Chamber Awards

This is one of a series of articles highlighting the winners of the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce awards for 2012. The awards gala is Saturday evening at the Clarion Hotel.

In Tim Call's mind, there's little separation between the success of Empire Tractor and the hard work and dedication of the company's employees.

Whether it's sales or customer service, the conversation with Call either starts or ends with praise for Empire's 112 employees at six Central and Western New York locations.

"We have some of the most friendly and knowledgeable people in the industry," Call said.

Eighteen years ago, Call acquired a company on East Main Street Road, Batavia, then known at Tri-State Tractor. Through growth and partnerships, Tri-State became Empire and is one of the most successful farm equipment companies in the region.

Customers of Empire range from people with just an acre of land to farmers with 10,000 acres of land, Call said. The company doesn't handle push mowers or weed eaters, but the guy with just an acre of lawn to mow can get a nice zero-turn rider while the largest grain farmer in the area can buy the biggest tractor you can imagine.

In May, 2011, Empire moved to a bigger facility on East Main Road that gave Empire more room and paved surfaces that makes the whole business look more attractive.

"Everything is clean and everything just displays so well," Call said. "It's given us a whole different image and it's helped us increase our sales."

The entire service operation is now under one roof, Call said, which helps improve efficiency.

Even with the better facility, it's the people at Empire who make the sales process work, Call said.

"We want a sales process that is easy and fun and not too hard," Call said. "People buy from people and we try to remember that. When a farmer comes in, however much money he's spending, that's a lot of money to him to spend and we want him to feel happy and comfortable and satisfied that he got a reasonable deal."

Some employees have been with the company for more than 30 years, and that's saying something, Call said, especially for those who deal with farmers who had a piece of equipment break down.

When a farmer has to come into the shop because of a broken tractor or broken combine, it means he or she is not out in the field plowing or harvesting or herding. It means work that must get done isn't getting done.

"It's the employees who take care of customers every day," Call said. "A farmer comes in because he's broke down and he's not happy. There's a lot of thankless chores and when you're dealing with a guy who's beating on you and you're trying to be happy and upbeat, well, our guys are pretty darn good at that."

Good employees and a pleasant experience are so key to success in the competitive farm equipment business, Call said.

"Most of our business is referral, and if a customer has a bad experience, he's not going to come back and he's going to tell his friends," Call said. "We've done everything we can to try and make it easy for people to do business with us."

This is one of a series of articles we will run over the next three days highlighting the winners of the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce awards for 2012. The awards gala is Saturday evening at the Clarion Hotel.

St. Joseph School has been around since 1873 and currently has an enrollment of 300 students from pre-K through eighth grade. The Catholic elementary school employes 14 full-time teachers, four part-time teachers, six full-time aides, six support staff and two school nurses.

Karen Green has been a part of St. Joe's school for 17 years. She started out teaching first and second grade and has been the school's principal for the last seven years. She has witnessed much change in those 17 years. However, the school's mission of teaching faith, academics and service has always remained the same.

Green says, "We are an option for families that are looking for something different. If they want that Catholic and Christian-centered education we are here to give that to them."

She says she is very proud of St. Joseph students. Their work habits, their character and how they treat each other make the teachers' jobs very easy.

Academics and service are what make St. Joseph students stand out.

"I often hear from high-school teachers and administrators that they love getting St. Joe's kids, they have good work habits and they participate in class. Knowing that they leave here doing that is a great feeling," Green says.

Chad Zambito, who has been working at St. Joseph's for the past year running their marketing campaign, nominated the school for the special recognition award. After walking through the halls of the school and seeing the kids and their families, Zambito realized that it was different at St. Joe's. It was a special place.

"They have a strong tradition of supporting the community while struggling to make ends meet," Zambito says. "The school continues to find ways to expand programs like advanced math and sciences along with athletics and music while other institutions have been cutting their programs."

St. Joe's gets very little funding from the state.Tuition and enrollment are very important. "It's what we are used to, we have always done more with less," Green says. 

