Announcements

Snowshoes are available to rent at the Genesee County Park & Forest Interpretive Nature Center during the months of January, February, and March, weather permitting. Rentals are on a first-come-first-serve basis and must be used at the park.

Cost is $5/pair. Hours for rentals: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 12 to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Genesee County Park & Forest Interpretive Nature Center is located at 11095 Bethany Center Road in East Bethany. For more information, call 344-1122.

Press release

The Genesee Community College Foundation is pleased to announce the brand new Agricultural Division of the Annual Campaign. Spanning across all counties in the GLOW region, the ag Campaign is a new division to the annual campaign that aims to raise funds for student scholarships.

Peter Call, overall chair for the Foundation's ag campaign, notes that "Agriculture is the driving economic force in this area. Growth on our farms and ag businesses, as well as the growing opportunities for ag careers in the GLOW region, will provide GCC students with many options to choose from."

Letters are being sent from the GLOW area ag chairs, and Call is hopeful that the ag community will generously support the Foundation's ag campaign this year. It will be a wise investment for the future of the ag community as well as the GLOW region.

In addition to being overall campaign chair, Call will oversee the Genesee County area.

The Genesee Community College Foundation was formed in the mid-'80s as a not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing service to and support of the college. Its 30-member board of directors is comprised of business and civic leaders, and provides funding for student scholarships and grants.

Contributions for support of the college programs and students may be sent to the GCC Foundation, One College Road, Batavia, NY 14020. For more information contact the Foundation (585) 345-6809 or foundation@genesee.edu.

Press release:

On Tuesday, December 13, 2011 from 7-9pm, the Genesee County Bar Association will conduct its 3rd seminar in the People’s Law Series title “Small Claims, Big Claims and other Civil Matters”. 

The seminar will be held at Genesee Community College and presented by Batavia City Court Judges Robert Balbick and Michael DelPlato.  

The “Citizen’s Law Series,” is a legal educational series designed to educate residents with practical legal information on a number of common legal actions. 

“The legal series is designed to increase public awareness and knowledge of the legal system and how it works.  Each two hour seminar will give the attendees practical information about timely legal issues including topics such as criminal law, wills and estates and small claims and civil actions.  We are hoping that we can continue this series in the future on different topics as well,” noted Durin B. Rogers, Esq, President of the Genesee County Bar Association (GCBA). 

Raymon Chaya, GCC’s Director of the BEST Center, approached the GCBA with the collaborative idea earlier this year after hearing about the great success the Jamestown community had with its program. 

“Big decisions require first knowing what information you need to know and what questions you need to ask.  Making a decision to take legal action is serious and knowing basic information about a specific area of law and the legal process involved can save time and money in addition to minimizing personal, emotional, and social difficulties,” said Chaya. 

This valuable educational outreach opportunity will be presented by experienced practicing attorneys who can describe in common terms what an appropriate action is, what the law covers as well what you are likely to experience during the process.  

GCBA’s Citizen’s Law Series Committee Chairperson, Lisa M. Kroemer, Esq. noted why she became involved in the program.  “I feel very strongly that as attorneys we should spend some of our time educating the public . . .”   

All times will be 7pm-9pm at GCC and cost $10 for each 2 hour course attended.  Those interested in attending the two hour session may register by contacting the BEST Center at 585-345-6868. 

Submitted by Julie Tarbell:

The Genesee County Aces robotics team participated at the Finger Lakes First Lego League Championship Tournament on Sunday, December 4th at the University of Rochester.  Thirty-six teams from as far away as Ithaca and Erie, Pennsylvania gave their food safety presentations, discussed their robotic design and programming techniques, demonstrated their teamwork skills, and competed in an autonomous robot game in the day long event.

Aces achieved the third highest score of 203 in the Robot Game. The Champions from last year's tournament, Lego Lambs, scored 220.  The Electric Dreams from Erie, Pennsylvania scored 219.

The participants enjoyed many fun activities.  The U of R Yellow Jackets, an a Capella group, performed.

Pictured from front to back, left to right are Colton Tarbell (team assistant), Jomni Tarbell, Clayton Fox, Trevor Zauner, Quinton Tarbell, and Lukas Johnson.

Ferrellgas, located at 655 Ellicott St. in Batavia, is holding its first Toy Drive to benefit Community Action of Orleans & Genesee.

The toy drive will allow residents to drop off a new, unwrapped toy in its original packaging and, in exchange, receive a FREE certificate toward a BBQ tank refill.

Toys can be dropped off at 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Ellicott Street facility. Or Ferrellgas customers may call the office at (585) 343-9460 to arrange toy pick-ups at their home if needed.

(Earlier this year, Ferrellgas raised more than $3,000 for the Genesee Cancer Assistance fund by staging its second annual Refill-Athon, allowing residents to bring in their BBQ tanks for a free fill in lieu of a small donation.)

The Batavia High School Senior Class is hosting a Vendor Blender
fundraiser from 3 to 6 p.m. on Friday Dec. 2 in the cafeteria.

This is a great opportunity for holiday shopping!

