By Ginny Kropf, correspondent Posted 13 August 2019 at 1:58 pm
Photos by Ginny Kropf: Kelly Shaw, left, director of the Senior Center of Western Orleans, and Lee Smith, vice president of the board, sell raffle tickets at their annual picnic Monday at Junior Wilson’s Sportsmen’s Club.
MEDINA – More than 40 members of the Senior Center of Western Orleans attended their annual picnic Monday at Junior Wilson’s Sportsmen’s Club.
The event featured a potluck dinner, hot dogs cooked by board president Lynn Creasey and entertainment by magician Stephen Ingraham of Greece.
Ingraham has been doing magic for 46 years and was named Magician of the Year twice – once in Seattle and another year in Rochester. In Seattle in 1977 he was up against Siegfried and Roy and Lance Burton. He has appeared at the New York State Fair 30 years in a row.
The afternoon ended with raffle drawings and several games of cards.
The picnic is sponsored by the Senior Center as a way to say thank you to the members for their support throughout the year.
The Senior Center is located at 615 West Ave. and is open during August from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and from noon to 4 p.m. Fridays for euchre. Any senior is invited to join.
Magician Stephen Ingraham from Greece enlists the help of Lee Smith of Lyndonville to perform one of his tricks at the Senior Center of Western Orleans’ annual picnic at Junior Wilson Sportsmen’s Club.
Provided photos: Pictured from let include Planning Board members Tom Snyder, Chris Goyette, Kathleen Blackburn, chairman Chris Busch, code enforcement officer Marty Busch, vice chairman John Dieter, Larissa Degraw and Mary Lewis.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 12 August 2019 at 8:01 am
Martin Busch was recognized on Aug. 6 by the Medina Planning Board for his 24 years as the village code enforcement office.
MEDINA – Marty Busch, Medina’s code enforcement officer, was recognized last week by the Medina Planning Board during his last meeting as the village’s code officer before his retirement next month.
The board presented Busch with a certificate of appreciation for Busch’s “pursuit of excellence in planning, sign and preservation of our community and heritage.”
The Planning Board also functions as Medina’s Architectural and Historic Review Board.
Busch has been the village’s code enforcement officer for 24 years, during a time of renaissance in the downtown business district and expansion in Medina’s Business Park.
He was praised for helping to craft design standards for the community and for working with business owners and residents to meet those regulations.
In a letter to the Village Board on June 24, Busch thanked the village officials and community for the opportunity to work in Medina.
“The job introduced me to people, took me places and showed me things I never could have imagined,” Busch wrote in his letter. “Most of all I am extremely grateful to have worked with and for the most dedicated, hard working and in some cases brave people I have ever known. Medina is truly blessed to have such public employees and officials.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 10 August 2019 at 10:37 am
Group is close to meeting goal for first phase
Provided photo: Alaina Wilson, one of the leaders of the Friends of the Medina Dog Park, is pictured with David Burd, owner of the Blue Burds Nest. Burd made the sign for the new dog park.
MEDINA – A group that has been working for more than a year to plan and raise money for a dog park in Medina is close to reaching its fundraising goal for the first phase of the park.
The Friends of the Medina Dog Park has raised $10,000 so far out of a $15,000 goal for the park, which would be on North Gravel Road by the village’s compost plant.
The Friends is hoping to raise the remaining costs for the first phase during its 2nd Annual Dog Days of Summer on Aug. 24 at Leonard Oakes Estate Winery in Medina. That event from 2 to 8 p.m. includes food, music, raffles and other activities.
The first phase includes fencing for three enclosures – for small dogs, large dogs and an agility area. There will also be benches and waste stations with bags for dog poop.
Alaina Wilson has been leading the push for the dog park. If the group can reach the fundraising goal on Aug. 24, she said the enclosures could soon be erected with the park opening this fall.
With the second phase, The Friends of the Medina Dog Park wants to add agility equipment, and water and rinse stations.
The Medina Village Board agreed to set aside about 1 acre of the land at the former compost plant for the dog park. The dog park would be the first in Orleans County.
Wilson said the park will be a place to take dogs for exercise, and to work on training and social skills. She said the park will draw visitors to Medina, boosting the local economy.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 9 August 2019 at 12:42 pm
MEDINA – Snappy, a manufacturing company in Medina, will move to the former Bernzomatic, which has plenty of room to allow Snappy to expand.
