniels said about Miller. “People have been starving for this. It’s something besides fast food and pizza.”

The business offers delivery in the Albion area, and people can order online. For more information about Wild Flour, click here.

Photo by Ginny Kropf: Jackie Gardner, seated, who just took the position of chief operating officer and director of operations at Community Action in Albion, talks with executive director Renee Hungerford.

ALBION – Jackie Gardner always knew she would follow her family’s footsteps and pursue a career in banking, but when a “job of a lifetime” opened at Community Action in Albion, she knew it was time to make a switch.

Gardner was born and raised in Albion. Her father always said a career in banking was an honorable position, and her brother is a bank manager in Rochester, so it was natural she should take that career path.

But when a position as chief operating officer and director of operations became available at Community Action, she gave up her 25-year banking career to accept the position.

She first met Renee Hungerford, executive director of Community Action, during a bank acquisition in 1993. Gardner was working for Chase when they announced they were leaving the area, and Jodi Gaines, then founder of CRFS, called and offered her a job.

“She hired me and I worked in client relations and ran a team filing claims for the government,” Gardner said. “I was there eight years when I decided it was a good time to explore a career move.”

Most recently, Gardner worked for M&T running an audit team for risk and compliance. She had previously talked to Hungerford about a position at Community Action, but the timing wasn’t right, she said.

When Annette Finch, long-time director of Emergency Services, announced her retirement, Hungerford posted the job.

“Jackie called me that morning,” Hungerford said. “Hiring has been such a struggle, with the pandemic and all, and how fortunate the perfect person should show up at my doorstep.”

Gardner said when she worked for one bank, she knew Finch through food drives and coat drives they did for Community Action.

“We wanted to give back to the community,” she said. “What impresses me about this organization is the passion of the people who work and volunteer here.”

“It is so refreshing to hear that excitement,” Hungerford said.

“There are a lot of great organizations in this county and I see Community Action as being pivotal in helping those in need,” Gardner said.

“We are stronger together, whether we are developing programs or working on grants,” Hungerford said.

Gardner said it’s hard not to be excited about coming to work every day.

“We have a phenomenal team right now and I couldn’t be more grateful ,” Hungerford said.

Gardner said she has been involved in for-profit organizations all her life, but so much of what she learned there can be transferred to this job.

Gardner is also president of the board of United Way of Orleans County and a member of GCASA’s executive board.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Albion Rotary Club members fill goodie bags for merchants in downtown Albion on Thursday afternoon. Pictured from left include Bonnie Malakie, Richard Remley, Don Bishop, Robert batt and Doug Farley. They are shown at Hoag Library.

The goodie bags included frosted cookies and some other treats, as well as a thank you letter from Rotary Club President Alex Krebs.

“We are so grateful for our local businesses, and are aware of how difficult it is to operate a business in a small community like Albion, especially through the past couple of years,” Krebs wrote in her letter. “We’re glad you are here!!”

The Cobblestone Museum donated 40 bags for the items.

The Albion Rotary Club is celebrating its 100^th anniversary this year. The Rotary motto is “Service Above Self.” Krebs said the club this year is putting an emphasis on service to the community.