Press Release, UConnectCare

BATAVIA – The New York State Council of the Society for Human Resource Management, Best Companies Group and Rochester Business Journal have named UConnectCare Behavioral Health Services as one of the 2024 Best Companies to Work for in New York.

This is the sixth consecutive year that the local nonprofit agency, formerly known as Genesee/Orleans Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, has been recognized by Best Companies to Work for in New York, a research-driven program that examines a company’s practices, programs and benefits and also surveys its employees for their perspectives.

UConnectCare was one of 27 businesses in the state receiving the honor in the medium companies (100-249 employees) category.

“As our agency continues to grow, I am especially proud of how our staff has pulled together to provide a wider spectrum of services, while also expressing their satisfaction on the survey in terms of their workplace experience,” UConnectCare Chief Executive Officer John Bennett said. “I am delighted by the level of professionalism and compassion displayed by our employees throughout the organization.”

To be considered, companies must have at least 15 full-time or part-time employees working in New York; be a for-profit or not-for-profit business or government entity; be a publicly or privately held business; have a facility in the State of New York and be in business a minimum of one year.

There were two parts used to determine the rankings. The first consisted of evaluating each nominated company’s workplace policies, practices and demographics, worth approximately 25 percent of the total evaluation.

The second part consisted of an employee survey to measure the employee experience, which consisted of 75 percent of the total. The combined scores determined the top companies and the final rankings.

For more information on the Best Companies to Work for in New York program, visit www.BestCompaniesNY.com.

Organization offers assistance to individuals and families fighting addictions

Photo by Ginny Kropf: Orleans County Chief Coroner Scott Schmidt and Susan Howard, assistant district attorney, display a sign at the Country Club Restaurant in Medina, promoting Orleans Recovery.

MEDINA – Get clean or die.

 That is Scott Schmidt’s advice for anyone using drugs.

As Orleans County’s chief coroner, Schmidt sees the devastating impact of overdoses from drug use.

Schmidt and Susan Howard, first assistant district attorney, are both key players in a group called Orleans Recovery.

The organization was originally known as Orleans – Recovery Hope Begins Here. It was started in 2017 by Kim Lockwood, Wayne Litchfield, Chris Crane, Tami Ashton and several others. Jail chaplain Don Snyder and Kathy Hodgins, clinical director at UConnectCare (formerly GCASA), came aboard shortly after, and along with Ashton are now board members of the organization.

“We are rebranding as Orleans Recovery,” Schmidt said.

Orleans Recovery applied for $50,000 from the opioid lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies and received $35,000. Of that money, $20,000 was spent rebranding and organizing the operation. Orleans Recovery solicited more volunteers and held fundraisers to bolster their accounts.

“In order to use the settlement funds, we have to spend it first and then apply to the county for reimbursement,” Schmidt said. “In the meantime, we still have pay rent and utilities for our office and obtain literature, office supplies and other incidentals with our own money. We were almost at critical mass. A generous benefactor advanced us $20,000 so we could get off the ground.

His daughter Hayley has created a logo consisting of a compass, to indicate they are heading in a different direction, Schmidt said.

Orleans Recovery has a redesigned website and offers free Narcan training and free fentanyl test strips.

Schmidt first became involved in Orleans Recovery when the late Wayne Litchfield asked him to speak at a meeting in Kendall about all the deaths from drug overdoses from his perspective as coroner.

“What we were wanting to do was help people with addictions,” Schmidt said. “Wayne talked about more money for a program he wanted to start. As coroner, I see accidental deaths all the time. Three weeks ago, there were two and last week there was one. It’s an increasing battle.”

Schmidt said drug deaths are hitting the county hard. On average he said there are 10 to 13 overdose deaths in the county each year.

“I know so far for the month of May this year, we’ve had at least 3 ODs, but all were saves,” he said. “I know we’ve had quite a few suspected OD fatalities so far in 2024.”

Deaths from drug overdoses are on the rise nationwide, up 360 percent in the last 10 years, Schmidt said. In 2023 in Erie County, there were 435 and already this year, there have been 165. Cocaine overdoses are up substantially state-wide, of which 80% involved fentanyl. Ninety percent of all drug overdoses involved Fentanyl.

“My job is getting more insane with opioid deaths, and they are preventable,” Schmidt said. “I got involved because everyone was talking a great game, but nothing was happening.”

