While the stair climb is held at locations all over the country, I’m told that the bike ride is unique to our West Webster Fire Department, so this is a chance to be part of something really cool.
The ride is being held this coming Saturday Sept. 9, and will begin and end at the WWFD Station 1 on Gravel Rd. Registrations will be taken on-site (cash or check only) beginning at 7:30 for anyone who’s not pre-registered, with welcome ceremonies beginning at 8:30.
Two courses are offered, one 9.2 miles long and a second one 19.5 miles long. Both courses take riders north from the station to the lake (see the map below). A breakfast will be held following the ride at 11 a.m.
Cost is $35 per rider, benefiting the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. Click here to register (scroll all the way down to register as an individual rider).
The ride is being held in conjunction with the annual Rochester 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb and Family Walk, being held this year on Sunday Sept. 10 at Innovative Field. These events honor and remember the FDNY firefighters who selflessly gave their lives so that others might live on September 11, 2001.
For more information about both of these events, click here.
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I’d like to give a quick shout-out to a group of people I met Monday who really embrace the idea of community. They are the pickleballers who gather every morning to play at the Ellison Park courts.
I’ve played pickleball before, pre-pandemic, when my Plank North teaching colleagues and I would organize pick-up games after school. I really enjoy the game and miss playing it, now that I’m retired. But I’ve always been hesitant to join an organized league or even go to the Rec Center, because I’ve heard so many stories about how clique-y pickleball players can get. Even though I’m pretty good with a paddle, I wasn’t sure I’d be embraced by a group of established players.
When my friend Carl found out that I play, he invited me to join the Ellison Park gang, assuring me that they were very welcoming. When I arrived at the courts Monday morning, it was immediately clear to me that he was right. I hadn’t even walked all the way up to the first court before someone waved me out to play. He didn’t ask me how long I’d been playing or how good I was. It was just, “C’mon, you wanna play?”
For the next two hours, I played pickleball with Bob, Janice, Bill, Charlie, Goldie, Michelle, Julius and lots others whose names I can’t remember or didn’t get a chance to meet. There were so many players that morning — more than two dozen — that I didn’t play with everyone, but those I did were all friendly, cheerful, encouraging and helpful.
So thank you, Ellison Park pickleball players, for welcoming me into your community so readily. I’ll be seeing you again soon.
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I’m kicking off today’s mailbag with this follow-up from the Webster Central School District about the Northeast Monroe County Special Olympics Track & Field Day, which Webster Schroeder High School hosted on May 23.
Athletes from Webster Schroeder, Webster Thomas, East Irondequoit, West Irondequoit, Penfield, Creekside, Mary Cariola, and Greece schools participated in this year’s event. They competed in track, field, and adaptive events including dashes, relays and distance runs, softball throw, long jump, shot put, 25m manual wheelchair, 25m electric wheelchair, and wheelchair softball throw.
Additional special events were offered for younger athletes to introduce them to sports movements and skills, including activities like an obstacle course, parachute games and target practice.
Special Olympics NY programs are designed to offer age-appropriate experiences to younger athletes that will prepare them for authentic Special Olympics competition.
This huge sale will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday and Friday June 8 and 9, and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday June 10. Along with what you might consider “regular” garage sale items, there will be lots of picture frames, furniture, household goods, sporting goods and toys.
Proceeds from the sale benefit the church’s outreach projects, including their Little Free Pantry which stands at the edge of their parking lot.
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Great food is in store on Saturday June 17 when the Rochester Academy of Irish Dance Parents Association host a Chicken BBQ drive-through fundraiser. They’ll be set up at 780 Ridge Rd. in Webster (between Five Mile Line and Hatch roads).
Dinners will be served beginning at 4 p.m., until they’re sold out. They cost $15, which includes a half chicken, potatoes, cole slaw, rolls and butter.
This is a great family event featuring food trucks, music, a KidZone, raffles, and lots of vendors and community agency displays.
The Penfield Recreation Center is located at 1985 Baird Rd.
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There’s always lots of great stuff happening at the Webster Recreation Center, but here are a few highlights:
The always entertaining Senior Singers will present a free performance on Tuesday June 6 at 11 a.m. in the lunch room. No registration is required and everyone is welcome.
Need a ride to the Rec Center? Good news! Anyone 55 or older can request a ride from your door to the Rec Center and back home again any Tuesday or Thursday. On Thursday, the ride home also includes a stop at the grocery store.
