Holiday lights benefit AutismUp — an update

7 Jan

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Here’s a quick update this morning.

You may remember the blog I wrote a few weeks before Christmas about a tremendous holiday lights display hosted by Cora and Charlie Venishel in Penfield. This year, in addition to their twinkling spectacle of lights, the Venishels decided to also solicit donations to AutismUp from the many people who stopped by.

A1486150458holiday-thank-you-clip-art-free-clipart-images-4fter the blog — and a column I wrote in the D&C about the display — Cora and Charlie reported they definitely saw an increase in traffic. And a lot of those people chose to drop some dollars in the donation box.

Cora sent a thank you note to everyone the other day. She wrote,

On behalf of the Venishel family, we would like to express our gratitude for the donations made to Autism up during our Holiday Light display this year. Because of all of you we were able to raise $480.00. You truly did a wonderful thing. Your generosity will benefit the families afflicted with Autism

Wishing you all Happy New Year!

And an additional thank you from me as well for taking the time to read my blog and deciding to help a neighbor who’s trying to make the world a little bit better place.

Hoping your new year has been a great one so far!

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Help your daughters protect themselves

6 Jan

If you have a young daughter, please read on for information about what I think is a very important opportunity.

DK Dance in the Village of Webster will host two one-hour self-defense classes this coming Friday evening, January 11.

The classes, which will be taught by black belt instructors from Matsunami Karate, will cover simple and effective self-defense techniques to help empower young women to feel strong and safe. Skills which will be taught include basic grab, strike and defense maneuvers, break-aways, defenses against attacks from front and behind, and defenses against chokes and grabs.

Two classes will be offered. The first, designed for girls ages 5 to 9, will be held from 6:15 to 7:15 p.m. Th following class, held from 7:30 to 8:30, is for girls ages 10 and up. Cost is $30 per participant (or $50 for an adult and child). All proceeds will support DK Dance’s Level 6 Performance Team. You can register here, and then bring payment the night of the class.

As a martial arts instructor myself, I know the importance of becoming familiar with a variety of self-defense techniques — and it’s especially important for girls and women to learn how to protect themselves. I highly encourage everyone who has a young daughter to consider attending this very worthwhile class.

DK Dance is located at 205 North Ave. in the Village of Webster. For more information about the school, visit their webpage here.

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Webster Community Mailbag

3 Jan

mailbag iconA couple notes from our schools lead today’s mailbag.

First, a reminder to parents who have children ages birth to 5 years old. You’re asked to help the Webster Central School District plan for future enrollments by completing a short census survey. It’s available on the district website, websterschools.org, and will be open until January 11. If you’d rather fill out a hard-copy form, you can participate by calling WCSD Central Registration at 216-0029.

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The third graders at Dewitt Rd. Elementary School recently helped spread the gift of literacy.

After completing an ELA unit on access to books around the world, the students decided they wanted to help their fellow Greater Rochester students get their hands on some great books.

So they worked with their teachers and building administrators to organize, dedicate and donate boxes of books which were no longer being read in school — many of which were from personal classroom libraries from recently retired teachers. The books were delivered on December 21 to the YWCA in downtown Rochester for distribution to the families they serve.

Webster kids doing great things again. You gotta love it.

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Here are a few upcoming library programs which might interest you:

Beginner Quilting: This 4-day course (attendees must attend all 4 days) will walk participants through the basics of making a quilt, and at the end each participant will leave with a finished quilt sampler. Fabric will be provided, but please bring your own sewing machine.

The program will be held Saturdays from 10:30 a.mm to 2:30 p.m. on January 19 and  26, and February 2 and 9. Click here to register.

And your kids are not going to want to miss this: the Night at Hogwarts, Saturday January 19 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. The night of magical fun will include crafts, activities, music, refreshments, live animals, fortune telling, potions, Quidditch, and more. Tickets are $2 for youth (2-17), $4 for adults. They’re available at the library now.