Schmidt urges residents if they can’t stop taking drugs, at least test them so they don’t die. At least two of the recent deaths were from cocaine laced with fentanyl.

Susan Howard has become a key member in Orleans Recovery, Schmidt said.

“My perspective is different from Scott’s,” she said. “I’ve been with the DA’s office for 20 years and 80 percent of the cases coming through our office are drug driven. The number of people coming into drug court has gone down, and if we don’t get them into court, we can’t help them. By getting them in the lower court, we can help them before they do something more serious and end up in real trouble.”

One thing Howard is adamant about is starting up the drug court again if she is elected as district attorney.

“We now start at the felony level, and I want to start while they are still at the misdemeanor level,” Howard said. “Then they have the opportunity to get themselves on track, before drugs have taken over their life and they start stealing or hurting people to get drugs.”

Orleans Recovery’s mission is to bring attention to the community and what they’re doing. They have developed kits containing fentanyl test strips, information on how to use them and two packages with Narcan to possibly stop an overdose.

More than 200 Narcan kits were distributed at the Orleans County 4-H Fair last year, plus more than 60 at the Parade of Lights in Medina last November.

At a recent chicken barbecue Orleans Recovery sold more than 300 chicken dinners. Some meals were given to law enforcement personnel on duty. They were also distributed to people in temporary housing in Albion – 500 dinners in all.

Orleans Recovery has Narcan training scheduled at the Strawberry Festival and Lyndonville’s Fourth of July celebration. They will have a presence at Orleans County’s National Night Out, handing out literature, and will participate in International Awareness Day at the end of August. At the end of September or early October, they plan to have their own Orleans County Night Out and offer free food, possibly at Butts Park in Medina.

Orleans Recovery meets at 5:15 p.m. the third Monday of each month at Suite 190 in the old Arnold Gregory building, 243 South Main St., Albion. Anyone is welcome to attend.

Famed singer will join former band mates in Black Sheep, including Michael Bonafede of Albion

Michael Bonafede, back left, is shown with the Black Sheep band in this photo from the mid 1970s. He is standing next to Lou Gramm, who would go on to be lead singer for Foreigner, which sold over 80 million albums. Gramm will reunite with Bonafede and Black Sheep for a performance June 23 in Albion at the Pratt Theater, which is owned by Bonafede and his wife Judith Koehler.

ALBION – A new inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will be performing in Albion during a 2 p.m. concert on June 23.

Lou Gramm, the front man of the band Foreigner, will highlight a concert that will include his bandmates from Black Sheep. Gramm was with that group in the mid 1970s before joining Foreigner.

Michael Bonafede of Albion, owner of the Pratt Theater, played drums for Black Sheep. The band wrote its second album at Bonafede’s farm on Gaines Basin Road in Albion. Bonafede recently spotted an etching in concrete at his farm, where he ran Sports ’N Graphics for many years: “Black Sheep rehearsed here 1975.”

Bonafede recently called Gramm to let him know some of the Black Sheep band members would be performing some of their old songs in Albion.

Gramm jumped in and wanted to be part of the fun, and a chance to share the stage with Bonafede on drums, Don Mancuso on guitar and Larry Crozier on keyboard. Alona Kuhns and Luke Crozier (Larry’s son) will both play bass during the June 23 concert. The Black Sheep bass player, Bruce Turgon, is in California.

Not long after that phone call, Gramm and Foreigner were announced on April 21 as inductees into the 2024 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

Foreigner is shown in an announcement from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that the band will be inducted as part of the Class of 2024.

Bonafede thought Gramm’s schedule might change with the Hall of Fame announcement. Gramm also is touring and performing full sets. But he is committed to the concert in Albion.

“Lou is crazy busy,” Bonafede said. “This is about an enduring friendship. He wants to play with his Black Sheep bandmates.”

The June 23 concert is shaping up to be a big event for the Pratt Theater, a venue on the third floor of an opera house. Bonafede and his wife Judith Koehler have worked to bring the site back into a showcase for live music.

Before Black Sheep hit the big time and opened for KISS, the Rochester-based group performed in Orleans County about 50 years ago – at Oak Orchard Lanes in Albion and Medina High School.

Bonafede remembers the Oak Orchard concert. The band was on plywood on the alleys, and the bowling alley ran out of alcohol halfway through the concert.

“The place was mobbed,” Bonafede said.

