Home Page | Rotary Club of Jamestown New York

WELCOME TO THE

What Makes People Laugh

Posted by Joel Keefer on Aug 17, 2018

Pictured L-R: Marijka Lampard, Paul Hoefler, Katie Geise

The Club today was treated to a very entertaining presentation from Paul Hoefler. Marijka welcomed Paul to the podium to speak.

Paul is no stranger to speaking/performing in front of a crowd. Whether part of his Dueling Pianos act that is on the road throughout the year, or when he spoke to thousands daily with his talk show on local radio, Paul has always had a great talent.

Speaking about comedy today, Paul said it has changed quite a bit over the past few years as far as what you can say. In other words, some jokes are just off limits that weren't just a few years ago.

Paul said his inspiration for comedy came from watching slap-stick comedies and observational humor like that of Jerry Seinfeld. Paul's mom called him Don Rickles when he was a kid. In his words, being a fat kid, Paul had to be funny to deflect criticism. And it worked.

And with the political atmosphere the way it is nowadays, Paul also tries to stay away from jokes of that nature.

Paul concluded by telling some great tales of shows he did in the past as well as some adventures he had on the radio (which I was very happy to be a part of)! He finished by saying we need to laugh at our differences nowadays, and just sit down and have a good laugh from time to time.

The presentation was greatly received, and we thanked Paul for speaking today!

Newest Members

Posted by Joel Keefer on Aug 13, 2018

Two new members were recently welcomed into the Rotary Club of Jamestown.

Kathy Burch and James Gamina received their Rotary pins and plaques at a ceremony held in early August. Kathy is the Financial Officer at the Gebbie Foundation. In the past, she worked for the Chautauqua County Health Network and American Red Cross. Kathy and her husband live in Onoville, and run the Kinzua Campground. Kathy is also Past-President of the Olean Rotary. Her sponsor was Tory Irgang.

James is the President of the Jamestown Music Association. A retired Army colonel, James lives in Bemus Point. He was a past Rotary member from Oil City, PA. James’ sponsor was John Lloyd.

Pictured L-R:Membership Committee Member Tory Irgang, Kathy Burch, Rotary Club President Katie Geise, James Gamina, Membership Committee Chairman Randy Sweeney

Chautauqua Institution - The Opera Co. - Carol Rausch

Posted by Joel Keefer on Aug 02, 2018

Pictured L-R; Jim Smith, Katy Domyan, Brandon Bell and Carol Rausch

The club was once again blessed with the talents and amazing performances of several members of the Chautauqua Opera Company. Carol Rausch, a great friend of the club, was welcomed by Jim Smith. Carol brought Katy Domyan and Brandon Bell with her to sing at today's meeting.

Carol first presented to the Club in 1999, and this is her 20th consecutive visit with us!

The Chautauqua Opera is the oldest continuing summer opera in the United States, having been founded in 1929 along with the Chautauqua Symphony. This year, they are into their 89th season. Since 1985, Carol has served as Chorus Master/Music Administrator overseeing the musical components of the company and the Young Artists Program.

Carol's home is New Orleans, where she is the Chorus Master/Music Administrator for New Orleans Opera Association. Carol heads the Opera Department at Loyola University, where she has prepared and conducted numerous opera productions. She also remains active as a recital pianist, which she put on full display today while playing for Chelsea, Eric and Helen.

Thank you so much to Carol, Brandon and Katy for taking time out of their busy schedules to wow us with their talents!

Chautauqua Institution-Rotary Scholarship Performer

Posted by Joel Keefer on Jul 27, 2018

Pictured L-R Martin Dube, Joseph Tancredi, Cheri Krull & Kevin Sixbey

We enjoyed a wonderful performance today from our guests Joseph Tancredi (vocalist) and Martin Dube (pianist) from the Chautauqua Institution School of Music. Kevin Sixbey introduced both to the club.