The parents also play an important role. They help with raising funds by volunteering to work at Friday night bingo, the Mammoth sale, fruit sale, Walk-a-thon, Popcorn Ball, and the Penny Carnival. According to Green, "Those big events give us enough money so that we can give our kids and teachers extras like iPads and SMART Boards to work with. We've tried to make the technology really important here and I think that's how we stay afloat."     

In Genesee County, St. Joseph School is the last remaining Catholic elementary school. St. Mary's closed in 2004 and St. Anthony's in 2006. 

Last year, with the closing of Holy Family School in Le Roy, St. Joseph School had to deal with an influx of about 100 students. "We had a couple of tough months over the summer last year trying to prepare," Green says. "We had mixed feelings and it was bittersweet, we felt bad their school had to close and we know what it would have been like and it very well could have been us put in that position." 

St. Joe's hired six aides and two teachers to accommodate the larger class size. Next year they will be looking for a part-time teacher for their Earth Science class at the middle-school level. 

Looking forward to the 2013-14 school year, the first, third and fourth grades are full and have a waiting list. Kindergarten is filling up fast with only five spaces open. At the middle-school level, sixth, seventh and eighth grades are all open.

Parents who have enrolled their children in 3- and 4-year-old preschool can take advantage of the school's Wrap Around Program which was started two years ago. Green says this program has taken off. It's for parents who need an affordable safe place to take their kids after the half day pre-school session.  

Green says her group of teachers, aides and support staff are amazing. They go above and beyond every day. Some run the After School Program, some are involved in extracurricular activities like Drama Club and Art Class and all are available after school each day to provide support for students and parents.

"It takes a special person to work here, to put that much time and dedication in and they do it on a daily basis. The salary is not like in the public school systems," Green said.

Each school year there will always be challenges. Green thinks that is not always a bad thing. 

"St. Joseph School will always be looking to improve in every aspect," she says. "We just don't want to sit back and say things are working well the way they are. You have to always be looking forward to the future. We are always trying to think ahead to make our school stronger and I think that's why we continue to do what we do here." 

For more information on St. Joseph School at 2 Summit St. in Batavia call 585-343-6154 or check out their Web site at www.sjsbatavia.org/

Photos by Howard Owens.

Karen Green

This is the first of a series of articles we will run over the next three days highlighting the winners of the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce awards for 2012. The awards gala is Saturday evening at the Clarion Hotel.

When Barb Toal went on a sightseeing trip to Rome, Italy, with her sister six years ago, she sat in a beautiful garden across from the Colosseum to rest for a few minutes. At the time she had no idea what the garden was, only that it was a wonderful peaceful spot to sit and take a break.

Fast forward two years later to 2009.

Barb is sitting in the living room of Paula Savage, president of the International Peace Garden Association, who is trying to convince Barb to help set up an International Peace Garden commemorating the War of 1812 in the City of Batavia.

As the two women sat discussing the project, Paula had a laptop on the coffee table running pictures of International Peace Gardens from around the world. Barb froze when she saw a photo of the beautiful garden she remembered sitting in a few years earlier on her trip to Rome.

After scrolling through a few more of Paula's photoss, Barb recognized another garden she visited the following year after her trip to Italy -- in Dublin, Ireland.

"It's pretty ironic. I've been to two of them now. This is a no-brainer. I gotta get involved," Toal said.

Being president of the Holland Land Office Museum at the time, she thought this would be good use for the vacant land to the east of the museum and a good way to bring more people in to visit the Holland Land Office."This is a great fit, a perfect fit," Toal thought. The idea was now planted.

She then solicited the help of longtime friend Carol Grasso. The two have been friends since ninth grade and both graduated from Pembroke High School together.

"I just knew I had to be a part of it," Grasso says.

"This community, we knew since we were little, would come together to make this happen," Toal added.

Armed with seven solid volunteers, the group now referred to as "Friends of the Batavia Peace Garden" went to work. After four years of meetings, fundraising, and solicitations, they were ready to make the garden a reality.  