Black Sheep recorded two albums for Capital Records and shared the stage with Kiss, Aerosmith, REO Speedwagon, and Hall and Oates, performing in front of tens of thousands of people. Black Sheep broke up in 1976.

Erin Moody in sunglasses and other members of the Pratt Pit Band and Choir had the old opera house venue rocking on April 14 for a concert attended by 300 people.

The June 23 event is capped at 300 tickets at $50 apiece. Eventbrite tickets available online beginning June 1. Check PrattEventCenter.com on June 1 for online sales.

Before June 1, tickets are available in Albion at Digital Ink Arts (585-200-2400), Pretty Sweet Bakery (585-590-4201) and Rise & Grind (585-746-0464).

Bonafede wanted to give local residents a shot at the tickets first. He expects they will go fast once available online.

Black Sheep is planning to perform six songs: “Halfway Home,” “Encouraging words,” “Payin’ Yer Dues,” “No worry no pain,” “Stick around” and “Chain on me.”

There will be a lengthy set to start the concert with the Pratt Pit Band which includes many local musicians.

“I’m super excited this is happening in Albion,” Bonafede said today. “The circumstances have led to a Hall of Famer performing out here.”

Bonafede said many of the leading local performers will be able to share the stage with Lou Gramm, who sold about 80 million albums with Foreigner.

“The pit band is an important part of the concert,” Bonafede said. “I try to get local people. That’s the idea of the venue. It’s a local performance venue that is a unique asset for the community.”

ALBION – A law enforcement torch run will return for the second year on May 31 and will have a different route in the village as well as a chance for the public to be part of the 2.7-mile jaunt.

Members of the Albion Police Department carried the torch for the Special Olympics last year on June 5. The Albion PD wanted to host the run to offer another chance for law enforcement between Erie-Niagara counties and Monroe to be part of a torch run. (Batavia also hosts one in Genesee County.)

“We wanted one in Orleans County,” Albion Police Chief David Mogle said last year. “We welcome more agencies to be a part of it.”

Albion has invited other law enforcement agencies, as well as community members to be part of the run on May 31.

It will start at 11 a.m. on South Platt Street at the municipal lot, go to Chamberlain Street and take a left to Route 98, then a left on 98 to Route 31, then a left on 31 to the school campus, then a left on Clarendon Street to Crimson Drive, then a right on McKinstry Street, a left on Chamberlain and lastly to the municipal lot on Platt Street.

To participate in the run, be at the Albion municipal lot at 151 Platt Street by 10:30 a.m. to register. This lot is across from Dunkin’ Donuts. There is a $25 charge for a short sleeve shirt or $30 for a long sleeve.

For more information contact Lt. William Annable of the Albion Police Department at annable@albionpolice.com, Village Trustee Tim McMurray at tmcmurray@villageofalbionny.com or Erica Rappel of the Special Olympics at eraepple@nyso.org.

Press Release, Orleans County Legislature

ALBION – The Orleans County Legislature has joined with others across the country in celebrating May 19 through May 25 as National Emergency Medical Services Week.

National EMS Week brings together local communities and medical personnel to honor the dedication of those who provide the day-to-day lifesaving services of medicine’s frontline.   This marks the 50th anniversary of this recognition.

“We want to thank all of our EMS personnel for the great job they do on behalf of our residents,” said Justin Niederhofer, Director of the Orleans County Emergency Management Office.  “These folks are out there responding to all sorts of emergency situations and, thanks to their talent, experience and dedication, are saving lives every day.”

The Orleans County Legislature passed a proclamation into honor EMS personnel across the county – first responders, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, emergency medical dispatchers, firefighters, police officers, educators, administrators, pre-hospital nurses, emergency nurses, emergency physicians, trained members of the public, and other out-of-hospital medical care providers – to recognize their important work for our residents.

ALBION – The Albion Rotary Club welcomed Sylvia Goodstine as a new member last week during the club’s meeting at the Tavern of the Ridge. She is joined up front by membership chair Kelly Kiebala, left; President Doug Farley; and Bonnie Malakie.

Goodstine, a retired nurse who worked at Orchard Manor in Medina, has helped keep up the garden the past decade at the Point Breeze sign that was installed by Rotary.

The Rotary Club also heard from Marina Medeiros, a 27-year-old lawyer from Brazil. She is spending time in Canada and Western New York through Rotary’s New Generations Service Exchange. She has observed the court systems in both countries and has been job shadowing attorneys.