Joseph Tancredi is a Music Student at the Chautauqua Institution School of Music and recipient of the Rotary Scholarship. He is a tenor going into his senior year at Manhattan School of Music, in pursuit of his Bachelor’s Degree. Joseph grew up in Bayville, New York (a small town on Long Island) and lived there up until moving into the city for college. He performed in musicals throughout high school, while also playing sports (mainly football & baseball). He began studying at Manhattan School of Music under the tutelage of Ashley Putnam, and has performed in different opera scenes over the past two years. Some of these include Die Entführung aus dem Serail (as Belmonte), Die Zauberflöte (as Tamino), Street Scene (as Sam Kaplan), and Vanessa (as Anatol). At Manhattan School of Music, he also performed in master classes with Diana Soviero and Anthony Dean Griffey along with a Singer & Pianists Seminar with Warren Jones. He is performing the role of Nemorino (Act I) here at Chautauqua as well!

After this year, Joseph plans on auditioning for Grad schools in pursuit of a Master’s degree.

Martin Dube studied piano and chamber music with Michel Franck and Robert Weisz at Laval University before pursuing a master’s degree at McGill University with Marina Mdivani. His interest in vocal music brought him to New York City to study vocal accompanying with Warren Jones at the Manhattan School of Music.

Mr. Dube has served on the Faculties of the Curtis Institute of Music, the Juilliard School (assistant coach), McGill University, Universite de Montreal and is currently accompanist and vocal coach at the Quebec Conservatory of Music. He is an official accompanist for the Montreal International Competition and a visiting coach at the Atleier d’opera de Montreal. He has been working for the School of Music Voice Program at Chautauqua for 21 years. And has accompanied students here for many years.

Kevin mentioned that our Rotary club, so far, has provided over $16,000 in Music Scholarships to students at Chautauqua.

Thank you to Joseph and Martin for being with us today to share your talents. And thank you, the members of our Rotary Club, for your support the arts and learning.

Chautauqua Theatre Company

Posted by Sue Jones on Jul 20, 2018

Left to Right: Jim Smith, Program Chairman, Jennifer Holcomb, lead actress for As You Like It, Cheri Maytum Krull, President-Elect; and Andrew Zorba, Artistic Director of the Chautauqua Theatre Company.

Jim Smith introduced Andrew Borba who is in his third year as Artistic Director of the Chautauqua Theatre Company. He has served 8 seasons as CTC’s Associate Artistic Director and this is his 13^th summer at the Chautauqua Theatre Company.

At CTC, Andrew has directed several plays including The Taming of the Shrew, After Love, The Comedy of Errors, The Philadelphia Story, Macbeth, Twelfth Night, and the list goes on. Outside of CTC he has directed several plays across the country.

On film, he has appeared in small parts in big films and big parts in small films and has had recurring roles and guest appearances on over 30 television series. Andrew is a member of The Antaeus Theatre Company, a cum laude graduate of Brown University and received his M.F.A. from New York University.

Andrew spoke about the wonderful reaction to Chautauqua’s Shakespeare in the Park presentation at Jamestown’s Allen Park Band Shell where they expected 80 people and over 250 people showed up. The company will return to Allen Park on August 15. In the meanwhile, there will be performances at Southern Tier Brewery and Lakeside Park in Mayville. Borba commented on how great it is to be involved with the community outside the gate.

Borba then introduced Jennifer Holcomb, who has the lead in As You Like It and she gave a delightful reading from the play. Jenifer is a recent graduate of Cal State Irvine with her M.F.A. She talked about the wonderful training ground the Chautauqua Theatre offers young actors and actresses.

Borba then talked about the additional theatrical offerings this summer at Chautauqua – An Octaroon, Airness, and Into the Breeches (an all female cast as men). He indicated a very special play called An Amish Project will be performed August 19-21 and should not be missed.

Chautauqua and their Theatre Company are excited about the possibilities as to how far and how much of the local population they can reach in the future.

David and Marissa Troxell

Posted by Sue Jones

L-R Marissa and David Troxell, Joelle Washer & Katie Geise

Becky Robbins introduced today’s speakers, David and Marissa Troxell. David has been a member of Rotary since 2011 and is a past Rotarian of the Year. They have a summer home in Jamestown and participate in Chautauqua Institution activities, are huge Jammers Fans and join with our Club in various reading enrichment programs here in Jamestown. During the winter months, they make their home in a small beach town, Cha Am in Thailand. There they attend functions of the Royal Hua Hin Rotary Club as well as pursuing long time interests in yoga, meditation and cycling.