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The First Baptist Church of Penfield’s next Saturday Flapjack Breakfast is scheduled for January 19 from 8 to 10 a.m. at the church, 1862 Penfield Road.

For just $5 per person, you get all-you-can-eat pancakes, pure maple syrup, scrambled eggs, sausage, and beverages. All are welcome, and the venue is handicapped accessible.

Proceeds this month will benefit the Shepherd Home, a hospice care facility located in Penfield.

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Those $%#*@!& leaves!

2 Jan

Pile of autumn maple colored leaves isolated on white background.

If you’re a homeowner like I am, chances are very good that sometime in the last month you had a conversation with someone about leaves.

This was an awful fall for leaves. It was so rainy and snowy that it was almost impossible to get all the leaves raked up and pushed to the curb in time for the town trucks to pick them up. So if they’re still hanging out in piles at your curb, it’s easy to be angry at the town. But, as Supervisor Nesbitt reminded us in his most recent column, the town workers did the best they could, given the circumstances.

He wrote,

This year has been the worse year for leaf pick-up in my 24 years as being a Town Board member. I cannot remember a year where the Highway Department put out leaf equipment and they switched to snow plow equipment and vice versa as many times as this year.

The town tried very hard through social media to keep Webster residents informed about our pick-up schedule and when the Highway would get to various streets. With the 36 miles of town roads it was not always an exact date, but we tried our best.

I have received some phone calls that leaves are still out to the curb and residents would like them picked up. Most of these leaves were put out by contractors, who were also behind on their routes, after the town crews had winterized the vacuum equipment and put it away for the year. We will not be picking these leaves up.

Bottom line, if you still have leaves, you’re going to need to bag them. Your trash hauler is required to take the bags, although they may limit the number of bags each week, so check with them. (For example, our trash hauler, Suburban, will only accept eight every week, which means that we’re still putting some at the curb every Tuesday night.)

Sandbar Park update

The supervisor had another bit of interesting news in his column.

On Wednesday January 23, a committee working on improvements to Sandbar Park will hold a public information meeting in the Town Board Meeting Room.

The Project Committee and representatives of Bayer Landscape Architecture will be on hand to present the designs they’ve come up with so far and to answer questions. The meeting time has not yet been announced; watch the Webster Herald or Town Board website for more details.

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Webster Hots joins Spry MS to recognize students

31 Dec

Bill and Kelly Mutschler, owners of Webster Hots in the Village of Webster, have teamed up with Spry Middle School to recognize star students.

Once a month, Spry administrators will choose a CARE Student of the Month, randomly choosing from a collection of CARE cards. The cards are submitted by staff members, who use them to nominate students for the award, based on students’ exhibiting CARE behaviors (cooperation, accountability, respect and excellence).

One winner each month will be awarded a $20 gift card from Webster Hots. Here’s a video explaining the whole program:

The first honoree will be announced on Webster Hots’ Facebook page on Monday, Dec. 31. Winning students will also be posted in a special spot reserved on Webster Hots’ wall for CARE Program honorees.

Webster Hots is located at 55 East Main Street in Webster.

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WVFD firefighters offer a holiday greeting

27 Dec

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You  may have been reading and seeing stories lately about how local first responders have been gathering every week this month to “say goodnight” to the children at Golisano Children’s Hospital. They line their trucks all along Crittenden Blvd., turn on all their emergency lights and stand atop the vehicles waving to all the children looking down from the hospital’s top floors.

Yesterday our very own Webster Volunteer Fire Department participated in the heartwarming event, the last time it would happen this month.

Here are a few photos from the evening, and you can visit the WVFD Facebook page check out some videos.

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‘Twas a few days before Christmas….

23 Dec

The village was hopping Saturday afternoon when I went into town for some last-minute Christmas shopping.

The village lights were sparkling, and the folk jam session musicians at Barry’s Old School Irish were in fine form, playing Christmas carols for the entire pub to sing along with. Business owners were enjoying some brisk sales from procrastinating people like me.  And Tom McCoy at Performance Hobbies was hosting his annual Christmas Party, which he’s been doing for more than 20 years. He was decked out in his finest (and most audacious) Christmas finery, and he had food tables set up all around the shop, filled with venison stew, venison chili, meatballs, cheese and crackers, and lots more, for customers or anyone else who wandered into the store to enjoy.