Snappy currently manufactures galvanized pipe and fittings for the residential HVAC industry out of 214 Commercial St., near the lift bridge by the Erie Canal.
The former Bernzomatic site was bought last year by Kyle Brent through his B360 Holdings LLC. Brent announced plans to upgrade and rehab the former manufacturing site.
Neither Brent nor Snappy is seeking tax incentives as part of the relocation, Orleans Economic Development Agency officials said today.
The former Bernzomatic plant was closed by its last tenant, Worthington Cylinders. The manufacturing plant has 160,000 square feet and has been vacant since 2014. Worthington closed the Medina plant in mid-2014 and shifted those operations to a Worthington site in Wisconsin, ending 174 jobs in Medina.
Worthington bought Bernzomatic in 2011. Bernzomatic had operated in Medina since 1969, making torches.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 9 August 2019 at 8:21 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
MEDINA – Downtown Medina hosted the fourth annual Farm to Table Dinner on Thursday evening with about 225 enjoying a six-course, gourmet meal prepared by local restaurants.
Organizers fretted earlier in the day when thunderstorms passed through, but made the decision to keep the dinner on a closed-off section of Main Street.
The event is hosted by the Orleans Renaissance Group, Inc., as part of the annual activities of the Canal Village Farmers’ Market, a Medina enterprise also sponsored by ORG.
Michael Zambito, owner of Zambistro, helps serve beef and lamb kefta prepared by Sourced Market & Eatery. Chefs from several restaurants work together on the meal, Besides Zambistro and Sourced, chefs and staff from Bent’s Opera House, Mile 303, Mariachi De Oro and the Shirt Factory worked on the dinner.
The dinner draws people from Western New York, and includes many business and community leaders from Medina who welcome the chance to connect at event.
Tickets for the dinner went on sale July 8 for $125 each and sold out within 15 minutes.
Sourced Market & Eatery prepared “Mesopotamia on Main Street” which featured beef and lamb kefta, garden smoked tabouli, red currant and sumac vinaigrette.
Medina held its first Farm to Table dinner event on Aug. 4, 2016. There were 137 people at that dinner, a fine dining experience featuring locally grown food and wine.
The event delivers an exquisite, six-course, gourmet meal in Medina’s historic downtown.
The dinner also provides an opportunity to experience how local chefs capitalize on Orleans County’s number one industry: agriculture.
Jonathan Oakes of Leonard Oakes Estate Winery in Medina serves a drink with smoked peaches created by 810 Meadworks and the Shirt Factory.
Ashley Adams, a waitress with Zambistro, is a blur trying to keep pace with serving the dishes and returning plates when people were finished.
The dinner includes a souvenir glass.
ORG’s next big event is an Oct. 5 concert at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Medina featuring tenor Ronan Tynan.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 6 August 2019 at 4:31 pm
MEDINA – The Medina Board of Education last week set the tax rates for the 2019-20 year. Th $20.23 rat is down 89 cents from the 2018-19 school year.
The district has a $40,284,425 budget for the 2019-20 school year, including a tax levy of $8,641,861, the same as 2018-19. This is the eighth consecutive year Medina has either reduced taxes or held them in check, and the 11th out of the past 12 years.
Although the tax levy is the same, the rate will go down due to a rising assessed value in the district.
Lee-Whedon Memorial Library which sets its budget separately from the school district, has a rate of $1.28, down a penny.
Ridgeway, which is at 0.94 equalization, will have a rate of $21.52 and $1.36 for the Lee-Whedon Memorial Library. Shelby, which is at 0.98 equalization rate, has a school tax rate of $20.64 and $1.30 for the library, said Mark Kruzynski, the district superintendent.
By Ginny Kropf, correspondent Posted 5 August 2019 at 8:29 am
Photos by Ginny Kropf: Rita Zambito and her son Mark Zambito recently opened a new real estate office on Maple Ridge Road, Medina, where they have planned a grand opening from 5 to 8 p.m. Aug. 15. They also opened an office July 1 in Wrights Corners.
MEDINA – Being a business owner is a drive Rita Zambito has passed down to her children – Mike, with whom she is a 50-50 partner in Zambisto’s Restaurant on Main Street, and Mark, her partner in Zambito Realty.