During their time in Southeast Asia, they take advantage of opportunities to interact with Rotary Clubs of various countries. They help to identify additional opportunities for our Club to be of direct service to developing countries. Today they shared with us the progress of Rotary projects which our club funds abroad, and gave us insight into how projects are developed with other Rotary Clubs.

The club had the distinct pleasure of seeing and hearing an update in its investment into projects in the Far East…bringing them right into our “living room”. The projects are the results of the Club’s fundraisers – An Evening in Italy, Fire & Ice and the Annual Golf Tournament.

In their travels all over the world, the Troxells reported on the results of their trip to Cuba, where they were hoping to begin some shared club activities, however, despite much local interest, Rotary International is not quite ready to establish itself in Cuba.

They also spent a day in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to see if there is the possibility of a joint project developing there.

We then had an in-depth report on the improvements at Cambodia Academy in Myanmar where our most recent projects to build a new three stall latrine and a fresh water collection system to replace aging structures in addition to a new classroom have been completed.

The Academy has 22 teachers and 325 students in grades 1 through 9 who are too poor to go to the public schools. The Troxells presented all of this information and more by using photos and videos to the students at Bush School. The students were so interested that they collected $57.00 to purchase basketballs and hoops, jump ropes and sidewalk chalk for the Cambodian children to play with, AND a large collection of reading books.

In the past, our Rotary Club has paid for eye exams, white boards, water filtration, office equipment and tables, and planting grass in the main front area of the school for the children to play on.

The Cambodian children sat for photos and interviews to be sent to the Bush students.

Marissa and David also reported that the women’s weaver’s coop in Nepal is up and running again after a big delay due to the horrendous earthquake there. They will have another update for us in the near future.

We are so lucky to have Marissa and David who are willing to seek out, augment and continue to monitor these wonderful projects for our club on the other side of the world!

2018 Rotary Golf Tournament Results

Posted by Sue Jones on Jul 19, 2018

Winners of the Scramble Division of the Rotary Charity Golf Classic: Left to right: Rick Hamister, Jennifer Gibson, Kurt Eimiller and Mike Roberts.

Ron Pappalardo left presented the Bud Weaver Trophy to Low Rotarian Kurt Johnson.

The scratch 2 Best Balls of Four winners of the Rotary Club of Jamestown’s Charity Golf Classic held recently at Moon Brook Country Club with a 143 were: Matt Hartweg, Judge John LaMancuso, Derek Dawson and Dan Hocking.

The scratch winners in the Scramble Division were: Jennifer Gibson, Mike Roberts, Kurt Eimiller, and Rick Hamister.

The Low Rotarian was Kurt Johnson.

The golf tournament this year honored deceased long time Rotarian Gordie Black who succumbed to injuries he sustained in a motor vehicle accident one year ago.

The proceeds of the Golf Classic, traditionally held the second Monday of July, support many projects of the Club both locally and internationally. The Rotary Club of Jamestown has underwritten the Jamestown Boys & Girls Club, Jamestown Babe Ruth baseball, the National Comedy Center and Park, literacy projects in local schools, libraries, and churches, a micro finance weaving cooperative in Nepal, Handicap Camp at Onyahsa, the worldwide eradication of polio, international youth exchange and the purchase of Shelter Boxes for emergency uses in areas of flood, earthquakes, etc.

Other winners included:

1^st place Best Ball with a 121 were: Scott Sampson, Ken Lawton, Bill Burk and Steve Aughy.

2^nd place Best Ball with a 125 were: Ron Pappalardo, Jon Gren, Russ Ecklund and Phil Cala.

3^rd place Best Ball with a 125 were: Todd Frangione, Hadley Weinberg, Mike Moots and Kurt Johnson.

