Outstanding Citizens in 2023 stayed dedicated to making Orleans County a better place

The Orleans Hub each year highlights a group of local residents who stand out for their selfless devotion to make Orleans County a better place.

Here are our picks for “Outstanding Citizens” from the past year, people who stood out for working through difficult challenges to complete a community project or serve others.

Trio worked for nearly a decade to bring bronze Santa to Albion

Photos by Tom Rivers: These directors of the Albion Betterment Committee are shown on June 10 with a new bronze statue of Santa in honor of the late Charles W. Howard, who started a Santa school in Albion in 1937 and ran it until his death in 1966. From left include Gary Derwick, Joe Gehl and Gary Kent.

A trio of long-time friends about a decade ago launched an ambitious project to honor a revered Albionite from about a half century ago, an effort the three members of the Albion Betterment Committee also said would help promote the community today.

On June 10, Gary Derwick, Joe Gehl and Gary Kent cut the ribbon for a new bronze statue in downtown Albion in honor of Charles W. Howard, the man who is still considered the “Dean of Santas.” Howard ran a school to train Santas from 1937 to 1966. The school continues in his name today in Midland, Mich. Howard also developed Christmas Park in Albion and served as the Santa in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade for 18 years.

The three leaders of the Albion betterment Committee have been rallying behind Howard’s legacy in the past decade. They have put up “Believe” signs, convinced the state to name a portion of Route 31 in memory of Howard, and backed other projects promoting Howard, including two Santa murals in Albion.

The bronze statue was the biggest effort. They raised about $80,000 for the project and hired Brian Porter to create the statue in a likeness of Howard in his Santa suit.

Derwick, Gehl and Kent hope the statue will be a springboard for others to promote the community’s Santa lineage. Already, it seems to be paying off. This past holiday season about 40 of the light posts were decorated, as well as 12 Christmas trees on the courthouse lawn. There also was a big “Santa’s Hometown Parade” with many lighted floats on Dec. 9.

Pastor helps students get school year off to good start with annual Family Fun Day

Pastor Jovannie Canales interviews Sherry Tuohey, who heads MAAC’s Red Barrel program at Christmas, during the Family Fun Day at Butts Park on Aug. 5. Canales and his wife Melisa, left, are leaders of the Oasis Church in Medina. It used to be known as The Second Church True Disciples of Jesus Christ until changing its name in May.

Pastor Jovannie Canales wants students to be well-stocked with supplies when the school year starts. He also wants their families to be connected to agencies and churches that can make their families stronger.

For six years Canales, pastor of the Oasis Church, has organized a Family Fun Day at Butts Park in Medina. The event attracted 600 people on Aug. 5. It has grown from the first one in a parking lot. Now there are musicians, many non-profit organizations, lots of free food, BMX bikers and skateboarders, many from the faith community, and numerous school supplies.

Canales and his wife Melisa are leaders of the Oasis Church in Medina. It used to be known as The Second Church True Disciples of Jesus Christ until changing its name in May. The church is bilingual, speaking and writing in Spanish and English. Canales wants everyone to feel welcome. The church attendees come from many backgrounds – Mexican, Honduran, Puerto Rican, Panamanian, Jamaican, white and Black.

Canales also helps organize the National Night Out, which included 42 different organizations and many first responders at Butts Park on Aug. 1. At least 500 people attended the event that allowed residents to connect with law enforcement, other first responders, and community organizations.

Canales also has served on Medina’s Police Reform Committee that regularly meets with leaders of the police department. That committee has worked with the department to increase community policing, training and how to better respond to people in a mental health crisis.

Newcomer to Albion takes dream of new basketball courts to reality

Susan Oschmann joined in on some of the action at the new basketball courts at Bullard Park on Oct. 26. Oschmann pushed for two years to get new courts at Bullard, lining up fundraising and support for the project.

Susan Oschmann made it a mission two years ago to get new basketball courts at Bullard Park. Oschmann rallied the community, including basketball legend Roosevelt Bouie of Kendall, in getting two new courts complete. They opened on Oct. 26.