Running into many obstacles along the way, the project had to be accomplished one day at time. The electric wiring and digging through the base of Walnut Street and the old bridge was a stopper.

"After the electric meeting we were whipped. We thought, 'we can't do this and it's not gonna happen,' Toal said. It was like climbing a mountain, I slipped went down 10 notches then had to go up another 10 again." She said she learned a lot about patience over those four years.

Toal said they knew what they had to do, but had no money. It was amazing how the community came out to help. There were 15 landscaping trucks in the prime season that showed up and volunteered to revamp the once-barren land.

Martin Dilcher, of Dilcher's Excavating, who nominated the group for the award, was driving by the work in progress one day and spotted Barb using a jackhammer. She was making her way through layers of old buildings and solid rock to create a 5-foot hole in the ground for the electric and base for the globe. Dilcher yelled out to her, "What are you trying to do kill yourself ?" Dilcher showed up at 9 a.m. the next morning with a backhoe to help out.

When Toal needed someone to make the giant metal globe she turned to her neighbor Rob Barone who is a welder. He didn't know what she really wanted.

Toal made a trip to BJ's Wholesale and purchased a glass globe in a box and showed it to Barone. She also handed over a few pictures of one located in the Town of Lima. Barone then solicited the help of Patrick Waite, and together they created the globe that is currently on display at the Garden.

According to Grasso, "There were a lot of ups and downs. We didn't think we were going to make it, especially moneywise, but we did it."

She says people can't wait to help out and fund-raise now.

The Friends of the Batavia Peace Garden will be holding their third annual fundraiser dinner to be held at Terry Hills April 27th. They are planning a fashion show and are honoring Joe Gerace and Carolyn Pratt this year.

May 11th they will be having a birthday party and celebrate by raising the 23 flags for the year. It will be a community day from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Everyone is welcome to come out and join in the festivities.  

The Batavia Peace Garden commemorating the War of 1812 is stop number 13 of 25 on a 600-mile trail that runs through Canada and the United States. Batavia became the rallying point in the War of 1812. British forces burned 200 homes in Youngstown, many families then relocated to the Batavia area to take shelter.

Three more gardens were added to the trail last year. All are located in the Thousand Islands region of New York State. Brussels, Belgium, will be the location of the next garden. It will be created in 2014.

Toal says the group has plans on expanding the Batavia Garden in 2014. They want to extend the grounds to include the area behind the Genesee County Courts facility near the falls of the Tonawanda Creek. They will add more flags and possibly a gazebo.

Toal, who is now retired, says she is more busy now being president of the Friends of the Batavia Peace Garden. She says, "It hasn't been a hard road, just a long road to get to this point."

"To think what we've done in a couple of years, it's humbling to think we got this award," Grasso says. "It's was worth every drop of sweat that we had. All the hard work, the back-breaking digging. It's amazing."  

Anyone interested in buying a brick or path stone can contact Barb Toal at 585-344-2548 or e-mail her at btoal@ rochester.rr.com.

The group also has a new Web site, bataviapeacegarden.org.

Photo by Howard Owens. From left, Barb Toal, Mary Ellen Wilber, Carol Grasso, and Berneda Scoins.

This is the final story in a series about the 2011 award winners of the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce.

One of the most satisfying meals Donna Saskowski ever had was simple fare -- pork chops, Tater Tots and corn. It's one she has never forgotten although it was 20 years ago. A gentleman named Curtis cooked the food at his apartment for his special guest, the lady who worked at Genesee County ARC, and who still does, now as the executive director.

Saskowski, who is the chamber of commerce 2011 Geneseean of the Year, could sense the great pride Curtis had for his accomplishment -- from setting the table and serving the food, to having a pleasant conversation and saying a fond farewell. Guest and host became friends. And Curtis, who is still served by ARC, remains Donna's friend.

Seeing people like Curtis, who is developmentally disabled, accomplish new things, learn a skill or develop a hidden talent gives meaning to Donna's work, helps motivate her and keeps her grounded.