First place Scramble winners were: Greg Card, Christy Brecht, Mike Osgood and Derek Melquist.

Second place Scramble winners were: Bill Soffel, Will Soffel, Graham Soffel and Greg Johnson.

Third place Scramble winners were: Debbie Brunner, Bruce Brunner, Jerome Lee Yaw and Missy Bramer.

Closest to the pin #4 – Craig Breter

Closest to the pin #8 – Kurt Johnson

Longest Drive #10 men – Chad Buck

Longest Drive #10 women – Heidi Pillittieri

Closest to the line #13 – Mike Roberts

Closest to the Pin #17 – Colin Beaver

Chautauqua Leadership Network

Posted by Sue Jones

Pictured L-R Jade Barber & Joelle Washer

Katie Young, Executive Director of the Chautauqua Leadership Network introduced Jade Boice Barber, CLN Board Member who was our presenter. Jade is in charge of the JCC College Connection, a member of the Riverfront Management Commission and former news anchor for Time Warner News.

In 1992, the Northern Chautauqua County Chamber, the Jamestown Chamber, SUNY Fredonia, JCC, Chautauqua Institution, BOCES and Cornell Cooperative Extension recognized the growing need for community leaders in our County for boards, organizations, businesses and government.

Next a strategic planning session was conducted with over 60 participants to develop the following mission: to identify and nurture regional leaders, provide a framework for an emerging network of skilled civic trustees, and help our communities to meet the challenges of today and the opportunities of tomorrow. CLN is a non-profit, regional, leadership training organization building a network of skilled leaders to strengthen our county and communities. CLN is NOT a service organization, a political machine, or a project-oriented group.

The participants complete competencies in: Self-awareness, team building, creativity, communication, asset discovery, organization skills, developing others, ethics & integrity, leading change, social intelligence and networking and building partnerships.

The year-long program begins with a two day retreat in February and ends with an induction ceremony in December. Ideal candidates live/work in our county, are interested in building a better community, actively seek out opportunities for self-improvement, are willing and able to participate and devote time and have support from their employer.

The participants gain: understanding of selected leadership competencies; better insight into own self and personal leadership style; new set of skilled peers and networking sources; and knowledge o the county’s communities along with their assets and challenges.

Employers gain: an employee with knowledge in identified leadership competency areas; an employee with a better understanding of the community and surrounding environment; higher visibility through increased involvement in community affairs and great access to other community leaders and resources.

More than 600 members have completed the course since 1993 and they hope to increase annual class size from 28 in 2017 to 36 in 2021. Tuition is $1400.

On July 31, CLN will celebrate the student leader group of the year, the volunteer leader award, the community development award and the CLN Leader of the Year – our own Andy Goodell.

Chautauqua Alcohol & Substance Abuse Council

Posted by Sue Jones on Jun 08, 2018

L-R Kirk Young, Melanie Witkowski, Katie Geise

Kirk Young introduced Melanie Witkowski, Community Educator at the Chautauqua Alcohol & Substance Abuse Council since 2005. She has her MS in Education from Walden University and her BS in Elementary Education from SUNY Fredonia. She is a Credentialed Prevention Professional certified through the Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services. She is on the Board of Directors for the Western New York Chemical Dependency Consortium and the Council on Addictions of New York State. She is on the governance board for Chautauqua Tapestry and is on the leaders Board for the Hope Chautauqua Coalition. She is a train the trainer of the Teen Intervene Brief Intervention Program and is trained to facilitate more than 8 different evidence-based Drug and Alcohol Prevention programs. She lives in Dunkirk; is married to Christopher Witkowski a Dunkirk Police Sergeant and they have two children, Ashton and Kearstin.

CASAC’s mission is to decrease the likelihood of initiation of any alcohol, tobacco and other drug use for youths ages 5-19 and increase adult alcohol, tobacco and other drug use education, skills and awareness by effective education of the community on positive life choices.

Youth prevention programs under the umbrella of evidence-based programs include Life Skills Training, Alcohol Literacy Challenge, Too Good Programs, Sport-Prevention + Wellness, and Keeping it Real.

