Running for fun at Plank North

14 Jun
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And they’re off!

Wednesday was a glorious day for a marathon!

At Plank Rd. North Elementary School, the entire student body came out to cheer on the school’s pre-K and kindergarten students as they completed their first-ever marathon.

The young racers have been working on the daunting distance since the beginning of the school year, running as much as a quarter mile every time they went outside. On Wednesday, they finally finished the whole 26.2 miles by running 1/8-mile laps around a coned-off track (one lap for pre-k and two laps for kindergarten).

In addition to having hundreds of fellow students and parents cheering them on, each runner was given an official numbered bib provided by Fleet Feet and — like real racers — began and ended their laps under an official Fleet Feet inflatable starting gate. Plus, each one received a medal after they completed their laps.

It was an exciting day for the whole school, but especially for these youngsters who are just now learning about the joys of running and the importance of staying healthy and fit. (I’m glad I wasn’t racing them. Some of them were REALLY fast.)

Here are a few more photos from the day:

Plenty and parents were on hand to watch
Coming around the final turn
Principal Craig Bodensteiner greeted each finisher with a fist bump

And before I forget again, here are a few photos, courtesy Maureen Throumoulos, from the Special Olympics Annual Track and Field competition hosted at Webster Thomas High School last week.

About 500 athletes from nine area school districts took part in the event, which Webster hosted for the second year in a row.

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Ploty’s fundraiser will benefit Bella’s Bumbas

12 Jun

Got no plans for this Saturday night? I have a great idea. Head on out to Ploty’s Hometown Tavern in the Village of Webster for great drinks, music and prizes, all to benefit one of my favorite local agencies, Bella’s Bumbas.

Bella’s Bumbas is a non-profit organization run by Webster residents Marty Parzynski and Rebecca Orr, dedicated to building miniature wheelchairs for children with a wide variety of mobility issues. In just their first year of operation, they shipped more than 300 “Bella’s Bumbas” around the world, often adapting the chairs for each child’s individual needs, and charging the families only for shipping. You can read more about it in this blog I wrote back in 2017, and this follow-up blog.

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At Saturday’s Ploty’s fundraiser, participants will enjoy drink specials, basket raffles, a 50/50 drawing, live music, and more. All monies raised will go to directly support Bella’s Bumbas’ mission to provide mobility to children with disabilities.

It’s sure to be a good time with friends new and old, and helping out such a wonderful organization as Bella’s Bumbas is just a bonus.

The event takes place from 4 to 9 p.m. at Ploty’s Hometown Tavern, 27 West Main Street in the Village of Webster.

Please bring cash because they don’t have any way to accept credit cards. (Bring lots of cash!)

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One more chance to vote on the bike racks

10 Jun

A few weeks ago I posted a blog about how the Village of Webster will be installing four new bike racks this summer. Village Board members will have the final decision on where they’ll be placed, but have invited input from the community to help them guide their decision.

I created a survey suggesting nine different locations throughout the village. Thank you to everyone who has taken a minute to fill it out (and it really only takes a minute). To date I’ve received 44 responses, but would love to get some more.

Here’s an update on what people have been telling me so far:

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The top two most popular locations so far for the bike racks with the Town of Webster logo are 1) in front of Barry’s Old School Irish/The Garage Sale Store and 2) in Veterans Park. Running a close third is a spot in front of Village Hall.

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The top two most popular locations for the racks with the bike insignia are 1) in the parking lot somewhere near Village Bakery and 2) in front of Barry’s/The Garage Sale Store. Those two spots are tied for first, and there’s not a close third.

I will be presenting my findings at the Village Board meeting later this week, so now’s the time to weigh in with your opinion if you’d like to. To read more about how the bike racks came to be, click here to go to my original blog. Or click here to go directly to the survey. It really only takes a minute.

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Miracle Field opens Saturday with a family-friendly celebration

7 Jun

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Saturday is going to be a BEAUTIFUL day for a baseball game!

The community is invited to join the celebration as Challenger Miracle Field officially opens for the season with a free Family Day from 1 to 4 p.m. There’ll be all sorts of kids’ games and activities including a bean bag toss, soccer darts, can smash, face painting, balloon animals and a bounce house. Plus, at 2 p.m., you can watch the official groundbreaking ceremony for the Karpus Family Barrier-Free Playground.

