May 21, 2008

The Deposit Rotary Club was treated to an especially interesting program at our lunch meeting on Wednesday, May 14.  Our very own Rotarian Richard "Smitty" Axtell presented pieces of antique glass to the club and we were happy to be joined by his wife, Sandra, for lunch.  I found the day particularly enjoyable since I know both Smitty and Sandy well from the Deposit Historical Society Board of Directors, of which Smitty is the President and Sandy is the Treasurer.  Both are wonderful people with absolutely incredible knowledge of antiques and their historical contexts.

 

Smitty took the opportunity to announce that the Dr. Oliver T. Bundy House will be opened to the public on May 25 and the historical society is very excited about it.  The house, directly adjacent to the society's museum on Second Street, is now owned by the society and will house not only the society's curatorial and genealogical offices, but a recreated turn-of-the-century doctor's office.  If you're interested in history and, specifically, the rich history of Deposit, you won't want to miss the opening of the Bundy House on May 25.  

 

Smitty brought with him several pieces of cut glass and talked about the history of glass-making and –cutting both in general and in Deposit.  As you may know, Deposit was well-known for its famed glass created at the Kelly & Steinman glass factory, once located on the site of the current Deposit High School.  He spoke about cut glass from the "brilliant" period, which lasted from 1893-1921 and elaborated on the technique and artistry of cutting glass.  If you are interested in seeing pieces of Deposit glass as well as other objects of local history in the society's vast collections, come check out our local museum this summer!

May 14, 2008

The weekly meeting of our club on May 7 got off to a happy start when it was announced that our very own Frank "Pete" Hempstead had received the prestigious "Commitment to Service Award" at the annual Rotary District Conference.  At the conference, this year held in Owego, District Governor Dave Reynolds presented the award and plaque to Pete in recognition of his more than 25 years of service to Rotary.  The Deposit Rotarians gave their share of proud dollars this week on behalf of Pete, especially after he spoke to us movingly and humbly about his pride and encouragement that the contributions of someone from our very own hometown would be noticed and recognized by the Rotary organization.  I think we all felt very proud of Pete, our club, and the work that Rotary does in general.  Congratulations, Pete!

 

Club president Harry Dilello also announced that at the District Conference, the Deposit Rotary Club was awarded a Rotary Shares Presidential Citation for bringing in several new members this year.  Despite our club's small size compared to other clubs across the district, we welcomed four new members just this year.

 

Another great piece of news is that the final results from the Feinstein Challenge during the months of March and April are in!  Organizer and Rotarian Sue Elinsky was happy to announce that $16,268 was raised on behalf of the Deposit Food Pantry.  A huge thank you goes out to Sue for her hard work and to everyone who donated cash, food, or time to the Deposit Food Pantry.  Everyone should be very proud!

 

The program of the day was a presentation of the 2008-2009 budget by our Superintendent of Schools Bonnie Hauber.  She announced that the district was very happy to say that there would be only a 2.91% tax levy, which is the lowest levy we have seen in recent years.  During the presentation, she was asked why the budget needs to increase when it appears that we have a declining student enrollment.  She responded that even if the district loses students—right now we have an enrollment of around 690 students—many of the district's expenses remain the same.  For example, utility bills remain the same no matter how many students are in the building and the number of teachers in each subject area and grade level can't be decreased because every subject and grade level needs to be offered.  Ms. Hauber also included some interesting information such as the fact that out of the 15 districts in our BOCES, 11 of those districts had spending increases higher than ours in Deposit.  She also reminded everyone that the budget vote will held from 1-8pm on Tuesday, May 20 at the high school.  Voters will be considering the budget, the Board of Education, the purchase of 2 school buses, and the establishment of a capital reserve fund, which is like a savings account with a particular purpose in mind. 

 

Thanks for reading! I will have more news next week and don't forget that you can read my past columns and offer comments on our Rotary blog!

May 7, 2008

            The April 30 lunch meeting of the Deposit Rotary Club was abuzz with excitement about the annual flamingo fest.  Rotarian Brenda Lee, now known as the Flamingo Fairy, explained how the flamingo project works.  In order to raise money for local projects, the Rotary Club will "flamingo" someone's yard by placing about two dozen of the plastic birds, usually in the middle of the night, along with a sign that says "Deposit Rotary Club was here!"  For a mere ten dollars, you can pay to have someone flamingoed.  To protect those with a fear of birds, Rotary also offers a flamingo insurance policy for ten dollars, making you immune to a flamingo-ing.  Be warned, though, as a fifteen-dollar donation by someone else can render your flamingo insurance null and void.  Once you have been flamingoed, you must pay $5 to have the flock removed.  I was very shocked to come into my dance studio on Friday only to find about 30 bright pink flamingoes milling about the yard.  Thankfully, it took only a phone call to the Flamingo Fairy and $5 for the creatures to be dissipated.

