Chet Fery, ‘The Bread Man,’ says students need love more than ever

Photos by Tom Rivers: Chet Fery of Brockport addressed Holley faculty and staff this morning, urging them to embrace kindness in respond to others, as well as themselves. Fery, who is known as “The Bread Man,” also baked a loaf of bread for each Holley school employee.

HOLLEY – The school district, which will be utilizing more technology to educate students during the pandemic, isn’t neglecting an elementary principle of treating others with kindness and love.

Kindness – a show of respect and care for others – is the district’s main theme for this school year.

“The message of kindness is especially important this year,” said Brian Bartalo, the district superintendent.

This is Bartalo’s third year as Holley superintendent. In 2018-19, the district theme was “Holley Together.” Last school year, the district embraced the theme, “Holley Cares.”

Bartalo believes the message of kindness is critical during a polarizing election cycle and a time of uncertainty and stress with the economy and a public health pandemic.

The superintendent joined staff development and orientation sessions today and welcomed one of his neighbors, Chet Fery of Brockport, as a keynote speaker. Fery is well known in the region as “The Bread Man.” He has given away more than 100,000 loaves of bread for free in the past 20 years.

Brian Bartalo, the Holley school superintendent, passes out loaves of bread baked by Chet Fery. The two live in the same neighborhood in Brockport. Bartalo noticed Fery was giving out bread from a red wagon in Fery’s driveway during the pandemic and had “Kindness” signs in the neighborhood. Very gave away free bread from the wagon for 161 consecutive days.

Fery brought 267 loaves to the Holley school district today. He gave away bread to every staff member during presentations at the high school, elementary school and the bus garage.

Fery is a retired teacher and administrator from the Gate-Chili school district. He told teachers he knows they are feeling more anxiety this school year, returning to classrooms during the Covid-19 pandemic. He said students also are feeling nervous and excitement as they come back to school.

“People are seeking kindness now more than ever, aren’t they?” Fery asked the elementary school staff and teachers.

Fery spoke recently in Dansville to the Class of 1955, which was celebrating its 65^th reunion. He listened as they reminisced about teachers. The ones the best remembered were the teachers who showed they cared about their students.

“What you do makes a big, big difference,” Fery said. “Kids listen. Kids always remember how we make them feel more than the content we’re teaching them.”

He said students, even those with tough exteriors, crave love and attention.

“Their hearts are open,” he said. “Kindness has a way of changing lives.”

Chet Fery said teachers top priority this year should be connecting with students, remotely or in class, and show them they are valued.

Before the pandemic, Fery normally had three or four presentations a week, where he gave away bread and shared his message of being kind to others. When he was sidelined from speaking to groups in Western New York, he put his home-made bread in a red wagon at the end of his driveway. He did that for 161 straight days.

He also made 100 “Kindness” signs and gave them away. Bartalo noticed and asked Fery to address the staff just before the start of the school year.

Holley students will be back on Thursday and Friday for orientations. Holley will be doing a hybrid model to start the year, with students doing in-person classes two days a week and remote learning three days. Bartalo said 18 percent of the students have opted for remote only for the first 10 weeks of the school year.

Fery said educators, bus drivers and other staff need to follow 5 principles to equip themselves in spreading kindness:

1. Be Kind to You. Fery urged them to smile, eat well and exercise – be fit in the body, mind and spirit. “You’re going to need it this year.”

2. Be Kind to Others. Be sure to put that kindness in words, when communicating with others. Make it clear to others that you value them.

3. Keep Order. “We can manage the chaos or rather than the chaos managing us,” Fery said.

4. Be Together. Work as a team and reach out to others, especially if you’re feeling down. “There isn’t a circumstance that can’t be improved,” Fery said. “We need each other to get through difficult times.”

5. Find Your Happy Place. Do something you enjoy to put your mind at ease. For Fery, that is baking bread, lots and lots of loaves.