Oschmann recently moved to Albion from Kendall and was surprised to see the sorry shape of the courts at Bullard, a place where Bouie got his start when he was a kid.

The previous court was back further in the park and the surface wasn’t level with asphalt heaving in sports. The hoops were missing nets and were seldom used.

Oschmann wanted kids, including her grandchildren, to have a place to shoot basketballs with friends.

Oschmann and Bouie have been friends since they were kids. Bouie was a big star at Syracuse University and he helped secure $40,000 in funding from the James and Juli Boeheim Foundation.

Altogether more than $100,000 was secured to put in two full-length courts, four basketball hoops and some fencing. The courts are painted in vibrant colors.

Oschmann said there is still more to do – about $50,000 is needed for more fencing as well as benches for spectators in a shaded area and working outdoor lights.

Oschmann also helped spearhead a new sled library, where people can borrow a slide when the Bullard Park sledding hill is covered in snow. She also coordinated the Santa’s Hometown Parade in Albion on Dec. 9.

Medina woman makes mission of helping veterans through ‘Operation Honor’

Jenn Thom cheers on runners during the Operation Honor 5K on Nov. 11. The course started at the Junior Wilson Sportsmen’s Club, went through village streets and concluded at the Sportsmen’s Club. She has organized the race on Veterans’ Day since 2018.

Jenn Thom has made it a personal mission to try to help local veterans who may be experiencing a financial pinch. She is one of the leaders of Operation Honor, a local non-profit that raises money for veterans.

Operation Honor modelled the example of the Knights-Kaderli Memorial Fund, where people battling cancer can apply for assistance and receive some help to pay bills and other expenses.

Thom hasn’t served in the military. She runs an accounting business. Operation Honor is her way of serving veterans who she said sacrificed so much for the country. Many of those vets often find themselves in financial stress. Operation Honor is able to lighten that load whether covering utility bills, car payments, or purchasing heating pellets for veterans in need.

Besides giving directly to veterans, Operation Honor provides funding to other groups that help vets, including a van service that takes veterans to medical appointments. Operation Honor donated $10,000 last month to the Joint Veterans Council towards a low-mileage van. Operation Honor also has given to the Warrior House in West Shelby, which provides a hunting retreat for wounded vets and children who have lost a parent in war.

Operation Honor is looking to start an oral history initiative with local veterans being interviewed about their time in the military. Sarah Surdel, another Operation Honor leader, is heading that effort in 2024.

Albion woman starts organization giving senior citizens rides on 3-wheeled bike

Provided photo: Susan Walders took a tri-shaw bike to The Villages of Orleans in Albion on Sept. 27 and gave several residents rides outside the nursing home. She plans to be busy taking people on rides in 2024.

Susan Walders has been determined to help senior citizens, especially those in nursing home and other care facilities, get outdoors and connect with nature. She sees bike rides as a great way to meet that goal.

Susan Walders rides a tri-shaw bike down the sidewalk along East Avenue in Albion on Sept. 2. She is practicing as a “pilot” with the new bike.

Walders was able to raise $12,000 new tri-shaw, a 3-wheeled bike with cushions for two passengers. She has formed a non-profit organizations, Cycling Without Age in Orleans County, with a board of directors.

The bike arrived in late August and Walders took it to The Villages of Orleans on Sept. 27 for the first bike rides, taking residents on a path behind the nursing home.

Other “pilots” have been trained to ride the bike. She expects to be busy this year going to nursing home and other care facilities for senior citizens and people with disabilities.

United Methodist congregation in Albion covered many of the expenses to get the organization off the ground. Walders also secured other donations and sold items that she crocheted and knitted.

The 3-wheeled bike is sturdy. The pilots go on slow rides so the seniors and other passengers can enjoy the scenery.

“We want to get people out of their rooms and into the community and nature,” Walders said. “They can feel the wind in their hair. Getting outside on this bike will improve mood and sociability.”

