Senior runner tells his inspiring story

20 Oct

Here’s a nice story from a meeting of Mended Hearts of Greater Rochester held recently at the Knights of Columbus in Webster.

Gates heart patient and senior runner Bruce Rychwalski, 69, was guest speaker at the meeting last Monday night.

Rychwalski is a fitness advocate and member of the Greater Rochester Track Club who has participated in more than 300 5K races since 2011, when he experienced a life-threatening Ventricular Tachycardia. At that time he was also diagnosed with Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy, a genetic, heritable, progressive heart condition in which the muscle of the right ventricle is replaced by fat and fibrosis, which causes abnormal heart rhythms.

After telling his story, Rychwalski impressed upon members of his audience the importance of keeping active and continuing to exercise after a medical diagnosis or procedure. His motto, he said, is “If you rest, you rust.”

Mended Hearts is a national and community-based non-profit organization that offers the gift of hope to heart disease patients, their families and caregivers through a variety of programs. Their mission is dedicated to “Inspiring hope and improving the quality of life for heart patients and their families through ongoing peer-to-peer support.” The local community chapters help people understand that there can be a rich, rewarding life after heart disease diagnosis. Members listen, share their experiences and volunteer to talk to other heart patients about what they may face including lifestyle changes, depression, recovery, and treatment.

For more information about Mended Hearts go to www.mendedhearts.org.

Mended Hearts Photo #1

Bruce Rychwalski with Mended Hearts president Bernard Quinlan, VP Eugene Binder and program chair Marlene Adams

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Instilling a life-long love of sports

19 Oct

WBA

I love this photo. So many smiling — and silly — faces. They’re just a few of the kids who participate in the Webster Basketball Association (WBA) an instructional house league for boys and girls from first through ninth grades.

The folks who run the WBA have asked me to highlight the organization because time is running out to get your kids registered in this awesome program.

It begins on the morning of Sunday November 4 with an evaluation day to gauge skill levels. Kids will then be placed on a team and will work on drills for the first couple weeks. Game play will start in December and players will practice 30 minutes and play a game for 30 minutes. Players in first and second grades will be using lower rims.

Here’s more detail about the times and cost:

  • Sundays, November 4 – February 24 (no program on 11/25, 12/23, 12/30, 1/20 & 1/27)
  • 1st-2nd grade boys 1:30-2:30 p.m.
    1st-2nd grade girls 2:45-3:45 p.m.
    3rd-4th grade girls 2:45-3:45 p.m.
    3rd-4th grade boys 4-5 p.m.
    5th-8th grade girls 5-6 p.m.
    5th-6th grade boys 5-6 p.m.
    7th-9th grade boys 4-5 p.m.
  • Times are subject to change depending on how many children sign up for each age group and gym space availability. Exact times may not be determined until early November
  • Games and practices are held at the Field House at Webster Thomas High School, 800 Publishers Parkway
  • Fees:  1st through 4th grades: $90 for Webster $95 for non-residents; 5th through 9th grades: $105 for residents, $110 for non-residents.

For more information, email Julie Schillaci at jschillaci@ci.webster.ny.us. Then get your kids out on that court, where they can learn the sport of basketball and enjoy it for years to come.

WBA2

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Halloween in the Village is coming!

18 Oct

halloween

It took a while, but I finally have gotten into the Halloween mood. Perhaps it was visiting Victor last weekend, seeing all of their light pole scarecrows and making plans with friends to attend Victor’s very adult trick-or-treating Spooktacular in a few weeks. Maybe it’s that the weather has turned very fall-like (OK, downright cold) and the trees are really beginning to change.

In any case, let’s talk Halloween.

The Village of Webster’s annual Halloween in the Village is coming up on Saturday October 27. The highlight of this event is the Trick-or-Treat Trail, where kids can get into their costumes and trick-or-treat all through the village, stopping by dozens of businesses for treats.