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Photos by Tom Rivers

HOLLEY – Mark Cerrone, Inc., a contractor from Niagara Falls, installs a 12-inch waterline this morning in front of St. Mary’s Catholic Church on South Main Street (Route 237).

Construction workers lay the new waterline below ground in front of St. Mary’s this morning.

The company has put in new 12-inch watermains on Route 237, starting near the water tank by Hillside Cemetery. It will go to the intersections of routes 237 and 31.

Then it will put 8-inch waterlines on Geddes Street.

Cerrone also will be putting in new sidewalks along Rt. 237 – both north and south of Rt. 31 to the village limits (from the water tower to the elementary school), as well as both sides of Geddes Street from Van Buren to Route 31, both sides of Perry Street, both sides of Morgan Street and the west side of East Avenue.

Cerrone submitted the low bid for the project at $2,556,000. Grants will cover the majority of the costs. Holley is responsible for 20 percent of the sidewalk work and 40 percent of the waterlines.

As part of the village share of a $4.5 million overall project, Holley will put in sidewalks and waterlines on East Albion Street, Park Place and East Union Street.

The village was approved for a $1,780,000 federal TAP grant (Transportation Alternatives Program) to construct curbs and sidewalks that are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The grant will allow the village to replace about one-third of the sidewalks in the village.

Holley also was awarded nearly $1.3 million from the state for upgrades to the water system through the Water Infrastructure Improvement Act, as well as the Intermunicipal Water Infrastructure Grants Program.

The waterline project includes 5,800 linear feet, just over a mile, and involves replacing 4- to 8-inch water mains with 8- to 12-inch water mains.

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Photos by Tom Rivers

HULBERTON – Volunteers have been busy the past two days making eggplant parmesan for the annual St. Rocco’s Italian Festival in the Hulberton hamlet. The top photo shows Donna Lavender and Jean Felice who are the “assemblers” put the fried eggplant in pans with meat sauce.

The Italian Festival has been an annual tradition in Hulberton since 1976. It is typically the Sunday before Labor Day. This year, however, is different due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The festival grounds won’t be open and there won’t be a bocce tournament.

People can pick up pre-ordered food for takeout only on Saturday at the St. Rocco Festival grounds from noon to 4 p.m. on 3514 Hulberton Rd. The deadline for preordering has passed, but there may be some additional food available on Saturday.

The volunteers are preparing 162 pans of eggplant parmesan, and perhaps a few extra. The 162 have all been preordered.

Ron Vendetti, back left, is the organizer of the eggplant parmesan and also for about 100 meatball subs that have been preordered.

The eggplant needs to be peeled and then sliced.

The “Taste of Italy” this Saturday also includes pasta fagioli, shells, pizza frita, fried dough and Italian ice. The event is a fundraiser for the St. Mary’s-St. Mark’s Parish in Holley and Kendall.

Mark Spychalski puts oil in a pan that will be heated up to fry the batter on the eggplant.

Kathleen Smith puts the flour on the eggplant. Vendetti Farms donated 12 bushels of eggplant for the parmesan.

The Eggplant Parmesan is one the hottest sellers at the annual festival.

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Photos by Tom Rivers

HOLLEY – The Holley village offices and main meeting room are now located in the second floor of the former Holley High School auditorium. The village started to move over the village offices from 72 Public Square about three weeks ago.

Home Leasing has turned the building, which was vacant for more than two decades, into 41 apartments and the offices for the village.

The main meeting room includes about 70 seats from the old auditorium that were refurbished. There are also about 40 seats up in the balcony but they are for display and aren’t available to the public.

Holley Mayor Kevin Lynch gives a tour of the site on Friday. The village offices look out on South Main Street and Route 31. Lynch is a member of Holley’s Class of 1975, which was the last class to graduate in the old high school.

He praised Home Leasing for a stunning transformation of the building, which is prominently located at Holley’s main intersection in the village.

