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Villas at Easthampton community makes huge donation to Blue Star Mothers

24 Oct

The generosity displayed by Webster folks never ceases to amaze me. The latest example is a donation made recently by the residents at the Villas at Easthampton retirement community on Maryview Drive.

The community members there make a charitable donation every year to a different non-profit organization. Many of the residents had attended the recent Webster Garlic Fest, which benefited the Blue Star Mothers ROC NY8 (military families), Wreaths Across America Webster and Gold Star Mothers Rochester (who have lost an immediate family member in active duty). Following the festival, the community decided to have this year’s donation benefit the Blue Star Mothers and the care packages the mothers send to deployed servicemen and women.

In an effort organized by Jo Ann Timkey, about 30 Villas families got together and completely filled the Blue Star Mothers’ Care Package Wish List. Jo Ann reported this was the largest donation they’d ever received. Many veterans live in the community and were especially eager to donate. 

One of the reasons the community chose the Blue Star Mothers Care Package project is because the collected items will go all over the world, and are placed into the hands of our locally deployed service members.

 It took a truck to carry all the donations.

The next care package shipment is scheduled for November. Supporting this program is an easy way for us to provide a bit of joy to our soldiers so far from home. The care packages also bring comfort to the families left behind, who can see how much their loved ones are appreciated. Thank you, Villas at Easthampton, for supporting this great effort. You’ve really made a difference.

If you’d like to donate some items to the Blue Star Mothers’ care package program, click this Amazon link to see the wish list. The more items we can purchase for the program, the more care packages can be sent!

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

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(posted 10/24/2023)

 

Pumpkins on Parade needs you!

18 Oct

Bonus blog today, because this is important information, especially if you’re REALLY into creating jack-o-lanterns.

The Webster Recreation Center’s annual Pumpkins on Parade is less than two weeks away, and they need jack-o-lanterns! This is a super fun family event where participants stroll along the mile-long Chiyoda Trail behind the Rec Center, which is lined with hundreds of creatively carved, humorous, scary and downright weird jack-o-lanterns. At the end of the path, there’s free cider and donuts and a bonfire, a family photo area, and for the kids, a hay maze and roller slide. And it’s ALL FREE. (Here’s the Facebook event page for more information.)

To make this event the great success it always is, the Rec Center needs a LOT of jack-o-lanterns, so get carving! You can drop off your finished creations on the trailer parked outside the Rec Center (1350 Chiyoda Dr.) on Friday Oct, 27 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. or Saturday Oct. 28 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Multiple pumpkins are both welcomed and encouraged. Each pumpkin gets a raffle ticket for the chance to win a Fall Themed Raffle Basket (be sure to stop inside the Rec Center after dropping off your pumpkin to fill out a ticket!)

If you have a large group interested in carving pumpkins and need some help doing so, email kkovar@websterny.gov. The Rec Center can provide SOME pumpkins but also the space to carve. This would be a great project for Scout troops or big families or school classes!

For more information about Pumpkins on Parade, visit the Facebook page here.

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

You can also get email notifications every time I post a new blog by using the “Follow Me” link on the right side of this page.

(posted 10/18/2023)

New local news magazine highlights Webster

14 Sep

Local news is fading away.

A few years ago Webster could count on four or five outlets where we could, at least occasionally, find news affecting us here in town. The Democrat and Chronicle used to do a better job of it, but they don’t even pretend to serve up local anymore. Two years ago, the Webster Post ceased publishing, too. Fortunately, we can still rely on the Webster Herald, and — of course — this blog.

But for those of us who really want to keep up with what’s going on in Webster, it’d be nice to have another reliable, journalistic outlet for local news. That’s why I was very excited to learn about Webster NOW, a new Webster-centric news magazine hosted on Facebook.

Webster NOW is the project of Garrett Wagner, a life-long Webster resident and father of a young daughter. He launched the program in June, and posts a new segment every two weeks. Garrett is quite literally the face of Webster NOW, delivering each installment in close-up, evening-news-anchor-like fashion.

Something that all viewers should know from the start is that Garrett is running for Town Board this November. So one of the main reasons he created Webster NOW is to increase his name recognition. Having said that, however, he ‘s striving to keep his segments unbiased and anti-political, his goals being to “educate and entertain, remind (community members) they have a voice, and teach them how to use that voice to make something happen.”

Which is not to say that the program is devoid of politics. Each 10 to 15-minute segment begins with a look at the most recent Town Board meeting, highlighting several particularly engaging topics, which are culled from Town Board agendas and online video.

But the program also touches on other issues affecting Webster residents, like the recent rash of car thefts, local business updates, and school board elections. Garrett also regularly includes interviews with local officials and business leaders, and occasionally offers up an opinion poll about a particular topic. And every Webster NOW edition ends with news of upcoming special events in town.