Here are the participating vendors:

Tupperware, Team Apparel, Avon, Hollister, Uppercase Living, Longaberger, The Pampered Chef, Columbia Sportswear Company, Mary Kay, Cookie Lee, thirty-one, Scentsy, at home America, The North Face, Celebrating Home, Tastefully Simple.

Le Roy Winterfest 2011 will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 3. Stroll through the village and visit all the participating businesses to get a full card for Business Bingo.

All full-card Bingo sheets must be turned in at the Community Holiday Bazaar by 3 p.m. this Saturday at the Moose Family Center on Bank Street in order to be entered into a drawing for prizes. Plus, vote on your favorite window display (see front of Bingo cards).

Cafe Le Roy will be offering a free scoop of ice cream to everyone. Santa Claus will arrive at the Community Holiday Bazaar at 1 p.m. Follow his parade down Main Street to the Moose Family Center.

Community Holiday Bazaar at the Moose Lodge will feature more than 15 vendors raising money for the LCCP, Backpack Fund, and Le Roy Food Pantry. Non-perishable food and canned goods will be collected at the bazaar. Donors get one raffle ticket for each item donated or they can buy tickets.

There will be an LCCP Bake Sale at the Moose. Gift wrapping available at the bazaar (donations accepted). Town of Le Roy building will be open with a child craft/activity and restrooms.

An inflatable playground will be at the fire hall from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Woodward Memorial Library will host Village Harpers from 3-3:30 p.m., enjoy the movie "Polar Express"  and eat popcorn starting at 10:15 a.m., and a craft to take home while supplies last.

Majors Patricia and Robert Kurtz received this year’s first donation to the 2011 Red Kettle Campaign at the Red Kettle Kick-off Celebration. The 2011 donation goal is $67,000.

Every dollar raised goes toward programs and services right here in Genesee County. The army would like to thank T-Shirts, Etc. and The Daily News for sponsoring kettles this year. Their designs will be used at the Batavia Wal-Mart location.

Other locations include JCPenney, Kmart, Batavia Tops Friendly Markets, Le Roy Tops Friendly Markets, and Tractor Supply Company.

To volunteer for bell-ringing or to donate, please contact Major Robert at 343-6284 or visit facebook.com/Salvation.Army.Genesee

Grease Lightning & Castrol Premium Lube auto repair shops in Western and Central New York will be teaming up with the Salvation Army to collect toys for area underprivileged children from Dec. 1-19.

The “Toys & Tune-ups” toy drive invites the public to drop off new, unwrapped toys at any Grease Lightning or Castrol Premium Lube location and they will get 25 percent off any oil change and 10 percent off all other auto services. Those people not needing immediate service will receive a voucher for that discount to redeem at a later time.

Locally, two Batavia stores are participating. One is at 50 Liberty St. and the other is at 4003 W. Main St. Road.

For more than 125 years, The Salvation Army has been working to do the most good possible for the less fortunate at Christmastime and all year round. The Salvation Army will once again help those in need by providing them with the necessities they need to become self-sufficient again -- like a place to stay in a crisis, much-needed groceries and emergency assistance.

This year, there are more requests for holiday help than ever. They will provide baskets of foods for our struggling neighbors and toys for the children. Donations are urgently needed.

There is a new after school program for youth ages 12 - 19 in Batavia. REACT  is helping youth find solutions to the situations they may face.The after school youth program takes place at the Richmond Memorial Library on Mondays from 3pm - 4pm and on Thursdays at the Salvation Army Gym from 4pm - 5:30pm. The youth in attendance are very excited about the programs and are showing lots of interest and enthusiasm. A special thanks goes out to Paula Haven (Richmond Memorial Library) and Captain Patty (Salvation Army) for their support and belief in the programs! 

REACT  is directed towards young people in middle and high school.The programs are geared  to help them learn  how to create and respond to positive change as well as how to help others who want to change; while being the positive change in their home, school and community. Young people are encouraged to talk about the issues that go on around them on a day to day basis while finding ways to counteract with creative, positive solutions.

Many topics of discussion will include:

· Drugs

· School

· Bullying

· Alcohol

· Employment/Careers

· Relationships

· Teen Parenting

· Crime and Prison

· Music

· Violence

· Social Networking

*We will also be hosting our first Teen Event on Saturday,  November 26th from 7pm-10pm.  The event will be a Teen Dance for high school students in grades 9-12 at the Salvation Army Gym in Batavia. The cost will be $5 to attend. Students from all area schools are encouraged to attend and meet others from the surrounding area. Hope to see you there! Please encourage your teenagers to attend this POSTIVE event!

Grease Lightning & Castrol Premium Lube have created a food drive called “Give To Live” to feed families this November.

The Grease Lightning/Castrol Premium Lube auto repair shop in Batavia is one of sites which will be asking customers to donate non-perishable food items and/or money to benefit a local food bank/soup kitchen.

Starting Nov. 1 through the 30th, customers can bring food items to 50 Liberty Street and 4003 West Main Street Road in Batavia to put in collection bins and/or also have a portion of the proceeds from an oil change donated to feed local families in need.