Pam Wadhams will step into role for Bonnie Malakie at Community Action

Photo by Ginny Kropf: From left, Renee Hungerford, executive director of Community Action, and Bonnie Malakie, retiring director of Head Start’s Children and Youth Services, stand outside the Head Start office on east State Street in Albion with Pam Wadhams, who will replace Malakie when she retires June 30, and Ryan Lasal, recently hired as strategic director of children’s services and special projects.

ALBION – Community Action of Orleans and Genesee has announced some changes in its Head Start program.

Bonnie Malakie is retiring on June 30 after 24 years as Head Start’s director. Before stepping into the director’s position, Malakie spent eight years as a consultant for Head Start.

Filling the director’s position at Head Start will be Pam Wadhams, who has been associate director of the program.

Stepping into a new role is Ryan Lasal as strategic director of children’s services and special projects.

Hungerford explained the chain of command will be Wadhams reporting to Lasal and Lasal to Hungerford.

The Head Start program has been a vital part of Community Action’s services to the community since 1965, with Head Start for children aged 3 and 4 and Early Head Start for 18-month to 3-year-olds in Medina, Albion and Batavia, and universal pre-K in Kendall.

Early Head Start Childcare Partnership partners with day care facilities for infants and toddlers.

A childcare resource and referral program connects parents with daycare and subsidies.

“We also help people start their own daycare facilities,” Hungerford said.

In addition, there is a small home-based program with six slots available.

Currently, 173 children are served in Head Start, 58 in the Childcare Partnership and 38 in Early Head Start.

Head Start’s new leadership brings several decades of experience to their jobs. Lasal spent the last 10 years at CRFS.

“I found there has been an extremely solid foundation built here,” Lasal said. “This program serves a lot of kids and does extraordinary things in the community. I’m looking forward, along with Pam, to continuing to build on that foundation and move it into the future.”

Wadhams has worked more than 30 years with Head Start.

“I see us being a strong presence in the community and continuing to support families and their children,” she said. “We are in the process of expanding the pre-school program to a full day, something families want and need. I love being able to make a difference in the community I grew up in.”

“I am doing some restructuring of our children’s services to reinvigorate these programs and increase enrollment,” Hungerford said. “I aim to put new focus on our Head Start programs to ensure children are truly getting a head start and enter the public school systems fully prepared. We can do more with technology and innovation to set our students up for success.”

Malakie said she plans to spend the summer relaxing and doing more with her husband Larry.

“This will include volunteering,” she said. “I’m taking a new path and looking forward. I will continue to support Community Action. I will be leaving a piece of my heart here.”

She added that through the years, there has been one constant at Community Action, and that is change.

“But we’ve been able to keep up with required changes, expected changes and positive changes,” Malakie said.  “I’m leaving everything in good hands with a very dedicated and committed staff with strong leadership and two new directors. The difference we make in the lives of children and families every day is what has kept me here all these years.”

MEDINA – Medina’s trail of interpretive panels just became a little larger with the addition of two new panels in State Street Park.

Installing interpretive panels throughout Medina’s downtown historic district was a project conceived more than 10 years ago by the Orleans Renaissance Group and The Print Shop owner Ken Daluisio, said Chris Busch, ORG’s president.

Medina was seeing a growing number of tourists and it was felt something was needed to provide visitors with a more meaningful experience, according to Busch. The interpretive signs would tell the story of historic people, events and architecture – interpreting local history and giving visitors a further reason to explore downtown and the village, Busch said.

The 2013 project was spearheaded by the ORG and Print Shop, with backing from the former Medina Business Association, now Medina Area Partnership. Several sponsors paid for the sign bases and The Print Shop donated the panels. The panels themselves were researched and designed by Busch.

Since then, visitors from around Western New York and the country have been observed lingering over the 11 sign panels, immersing themselves in the rich history of Medina’s people, events and architecture, Busch said.

The panels, now 10 years old, were beginning to show signs of wear and needed to be replaced. Again, ORG, working with Daluisio and The Print Shop tackled the job, ensuring the story of Medina’s culture and history would continue to be preserved and told. ORG has underwritten the cost of replacing the panels with fabrication being done by The Print Shop and installation by the Medina Department of Public Works.