Here is the view from the balcony looking down on the meeting room, which was used for its first Village Board meeting on Aug. 11.

There is still some cosmetic work to be done on the front of the building, including adding new columns.

Mayor Lynch said there is some confusion on the public on how to enter the building to reach the village offices. People should go through the front doors facing the flag pole.

The village was planning to move into the building in March but Covid-19 delayed some of the construction work.

The offices are on the second floor and can be by elevator or by stairs. Home Leasing was able to save and reuse the handrails from the school.

Village Clerk Deborah Schiavone likes the view from the second floor. Residents are very thankful Home Leasing took on the $17 million project, Schiavone said.

“The people who have gone to school here and remember the building are very impressed to see it now,” she said.

This is the entrance to the village offices on Friday. The signs tell people to wear masks and use hand sanitizer.

Here is how the space looked in October, when Home Leasing gave the community a chance to see the construction progress.

This is a hallway in the former school where there are now 41 apartments – one studio, 35 one-bedrooms, and five two-bedroom apartments.

Some of the locker doors were saved and placed along the hallway for ambiance.

Home Leasing has turned the space into a modern office building with a historic flavor.

Home Leasing offered a glimpse of the old auditorium in October, when there was still a lot of work to do to get the space ready for the village employees and public.

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HOLLEY – There will be a food distribution at the Holley Junior-Senior High School parking lot this morning, likely beginning around 8:30 to 9.

The start depends on when delivery trucks arrive and volunteers are in place.

People seeking food should use vehicles and access the parking lot from High Street in the village, and then use the school’s access road.

There should be enough food for at least 300 families.

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Skip Carpenter and Kevin Lynch both running for mayor

HOLLEY – The slate of candidates is set for the Sept. 15 village election. A former Holley mayor, Stanley “Skip” Carpenter, is seeking the position and will be running against Kevin Lynch.

Lynch is the current Holley mayor. He was appointed to position on July 14, following the resignation of Brian Sorochty. Lynch had been serving as Holley’s deputy mayor.

There are two candidates for trustees. Connie Nenni is seeking re-election. Mark Bower is running for the position vacated by Lynch, when he moved up to be Holley’s mayor.

All of the terms are for two years.

The candidates all needed to submit petitions signed by at least 35 registered voters in the village.

The election will move from the Village Office at the Public Square to the Holley Gardens, the former high school that has been transformed into apartments and village offices. The polling location will be in the lobby.

Voting will be from noon to 9 p.m. To inquire about an absentee ballot, call the Village Office at (585) 638-6367.

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HOLLEY – The school district will have three public meetings on Tuesday with Holley families to discuss the reopening plan for the 2020-21 school year.

Holley’s plan would have students in school for in-person learning for two days a week, while the other three days would be remote learning at home. That includes all grade levels.

Splitting the student body in half for in-person classes will allow Holley to maintain social distancing in classes with desks spaced at least 6 feet apart, which is required by the state for in-person learning during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Wednesday would be a designated day for remote learning for all students. That would allow Holley to do a “deep cleaning” of school buildings.

The parent forums on Tuesday will all be through Zoom video conferencing because the district is limited on the number of people for in-person, indoor gatherings.

The Zoom sessions will be at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. Links for the meetings will be posted on the district website.

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HOLLEY – The school will again offer free breakfasts and lunches to all students in the elementary school and at the middle/high school.

The meals will be available to students in school and also those doing remote learning. Holley is currently looking to have two cohorts with students in school for classes on either Monday and Tuesday or Thursday and Friday. The three other days will be for remote learning.

For remote learning days, there will be designated locations to pick up free meals.

This is the second school year Holley is offering the meals for free to all students. The program is available through the Community Eligibility Provision of the National School Breakfast/Lunch Program.

The CEP program provides the opportunity for schools in high poverty areas to provide two nutritious meals every school day, while eliminating the stigma for those students previously identified as “low income.”