Her inclination to help others improve their lives was fostered in no small part by her mother, the late Helen A. Trowbridge, who was a full-time registered nurse, mother of nine children, working farmer, community volunteer and a graduate of Clown Alley. Yes, Helen attended clown school in her 50s and loved entertaining people, for free, at the ARC, nursing homes, hospitals, etc. With her loud suits and zany bag of tricks, "Gorgible" the Clown made a big impression on her big family to do for others.

Donna grew up in Corfu on the family farm, which is still operated by family members today. Both her parents held full-time outside jobs and also raised crops, chickens, dairy cows and black angus cattle. In other words, "all the things my parents needed to keep nine kids fed and give us activities. It was good," she said.

After graduating from high school, Donna went to college to become a social worker and was briefly employed after getting married. But she decided to stay home and raise two daughters until they entered school. Then she looked for part-time work and landed a job as a residential assistant at ARC after "cold calling" the facility seeking an application.

It was, as they say, a good fit.

"They help me, they give me a lot of inspiration and make me feel good about myself," Saskowski said.

When the people in the ARC community get the support and services they need, they often have new experiences that are life-changing.

"Suddenly, they realize -- maybe because they haven't had other opportunities in their life -- the level of skill they have, how much of a contributing part of the community they can be.

"Sometimes people with developmental disabilities aren't given those opportunities and so they kind of lack confidence or the courage to step up. They know they can do it, but I don't think -- because we often don't have faith in them -- that they want to express it."

When they do, the results can be amazing. Donna has a couple of art works in her office, and there are others displayed elsewhere in the facility on Walnut Street, that show real talent, and certainly beauty.

Events like the Challenger Dance and the Sprout Film Festival also give her clients a chance to blossom.

And that helps her stay energized and focused so she can advocate for them effectively.

In addition to her work at ARC, Donna is active in the community. She is currently serving as secretary for the Batavia Rotary Club, which she joined in 2004, and is a board member of the Regional Action Phone Network.

In 2006, she was named a Leadership Fellow at the Community Health Foundation of Western New York and that was a tremendous experience for her. It enabled her to meet leaders from throughout the region and engage them in a dialogue about the state of health care and health in general.

She has also been a Girl Scout leader and served on the board of the YWCA. She is a member of Leadership Genesee's Class of 2005.

She holds a bachelor's and master's degree in Social Work from the University of Buffalo and was named Social Worker of the Year in 2010 by the Western Division of the New York State Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.

Donna is highly regarded for her leadership, exceptional ability to work collaboratively, and her commitment to community development.

She lives in Darien with her husband, Paul.

As for being named Geneseean of the Year, Donna is most pleased.

"I have a great support system or else I wouldn't be able to do the things I do -- my staff here, but especially my family, my husband. If he didn't cook all those meals and do all those things when I was in graduate school, and raise the kids for three and a half years, it would have been a tough go. And he did that."

This is the fourth story in a series about the winners of the 2011 Genesee County Chamber of Commerce awards.

In the daunting world of delicate machinery, complicated tools and hulking robotic manufacturing systems, Adept Equipment Services provides peerless expertise for customers around the globe.

Both in house and on site, the company services, repairs, refurbishes and maintains specialized equipment used in automotive, medical, consumer electronics, machining and packaging industries, and more. It can also, of course, take care of run-of-the-mill gizmos.

Adept boasts the ability to create tooling, develop fixtures, design, fabricate, test and train to meet their clients' wide-ranging needs. It is located at 5130 E. Main St. Road, Suite 1, in the Town of Batavia.

The company has so impressed the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce, it was selected as the 2011 Entrepreneurial Business of the Year.

Tom Steffenilla, Adept's president and CEO, is largely responsible for its success and has a long history working with machinery, beginning years ago in the military.

In 11th grade, he had enough credits to graduate from high school and he enlisted in the service. With some experience repairing electronics, he started his military career working with various equipment and machinery.

After three years in Germany, working with nuclear missiles during the Reagan and Gorbachev Era, he returned to the states. His knowledge of these intricate systems helped him build machines, kilns and other equipment, and he worked his way up the ladder.