“The new panels will be exactly as the originals, with a few minor corrections,” Busch said. “It’s really gratifying to have seen so many visitors enjoy them over these past 10 years. The panels tell the incredible story of a 19th century boom town on the Erie Canal – and that is a story worth telling. People who visit Medina and experience that remarkable story will come away from their visit knowing this place truly matters.”

This interpretive panel just installed in State Street Park, tells the story of Silas Burroughs Jr. and his contributions to Medina and Orleans County.

In addition to the 11 original panels on the trail, Panel No. 12 recently installed in State Street Park features the World War I monument and field gun. Panel No. 13 describing the Burroughs family and estate which once existed on the site, will be installed soon.

“These two new panels tell the story of the British field gun and World War I memorial, along with the remarkable story of the Burroughs family, whose mansion once stood in what is now State Street Park,” Busch said. “The story of the Burroughs family’s contribution to the history of our state, nation and the world is one of Medina’s little known, but greatest tales.”

Each year, the panels are removed for the winter and reinstalled in the spring by the DPW, Busch explained.

“To save on wear, tear and damage throughout the winter months, the signs are removed and stored by the DPW until they are reinstalled in the spring,” Busch said. “The guys take great care of the signs and we’re extremely grateful for it. Their efforts have added years to the life of these signs.”

Over the past 10 years, the signs have generated tremendous community pride and have boosted awareness of Medina’s historic, architectural and cultural resources – all of major significance, Busch said.

The panels, now numbering 13, feature a wide scope of the village’s history – its sandstone; Erie Canal and railroad prowess; its notable characters, entrepreneurs and community leaders; the impact of immigrants who worked on the canal, in the foundries and in the quarries; and now the World War I monument/British field gun and the Burroughs family story.

“This is one of the best projects I have ever been associated with,” Daluisio said. “It’s been an absolute success and I think people have been quite pleased, not only with how they look, but with the incredible stories they tell. They illustrate how Medina matters in both our regional and national history. It’s a point of community pride.”

Sponsors of the original 2013-14 project include the former Medina Business Association, Gabrielle and Andina Barone, Andrew W. Meier, ORG, David and Gail Miller, Hartway Motors, Rita Zambito/Zambito Realty, Medina Sandstone Trust, the late Marcia Tuohey, Christopher and Cynthia Busch and the Medina Fire Department Local 2161.

The new World War I monument panel was sponsored by Butts-Clark American Legion Post No. 204, under commander Jim Wells. The Burroughs family panel was sponsored by the Medina Sandstone Society, Christopher and Cynthia Busch and the Hon. James P. Punch.

Text and photos for the Burroughs panel were contributed in part by British author Julia Sheppard, who has authored a book on Burroughs.

Information Busch shared from lutterworth.com states, “Julia Sheppard graduated in history from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and has spent her career working with military and medical archives. She was recently chair of the British Records Association, and as head of the research and special collections at the Welcome Library, she was instrumental in the acquisition of Burrough’s papers. He has fascinated her ever since.

“I am personally grateful to Julia, not only for her contributions to this project, but for her encouragement and support,” Busch said. “Her assistance was invaluable. She was a true champion of this project and of the Burroughs story.”

More information on ORG can be found at medinaalive.com.

The Burroughs family home is pictured on one of the latest interpretive panels to be installed in State Street Park, site of the former Burroughs estate. The mansion was considered one of the finest residences in Medina.

MEDINA – When Medina’s Canal Village Farmer’s Market moves from North Main Street to its summer location on West Center Street and West Avenue and the end of the month, it will have a new business to serve customers.

Scott Gypson of Gasport will be there selling breakfast sandwiches and smoked meats.

Gypson is a native of Middleport and son of Lowell and Wendy Gypson, having grown up there and graduating from Royalton-Hartland Central School. He entered Roberts Wesleyan College to study music, and for several years, playing bass in a band was his livelihood.

He had started taking violin lessons in third grade, but switched to bass to play in Roberts Wesleyan’s band. He played music all over the country during the summer of 2008. He returned to college and was sitting in algebra class, when the thought came to him, “What am I doing here?”

Scott Gypson of Gasport stands in his food truck, which he recently started to sell his smoked meats. He will be set up at Medina’s Canal Village Farmers’ Market for most Saturdays during the summer.

He had visited Nashville and fell in love with city,  and in 2009 he moved there, where he played music for 14 years. He also was on Broadway and made some recordings.

