January 30, 2008

The weekly meeting of the Deposit Rotary Club on January 23 proved to be interesting and informative.  We were happy to be joined by Chelsea Ward, a senior at Deposit High School, daughter of Rotarian Shelly Ward, and former outbound Rotary exchange student to Bolivia.  It was also great to have honorary Rotarian Deborah Stever joining us for lunch.

 

The agenda of the day's meeting included a presentation by Mary Hogan and Dave Bergstrom, representing the Deposit Family Recreation Group, a non-profit organization established to work toward developing an athletic park, including a running a track and other facilities at a site on Main St., adjacent to the Meadow Park Apartments.  In tracing the history of the concept, Mary Hogan referred to the spring of 1998, when Deposit's own Track & Field team qualified to compete at States, only to have no home facility at which to practice.  Listening to the presentation, it became clear that the youth who participate in these programs really deserve such a facility to call their own and their success thus far is truly a testament to their dedication to their chosen sport.  Mary and Dave also emphasized that countless individuals and groups would benefit from the completion of this project, as the entire community would have a place to walk, train, host events, and many other possibilities.  The benefit to the overall economy of the area was also explained.  

 

A vision of this magnitude, however, is not easy or cheap to accomplish.  A huge amount of work has already been invested in the project, and even more is necessary to make it happen.  The price tag is expected to be around a million dollars. As a result, the DFRG welcomes support in many forms including volunteering your time and talent, and of course, monetary contributions are essential in making this dream a reality.  For more information or to make a contribution to this wonderfully worthy cause, write to DFRG at PO Box 254, Deposit, NY 13754 or email dfrg@pobox.com.  

 

As always, you can see this and all my past columns online at the Deposit Rotary Blog at http://depositrotary.blogspot.com, where you can also share your comments.  I'd love to hear from you!

 

CORRECTION:  In last week's column, I wrote that Brenda Lee had printed out cheat sheets to help her team win in the Rotary Trivia tournament.  She informed me that this was untrue.  I'd like to apologize and set the record straight that Brenda and her team used only legitimate Rotary documents to gain unfair advantages and cheat at Rotary Trivia.