The concession stand will be open for purchases with free Popcorn in a souvenir stadium cup. You’ll also be able to purchase a variety of new Miracle Field “swag” including t-shirts, car magnets, chap stick, and more.

There’ll be plenty of free parking and seating for the festivities and to watch the game. So come on down and help cheer on our challenged athletes at the field built especially for them.

Challenger Miracle Field is located on Ridge Road behind Town Hall. This brand new facility was specifically designed for individuals with physical and or cognitive challenges and fully wheelchair accessible. The idea was to give people with developmental, physical or intellectual disabilities a barrier-free, safe, accessible place to experience the health benefits and joy of play through baseball, other team sports, and adaptive recreational equipment.

Click here to find out more about this amazing facility and organization.

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Webster Community Blood Drive continues today

6 Jun

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Just a quick note to say CONGRATULATIONS to Jean Wolf for being the first prize winner at the annual Webster Community Blood Drive being held this week!

Jean was one of the first donors to attend the drive on Wednesday, and walked away with a beautiful fruit basket donated by Schutt’s Apple Mill.

There are still almost 40 more raffle prizes up for grabs, including gift certificates galore to restaurants and shops, two more gift baskets, a grumbler gift pack from Knucklehead, and lots more!

The blood drive continues today at the Webster Recreation Center from noon to 7 p.m. Every donor who walks through the door will be handed ten raffle tickets, so there are lots of chances to win these incredible prizes.

So if you can spare an hour of your day today, please consider dropping in and helping save some lives with your donation. The Webster Recreation Center is located at 1350 Chiyoda Drive, just north of the Village of Webster.

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Webster hosts Tour de Cure this weekend

5 Jun

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There’s a party going on in Webster on Saturday June 8, and thousands of special guests have been invited.

It’s the Rochester Tour de Cure, which takes place all day Saturday in one of Xerox’s big, empty parking lots on Chiyoda Drive across from the Webster Recreation Center.

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My riding buddy Charlene and me after a training ride

Almost 2,000 participants are already signed up this year, who will either be riding (anywhere from 3.5 miles to 100 miles), running or walking (3.5 miles), while raising money to benefit the American Diabetes Association. As of this morning, more than $1,050,000 has been raised, closing in on the event goal of $1,200,000.

I am proud to be a part of this event for the first time this year, a member of the Amiel’s Original Submarine team. I’ll be hopping on my bike for the 25-mile route, which will take us east to Ontario Center Road, south to the Walworth area, then back west along Whitney and State roads to 250, then north back to Webster.

I tell you all this not because I’m still looking for donations to this great cause (but if you feel like throwing me some bucks for this great cause, please do!!!) Mostly I want to warn you to keep an eye out for riders this Saturday as you’re driving along Lake Road, in particular, but also pretty much everywhere on the east side, because there are going to be a lot of us.

Plus, if you see a bunch of tents and bands and people hanging out that morning at Xerox, you’ll know what it’s all about. Webster is fortunate to be able to host this important event.

There’s still time to sign up, and ride or walk. Click here for more information. If you’d just like to donate to the cause, I’m happy to help! Click here to go to my personal page.

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Almost 40 raffle prizes up for grabs at this week’s community blood drive

3 Jun

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How badly do our Webster business owners want you to donate blood at this week’s Community Blood Drive? So much that they’ll give you PRIZES just for showing up.

Ok, you might consider that bribery, but they’re willing to help do what they can to encourage community members to attend this week’s two-day community blood drive on June 5 and 6, because the need is critical. Right now the Red Cross is operating on only a 3-day supply of blood, which is kind of scary.

That’s why my spare bedroom is piled high right now with raffle prizes. You’ll see some of them in the photo above, including an incredible gift basket from LaLa of Webster worth more than $225.