When the company he worked for was bought by a competitor and being relocated to another state, he and other workers had to decide if they would follow.

Maintaining relationships with established customers was the deciding factor in Steffenilla's choice to stay put. Not wanting to strand these customers, “I asked my service team to take this risk with me to start out on our own,” he said.

So in 2009, Adept Equipment Services was established.

It's the only company of its kind in Genesee County and that made it a prime candidate for the entrepreneurial award.

“We can design, build and service it all,” he said.

Adept's focus on providing quality service and meeting customers' needs is the cornerstone of its operating philospohy. Everything revolves around that.

This commitment has prompted Adept to expand its borders and connect to consumers wherever they might be.

“Most of our customers are outside of Genesee County. We have people all over the world,” Steffenilla said. “We have been overseas, to Mexico, Canada, and are going to Brazil ... If someone needs something, we service them no matter the cost."

If a customer in the field has an immediate requirement, Adept's crew simply stops what's being done in the shop to make sure it gets handled.

Bottom line: The company’s strongest desire is customer satisfaction.

“Sometimes this gets lost with the bigger (competitors) -- They get arrogant,” Steffenilla said. “With us, we will come do the job and worry about the details later. Quality is ingrained in all of us. We keep everyone happy as best as we can."

That goes for employees, too. After all, part of success is having a contented work force.

Even though the staff is small, their collective savvy is great. With more than 50 years experience together, the handful of technicians and an administrative manager combine a kaleidoscope of abilities to earn customers' trust and deliver the best service in the industry.

Steffenilla grew up in Genesee County. He and his family reside in Stafford.

That may be the contributing factor for his passion to see this area succeed. He wants his company to be known for helping other businesses here to prosper and to use as many local vendors as possible.

“If they thrive, then I thrive,” he said.

Photo provided by Tom Steffenilla. (Typically, for the chamber awards, we take photos of each of the winners, trying to get at least one nice portrait shot and then presenting a print of that to the winner at the awards dinner. Unfortunately, a hard-disk failure wiped out the pictures we had taken of Tom before they were processed and Tom hasn't been available for a new picture. We thank Tom for the photo above and apologize for the lack of one of our own photos.)

Pictured above is Tom Ronan, who has worked at Graham Corp. nearly five decades. This is the third story in a series about the 2011 honorees of the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce.

The Graham Corp. is the only publicly traded company currently operating in Genesee County. What began as a small business in 1936 is now a global enterprise, with offices in Suzhou China, Michigan and Houston. The headquarters are still at 20 Florence Ave. in the City of Batavia.

This employer of about 350 people (around 285 locally) is a leading designer and builder of vacuum and heat transfer equipment for process industries. And it’s the Industry of the Year chosen by the chamber of commerce for 2011, Graham’s 75-year Jubilee.

One of the most remarkable things about Graham, in addition to its ability to expand internationally and grow its U.S. customer base, is its steadfast allegiance to Batavia and its employees.

President and Chief Executive Officer Jim Lines put it this way: “We think ‘This is where our founding was.’ We really enjoy the small community. We find the work force … is very committed, very loyal to the company and has just become a tremendous asset to us.

“And I can’t envision another location providing the wealth of strong employees that we’ve been able to pull from this community and I’m just very fortunate to have that as a benefit.”

There are quite a number of longtime employees at Graham, and Lines is one of them, joining the ranks in 1984.

The longest-serving employees presently are Tom Ronan and Roger Becker.

Tom’s been around for a whopping 48 years, thus has never drawn unemployment, and put his two kids through college with his steady paycheck. In addition to his inarguable work ethic, he’s known for being a bit of a jokester. He’s certainly straightforward.

Here’s a sampling from a recent Q & A:

So what’s kept you around here for 48 years? “It just went day by day and the years went by.”

What do you do now? “I do a multitude of things.”

How have you liked working here? “There’s been good days and there’ve been bad days. Hopefully there weren’t too many of the bad ones in a row.”