Here are the details:

  • A costume contest will kick off the day’s activities from 11 a.m. to noon at the Community Meeting Room, 29 South Ave. (adjacent to the fire house). Prizes will be awarded for best costumes. To be entered into the contest, you must arrive between 11 and 11:30.
  • The Trick-or-Treat Trail itself will run from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Look for the orange pumpkin in the windows of the participating businesses. (Or just follow the crowds of kids.)
  • The Webster Museum on Lapham Park will host an open house and usually has a fun scavenger-hunt for the kids.
  • The Fire Department will also have an open house, which is always very popular with the kids. Along with candy and other treats, the firefighters will be handing out fire hats and goodie bags and will have lots of demonstrations and hands-on activities.
  • The village’s Festival Wagon will also be making the rounds if you’d like to enjoy a horse-drawn wagon ride around the village.

I’ll be there with my camera, as I am every year, snapping photos of as many cute kids as I can. If you’d like to check out last year’s gallery of photos, click here.

Several other events you’ll want keep on your radar include the Friends of Webster Trails’ annual Hot Cocoa Hike the evening of Oct. 27; Barry’s Old School Irish’s 7th anniversary party on Saturday Nov. 3; a craft show at Schlegel Elementary School also on Nov. 3; and a magic show to benefit Miracle Field on Saturday Nov. 24. More details to come about all these soon.

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I wish Webster had scarecrows

17 Oct
Turning Point

Probably my favorite scarecrow in Victor, created by The Turning Pointe dance studio.

Fairport does it up big. This year Victor is doing it, too. Business owners all along the town’s main streets are lashing scary and whimsical scarecrows to the lamp posts near their shops.

Fairport’s done it for years, and they’ve become such an important part of the village’s Scarecrow Festival that it’s even named after them. Victor is doing it for the first time this year as part of their second annual Spooktacular Victor event. In both cases, the scarecrows are a main festival feature. But they also will draw families to town at other times, which means more foot traffic for local business owners.

I really wish Webster would do this to. Or more accurately, I wish Webster would do it AGAIN. As recently as five years ago the village did organize a scarecrow contest, and even invited community members to vote. You know what that means: people actually had to COME INTO TOWN to look at them, and that can only mean good things.  And what nice decorations they made for when thousands of adults and children descended on the village for the Trick-or-Treat Trail.

So c’mon, Webster BID. Can we do this again next year? Think of how nice they would look alongside those beautiful planters, and what a nice addition they would be to our village’s Halloween events.

Here are photos of a few others in Victor:

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Quilting for a cause

16 Oct

quilt

I recently heard about an event being hosted later this week by the Webster Quilt Guild which I wanted to let you know about.

On Saturday October 20, the Guild will host its 6th annual Quilt Pink Day. This is a  nationwide event; locally, quilters will come together to benefit the Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester, for whom they’ve already make 200 quilts.

If you’re interested in joining them, it’s at Plank South Elementary School, 715 Plank Road (entrance is off of Scribner), from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. All you need to bring is your sewing machine and basic sewing supplies. The Guild will have fabric and blocks cut up to sew into the quilts.

The event is being led by Guild members Michelle Sanderson and Jen Martin, who have worked tirelessly on this program over the years. Kudos to the entire organization for the good they’re doing for our community.

But there’s more! The Webster Quilt Guild, now celebrating its 43rd year, is constantly doing great things for our community. On the first Monday of every month, for example, they host their “Chat and Charity” group at the Goodwill store on Webster Commons Blvd. in Webster, led by Gretchen Stumme and Cheryl Bond. They describe this group as a “fabulously fun group of friends working on charitable projects.” Some of the projects they’ve completed include “shirt savers” for Mary Cariola Center, and “fidget quilts” for St. Anne’s. Their current project are “no-no bags” for Strong Pediatric.

The group’s regular meetings on the third Friday of every month feature some great activities, great discussions, and plenty of new friends and socializing.  The meetings are held at the Webster United Methodist Church on East Main Street.

Read more about the Webster Quilt Guild on their website, here.

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What did YOU do this weekend?

15 Oct

IMG_9635

Boy, wasn’t Sunday just a picture-perfect autumn day?

The firefighters at the West Webster Fire Department really lucked out with the weather for their open house, allowing them to pull all their rigs out of the bays, set up SO MANY food tents and give-away tables, and give little wanna-be firefighters a chance to go through an inflatable fire-safety house (never seen one of those before) and use a real fire hose to extinguish some not-so-real flames.