A CPA by trade, Garrett hasn’t been a writer or videographer all his life. For that matter, he said his high school and college teachers all encouraged him to find a career in which he didn’t have to write. So to produce each Webster NOW installment, he works with a team to collect news, write the script and edit the video before the final product airs.

Garrett is pleasantly surprised by how well Webster NOW has been received. The Facebook page already has 187 followers, a number which should continue to grow as more people discover the program.

He’s already got plans on how to make the show better and even more informational.

“I’d like to branch out a little more with other guests,” he said. “There are so many voices of things happening … a lot of little groups in Webster that do great things for the town that nobody knows about.”

In the shorter term, Garrett will be working to keep his two-week production schedule consistent, and if people continue to enjoy the program, maybe even hire a few more staff members to provide additional content.

“Because there’s so much happening in Webster,” he said.

I totally agree, and it’s great that Webster residents now have another way to become more connected with the community.

Click here to check out Webster NOW for yourself.

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

You can also get email notifications every time I post a new blog by using the “Follow Me” link on the right side of this page.

(posted 9/14/2023)

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Quilters come together to help others

21 Jul

Here’s another nice story about how a local business is doing great things to help the community — in this case the global community.

On the third Tuesday of every month, Vanetta Parshall and Monique Liberti, owners of the Village Quilt Shoppe, host a “charity day.” For four hours, a handful of crafters sit around the tables at the back of the shop, carefully cutting and sorting hundreds of small fabric squares. The squares are then assembled into individual quilting kits, which are packaged up and shipped to Honduras.

Their destination is an foundation called One Common Thread, whose mission is to help Honduran women make quilts, which they can then sell to support their families.

Monique explained that the lap-sized quilts are created by English Paper Piecing, a method especially designed for hand-sewing, a necessary requirement for Honduran women who often don’t have a sewing machine, let alone electricity. The Quilt Shoppe volunteers work from patterns specifying how many of each color piece are required for each quilt, cut them all, separate them by color, then sort them into individual quilt kits.

Depending on how many helpers show up, Monique said, she can assemble and ship as many as six kits every month.

Monique and Vanetta began holding their charity days about two and a half years ago, after one of their former employees brought One Common Thread to their attention. They’ve adapted their efforts along the way as they’ve learned the most efficient ways to help.

“At first we had people drop off fabric, and we would just send fabric,” Monique said. “But upon talking with them we found it was more beneficial to cut the fabric up. So then we would send them squares. Then we realized we could print the patterns out and make kits.”

She estimates that the first year they shipped more than 50 yards of fabric. Then, thousands of pre-cut squares the following year, and about 30 kits since then. And they’re not planning to slow down anytime soon.

“Being a small business owned by two women, we want to help other women have a better life,” Monique said. “We try to look for charities where we help women empower their lives.” 

Vanetta and Monique welcome anyone to stop in on Charity Tuesdays to help out. You don’t need any quilting or even crafting experience, since most of the work involves sorting squares into kits. The next one is on Aug. 15, beginning at 10:30. If you’d like to help out at home, you can pop in and pick up a bag of fabric, complete with instructions, to cut into squares.

They also take donations of thread and hand-sewing needles, and monetary donations to help with shipping. (No fabric donations, thanks — they have plenty of fabric!)

The Village Quilt Shoppe is located at 21 East Main St. in the Village of Webster. To learn more, check out their website here or call (585) 626-6916. And definitely log onto the One Common Thread website to see some of the beautiful finished quilts and the women who are benefiting from them. You’ll also read about other ways you can help this wonderful organization.

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

You can also get email notifications every time I post a new blog by using the “Follow Me” link on the right side of this page.

(posted 7/21/2023)

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Rush hour in the village

6 Jul

Did you see those two massive tanks that were creeping through town last night?

They came through Four Corners about 6:45, heading west down Main Street accompanied by a huge escort, including state troopers. The first tank to come through actually clipped the traffic light, causing the whole procession to come to a stop until a support crew with a cherry-picker could get up there and physically lift the wire up so the trucks could fit under.

When I posted this on my Facebook page last night, the theories as to what they might be and where they were going ranged from the serious to the farcical, including wind turbine parts, grain silos, submarines or the new Elon Musk rides for the Carnival.

But a few people were able to find out the real answer, including my friend George Baker, who spoke to one of the escort drivers. Apparently the tanks were destined for a downtown brewery.

Which means my friend Andrew actually came pretty close when he said to me, “I told my wife I would only have one drink tonight. I’m glad it finally arrived.”

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

You can also get email notifications every time I post a new blog by using the “Follow Me” link on the right side of this page.

(posted 7/6/2023)

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Village sidewalk sale returns this weekend

4 Jul

Lala of Webster’s third annual sidewalk sale is coming up this weekend.