It was nice to just wander through the village, enjoy the sights and sounds of the season, and wind down a bit before the craziness of Christmas Day.

May the next few days be filled with peace and joy for you an yours.

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Santa visits the Elks!

21 Dec

Just a quick note today about a fun event hosted by the Webster/Fairport Elks Club on Jackson Road.

They’ve hosted a group called Crew 333 every Monday night for the past two years, created by Ben Barrow and Elks member Bob Avalon. They had their Christmas party earlier this week, complete with gifts, subs, cake and a visit from Santa. Here are a few photos from the evening:

 

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Sharing Christmas joy in the village

19 Dec

The week before Christmas has become one of the most musical weeks of the entire year in the Village of Webster.

On Monday night, Robyn Whittaker, hairdresser extraordinaire, special event organizer, village cheerleader and all around good egg, hosted her third annual Christmas Carol Debacle. Robyn provides pizza and assorted spiked and non-spiked beverages for the event, which drew a big crowd of about 20 people this year, despite the promise of bracing winter winds .

The tuneful group stopped first at Rubino’s to serenade the employees and diners there. Then they wandered through a few east-side village streets, stopping at perhaps a half dozen other houses before heading back to The Coach via Burke’s Grill and The Bistro.

The following evening, the Chorus of the Genesee took to many of those same streets for their annual Soup and Carol Night. The group was quite a bit larger — numbering maybe 30 or more (I never got an actual count), the weather much more comfortable and the signing voices much more in tune.

The first stop, as it has been every year, was Webster Eye Care Associates, which is pretty much across the street from the Harmony House. The folks there have hosted the annual visit from the Chorus carolers for 24 years, and this year greeted the singers with doughnut holes, hot chocolate and gift bags.

A second regular stop is the Cataldi home, where there’s always hot cider for the Chorus carolers. These folks always have a holiday party that evening as well, complete with instruments, and gather on the porch to perform a carol of their own (this year it was Mele Kalikimaka, accompanied by ukuleles).

My running club, Barry’s Runners, also helped spread some holiday spirit Tuesday evening, with our third (maybe fourth) JACK Foundation Run.

The JACK Foundation, formed in memory of young Jack Heiligman who lost his life in a tragic accident in October 2016. The foundation’s goal is to remember Jack’s giving spirit by passing on random acts of kindness.

Tuesday night, the Barry’s Runners did that — literally. We collected $200 in gift cards from places like Dunkin’ Donuts, Yolickity, CVS, the Apple Store, Wegmans and of course Barry’s Old School Irish, and while we ran through the village neighborhoods, we handed them to strangers or hung them on doorknobs and mailboxes. Perhaps you were one of the lucky people to find one this morning. If so, please make sure to pass on the kindness.

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Holy Trinity pageant: So much cuteness in 15 minutes

16 Dec

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Early this afternoon I had the chance to attend the Children’s Christmas Pageant at Holy Trinity Church. It was probably the most adorable 15 minutes that I will spend this entire holiday season.

About 30 children, mostly 3 to 7-year olds, participated in the production, as Mary and Joseph, angels, shepherds, Wise Men, animals and narrators. Holy Trinity Parish Faith  Formation Coordinator Tricia Kull said the children only had two rehearsals in the last two weeks. But despite having such little time to prepare, she added, she was very proud on how quickly they fell into their roles and remembered what to do and where to stand.

I agree. They nailed it.

The whole pageant from beginning to end was only about 15 minutes. But in that short time, the large audience (mostly parishioners and proud parents and grandparents) was treated to well-prepared narration, passionate acting, angelic singing, a surprise guest and one clearly exhausted angel.

I’ve included a few photos here, but if you’d like to see a gallery of many more, click here.

 

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