I popped by the event and snapped some photos, making sure to give a wide berth to the free hot dog table and free doughnut table. Click here to see a gallery.

IMG_9574

The annual Webster Fall Festival held Saturday afternoon didn’t have quite as good weather. An already cool day was made even more so by a lot of clouds and a stiff wind. But the brisk temperatures didn’t seem to bother the large numbers of families who attended.

The event was held at Gosnell Big Woods Preserve on Vosburg Road, which provided plenty of open space for kids’ games, pony and wagon rides, classic cars, food trucks, a live entertainment stage, and a few community agency information tables.

The event benefited Rochester Challenger Miracle Field, which is a great cause not only because it’s right in our own Webster back yard, but it’s simply an awesome facility for the differently-abled.

Click here to see a gallery of photos from that afternoon.

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Community blood drive successful — but glitchy

12 Oct

Webster has done it again. Our community continues to show how much we care about others, this time through a very successful two-day blood drive.

Both days of the drive, held on Wednesday at St. Paul’s Church and Thursday at the Recreation Center, surpassed the ambitious goals set by the Red Cross, ultimately collecting about 180 pints.  That’s enough blood to save up to 540 lives.

The drive wasn’t without its glitches, however. Unfortunately, a lot of people experienced longer-than-usual wait times at the Webster Recreation Center. Even I had to wait 45 minutes after arriving before being ushered into the interview area (and I had an appointment) and I know others who waited even longer.

That was an unacceptable situation. The Red Cross knows that they dropped the ball, and are addressing the issue.

Having said that, I want to extend my personal thank you to everyone who carved out a chunk of their day to come out to the drive, especially those who patiently weathered the long wait times yesterday (or even weathered them with some grumbling). And a big thank you also to the amazing Webster businesses who faithfully support this drive not once, but two times every year.

IF YOU COULDN’T DONATE at this drive for some reason — you were deferred, couldn’t find the time, or just got tired of waiting —please consider attending the next local drive, coming up soon in the village.

Our very own Webster Volunteer Fire Department will host a “Battle of the Badges” donation drive on Thursday October 25 from 1 to 7 p.m. at the village fire station, 35 South Avenue.

Firefighters are touting this drive as a friendly competition among all local first responders to see which department can donate the most units. But of course they’re also hoping that all eligible donors in our community will come out and “answer the call,” and give blood in honor of our everyday heroes.

Zoom in on the poster to see how you can make an appointment, but of course walk-ins are always welcome.

 

WVFD blood drive

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Join the Webster Theatre Guild in paradise!

11 Oct

southpac_posterThe Webster Theatre Guild invites you to enjoy an enchanted evening with them, as they present the classic musical production South Pacific in six performances this Friday through October 20.

South Pacific is set in an island paradise during World War 2, where two parallel love stories unfold and then are threatened by the dangers of prejudice and war. You’ll recognize several favorite songs including “There’s Nothing Like a Dame,” “Bali Hai,” “Younger Than Springtime,” “I’m Gonna Wash that Man Right Outta My Hair,” and “One Enchanted Evening.”

South Pacific was created by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by James Michener. The Theatre Guild press release tells the story:

Nellie, a spunky nurse from Arkansas, falls in love with a mature French planter named Emile. When Nellie learns the mother of his children was an island native, she is unable to turn her back on the prejudices with which she was raised, and refuses Emile’s proposal of marriage. Meanwhile, the strapping Lt. Joe Cable denies himself the fulfillment of a future with a Tonkinese girl with whom he’s fallen in love, due to the same racial fears that haunt Nellie. In the end, Nellie realizes life is too short not to seize her own chance for happiness, thus confronting and conquering her prejudices.

Artistic director George Barberi and musical director Erica Hernandez are joined by choreographer Paula Steffen and a 40-member cast.

South Pacific will be presented at Webster Thomas High School, 800 Five Mile Line Road, at:

  • 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 12
  • 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 13
  • 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 13
  • 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 19
  • 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 20
  • 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 21

The 2 p.m. matinee performance on Saturday, Oct. 20 will be American Sign Language interpreted.