Good oil change -- $5 donation

Better oil change -- $10 donation

Best oil change -- $15 donation

High mileage oil change -- $10 donation

The company's Director of Marketing Jimi Jamm is no stranger to events of this kind.

“During my previous career in the broadcast industry, I participated or directed numerous events aimed at feeding the less fortunate in our community," Jamm said. "Hunger is a year round concern, not just during the holidays and the ones most affected are the children of families who can't provide the basic nutrition they need.

"The best thing about our launch of this new initiative is that the donated food and money will stay locally in each market.”

To view a two minute music video on the promotion: http://youtu.be/0C7e94FCtI4
For questions and further information, you can contact Jimi Jamm at 631-704-9711 or
jimi@premiumlube.net.

From noon until 2 p.m. this Thursday, Nov. 3, there will be the annual Fall Nursing Job Fair at Genesee Community College. It will be held in the Forum, 1 College Road, Batavia.

More than 30 of the area's top health-care employers and four-year universities will attend to help people explore educational and career opportunities. This event is designed to introduce potential new employees to employers, and also provides health-care businesses an opportunity to present their trade and services to the local community. This event is free and open to all community members.

Participants include:

•    Catholic Health System, Buffalo

•    NYS Veterans Home at Batavia, Batavia

•    Daemen College, Amherst

•    PSA Health Care, Williamsville

•    Eastern Niagara Health System, Lockport

•    Roberts Wesleyan College, School of Nursing, Rochester

•    Erie County Medical Center Corp, Buffalo

•    Rochester General Health System, Rochester

•    HCR Home Care, Rochester

•    St. Ann's Community, Rochester

•    Highland Hospital, Rochester -- *unable to attend but information available

•    St. John Fisher College – Wegman's School of Nursing, Rochester

•    HomeCare & Hospice – Warsaw

•    SUNY Empire State College, Saratoga Springs

•    Hurlbut Care Communities, various locations in Western New York

•    The College at Brockport (SUNY) – Army ROTC – Nursing Program

•    Jewish Home of Rochester, Rochester

•    Trocaire College, Buffalo

•    Kaleida Health – Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital, Williamsville

•    United Memorial Medical Center, Batavia

•    Keuka College - Accelerated Studies for Adults Program, Penn Yan

•    Unity Health System, Rochester

•    Lakeside Health System, Brockport

•    University of Rochester, School of Nursing, Rochester

•    Lifetime Care, Rochester

•    UPMC Hamot (Hamot Medical Center), Erie, PA- *unable to attend but information available

•    Med-Scribe, Inc., Fairport

•    Visiting Nursing Service of Rochester & Monroe County

•    Monroe Community Hospital, Rochester

•    Wyoming County Community Health System- *unable to attend but information available

•    NY Army National Guard, Geneseo

Any organization interested in attending the Job Fair should call (585) 345-6888 to register immediately.

http://youtu.be/heJF0mZ9CRc

The children of Holland Avenue and members of the Seventh Day Adventist gathered together to send get well wishes to Sharon Strong. Sharon is the wife of Mitch Strong. She is currently in a hospital in Florida and had emergency surgery and is expected to have more surgery.

Sharon is a member of Seventh Day Adventist church. Her church has adopted Holland Avenue. For the past several years, the  church has been holding regular street church services and actvities and events for the neighborhood.  Sharon can often be found spending times with the families ministering to them and praying for them.

Care-A-Van Ministries of Batavia provides their vehicles to the church to use for their outings to the neighborhood. The kids and their families truly missed Sharon at their most recent outing. Mitch Strong has been sending regular updated emails with Sharon's condition to family and friends. He thanks everyone for their continued prayers.

Cards can be sent to Sharon at :

CrestonHouse 2E
5930 A1A South
St Augustine, FL  32080

A Toastmasters meeting is a learn-by-doing workshop in which

participants develop their speaking and leadership skills in

a no-pressure atmosphere. A typical group has 12 to 25

members. We encourage visitors to discover how they can

benefit from participating. There is no cost to attend and

you do not need a reservation.

We meet at 1 Mill Street, Batavia, NY. We arrive at 7:00 pm and the meeting ends at 8:45 pm.   

When you enter the building it is the first office on the left.

For more information visit our website at

www.speakuptoastmasters.org or call Linda at 585-343-2640.

Press Release:

This Friday October 28th, 2011 Le Roy will Host Batavia at Hartwood Park for a Youth Football Game.  All proceeds will be split in half and will go to each commmunities Back Pack program.  The Back Pack Program provides food for families in need in our communities.  Everday, children in our communities do not have enough to eat.  Kids in this program are given canned goods at school to take home in their backpacks to help feed their families.  Please come to the game and show your support.  We will be accepting canned goods and cash donations.

The game schedule is as follows:
Flag football "moving up game" Le Roy players only 5:00pm
Juniors Le Roy v Batavia 6:00pm
Seniors Le Roy v Batavia 8:00pm

Please come out and show your support to our local athletes and our local families in need.