Rita admits her launch into real estate wasn’t an easy one.
Zambito was born and raised in Elba, the daughter of a muck farmer. She studied accounting at Genesee Community College and management at Roberts Wesleyan College.
Then came marriage and three children, but after a divorce, she found herself a single mom who had to make a living.
“I went to work at Stovroff-Potter, and I worked my butt off,” Zambito said.
After that she worked for Woodroe Realty for three years while Mark, her youngest son, was in college.
In December 2006, the same year she and Mike opened Zambisto’s Restaurant in Medina, Rita decided to open her own real estate office. With Mark as her partner and four agents, Zambito Realty opened on North Main Street.
“Then the market hit the fan,” Rita said. “And we were competing with five real estate agencies in town.”
“The banks started getting very strict with lending money and the real estate market hit bottom,” Mark said.
Two things helped them survive, Rita said.
One was the fact Mark was a marketing major, and real estate was all he knew. He grew up following his mother on calls and paid his way through college doing market evaluations on properties for banks.
The second reason is their willingness to help people build their credit so they could get financing to buy a house.
“Those first-time buyers that you work with and help are the ones who stick with you and are your best advertisers,” Mark said.
This is the new home of Zambito Realtors at 11228 Maple Ridge Rd. The company was recently rated eighth in Western New York out of more than 200 realtors.
Zambito Realty began to grow after several new agents joined the company, including Linda Froman.
When another agency closed in town, several of their agents came to work for Zambito.
Slowly they expanded into Niagara County, Buffalo and Rochester.
“Being from the country we knew how to deal with country people,” Rita said. “We built ourselves on the rural area. We don’t like the hard sell, and we don’t like to be pushed.”
She said there were times buyers were so hard to come by they just befriended people, hoping they would eventually become a customer.
“That philosophy definitely paid off,” Rita said. “It’s not the quick way to make a sale, but it’s the right way.”
She said selling real estate is basically just helping people.
“Everyone has their own doctor and dentist,” she said. “We want to be their realtor. We are there to help with any real estate issue.”
On Jan. 1, Zambito Realty began the move to a new modern office at 11228 Maple Ridge Rd., formerly Verelli’s Used Car Lot.
They will celebrate their move with a grand opening from 5 to 8 p.m. Aug. 15. Son Mike will provide food and refreshments from Zambistro’s.
With a growing number of agents from Niagara County and the Buffalo area, Zambito Realty opened a second real estate office on July 1 in Wrights Corners.
Zambito Realty is proud to announce they have been ranked 8th in Western New York among more than 200 agencies. They did more than 400 transactions last year, Rita said.
While being a business owner takes a lot of work and commitment, the Zambitos wouldn’t have it any other way.
“You can only make a limited amount of money when you work for someone else,” Rita said.
“At the end of the day you go home thinking of what else you can do,” Mark said.
“Your work is never done,” his mother said. “You go to bed thinking about what you have to do.”
Rita also has a daughter Mandy Gotham, who has two children. She lives in Orchard Park and owns a consulting business.
By Ginny Kropf, correspondent Posted 4 August 2019 at 4:17 pm
Photos by Ginny Kropf: Mary Williams (left), vice president of human resources at Orleans Community Health, chats with Ann Ortwein, one of dozens of volunteers who help at Medina Memorial Hospital.
MEDINA – Without volunteers, Mary Williams’ job might not run so smoothly.
Williams is vice president of human resources at Orleans Community Health, and a big part of her job is overseeing dozens of hospital volunteers and general volunteers who perform various duties throughout Medina Memorial Hospital.
Volunteers do many activities with residents in the North Wing, such as polish their nails, do Bingo or just interact with the residents.
One volunteer helps in the pharmacy and several others are patient advocates.
“As an advocate, they go around in a ‘folksy’ way and ask if there are any issues the patient wants to talk about,” Williams said. “Or they might just ask how the food is.”
Volunteers from the Association of Twigs have dwindled, but they still perform an invaluable service, registering out-patients and monitoring the waiting room. A Twig volunteer also sits at the reception desk to register visitors and direct them where they need to go.