            In other news, our club has shattered each of our goals and raised $16,154 for the local Food Pantry during our Feinstein Challenge.  Our hats go off to Sue Elinsky for her hard work in organizing the challenge, and to the all of the individuals, organizations, and businesses who donated to the Pantry, and especially the dedicated staff of the Food Pantry.  Thank you for all the work you do here in our community!

            This is also the time of year for the Rotary calendar sale.  If you are interested in buying community birthday and anniversary calendars, be sure to contact any Rotarian.  Make sure to include your family birthdays, anniversaries, or in memoria to be included on the calendar.  It's great to have everyone's special days labeled!  Calendars will be on sale until May 28.

            Rotarian Shelly Ward announced that we are searching for families willing to hose the 2008-2009 Rotary Exchange Student.  His name is Ivan Holly, he is 17 years old and hails from Slovakia.  If anyone is interested in this interesting and rewarding experience of cultural exchange, please contact Shelly Ward.  

            Thanks for your dedicated readership!  More exciting news next week!

April 30, 2008

            The April 23 meeting of the Deposit Rotary Club included some fantastic news from Rotarian Sue Elinsky with regard to the national Feinstein Hunger challenge.  With this challenge, the Feinstein Foundation in Rhode Island will give one million dollars to hunger-relief organizations across the country.  The funds will be distributed depending on how much local Rotary clubs raise in their communities during the months of March and April.  The more funds raised by each club for a hunger agency, the larger their share of the nation-wide million dollar giveaway.  Our club here in Deposit supports the local Food Pantry.  Sue was very excited to share that she had an initial goal of raising $11,000, which we were able to reach quite early in the efforts.  Sue was able to set a higher goal, hoping to reach $14,000.  As of the meeting on Wednesday, that goal was exceeded by $7.  She has thus established a new goal of $15,000 by the end of April.  I will keep you informed of the ultimate outcome of the Feinstein Challenge!

            In other news, May marks the beginning of Flamingo season!  Rotarians can pay to have someone's yard "flamingoed," which means that in the middle of the night, a covert operation is executed, resulting in the homeowner finding their yard inhabited by a flock of bright pink plastic flamingos.  Flamingo insurance is also offered, whereby one can hope to avoid becoming a victim of one of the clandestine flocking missions, however, such security is limited as another person can pay to override the insurance.  This will be a very amusing fundraising project and really demonstrates Rotary's goals:  public service and enjoyable friendship!  You can check back in future weeks for flamingo stories and photos!

April 23, 2008

            The Deposit Rotary Club is always excited to welcome a new Rotarian to our club.  At our lunch meeting on Wednesday, April 9, Dick Marko was inducted as a member.  Dick joins us as a former member of a Rotary Club in Binghamton and we are happy to have him as a member of the Deposit club.

            Also on April 9, President Harry Dilello was pleased to announce to the club that the Senior Citizen Lunch held at Wendy's and co-sponsored by our club was a huge success, with nearly 200 seniors attending.  It was also particularly rewarding to hear the positive feedback and thank-you's from those who were able to attend the lunch.

            At our meeting on April 16, we were treated to a program by Paula Mazepa, our exchange student.  Paula hails from the city of Torun in the north of Poland.  She provided us with an overview of Poland's geographic situation and history and then presented a promotional video about her city, highlighting its history, extraordinary architecture, and cultural and social highlights.  Paula also passed around beautiful books of full-color pictures of Poland and her native city.  We also enjoyed checking out the Polish money that Paula brought with her.  Thank you, Paula, for an interesting and informative program! 

            Speaking of exchange students, I'm happy to announce the student who will be visiting us in Deposit for the 2008-2009 school year.  Shelly Ward, who is responsible for organizing our youth exchange program, told me over lunch at the April 16 meeting that she has been in contact through e-mail with 17-year-old Ivan Holly of Slovakia, who will be the inbound exchange student sponsored by our club here in Deposit next year.  The club is very excited and looking forward to meeting Ivan.

            Stay tuned next week for more news from the world of Rotary!