Every donor who walks through the door will be handed ten raffle tickets, which can be used to take chances on almost 40 raffle items donated by some very generous local businesses.  In addition to the LaLa raffle basket, donors can also try their luck on these prizes:

Gift certificates from:

  • Barry’s Old School Irish
  • Ploty’s Hometown Tavern
  • Webster Hots
  • The Filling Station
  • ROC & Soul Fitness
  • The Chicken Coop
  • Eastway Liquor
  • Rubino’s
  • Natural Alternatives
  • The Goodie Shoppe
  • Carl’s Pizza
  • The Pickled Paintbrush (PLUS a cool kids’ craft)
  • Abbott’s
  • The North Bee (PLUS gift bags)
  • Best to You Spa (PLUS a bottle of wine)
  • Kittleberger Florist
  • Strike Back Martial Arts

Plus, these prizes:

  • Gift basket from Schutt’s
  • Beauty products from Beyond Cuts Salon
  • Growler gift pack from Knuckleheads
  • Gift basket from Hegedorn’s

And there’s more! Each donor will receive a free pint of ice cream from Bruster’s, a chance for a cool $100 from Gerard P. Smith Insurance, a $5 coupon from Superior Solutions … and there might be a few other things I’m forgetting.

Basically, you do NOT want to miss this blood drive. Here are the details:

The drive will be held on Wednesday June 5 at St. Paul’s Church on Hard Road, noon to 7 p.m. and Thursday June 6 at the Webster Recreation Center, 1350 Chiyoda Drive, from noon to 7 p.m. You can make an appointment by calling 1-800-REDCROSS (1-800-733-2767) or by logging onto http://www.redcrossblood.org. Walk-ins are also welcome.

A SPECIAL THANK YOU to our newest business sponsors this year, LaLa of Webster, The Pickled Paintbrush, The North Bee and The Best You Spa! Thank you SO MUCH for your generosity. 

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Webster Wolves 12U Win Back to Back Baseball Tournaments

1 Jun

 

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photo courtesy Emily Kelly Photography

Here’s some news from some of our town’s most talented young baseball players, courtesy Brian Beachner:

It’s not even summer yet and the Webster Wolves 12U team, led by manager Brian Beachner and assistant coaches Glenn Ferretti, Tony Fanale and Dale Simons, is heating up. Over the past two weekends, the Wolves played in two tournaments — the Tonawanda Spring Swing Classic and the Mendon Storm Memorial Tournament — and came away winners.

The Spring Swing Classic included some of the top ten 12U travel teams from Western New York. In soggy conditions, the Wolves went 2-1 in pool play with big wins over the ANJO Bombers  and the EMW Tribe. On Championship Sunday, the Wolves were seeded #6. They defeated #3-seeded ANJO Bombers 4-0, followed by a 15-10 win over the top-seeded Tomahawks. That win set up a rematch against the #2 seed, the Twin Tiers Pride, whom the Wolves had lost to earlier in the tournament.

Playing their third game of the day, the sixth of the tournament, and with darkness setting in, the Wolves came out hot, scoring two runs in the first and second innings, one in the third and 11 more in the fifth, finishing their championship run with a convincing 16-10 win.

A special congratulations went out to Jack Kelly & Jack Simpson who were nominated by the coaches for the All Tournament Team.

 

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photo courtesy Emily Kelly Photography

The following weekend, the Webster Wolves 12U entered the Mendon Storm Memorial Tournament held in the Hamlet of Mendon. This tournament included the top 10 local MCBR 12U teams in Rochester.

Continuing their hot streak, the Wolves went 3-0 in pool play with three convincing wins over the Mendon Storm, Fairport Red Rage, and Grow 2 Pro Tigers. Earning the #1 Seed, the Wolves faced their friendly rivals, the Webster Warthogs in the championship game in a rematch of last year’s championship final in the Kent Park Memorial Day tournament where the Wolves lost 3-4.

This year the outcome was different. The Wolves dominated the game from the beginning, scoring runs in every inning and setting a season high of 16 hits and six home runs. They concluded their championship run with a 18-1 win.

It was an outstanding outing for pitchers Anthony Liberti and Jack Kelly who combined to allow only five hits, one run, eight strike outs. A special congratulations to Aaron Schauber, Ryan Beachner, Jack Kelly, Jack Simpson, Jason Simons, Bella Fanale, Anthony Liberti & Joey Baller who hit home runs during the tournament.

Congratulations to these young players for their excellent tournament performances. Once again you have made Webster very proud.

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Plank South readers win book battle!

31 May
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The winning team: (L-R) Michael Loux, Dominic Ianniello, Robert Kenny and Matt Schilling with Plank South librarian Janet Bresin.

Congratulations to the Bookasaurus Rex team from Plank South Elementary School, who won a head-to-head battle with Plank North’s Komedy Klan earlier this week in the final 2019 Battle of the Books battle.