Gypson comes by his musical talent naturally. His mother was music teacher at Roy-Hart and was accompanist for all their musicals. His dad was pastor of Hartland Bible Church.

Gypson’s wife Brooke was his high school sweetheart. They were married in March 2018 after breaking up for 10 years and then reconnecting. They moved back to New York in December 2022 and now live on Earnest Road with their two children.

“When you grow up in the country, like Middleport, and then live in an urban city like Nashville, you can’t get out of there fast enough,” Gypson said.

They moved back to the Middleport area in October 2023.

Gypson became familiar with smoked meats while living in Nashville.

“I started it as a hobby after a weekend barbecue in 2014, and fell in love with it,” he said.

His first efforts were using a pellet smoker, but in 2016 he acquired an offset smoker, which burns real wood, rather than pellets.

“How peaceful it is, to get up early in the morning, tend the fire and smell the aroma of the big hunks of meat,” he said.

When he took some smoked pork shoulder into work one day, it was such a hit he knew he had something big in the works.

“That was my ‘ah ha’ moment,” Gypson said. “Here I was in Tennessee serving pulled pork sandwiches off the tailgate of a pickup truck and everyone raved about it.”

In 2018, he started taking orders. His favorite meat is brisket, but he also smokes beef short ribs, pulled pork, pork ribs and chicken wings.

He started pursuing smoking seriously as a job in 2019, doing catering and serving meat from his driveway. Then Covid hit and he had to wear a mask.

“Tending a fire wearing a mask in the intense heat was terrible, but it was fun,” Gypson said.

In 2020, he began visiting farmers’ markets.

“It was always my dream to grow a barbecue business,” he said.

His smoker is built from a propane tank and it took him a year to get it working, he said.

Gypson said Brooke, who is a wealth planner, is incredibly supportive of him.

He is also grateful for connecting with Chris Busch, president of Orleans Renaissance Group, who offered him the opportunity to set up at the Canal Village Farmers’ Market, which ORG sponsors. It turns out Chris’ wife was Gypson’s kindergarten teacher and now she is their son Hans’ pre-K teacher.

In addition to being at the farmers’ market on most Saturdays, Gypson will be at various summer festivals and once a month plans to do a collaboration pop-up at Terroira General Store on Market Street in Lockport. Last month there, he said the line was out the door for his menu of barbecued beef shortribs, French onion soup and pulled pork. On Memorial Day, he will be set up at Middleport’s parade.

With his menu of smoked meat, he offers two sides, such as macaroni salad and broccoli salad.

Anyone who wants to order smoked meats can contact Gypson at www.tnsmokehouse.com.

KNOWLESVILLE – For many years United Ways across the country have set aside one day a year to do special projects for the agencies they serve.

In Orleans County, the annual Day of Caring was Friday and about 50 volunteers from several businesses volunteered to do special projects for eight locations in the county.

The volunteers were treated to breakfast at Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds, where United Way director Nyla Gaylord welcomed them and thanked them for their volunteerism.

“We are pleased to have so many people here,” Gaylord said. “All our agencies are stretched thin and your help means a lot to them.”

These volunteers helped give Camp Rainbow a cleanup on Friday.

Gaylord thanked the businesses who sent volunteers, including Takeform and Baxter, who had 12 employees who participated in the Day of Caring. Other volunteers came from Orleans Correctional Facility, Orleans County Mental Health, Pathstone, Velocitti, UConnectCare (formerly GCASA) and M&T Bank.

Several volunteers, including Karen Krug from Orleans County Mental Health, were there for the first time. Krug heard about the day from Melinda Rhim, coordinator of Care Management Services at Mental Health, and a former board member of United Way.

“We’re part of the community and I’m proud of where we work,” Rhim said. “This is us giving back to our community. I’ve been volunteering for United Way for at least 10 years.”

Krug said she likes helping people and when the opportunity comes up, she takes advantage of it.

“I’m going to Camp Rainbow and I love kids, so I’m looking forward to it,” Krug said.

PathStone employees and volunteers did some weeding and mulching at Hospice.

Volunteers at Camp Rainbow were assigned to paint and do cleanup.

Angela Johnson is also an employee of Orleans County Mental Health, and said she volunteered last year.

“I thought it was a great way to help out in my community, and it was very fulfilling,” she said.