To schedule your ride, call the Rec Center at 585-872-7103 ext. 7385 no later than 8 a.m. the day of the ride. You’ll be asked to provide your name, address, phone number and requested date(s). Pickup will be between 9 and 10 a.m., and will return after Lunch Club 60, between 12:30 and 1 p.m. Rides cost $4 round trip per person/per day, payable at the front office upon arrival.
The Webster Recreation Center is located at 1350 Chiyoda Dr.
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There’s always great stuff happening at the Webster Public Library also, but here are a few highlights:
Outdoor story times have returned to Harmony Park. Every Wednesday June through August, beginning at 9:30 a.m., bring the kids and a blanket and enjoy story time at the band shell. All ages are welcome and no registration is required. The park is located on Phillips Rd. south of Ridge.
June 12 is this month’s Make-it-Monday craft night. From 6 to 7 p.m. participants can make rainbow cloud hangings. Registration is required. Click here to register.
Kindness rocks! Stop by the library on Saturday June 24 from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and decorate a rock or two with words or images of kindness. Then you can take your rocks and hide them around Webster.
The 2023 summer reading theme is “All Together Now,” so the library is celebrating friendship and kindness with a three-week Friendship Camp. It begins Wednesday June 28 from 2 to 3:30 p.m. with Friendship Bracelets and Button Making. Grades 4-12 are welcome. Registration is required.
‘Tis the season for golf, apparently, and for those of you who enjoy hitting the links for a good cause, there are several opportunities coming up in the near future to do that. I’d like to tell you about three of them today.
This first one has my favorite name for a golf tournament ever, the RobynPalooza, scheduled for June 16. It’s named after Robyn Whittaker, who first organized this benefit tournament 12 years ago in honor of her 50th birthday. For the last several years the Webster Rotary has been helping out, and the collaboration has had tremendous success raising money for local charities.
Robyn reports that last year was their biggest year ever, netting $17,000. She hopes to top $20,000 this year, but as the date approaches she’s afraid they might fall short. So now’s the time to step up and help out. There’s still plenty of time to pull together your foursome to play, but there are also plenty of opportunities for businesses to sponsor holes and carts, and prizes for achievements like closest to the pin and longest drive.
Sponsorships are just $100, and can be combined with your foursome registration. Registration for players is $480 per foursome, or $125 for individuals. Dinner only will cost $35.
Proceeds from this year’s RobynPalooza will benefit the Webster Library BookBox, Human Kindness Organization, Open Door Mission, Adopt a Platoon, and other causes.
The event is scheduled for Friday June 16 at Morgan’s Crossing Golf Club (Chili Country Club). Registration begins at 11 a.m. with a shotgun start at 1 p.m. For more information about the tournament and how to sign up, click on the image below.
Even though the tournament is just around the corner, there’s still time to sign up to play and/or sponsor a golf cart, putting green, driving range or hole. Sponsorships range from $105 to $1,000. Cost to play is $100 for individual golfers, $400 for a foursome. If you’d just like to come for dinner alone, that will cost $35.
Proceeds will benefit Christopher’s Challenge, a not-for-profit organization established in 1998 to educate about bone marrow transplants and draw awareness to become a potential bone marrow donor, as well as financially supporting patients and their families going through bone marrow transplant procedures.
Registration begins at noon with a shotgun start at 1 p.m. Dinner will be served at 6 p.m. To register, click here or call Kathy Costello at (585) 414-5345.
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Have you ever wanted to play Oak Hill? Your chance to do that happens Monday July 24, during the CDS Wolf Foundation’s 36th annual A Salute to Veterans Golf Tournament.
This is one of Rochester’s leading and most respected charitable golf events. Sponsorships range from $7,500 to $50,000. Foursomes can sign up for $7,500 to play the East Course and $5,000 to play the West Course (with discounts applied if paid in full by May 31). Other opportunities include a driving range sign for $2,500, a tee sign for $1,000 and a dinner and concert ticket for $500.
The tournament will begin with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. on the East Course, and at 1:30 with shotgun starts on both the East and West courses. For more information and to register, click here.
Warrior Salute Veterans Services provides a strong, supportive community to help veterans reach their personal therapeutic, social, educational and community goals. The program strives to assist veterans in all aspects of their lives and works to provide them with the tools to live independently and productively in their community.
For the first time in the team’s 20-year (or so) history, the Webster Cyclones 16U Tier 2 Girls team will be heading to the Nationals.