Melanie presented a well-organized talk on alcohol and drug abuse in Chautauqua County that was sometimes disappointing, shocking and displeasing. But her presentation also included the explanations of many excellent programs prepared and presented by CASAC everywhere in Chautauqua County, not only for children and young people, but for adults as well.

PLEASE, PLEASE take a look at what is available on the CASAC website! In addition to all of the problems out there, CASAC offers many programs to help solve the problems.

Melanie offered many solutions to dealing with drug/alcohol abusers in the home such as lock boxes and demonstrated deactivation bags which are available for each of us to use to deactivate any drugs we may have in our medicine cabinets.

Remember that brains in women do not fully develop until age 25 and age 28 in men, therefore we need to protect and encourage young people from overusing drug and alcohol to avoid brain problems.

She also spoke to the legalization of marijuana – which she is sharply opposed to. The TCH levels in various marijuana differs so greatly and marijuana is fat soluble and therefore remains in the body for far longer than alcohol.

A fascinating presentation!

Jessica Apthorpe, Interactor

Posted by Sue Jones

L-R Joelle Washer, Hannah Apthorpe, Jessica Apthorpe, Dr. Bret Apthorpe and Jim Smith.

Jim Smith introduced Jessica Apthorpe (Bret and Tracy’s daughter), a 20 year old college student studying early childhood education at Monroe Community College. She will attend SUNY Geneseo in the fall.

Jessica is a graduate of Honeoye Falls-Lima Central School. For literally half her life she has been actively involved with her local Rotary Club, the Honeoye Falls-Mendon Rotary Club. Her father and grandfather have also been very active in Rotary. As a child, she helped her father at various Rotary fundraisers and service projects. She was a four-year member of her high school’s Interact Club and served as president of that club during her senior year. The club has been involved in many service projects such as cleaning up the Rotary Park and decorating downtown Christmas trees for the holidays.

One of the many charities supported by this Interact Club and the Honeoye Falls-Mendon Rotary Club is “Linking Hands for Learning”, a not-for-profit organization that supports construction efforts in developing countries. Its mission is building schools for education to promote peace and literacy.

Through many different fundraisers, the interact group has been able to raise over $4,000 to assist the Honeoye and Avon Rotary Clubs in the building of a school in Nicaraugua. The club members dig the trenches and work alongside contractors to put up cement walls for 1 and 2 room schools. The town pays for the roof over the building. Each school costs about $23,000.

Due in part to the monetary support of Honeoye Falls-Mendon Rotary, Jessica has made three service trips to Nicaraugua, along with other local teenagers, to participate in the building of these schools. Her presentation highlighted the work of that organization and illustrated the impact of Rotary teaching the values of “Service above self”.

The Great Highway Cleanup Crew

Posted by Chris Anderson on May 29, 2018

Service Above Self!

Rosary Kolivas - Jamestown Community Learning Council

Posted by Chris Anderson on May 14, 2018

Jim Smith introduced, Rosary Kolivas, Exec Director of Jamestown Community Learning Council. Rosary has been a part of Jamestown Community Learning Council since the organization was formed in 1990. She began as an administrative assistant and in 1991, was named Executive Director by the Board of Trustees, which was co-chaired by the President of JCC, Paul Berke, and the Superintendent of Jamestown Public Schools, Todd Eagle, both of whom were instrumental in the project.

The mission at Jamestown Community Learning Council is...“To strengthen the capacity of families to nurture, support and provide for their child’s academic development, emotional growth and physical well-being by establishing effective relationships between home and school.”

JCLC was birthed due to a needs assessment form the City of Jamestown. The assessment stated that Jamestown must be a community with educated, and literate citizens.

The JCLC consists of different program sites and services:

PACT (Parents and Children Together) Preschool at LOVE Elementary.
EASE (Educational Advocacy and Scholastic Enrichment) at all Jamestown Middle Schools.
PAT (Parents as Teachers) – at all program sites
PACERS (Parents Activating Children’s Education Results in Success at JHS, Southwestern and Frewsburg elementary schools
PROJECT LINC (Learning in Never Complete) – Lincoln Elementary School
ASA (After School Amigos) – Love and Ring Elementary Schools.