This year’s event will feature nine village businesses, all within an easy walk of one another:

This is a really good opportunity to check out many of our brand new businesses. Click on the name above to keep updated on what special things they have planned. (For example, Oh Bella is offering treats, and free gifts.)

The sale will take place on Friday and Saturday July 7 and 8, beginning at 10 a.m. each day. It’ll happen rain or shine, with some displays outside (weather permitting) and some inside — or a little of both! So let’s hope for good weather, put on some comfortable shopping shoes, and head on down to the village this Friday and Saturday.  

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

You can also get email notifications every time I post a new blog by using the “Follow Me” link on the right side of this page.

(posted 7/4/2023)

Girl Scouts exceed their Blue Star Mothers goal

3 May

More than 200 deployed servicemen and women all over the world will be getting a little taste of Girl Scout goodness, thanks to the efforts of Brownie Girl Scout Troop 60344.

During this year’s Girl Scout Cookie season, which just concluded, the 13 second-graders of Troop 60344 set an ambitous goal: to encourage their customers to purchase 200 boxes of cookies to be donated to the Blue Star Mothers Rochester Chapter NY8, to be included in military care packages being mailed in June.

The girls not only achieved that goal, but blew it away, selling 220 boxes of cookies.

Last Monday night the troop held a pizza-and-cookie-cake-party to celebrate their successes this cookie season. Blue Star Mothers NY8 president Amy VanDerwerken was on hand to accept the cookie donation, to tell the girls more about the BSM mission, and to answer all their questions (and there were a lot of them). The girls were especially interested in what the care packages were going to include in addition to the cookies, and were surprised to learn that foot powder and beef jerkey were probably the most popular items requested.

As a special treat for all their hard work, the girls also got to plant a pie in the face of each of their troop leaders, Linda Meyers and Daniela Viavattine.

Troop leader Linda Meyers gets a pie in the face from her daughter
Linda and Daniela, post-pies

Thanks go out to all of the community members who stopped by the troop’s cookie tables this season and dropped some extra cash, and also to Canandaigua National Bank for helping put the girls over their goal by donating enough money to purchase 60 boxes.

Thanks also to sister troops 60867 and 60454, which donated some of their extra cookies to be distributed among our local first responder agencies.

The Brownies also made thank-you cards to be sent with the care packages
All 220 boxes on display

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

You can also get email notifications every time I post a new blog by using the “Follow Me” link on the right side of this page.

(posted 5/3/2023)

Blue Star Mothers honor military families with a baby shower

30 Apr

For two hours on Sunday, 13 expectant — or brand new — military mothers were showered with gifts, sweet treats and breakfast pizza when the Blue Star Mothers Rochester Chapter NY8 (BSM NY8) held their Baby Shower for Military.

The annual event, held at the Cottreal-Warner American Legion Post, is designed to recognize and provide for young mothers and expectant mothers in local military families. The event was open to active duty, veterans and military spouses of active duty service members, who were expecting or have children up to six months old. For many of these mothers, this may be the only baby shower they get, since they’re usually stationed far away from their close relatives.

Each mother left the event with three huge IKEA bags packed to the brim with age-appropriate clothing items, toys, bottles, baby wipes, hand-made boppies, hand-crocheted sweaters, booties, hats and blankets, and lots more. A fourth bag was filled with personal care items, lotions and soaps just for Mom, and for Dad, snacks and a book to read to the baby during those midnight feedings.

I mean, they thought of everyone!

I spoke with one young mother, Kat Welch, who was enjoying the event while cradling her 6-week old daughter Evelyn. She and her husband have only lived in the area a short time, and her folks live in New Zealand. So, “I didn’t have a baby shower or anything,” she said. “We didn’t have any kind of celebration.”

Kat found out she was pregnant with Evelyn, their fifth child, last August, only two weeks before her husband was deployed to Africa for a year. They’d pretty much given up on conceiving another child, so Kat had already gotten rid of most of her baby stuff. She went home Sunday with not only the four bags of clothing and baby necessities, but also a stroller, a Diaper Genie and a brand new bassinet.

She was especially grateful for the bassinet.

“We weren’t expecting (Evelyn) to be as small as she was (only four pounds), so she’s too small to sleep in her nursery,” Kat said. “She’s currently sleeping in my bed. So it’s a huge help because she can now sleep next to me in my bedroom.”

While the annual Military Baby Shower is organized and coordinated by the Blue Star Mothers Rochester Chapter, it truly is a community effort. The group’s members have been collecting items for months in preparation, fanning out to local businesses to solicit donations of food, baby products or gift cards. Individual community members went online to the Blue Star Mothers’ Amazon wish list and purchased larger-ticket items like Diaper Genies and strollers. And at the actual baby shower on Sunday, three local small businesses — Rosy Glow Maternity, Artistic Boutique and Studio, and Karen Reyes Massage Therapy — volunteered their time to make the day even more special.