At last weekend’s State Championships in Buffalo, the team capped an impressive 35-12-7 season with a strong showing, powering through a tough semi-final field and earning a trip to the Nationals later this month. After defeating Wheatfield in a thrilling 1-0 semifinal matchup, the team fell in the finals to the Adirondack Youth, who earned an automatic Nationals bid. However, the Cyclones were awarded an at-large bid to the tournament and will compete in Irvine, California from March 30 to April 3.
This is the first Webster Youth Hockey team — boys or girls — in the history of the organization to make it all the way to Nationals.
They can use our help to get there, too. Obviously, the cost of traveling to California for the tournament is pretty significant. So the team has set up a GoFundMe page to help raise some money for the trip. If you’d like to support the girls in their quest to bring a National title back to Webster, click here.
Also this news of note: the Webster Girls’ 19U team also made it all the way to the State Tournament this year, making this the first year ever that Webster had two girls’ teams make it to the States. Congratulations to both teams!
A Thomas vs. Schroeder high school basketball game is always highly competitive and definitely worth watching. But the one happening this Thursday night should be … well, interesting, and dare I say, a little short on actual basketball talent.
It’s a Charity Basketball Game, scheduled for Thursday night March 9 at Webster Thomas High School.
The family-friendly event will pit Thomas/OWL staff and faculty against Schroeder/GOAL staff and faculty in a friendly winner-take-all-bragging-rights game. The school’s Resource Officers will officiate, so it will (well, SHOULD) be a clean game. Halftime activities will include some super fun competitions between Thomas/OWL students and Schroeder/GOAL students. Concessions will be available.
I don’t know for sure how often the high schools have hosted a charity game like this, but I do remember participating in one many, many years ago when I was working at Thomas. What I remember most about it, actually (aside from how poorly I played) were the fun costumes and wigs that many of the teachers wore, and how much laughing there was. It was an enjoyable experience both on the court, and for everyone in the stands as well.
Admission is only $2 (suggested donation), and all proceeds will benefit Dreams from Drake, a Spencerport-based organization which provides children and teens who recently lost a sibling or parent with various forms of community and social support. Additional donations would be greatly appreciated as well.
The game will be played in the gymnasium at Webster Thomas High School, 800 Five Mile Line Rd. on Thursday March 9 beginning at 6:30 p.m. Enter on the east side of the building, near the field house.
Hey friends, need to do something nice for somebody today? How about taking a quick moment to help a young Webster athlete become this week’s Bill Gray’s Athlete of the Week?
Webster Schroeder senior Colin Smith is the standout goalie for the Webster Schroeder hockey team. He recently helped the team win the Section V Class B hockey championship with two stellar performances, the first in a semifinal win against No. 2 Aquinas, where he made 40 saves. Then he made another 45 saves against No. 1 seed Churchville-Chili in Sunday’s championship game.
Colin is also an outstanding supporter of the Webster community — he serves as an Explorer in the Webster Volunteer Fire Department and is about to become a full member of the WFD.
Yesterday, WROC-TV named Colin their Athlete of the Week (click here to see the story and video). How about we also help him earn the title of Bill Gray’s Athlete of the Week?
It’s easy to vote. Just click here, scroll to the bottom and check the circle next to the name Colin Smith. And guess what? You can vote more than once!
I’m going to lead this mailbag today with two great opportunities to give back to our community through volunteering.
Webster HOPE, located at 1450 Ridge Rd., is looking for volunteers to help stock their food pantry, work in the gardens, organize the clothing closet and work with their clients. They’ve also noted several items on their January wish list which they need to keep their food pantry stocked. Check out the flier below for more information.
The mission of Webster HOPE is to serve the needs of residents in the 14580 zip code area, by providing food, clothing, household goods, furniture and financial assistance to those in need.
Webster Comfort Care Home, at 700 Holt Rd., is also in need of volunteers and nurses to help them with their mission to provide compassionate end-of-life care for terminally ill patients. For more information, visit webstercomfortcare.org.
This from the school district:
Webster CSD Parents/Guardians Invited to Family Engagement Roundtable
The Webster Central School District invites parents and guardians to a Family Engagement Roundtable. The evening will feature discussion with Dr. Robert Chalwell, Webster CSD Executive Director of Family & Student Services & Inclusivity, Janine Sanger, Webster Health & Education Network Executive Director, a Webster CSD parent, and a Webster CSD student.
The roundtable will be held on Thursday Jan. 19 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Spry Middle School, 119 South Ave. Please RSVP and submit questions by clicking here. Questions may also be submitted via email or audio file to robert_chalwell@webstercsd.org or in-person to Lindsay Young at the district office, 119 South Ave., Webster.