PACT (Parents and Children Together) - Children and their families becoming “collaborators” for learning success.

EASE (Educational Advocacy and Scholastic Enrichment) - Parents “easing” educational success for students.

PAT (Parents as Teachers) - Where “parents are the first and most important teachers.” Research based, early childhood, home visitation and family support system that provides the information, support and encouragement parents need to help their children develop optimally during the crucial years of early life.

PROJECT LINC (Learning in Never Complete) - Providing the “missing link” between school and home.

ASA (After School Amigos) – The place where friendships are made in many languages! After School and Family Engagement Program For English Language Learners

For more information on JCLC, please visit their web site at http://www.jamestownpublicschools.org/PublicNotices/smonroe/Jamestown_After_School_Programs/JCLC_Home.html

Amanda Gesing – 21st Century Grants Coordinator, JPS

Posted by Chris Anderson on May 07, 2018

Pictured (L to R): Jim Smith, Amanda Gesing, and Katie Geise

Jim Smith introduced our speaker today, Amanda Gesing. Amanda is the 21st Century Grant Coordinator for Jamestown Public Schools. She is originally from Northern Kentucky and is a graduate of Northern Kentucky University.

Amanda has over 17 years of experience in youth development and school community collaboration. She began her career at Big Brother & Big Sisters of Greater Cincinnati where she coordinated school based mentoring programs in 3 different states and 12 districts.

In 2007, Amanda began working for Chautauqua Striders. Over her 10 years at Striders, she oversaw youth mentoring programs, training and recruiting mentors and eventually became Director of Mentoring and Life Skills Education. More recently, she has transititioned to her new role at Jamestown Public Schools.

21st Century Community Learning Centers provide opportunities for academic enrichment, particularly for students attending low-performing schools; offer supplemental services such as youth development programs, after school activities, health and wellness education, and counseling; and help families of students served by the centers become more involved in their children’s education.

Jamestown Public Schools will receive $579,500 over a five-year period, yielding nearly $3 million dollars over the life of the grant for Jamestown Public Schools. The funds will be used by Jamestown Schools to provide supplemental services and enrichments for some 500 Jamestown elementary and middle school students.

Jamestown Public Schools relies on many community partners to ensure the success of this program. Partnerships allow us to bring in experts into the school day or after school programs.

JPS is looking to take the collaboration aspect up a notch. The district is looking at all the data to be more intentional to ensure referral of the right students to the right programs. Students face large hurdles in their lives and it is important to have all the key players in collaboration on the same page to make this program even more successful.

Thanks for a great presentation Amanda!

Chautauqua Regional Youth Ballet

Posted by Joel Keefer on May 04, 2018

The Club was delighted to welcome the Chautauqua Regional Youth Ballet to perform for us today.

According to their website, "One of the jewels of our community is the Chautauqua Regional Youth Ballet – not only as the premier school for classical ballet training in our region, but also as a resource for our community through its quality ballet performances and its educational offerings."

The performances put on for us were a testament to the hard work the CRYB does. They are also the only program with complete, traditional ballet training in the area, so one does not need to travel to Cleveland or Buffalo.

They have classes year-round, with school year classes and summer classes.

Here's just a small taste of the dances performed. Thank you so much to the CRYB!

Luna Lund Thanning - Exchange Student from Denmark

Posted by Chris Anderson on Apr 23, 2018

The Jamestown Rotary Club was treated to a wonderful presentation from our current Rotary Youth Exchange student from Denmark, Luna Thanning. Luna dazzled the audience with all things Denmark from food to culture to pics of her family. Instead of trying to write out and explain Luna's entire presentation, I felt it would be better to just insert a link below where you can download and view her presentation in PDF format.

On a personal level, yours truly and my family are Luna's current host family and we truly enjoy having an exchange daughter and sister! Our first experience as a host family has been a positive one. I would encourage others to host as well. Enjoy Luna's presentation!!!

Click here to download Luna's presentation about Denmark