Several members of the 209th Regiment of Cadets were also on hand to help set up tables, put all the bags out, and carry items to cars when the mothers headed for home.

Blue Star Mothers are mothers, stepmothers, grandmothers, foster mothers and female legal guardians who have children serving in the military, guard or reserves, or children who are veterans. The Baby Shower for Military is one of the most important service projects of the Blue Star Mothers Rochester Chapter.

Here are a few more photos from the shower:

209th Regiment of Cadets

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

You can also get email notifications every time I post a new blog by using the “Follow Me” link on the right side of this page.

(posted 4/30/2023)

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Host families needed for teen-age diplomats

20 Apr

The 2022/2023 school year is still far from over, but at least one organization is already looking forward to September.

The Association for Teen-age Diplomats (ATAD) is looking for Webster families to host high school-aged exchange students for the next school year. Now is the time to sign up, because students need plenty of time to get their visas.

ATAD was created after World War II by a group of Kodak employees. They wanted to come up with some way to foster world peace and thought that if the world’s young people got to know each other, there would be less war. They started bringing exchange students to Rochester in the 1950s.

Most years, ATAD will host five to ten students hailing from France, Italy, Germany, Russia, Peru, Poland, Spain and Turkey. Six are expected this year, four from Spain and two others from Italy. You can click here to see mini bios for all the students.

Becoming a host family is easy, and really requires very little more than providing room, board and love. The visiting student doesn’t even need a private bedroom or any spending money.

You can find answers to many questions on the ATAD website, but here’s some helpful info:

  • students bring their own spending money and have their own insurance
  • families generally include the visiting student on family trips, and the students sometimes have their own money to pay for it
  • ATAD hosts a few social gatherings during the school year so host families can meet other families
  • each student has a program chair assigned to manage any problems — large or small — which come up. The ATAD volunteer network is ready to step in and help with any issues that arise.
  • host families do not have to have any other children
  • all visiting students know English well
  • families are not provided a stipend for hosting a student
  • students do not pay room and board

For more information, visit the ATAD website or email Suzanne Isgrigg, Vice President for Host Families, at froggymom@aol.com.

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

You can also get email notifications every time I post a new blog by using the “Follow Me” link on the right side of this page.

(posted 4/20/2023)

Veterans remembered again on Wreath Retirement Day

18 Mar

On Saturday Dec. 17 last year, precisely at noon, hundreds of adults, children, local officials, first responders, veterans and active-duty service members were gathered at Webster Union Cemetery. The occasion was National Wreaths Across America Day, and the volunteers were there to help lay more than 650 wreaths, one for every veteran resting in the cemetery. It was an incredible outpouring of support from the Webster community, a truly touching ceremony and a moving tribute to our veterans. (Click here to read the blog I wrote about that day.)

For three months the wreaths rested there among the grave markers, reminding every visitor of the great number of Webster residents who have fought for our country. It was a stunning sight, so many wreaths, adorned with bright red bows, spread around the snowy grounds.

Unfortunately, however, the wreaths couldn’t stay there forever. So on Saturday March 18, a much smaller — but no less dedicated — group of community members gathered again at Webster Union for Wreath Retirement Day. They included Boy Scouts from Pack 420, Girl Scouts from Troop 60344. and the 209th Regiment Cadets. Together, they gathered the wreaths, stacked them along the roadways, then tossed them onto a big pile at the back of the cemetery. There, WVFD Fire Chief Andrew Vorndran set them all ablaze. Afterwards, all of the volunteers sat down for a lunch provided by Mission BBQ in Henrietta, a big supporter of Wreaths Across America.

It was a sad day in some respects, as we literally saw months of nonstop planning and effort go up in flames. But it was comforting to know that, just like on the day they were placed, each time a wreath was removed from a headstone, a veteran was remembered once again.

Check below for a slideshow of photos from the day, featuring many of our friends and neighbors who came out to help.

Planning has already begun for this year’s Wreaths Across America Day. The Webster community was so incredibly supportive of our town’s very first Wreaths Across America Day on Dec. 17 that organizers hope to add at least one additional cemetery this year, and eventually recognize every one of the more than 3,000 veterans buried in Webster’s seven cemeteries. Which is why, months before that happens, the call is already going out for community members and businesses to sponsor wreaths.

So stay tuned for more updates from Wreaths Across America in Webster, and let’s help make sure this incredible program continues to grow. Click here to see and follow the Facebook page, click here to sponsor a wreath (or several), and click here to see the blog I wrote following Wreaths Across America Day on Dec. 17 to see what a moving and inspirational event this is.

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

You can also get email notifications every time I post a new blog by using the “Follow Me” link on the right side of this page.

(posted 3/18/2022)

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