Battle of the Books is a two-month long weekly contest which pits students in each of the school’s fifth grade classes against one another in a challenge which tests the students’ knowledge of literature. The students divide themselves up into three-or-four person teams and come up with fanciful team names like the “Mysterious Monkeys,” “The Skinny Carrots” and the “The Little Einsteins.” Then they try to become experts in the eight different books chosen for that year’s competition.

In each of the first three rounds, held during the classes’ normal library time, the teams are asked 16 questions — two from each book. The top scoring team from each class then moved on to the final round.

The Komedy Klan came in first pace at Plank North and Bookasaurus Rex at Plank South. The final battle on Wednesday was extremely close. The Komedy Klan missed just one question, but the Bookasaurus Rex team didn’t miss any. 

Plank North is just one of many schools in our district which hold this annual event. Kudos to the dedicated librarians who spend so much time organizing the battles and finding such a creative way to encourage our children to read and love books.

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The Komedy Klan: Lucas Hill, Sam DuPont, Aidan Tosto and Michael Leonard with Plank North librarian Gretchen Pulver

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Luncheon concludes first collaborative community reading project

31 May
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Webster community members and their student reading partners.  

I had the privilege to attend a very nice event on Thursday afternoon, the culminating luncheon of the first-ever community reading project.

Organized by Webster Schroeder English teacher Eileen Connolly, the project paired 25 adults from the greater Webster community with 25 students in Connolly’s 10th grade Here and Now English class. Every participant read the same novel — My Dog Skip by Willie Morris — over a period of four weeks in May. Reading assignments were assigned each week. Participants answered questions related to each assignment, recording their answers in a spiral notebook. The book and notebook were then delivered back and forth between adults and students every week so each could see what the other had written.

At yesterday’s luncheon, the adults and students met each other for the first time. My student partner was Kaylee Ziemniack, and I was pleased to be able to spend a few minutes getting to knew her at the luncheon.

Because it was just the first time for the program, there were a few glitches. But in general, it was a terrific experience and clearly adults and students alike got a lot out of it.

I asked Connolly to provide her thoughts on how things went and if she plans to run the program again next year. Allow me to quote her email directly:

Especially because it was our first time through, I was exceptionally pleased with how the program went. While we had a couple of bumps with delivery, every student and every adult read and responded to all parts of the novel. The opportunity to meet the people they’d been corresponding with was a little scary, but students enjoyed meeting and talking to their partners. Once we finished our luncheon, some of the participants also tried their hand at some blackout poetry using text from the novel.

The program gave students a low stress opportunity to do some reading and having adult feedback kept them interested. Students were always excited to open their envelopes and see what their partners had written. Many adults shared their own memories of childhood and provided some context for kids whose experiences are sometimes, but not always, very different from their own. Even the chance to see that people (other than teachers) actually write in cursive was an eye-opener for some students. Student readers had a chance to view how skilled and mature readers and writers interacted with the text. That provided excellent models for all of our students. …

We hope to expand the program to some English 10 classes at Thomas High School as well. I am thrilled that almost every adult said they would not only participate again but promised to get a friend or two involved.

I am so grateful for the many people who supported the program including our Principal Mr. Benz, Secondary Director of ELA, Larry Wahl, District Courier Jimmy Lehman, and my colleague Linda Law. … (Also) the staff of the offices at all the school pick up and drop off points. They didn’t have any advance notice and were very supportive too! At Schroeder, the front office staff, Kelly Dinsmore and Emily Zicari, were wonderful too!

Most of all, I want to extend my genuine gratitude to each and every community member who accepted our challenge to participate. The program taught my students that there are community members who care enough to take an interest in their work and lives. They gave of their most precious gift: time. There is no way to measure the value (short and long term) of that gift.

I would also like to add a thank you to the staff at the Webster Public Library. I arranged to have my packet dropped off there several times, and they were very accommodating.

I’m already looking forward to next year, and encourage others to come on board when Connolly ramps up the program again.

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At the luncheon: Me and my reading partner Kaylee Ziemniak; Noah Vercruysse and his partner   Meredith Feary. Claire Belmont is photo-bombing. 

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email me at missyblog@gmail.com. “Like” this blog on Facebook and follow me on Twitter and Instagram

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