Batavia Rotary Club

The Batavia Rotary Club announced today that it has pledged $100,000 to United Memorial Medical Center (UMMC), to be fulfilled over a five-year period.

“The Batavia Rotary Club has a rich history of generous donations to critical community partners such as UMMC,” said President Ted Hawley. “Our members spend countless hours on fundraising activities and events; the Father’s Day Fly-In Breakfast is the most recent example..."

Today's pledge comes a year after the club made its final payment on another multi-year pledge to UMMC, which totaled $250,000.

The momentum for the latest donation plan stems from UMMC's announcement in October about the surgical expansion project in front of the hospital at 127 North St., Batavia. The project includes a one-story addition to the front of the main hospital building. A total of five operating rooms will double in size from 300 to 600 square feet, plus there will be one treatment room and 19 private recovery beds.

In addition to annual scholarships, the Batavia Rotary Club contributes money to many youth and human service organizations in Genesee County, as well as to international projects. For example, each year, Rotary selects three high school seniors -- one from Batavia High School, BOCES and Notre Dame -- to receive a $1,500 annual scholarship for each of the four years the recipient is in college.

On Friday, 19 February 2010, DAPP Children’s Town in Malambanyama, Zambia, Africa formally dedicated its new kitchen and dining area. Over eight hundred students, staff, families, and dignitaries attended the dedication. 

This effort began in early fall of 2007, when Ed Leising, a long-time member of the Batavia Rotary Club, was traveling from Buffalo to Baltimore, MD. While waiting for his flight, he met Pia Jorgensen in the lounge. She had a briefcase with a large Planet Aid Canada logo. He learned that she recently emigrated from Denmark and she was the Canadian representative for Planet Aid Canada; an organization that funds projects world-wide. The majority of the money comes from collecting then selling usable clothing. The profit from the sale of the clothing is used to fund their projects.

One of their projects; DAPP Children’s Town, located in Zambia, was in need of funding to purchase commercial kitchen equipment and update the dining area. Children’s Town is a school with about 300 students and about 30 staff from the surrounding area. Most students are local and live at home, however some are orphans, and live at the school. Before the installation of the new kitchen, the school prepared daily meals by cooking the food on two stone and concrete wood-fired pits. The plan was; utilize an existing building for the new kitchen equipment and eating area. The school had all of the electrical service and plumbing infrastructure needed for the kitchen and dining hall.

As a dedicated Rotarian, Ed was confident the Batavia Rotary Club and other Clubs in District 7090 would embrace this project. In a unique service project, the Rotary Club of Batavia, the Rotary Club of St. Catherines, Ontario, the Rotary Club of Lusaka Central, Zambia, Rotary District 7090 and the Rotary International Foundation pledged money totalling over $13,000.

All equipment has been purchased, received, and installed. Much of the work to improve the existing space has been done by the students, and staff of DAPP Children’s Town. They performed the construction and utility work that was required to convert the existing space into the new kitchen. The students and staff used the skills learned in Carpentry Training class to build all of the tables and chairs. All of the furniture was constructed of rosewood; which is indigenous to the area. One of the goals of DAPP Children’s Town is to give the students a solid background in the types of skills that can be used after graduation. Most will learn some construction related skills.

Rotary Clubs world-wide and Rotary International fund both local and international projects such as the DAPP Children’s Town project every year.   All service clubs such as Lions, Kiwanis and Rotary give generously to assist those in need all over the world. The value of service clubs cannot be under estimated. A good example is Rotary’s 25 year effort to help eradicate polio by initiating a project called Polio Plus in 1985. By 2012 Rotary will have raised more than 1.2 billion dollars to help eradicate polio.   At the beginning of Rotary’s Polio Plus project there were an estimated 350,000 cases of polio identified each year. As a result of the efforts of Rotary, the World Health Organization, the U.S. Center for Disease Control, UNISEF, the United Kingdom and Germany, now there are about 1,100 cases of polio identified each year. Polio is endemic in just four countries. Recently, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s grant of 355 million dollars and an additional 200 million from Rotary it is expected that polio will be totally eradicated some time after 2012.

Press Release:

At its weekly lunch meeting today, the Rotary Club of Batavia announced that Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella has been selected to be their 61st Annual Rotary Show.  Show dates are November 5th – November 9th at the Batavia High School Auditorium.

The musical based on the age-old fairy tale was first broadcast on CBS television in 1957 and starred Julie Andrews.  It was reprised in 1965 as the first color broadcast musical for television and starred Lesley Anne Warren.  A more recent adaptation was broadcast that starred Whitney Houston and Brandy.

The selection made by the Batavia Rotary Show Committee will be the original production with one modification added from the 1965 version.  It will include a cast of 30 to 35 Adults and 8 to 10 Children.   This is the first time that Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella has been selected by the Rotarians.

This year’s production of Cinderella will be directed by Patrick D. Burk.  This is Burk’s first time directing for the Rotary Club of Batavia.  Burk is widely known as the creator of the Batavia Players Summer Youth Theater Program and the Shakespeare in Springtime Program, which just completed this past weekend.  

“I am excited and honored to be offered this opportunity by the Rotary Club, “ Burk stated. “I have always enjoyed working with this group and have had a lot of fun on the Rotary Stage in the past.  I am pleased with the show selection and look forward to offering this truly family oriented show to the Rotary audiences.” 

Known for its costuming and beautiful sets, the pre-production work will begin with meetings in April and continue with the selection of show and musical staff.  Auditions will be held in September.   Show Chairperson is Laurie Mastin,  Business Manager is John Saville and the President – Elect is Ted Hawley.

Burk previously directed this version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella for the Gates Community Theater at Robert’s Wesleyan College in North Chili.  He has performed in countless stage productions as well as directing and producing shows.  Some of his Rotary Show appearances include Daddy Warbucks in Annie, the King in The King and I, Bung Foo in Thoroughly Modern Millie  and Charlie Cowell in The Music Man.