For additional information please contact:

Holley Elementary & Middle/High School

Attention: Sharon Zacher, Assistant Superintendent for Business

3800 North Main Street

Holley, NY  14470

(585) 638-6316 Ext 2001

szacher@holleycsd.org

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Photos by Tom Rivers

HOLLEY – Andrew Drechsel, who will be a senior at Holley this school year, was among the volunteers this morning at a food distribution at the parking lot for the Holley Junior-Senior High School.

This was the first time the event was at the school parking lot. Last month it was at the parking lot at the Holley Pharmacy and former Save-A-Lot grocery store.

There were long lines backed up in the Public Square and down Route 31 at that location.

Today motorists entered the school campus from High Street and went up the road from the bus garage to the junior-senior high school.

That worked well in keeping the vehicles from backing up on the public streets.

Michelle Figueroa, case manager for Community Action, checks the temperature on volunteer Dave Gagne. Figueroa made sure everyone’s temperature was under 100 degrees. Gagne was volunteering for the first time today at one of the food distribution.

The cars are lined up down the road on the school campus. One of the delivery trucks is at left.

Annette Grillo, community services director for Community Action, gives the group of volunteers instructions. She urged people to take a break if they felt a little woozy from the heat.

Community Action had cold water and Gatorade drinks for the volunteers, as well as hand sanitizer and masks.

Each vehicle received three boxes – produce, meats and dairy, as well as some strawberries. There was enough for 300 vehicles. Each box weighed about 25 pounds.

Food for the first 250 vehicles went fast. The cars and trucks were allowed in the parking lot at about 8:40 a.m. An hour later, when this photo was taken, most of the food was gone. There were still about 50 boxes left of produce, meat and dairy.

These empty pallets are stacked after being cleared with boxes of food.

The food distributions are made possible through a state-funded program called Nourish New York. This funding allows Foodlink to purchase local product.

On a federal level, the USDA has implemented a new initiative called CFAP (Coronavirus Food Assistance Program). In this program, distributors who would normally serve schools, restaurants, and municipal programs are able to pre-pack boxes of perishable product and deliver to distributions being done all over the country.

The distributions will continue in August in Orleans County. There hasn’t been any indication if the program will continue after that, said Finch and also Melissa Blanar, director of the Office for the Aging in Orleans County.

People interested in volunteering should contact Blanar at the Office for the Aging at 589-3191.

The schedule for the distributions through the end of August includes:

• Friday, August 7 – in Albion at Community Action Main Street Store, 9:30 a.m. until gone
• Wednesday, Aug. 12, at the Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds on Route 31 in Knowlesville (includes one box of produce), 10 a.m. until gone
• Friday, Aug. 14 – in Medina at school district, 9:30 a.m. until gone
• Friday, Aug. 21 – in Albion at Community Action Main Street Store, 9:30 a.m. until gone
• Wednesday, Aug. 26, at the Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds on Route 31 in Knowlesville (includes one box of produce), 10 a.m. until gone
• Friday, Aug. 28 – in Holley, location to be determined, 9:30 a.m. until gone

These events tend to start about an hour earlier than the advertised time if the food delivery trucks have arrived and if there is a long line of vehicles.

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Press Release, Holley Police Chief Roland Nenni

HOLLEY – A food distribution event will be held on Friday at the Holley Jr.-Sr. High School parking lot. This event is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m., however, because many arrive early, the event will begin as soon as the food arrives and is ready for distribution.

The event could start as early as 8:15 a.m. The event will conclude at 11 a.m. or when the food is gone.

To access to the event, enter the school grounds from High Street and then follow the bus garage access road that leads to the High School. After receiving the sealed boxes of food, vehicles will exit the school grounds via Lynch Road. Vehicles will not be allowed to enter other than from High Street.

Signs will be posted to where vehicles should begin to line up. Please have your vehicle ready as you enter the distribution site with the trunk or rear hatch open and the windows closed.