Other projects were mulching and weeding at Orleans Enterprises; mulching, weeding, painting, organizing and cleaning at GLOW YMCA; mulching, trimming and helping create container gardens at Cooperative Extension; landscaping, cleanup and removing garbage  at Ministry of Concern; window washing, mulching and gardening at Hospice of Orleans; cleaning, landscaping and painting at Oak Orchard Health Center in Medina; and planting bushes and plants at Oak Orchard Health Center in Albion.

Photo by Ginny Kropf: Grace Ryan, standing, helps Orleans County United Way director Nyla Gaylord at the registration desk for Day of Caring on Friday. This is the third year Ryan, an employee of Baxter Healthcare, has volunteered for the event.

Grace Ryan, an employee of Baxter Healthcare, was volunteering for the third year. She was assigned to the YMCA in Medina. An immigrant from the Philippines, Ryan said she loves helping people.

“And I love my life in this country, and when I get my citizenship in about a year, I promise to be a good citizen,” she said.

Another volunteer was United Way’s new intern, Claire Squicciarini of Albion.

Gaylord added that United Way is very important to our community.

“They support many agencies which help people in need in our county,” she said. “One of our biggest accomplishments was to create collaborations with other agencies in the county. That resulted in a warming center being opened in Albion. Housing is also a big problem in Orleans County and the role of United Way is to bring people together to solve those problems.”

Another very important accomplishment of United Way was hiring a grant writer, free to any non-profit in the county. This was the result of Dean Bellack’s contact with foundations in Buffalo and Rochester when he was director during the pandemic.

Gaylord also stressed that every dollar contributed in Orleans County stays in Orleans County.

Takeform employees helped the Cornell Cooperative Extension move containers that will be used for gardens to grow food.

Velocitii workers helped at the Oak Orchard Health Center in Medina by trimming bushes, raking and weeding flower beds.

Volunteers from Baxter helped the YMCA with organizing and cleaning inside.

Baxter employees also did mulching in the outside garden area at Orleans Enterprises in Albion.

Baxter also had volunteers painting indoors at the Oak Orchard Health Center in Albion.

Tim Wendel will give presentations May 28 at Author’s Note

Rebel Falls is a book of fiction based on actual facts and people in the Niagara Falls area. Tim Wendel, a Lockport native, will be in Medina for a book talk and signing on May 28. 

MEDINA – A Lockport native and noted author will launch his newest book at a book signing May 28 at Author’s Note in Medina.

Tim Wendel grew up in Lockport, where his parents lived on Canal Road, and graduated in 1974 from Royalton-Hartland Central School. He has always loved to write and during high school he was correspondent for the Niagara Gazette.

Now a resident of Charlottesville, Va., Wendel is writer-in-residence at Johns Hopkins University and the author of several books, including Summer of ’68, Cancer Crossings (featuring cancer doctors at Roswell Park), High Heat and the historical novels, Castro’s Curveball and its sequel Escape from Castro’s Cuba.

Rebel Falls is fiction, set in the late summer of 1864 and based on actual, yet long-obscured events and people of the Civil War in the Niagara Falls area, including Medina, Orleans and Niagara counties, Wendel said.

He became interested in the Civil War after reading Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals and Carl Sandberg’s Lincoln. Wendel discovered while most of the fighting was going on in the south, espionage and spying was taking place all along the Canadian border. At the center of it were two spies, John Yates Beall and Bennet Burley, whom President Lincoln had refused to pardon for their crimes.

Their goal was to seize the USS Michigan, the only warship left on the Great Lakes, and create enough dissension that people would blame Lincoln and he would lose the election, which was to take place the day after the spies planned crime. They also planned to bomb Buffalo, Cleveland and Toledo.

Wendel said he was a history buff, yet he had never heard of Beall and Burley.

“The more research I did, the more I realized there was more going on than what history has reported,” he said.

He also learned John Wilkes Booth had been accepting money from a bank in Montreal, and a bank note was found in his pocket when he was apprehended about two weeks after assassinating President Lincoln.

Wendel’s book also hits on the role the Cataract Hotel played in the Underground Railroad in Niagara Falls.

The author said it took him three years to write the book. He said Niagara Falls is such a beautiful area, he is considering to focus it in his next book.

Author’s Note has scheduled two sessions with Wendel on May 28. One is at 6 p.m. and the other at 7 p.m. Anticipating a large turnout, Author’s Note owner Julie Berry said they are selling tickets for $5 each to reserve a seat at either presentation. The $5 will then be deducted from the cost of purchasing a book. She encourages purchasing tickets in advance at the store or online.