The annual Knights of Columbus Free Throw Championship has been scheduled for Saturday Jan. 21 at Webster Thomas High School, 800 Five Mile Line Rd. Registration begins at 3 p.m. and the contest begins at 3:30. It’s open to all boys and girls ages 9 to 14.
Webster Parks and Recreation will host Rich the Magic Man on Monday Jan. 16, when he brings his amazing show to the Webster Arboretum Lodge from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. There’ll be magic, bubble fun (including big enough bubbles to put a kid inside), and a mini dance party.
Cost is $10 per ticket. Sign up through the Webster Recreation Center online or call 585-872-7103.
And since we’re talking about Webster Parks and Recreation, believe it or not, they’ve opened registration for summer camp.
This year, the Rec will be offering camps for children from preschool through 5th grade. Check out the flier below and visit the Webster Recreation Center website for more information.
Dr. Steve Cochi, Webster lacrosse star of the 1960s and Centers of Disease Control infectious disease star during his long professional career, spent a busy November 5 weekend reuniting with former teammates and being honored by the local chapter of USA Lacrosse.
Dr. Cochi led the 1969 Webster Ridgemen to the championship of the Upstate Lacrosse Conference, scoring six of his team’s seven goals, including the sudden-victory fourth overtime winner against Fayetteville-Manlius of the Syracuse area. He subsequently became Webster’s first college All-American honoree at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, matching his high school feat of setting his team’s then all-time scoring record.
A large contingent of Webster lacrosse folks attended the awards banquet of the Greater Rochester Area Chapter of USA Lacrosse, the governing body of the sport, including a table of his fellow ’69 Ridgemen. His family filled another table, and a third included five of Webster’s previous eight local Hall of Fame selectees.
Dr. Cochi recounted the impact of his Webster team experience, including the leadership of Coach Bill Guerrera, who had sadly passed away just that previous week.
According to his biograohy from the National Library of Medicine, Steve’s post-Webster career with the CDC encompassed “more than 22 years working in the field of immunization. As Acting Director of the National Immunization Program at CDC he had a major impact on the prevention of virtually every one of the vaccine-preventable diseases, particularly diphtheria, Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib) disease, measles, mumps, pertussis, polio, rubella, varicella, and tetanus.”
The weekend included a Friday evening pizza-and-soda gathering at Thomas High School, arranged by present THS coach Rob Ruller and included additional former teammates Bill Southwell and Mike Martin as well as other members of the Webster lacrosse community. Fond memories of Coach Guerrera and recollections of events of the title game and the rest of the season were stimulated by a grainy and jumpy tape partially salvaged from the original film. That relic of ‘wooden-stick lacrosse’ can be accessed via YouTube here.
Steve Cochi wore #88.
Thank you to Dave Moore for submitting this follow-up.
Fans of Webster lacrosse will be interested in this press release I recently received:
On Saturday, November 5, Dr. Steve Cochi, star of Webster’s 1969 Upstate New York high school lacrosse champion team, will be inducted into the Greater Rochester Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Leading point-getter for the ’69 Ridgemen, Steve scored six of the team’s seven goals including the fourth overtime winner as Coach Bill Guerrera’s crew topped Fayetteville-Manlius to win the championship of the Upstate Lacrosse Conference.
Steve went on to lacrosse All-American honors at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a highly accomplished career at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Steve’s inclusion at the celebratory banquet for inductees in the 2022 Greater Rochester Hall of Fame class will mark the fourth selection of a Webster lacrosser in the last five induction groups: Bob Menz in ’21, Dick Baran in ’18, and Patrick Dutton in ’17. Dr. Cochi will be the ninth member of Webster’s 58-year-old lacrosse community to join the ranks of local Hall of Famers.
As in the past, there will be an enthusiastic turnout of Webster lacrosse folks to honor Dr. Cochi and highlight the community’s support of The Creator’s Game. Some of Steve’s teammates are planning a gathering ahead of the banquet and induction. To find out more, email larrynogaj@hotmail.com
The banquet will be held on Saturday Nov. 5 at 6 p.m. at the Harro East Ballroom. Tickets for the banquet are $75, Children 10 and under $15, 5 and under free. Click here to order.
I feature the people and places and events that make Webster the wonderful community it is — and throw in some totally-not-Webster-related personal ramblings every once in a while as well.
I love it when readers send me news about the great things happening in their schools or the community, so please email me anytime at missyblog@gmail.com