Volunteers transport people from surgery or from the floor to physical therapy, or to the door if they’ve been discharged. In order for a volunteer to move a patient, however, that patient must be able to move themselves, or a nurse performs the action.
One student volunteer is going to nursing school and is volunteering for the summer.
Volunteer opportunities at the hospital are many and varied, Williams said. There are opportunities for older individuals who may be looking for something to fill their time or a way to get out and meet people. Younger volunteers, such as anyone considering a career in nursing, can shadow our employees to see if that is what they really want to do.
The hospital has a new van to transport North Wing residents on outings, and volunteers are sometimes needed for that.
Williams’ job also includes interviewing potential volunteers.
“After I talk to a new volunteer, I first talk with managers to make sure they are willing to supervise a volunteer,” Williams said.
Mary Williams stands by a painting she did, which hangs in her office. A big part of her job is overseeing dozens of volunteers who help at the hospital.
Then, if a volunteer is qualified, Williams explains about infection control and patient confidentiality.
“I don’t want to turn any volunteer away,” Williams said. “I try and find a suitable place for everyone who wants to volunteer.”
Williams said volunteers’ worth is immeasurable, not only in terms of services provided, but in dollars saved by the hospital.
“Anyone with a mission to serve can be a volunteer,” she said. “It’s so much better for everybody when we have volunteers.”
Anyone interested in volunteering can call Williams at 798-8148.
Williams said she has been at Medina Memorial Hospital “a long, long time.”
“I was a kid off the farm when I entered nursing school,” she said. “I wanted to be a volunteer then. I got to be a professional student. I became a certified nurses’ assistant, a licensed practical nurse and then a registered nurse.”
She became a supervisor, worked in intensive care and the emergency room, then decided she wanted to be in administration. She earned her master’s degree in health care administration and was manager of nursing for a while.
“I’m grateful to the hospital for giving me all those opportunities,” Williams said. “Some day, I’ll retire, and then I’ll become a volunteer.”
By Ginny Kropf, correspondent Posted 3 August 2019 at 8:22 pm
Photos by Ginny Kropf
MEDINA – A group of bikers on the Empire State Ride posed by the Erie Canal at State Street Park this morning during the last leg of their more than 500-mile ride from New York City to Niagara Falls.
Jim Hancock, left, chair of the Medina Tourism Committee, talks with biker Claudia Gray of Buffalo, one of 178 riders on the Empire State Ride who enjoyed lunch and refreshments in State Street Park this morning. The bikers planned to complete their more than 500-mile journey early this evening in Niagara Falls, where there will be a parade and festivities to celebrate their achievement.
Steve Mars of Long Island and Maria Thor of Springbrook took time for a picture in State Street Park before embarking on the last leg of their ride from New York City to Niagara Falls. Thor is the top money raiser of the nearly 200 riders, with pledges of more than $22,000. The ride raised more than $1 million for Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo.
Bill Sheff of Lancaster, right, waits for a new tire to be put on his bike, after getting a flat as he rode into State Street Park. Jan Bent, left, and Ken Nawrocki of Rochester were the mechanics who accompanied the nearly 200 riders from New York City to Niagara Falls on the ride to benefit Roswell Park Cancer Institute.
By Ginny Kropf, correspondent Posted 2 August 2019 at 7:59 am
MEDINA – More than 200 bicyclists will stop in Medina on Saturday during their last leg of the 2019 Empire State Cyclists.
This is the fifth year for the ride from New York City to Niagara Falls to benefit Roswell Park Cancer Institute.
Medina Tourism Committee chairman Jim Hancock is urging Medina residents to come to State Street Park between 10 a.m. and noon and extend a warm Medina welcome to the cyclists, who will be having lunch in the park. Tourism volunteers will help set up areas for the cyclists to eat.
Every year, participation in the ride grows, said Sue Moessinger of Cumberland, Md., a staff member and rider. She said riders average 70 miles per day. The ride started July 28 in New York City and will conclude on Saturday in Niagara Falls, where they have a police escort into the city, followed by a big celebration there.
Another staff member, Jessica Stankiewicz of Niagara Falls, said riders participating not only come from other states, but Hawaii and Canada.
Each rider must secure donations of at least $3,500 for Roswell in order to participate.
Stankiewicz said they always look forward to their stop in Medina because of the great park and quaint Medina area.