Tickets are $15 and can be purchased online at webstertheatreguild.org. If available, tickets can be purchased at the door beginning one-hour prior to performance.

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A shout out to Webster businesses

10 Oct

Hopefully you know by now that the bi-annual Webster Community Blood Drive is back in town. And that this drive is faithfully supported by more than a dozen local businesses, whose owners donate prizes for the raffle, or just simply hand out gifts to donors.

Today, the American Red Cross did something really neat to recognize those businesses.

The PR person at the Red Cross came out to Webster and stopped by several of the sponsoring businesses to thank them for their support, AND posted photos of them to Twitter. Here are the ones from today, and I expect there will be more tomorrow:

Brusters

Garage Sale Store

Goodie Shoppe

Shutts

Smith Insurance

And here’s a photo of all the raffle prize bags set up at St. Paul’s Church for today’s drive, and a photo of the very first prizewinner, Bill Scahill, who took home a fruit basket courtesy Schutt’s Apple Mill:

Remember that every donor is handed ten raffle tickets, which you can use for chances at more than two dozen prizes including restaurant gift certificates, a grumbler gift pack, Kobalt tools, and more. Plus every single person gets a free int of ice cream from Brusters and a long-stemmed rose from Kittleberger’s.

There’s still a chance for you to win. The second day of the blood drive is Thursday October 11 from noon to 7 p.m. at the Webster Recreation Center, 1380 Chiyoda Drive. Stop on in when you can, spend just hour to help save lives, and maybe win something for your efforts!

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Webster community mailbag

10 Oct

Gigi’s Fundraiser a Success

The recent Gigi’s spaghetti dinner fundraiser sponsored by the Webster/Fairport Elks Lodge on Sept. 29 was a great success.

The Lodge raised about $700 for Gigi’s Playhouse, a learning center for students with Down Syndrome.

Members of the lodge were assisted by students and their families, who served dinner, waited on tables and helped clean up. A special thanks to Bob Avalon who has a passion for Gigi’s and arranged this fundraiser

Here are a few photos from the evening:

.Webster Fall Fest

The Town of Webster and Webster Parks and Recreation will kick off fall with the annual Webster Fall Festival, on Saturday October 13 from noon to 4 p.m. at Gosnell Big Woods, 680 Vosburg Road.

This is an awesome family-friendly event with donuts, cider, wagon rides, children’s crafts and games, pony rides, food trucks and live entertainment. Admission is free and there’s plenty of parking.

All proceeds from the event will benefit Challenger Miracle Field of Greater Rochester.

UCC Oktoberfest

Don’t forget about the Oktoberfest at the United Church of Christ on Klem Road, also Saturday October 13, from 6 to 9 p.m.

Tickets are $5.00 per person, and German specialties like Schnitzel, Sauerkraut, Potato Salad, Bratwurst, and desserts like Apple Strudel and Black Forest Cake will be available for purchase. For tickets, call the church office at 585-671-3757.

How About a Song? 

Join Webster’s very own Rochester Rhapsody women’s chorus on Monday October 15 for their Fall in Love with A Cappella Concert.

Rochester Rhapsody, the Rochester chapter of Harmony, Incorporated, is an international organization of female a cappella singers specializing in the barbershop harmony style.

The chorus will be joined by the group’s chorus quartets and guest singers. It will be held Monday October 15 at 7:30 p.m. at the Harmony House, 58 East Main Street in the Village of Webster. Doors will open at 7 p.m. and a freewill donation would be appreciated. Refreshments will immediately follow the concert.

rhapsody

For more information about the concert and the chorus itself, click here, or email info@rochesterrhapsody.com or call 585-865-2731.

Pancakes For a Cause

The First Baptist Church of Penfield will hold their next Flapjack Community Breakfast on Saturday October 20 from 8 to 10 a.m.

Guests will enjoy pancakes, pure maple syrup, scrambled eggs, sausage, and more for just $5.00 per person. All are welcome, and the venue is handicapped accessible.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, so all of this month’s proceeds will go directly to benefit Resolve of Greater Rochester, a group dedicated to intervening and preventing domestic and sexual violence against women.

The First Baptist Church of Penfield is located at 1862 Penfield Rd. For more information, call 585-586-2876.

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