These events draw many vehicles that cause traffic issues because of the long lines that are created. We are hoping that the plan we have developed and the location for this event will have the least impact on traffic and residential streets.

This event is being conducted by Community Action of Orleans and Genesee, Foodlink and the Orleans County Office of the Aging.

We would like to thank the Holley School District for the use of the parking lot.

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Photo by Tom Rivers: Cars and trucks are lined up on East Park Street in Albion on July 10 for a food distribution organized by Community Action, the Orleans County Office for the Aging, and Foodlink. Albion will host another food distribution Friday morning. It is scheduled form 9:30 until gone but could start earlier in the delivery trucks are done unloading.

The food distribution on July 31 is moving from the parking lot at the former Save-A-Lot to the Holley Jr. Sr. High School parking lot.

This event is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. but could start sooner if the delivery trucks are unloaded. Many people have been lining up in their vehicles well before the scheduled start time. That created a traffic bottleneck in Holley last month.

To access the event, motorists should enter the school grounds from High Street and then follow the bus garage access road that leads to the high school. After receiving the sealed boxes of food, vehicles will exit off Lynch Road. Vehicles will not be allowed to enter other than from High Street, said Roland Nenni, Holley police chief.

Signs will be posted to where vehicles should begin to line up. Nenni said the vehicles should be ready with the trunk or rear hatch open and the windows closed.

“These events draw many vehicles that cause traffic issues because of the long lines that are created,” Nenni said. “We are hoping that the plan we have developed and the location for this event will have the least impact on traffic and residential streets.”

This event is being conducted by Community Action of Orleans and Genesee, Food Link and the Office of the Aging.

”We would like to thank the Holley School District for the use of the parking lot,” Nenni said.

The schedule for the Friday distributions (all scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m.) through the end of August includes:

• July 24: Albion at Community Action Store on Main Street
• July 31: Holley at Junior-Senior High School, 16848 Lynch Rd. – no lines before 8am
• August 7: Albion at Community Action Store, Main Street
• August 14: Medina at Medina Central District – no lines before 8am
• August 21: Albion at Community Action Store, Main Street
• August 28: Holley at location to be determined

Volunteers are still needed for all Fridays in August. For more information on volunteering, call Melissa Blanar at the Orleans County Office for the Aging at 589-3191.

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MURRAY – The Murray Republican Committee has endorsed Dirk Lammes to be the town’s next highway superintendent.

Lammes currently owns Lammes Construction and works with municipalities with waterline repairs. His company also does snowplowing in the winters.

Ed Morgan, the Murray highway superintendent for 30 years, resigned on May 31.

That came too late in the normal endorsement and petition process, which is done in the spring.

Lammes will be on the November ballot as the Republican candidate for a one-year term. Next year there will be the normal election process for a full term. (Lammes also has been endorsed by the Conservative Party.)

The Murray Republican’s Committee to Fill Vacancies met on July 11 and interviewed three candidates. David Nenni, the Holley DPW superintendent, and Orleans County Sheriff’s Deputy Jim DeFilipps also were interested in the position.

Lammes, 52, has been doing emergency waterline repairs for municipalities since 2001, mainly in the Town of Irondequoit. He also has a contract in the Town of Henrietta.

He purchased his first backhoe when he was 18, doing construction work on his own, while working full-time with his father with construction work in Rochester.

If he is elected highway superintendent, Lammes said he would step back from his business which would be run by his nephew and son.

He has been plowing snow for more than three decades.

“It’s not like it’s new to me,” he said.

Lammes, a youth baseball coach the past 10 years, said he welcomes the chance to work closer to home.

“I like a challenge and the work is interesting to me,” he said. “I look forward to working with everybody. I’m not looking to reinvent the wheel. But if there are things we can improve on I will do it.”

The Highway Department is currently led by Deputy Highway Superintendent Louise Passarell with Dennis Mandigo, the senior highway employee, in charge of water.

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