Walders pushed for the new service for seniors, partly so she could get her mother outside for rides. Her mom is a resident at The Willows in Medina and she was the first passenger for Cycling Without Age in Orleans County.

Scott Christ and many volunteers bring back the Murray Tractor Pull

Scott “Spanky” Christ, the lead organizer for the Murray Tractor Pull, also competed in the event on July 22. He drives “Just For Fun” in the Super Farm Class and is regularly among the points leaders in that class for the Empire State Pullers.

The community missed the Murray Tractor Pull. The event returned July 22 after a four-year absence, first cancelled due to Covid restriction in 2020, and then not coming back in 2021 or ’22.

Scott “Spanky” Christ wanted the event back and put in a major effort getting the course ready, recruiting competitors and bringing in a record-size crowd of 1,600 people to the venue on Groth Road.

The event raised $8,500 for the Ronald McDonald House, a worthy cause that provides hospitality for families with children fighting a serious illness.

Christ is part of a three-generation family that competes in tractor pulling. His father Lloyd drives his Heavy Super Stock tractor, “It’s Only Money,” and Scott son’s Travis also competes in the Super Farm Class with “No Expectations.”

The crowd, which included many first-timers to a tractor pull, seemed to revel in watching high-powered tractors, semi trucks and other vehicles pulling a 40,000-pound sled.

“Everything went over very well,” Christ said after the tractor pull. “Hats off to all of the volunteers.”

Provided photo: The Christ family in Holley and a team of volunteers that put on the Murray Tractor Pull present a ceremonial check for $8,500 to the Ronald McDonald House.

Brett Sobieraski inspired many by running 1,300 miles in 50 days in honor of slain Rochester PD officer

Provided photos: Brett Sobieraski, a Carlton resident, is shown on June 4 entering New York State, the eighth and final state of a 1,300-mile journey on foot.

Brett Sobieraski does mighty feats frequently. In 2015, he swam 32 miles across Lake Ontario for a charity that helps support the surviving spouses and children of fallen soldiers. In 2018, he ran over 175 miles for 50 hours nonstop to raise money and awareness for Special Olympics.

Sobieraski is a retired Rochester police sergeant who lives in Kent. In 2023, Sobieraski announced he would be running a marathon every day for 48 days, traveling on foot from Florida and Rochester, going 26.2 miles a day. He would run the marathons to honor the memory of Rochester police officer Anthony “Maz” Mazurkiewicz. He was killed in the line of duty on July 21, 2022. Sobieraski also sought to raise $100,000 for Mazurkiewicz’s family.

That goal was expanded to 50 marathons in 50 days, and Sobieraski would raise $110,000 for the family.

The journey began April 23 in Palatka, Florida and ended June 11 in Rochester. Sobieraski added two marathons near the end. He was allowing two rest days but added more when he was feeling strong and the mission had such a following as he passed through communities and reporters picked up the story.

The “8 States for Maz” marathon mission was featured by the Today show in a moving feature about the loss of a fallen police officer and the impact on Mazurkiewicz’s family.

Anthony “Maz” Mazurkiewicz

Sobieraski said he felt like the community too quickly moved on after the death of Mazurkiewicz. Sobieraski said he wanted the officer’s family to feel love and respect from the community, and know Maz’s life of service is deeply appreciated. The response was far more than Sobieraski could have imagined. In the last 5K of the final marathon, 850 people joined him.

Sobieraski spent much of the trip as a lone solitary figure, running along the side of a road, often carrying an American flag. He took a chance in committing to such a demanding goal, including sections that were up mountains.

In the end, he brought together the community, and honored Mazurkiewicz, a Rochester PD veteran who was shot in the upper body on Bauman Street. He worked in RPD’s Tactical Unit 8. He would investigate many of the city’s toughest cases. Sobieraski said Maz was deeply respected in the RPD. Sobieraski picked eight states to run, with the eight in recognition of Maz’s tactical unit number.

“We need to pay attention when cops are murdered,” Sobieraski said. “These are our people, and their families are suffering.”