Attendees are asked to be in their seats 10 minutes before their scheduled session. Those not there by five minutes before will lose their seat.

Those unable to get a ticket can still come and meet Wendel and have their book signed. They are asked to arrive just before 6 or just before 7 so if anyone couldn’t make it, a seat might be available. People waiting for just the signing will be allowed in at 7:45 p.m. Berry said Wendel will only sign books purchased at Author’s Note.

Wendel will also give his presentation at 6 p.m. May 29 at Woodward Memorial Library in Le Roy.

Photos and information courtesy of Christa Bowling, Troop Leader

ALBION – Kendall’s Girl Scout Troop 82257 surprised PAWS Animal Shelter in Albion today with over $800 in animal care donations.

The Kendall Girl Scout troop is made up of 34 girls from kindergarten to grade 4. This year when the troop members discussed all of the fun things they could do with their money earned from selling Girl Scout cookies, the first thing they said was “Help an animal shelter.” Today they did just that.

This Kendall troop sold over 10,000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies this past cookie season. Their leader, Christa Bowling of Kendall, couldn’t be more proud of her girls and their big hearts ready to help. PAWS was a great shelter to work with, and enjoyed sharing the animals with the girls today.

Provided photo

MEDINA – The Medina Rotary Club donated 125 pounds of meat worth about $500 last week to the Medina Food Pantry.

Pictured form left include Rotarians: Gary Lawton, Gloria Brent, Edee Hoffmeister, Cindy Hewitt, Peter Bartula, Joel Payne, Ben McPherson and Bill Bixler.

Rotary Club members also volunteer twice a month at the food pantry which is located at St. Peter Evangelical Lutheran Church on West Avenue in Medina.

‘We want people to know growing their own food is possible, no matter where they live.’

KNOWLESVILLE – A new program being developed by Orleans County Cornell Cooperative Extension on the 4-H Fairgrounds is intended to show people it is simple to grow their own healthy, nutritious fruits and vegetables at home.

Cooperative Extension’s director Robert Batt came up with the idea and got approval for a New York State SNAP Ed Program Community Growers’ grant.

He secured white plastic barrels donated by Mayer Brothers in Barker, which were cut in half to form container gardens for the Horticulture to Health Program, a project of Cornell Cooperative Extension.

Working in conjunction with the Master Gardeners and other volunteers, Batt and Katie Oakes, horticulture educator, have been filling the barrels with wood chips, topsoil and llama manure.

The barrels will be planted with a variety of seeds and plants, including berries, potatoes, asparagus, herbs, garlic, beets, carrots, greens, beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, kale and peppers, and more.

“We want to show people in those simple raised gardens they can grow healthy, nutritious food at home,” Batt said.

Peter Beach deposits a load of mulch to the pile, which was used to fill container gardens, which will be used at the fairgrounds and sent home with participants of their nutrition classes.

Thirty barrels will stay at the fairgrounds, where they will be placed on the lawn near the Trolley Building, along with a row of raised garden beds created by the Master Gardeners, called the Veggie Variety Trail. Theme of the trail is “Cultural Roots of Eastern Europe.”

“When we harvest what we are going to grow here, we will weigh it and donate it to a food program, such as the OK Kitchen in Albion, or our Cooperative Extension food distribution,” Batt said.

Batt said 20 more barrels will go to community partners in each of four towns and the Community Action store.

“We are looking for partners in Medina, Lyndonville and Kendall to take a barrel,” Batt said. “Anyone interested can call me at (585) 798-4265, Ext. 130.”

Anyone who participated in nutrition classes led by Marie Gabalski will receive a three-gallon raised container garden.

“We want people to know growing their own food is possible, no matter where they live,” Batt said. “We hope they will continue year after year. The whole point is to show how easy it is and anyone can do it.”

At the fairgrounds, Batt said they are going to plant what is easy to grow and productive.

Oakes has always wanted to plant peanuts and they will try them in one of the gardens.

“If you have a shelf full of canned food and a pandemic comes along or a blizzard when you can’t get to the store, you are not going to starve,” Batt said.

The barrels containing perennials will be moved under the pavilion for the winter and then rolled back out in the spring.

These raised garden beds form Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Veggie Variety Trail along the lawn south of the Trolley Building at the 4-H Fairgrounds. They were created by the Master Gardeners.