You used to work for Mr. (Duncan) Berkeley (the son of one of the co-founders who ran the company from 1968 to 1995). What did you do for him? “I did whatever he wanted me to – he was the boss.”

The former Marine and Vietnam vet expounded a little more when asked about the chamber award.

“It’s nice to see a company that I’ve spent my life with is appreciated by the community that they help support. Many times people thought we made crackers, you know.”

Actually, the equipment that Graham Corp. creates is used in the processing of everyday products used by people everywhere – from synthetic fibers and electric power, paper and steel, food and fertilizer, to pharmaceuticals, chemicals and petroleum-based goods.

During World War II, it supplied steam ejectors, surface condensers and heat exchangers for shipboard applications.

Harold M. Graham first incorporated the business as Graham Manufacturing Co. in 1936 and since 1942, the company has grown its clientele far and wide. In 1983, it became the Graham Corp. Today, about half of its sales are outside the United States.

It is overseen by a seven-member board of directors, which includes Jim Lines. The others are President and Chairman of the Board Jerald D. Bidlack, and James J. Barber, Ph.D., Helen H. Berkeley, Alan Fortier, James J. Malvaso and Gerard T. Mazurkiewicz.

Its stocks, with the ticker symbol GHM, are traded on the NYSE Amex and on Tuesday one common share was $20.64.

The ongoing success story is rooted, according to Lines, in management practices put in place long before he took the helm as CEO.

“There’s a fairness the management team and the leaders have to the employees and, in exchange, the employees have tremendous support for the management team, enabling us to do what the business needs to do.

“We look at it really as a mutual responsibility to grow our company, to serve our customers. … We want our employees to recognize us as a place to build a career, not just a business to come work at.”

In addition to Mr. Graham and Mr. Berkeley, he gives a lot of credit for building a remarkable company to Al Cadena, who ran the business from 1995 to 2004.

When asked if the rap against New York for having high taxes and too much regulation has been a hindrance for Graham, Lines said “We’re choosing to be in New York State and we’re choosing to be in Batavia.

“Is it easier in other locations? Perhaps. But I would place my money, and I do, behind the workers we have in this location. They outweigh the challenges that we face. … There’s no assurance that if we were to relocate somewhere else we would have the same strength and that strength is our people.”

Looking forward, part of Graham’s plan is to: expand sales to businesses in China; increase nuclear power operations; and to focus on opportunities with the Navy’s nuclear propulsion program.

But this week, right here in Batavia, the folks at Graham are delighted to be honored by the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce.

“I think that’s tremendous,” Lines said, “that’s a great recognition of a wonderful company that really thrives globally. … it’s a recognition of 75 years of commitment to our customers, 75 years of commitment to our employees and then a recognition that we’re of good service to the community as well.

“We’re very proud to have our company acknowledged in this way.”

This is the second in a series of stories about the 2011 winners of the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce Awards.

Arctic Refrigeration Company of Batavia, Inc. is heating things up in Genesee County and is being honored by the chamber of commerce as the 2011 Business of the Year.

Brothers Henry and Leo Mager established the company in 1947. The two were  factory mechanics at the time.

They started fixing household appliances, doing different kinds of handiwork on the side. Eventually, the plethora of small jobs gave birth to what is now Arctic Refrigeration.

More than six decades later, the company has evolved into what it is today, managing heating and cooling needs locally for both residential and commercial customers.

Sixty-five years of success is due in part to "longevity and reputation," Jonathan Mager said.

He and his brother, Justin, are the third generation in the family to work with the company, following in their father and grandfather's footsteps.

"We have been successful because we have always been small," Jonathan said. "Today, with less than 12 employees, the company has never grown beyond its means, which allows us to keep it personal and focused on customers."

In addition to heating and cooling, they also provide refrigerated and ventilated agricultural storages to enhance the freshness of harvested produce, reducing unwanted waste.

"We have a lot of onion, potato and cabbage farmers in this area," Jonathan said. "We design, engineer and install these storage systems that are the size of a high-school gymnasium."

The units allow farmers to keep produce longer, storing and selling it months later.

"We can increase storage life, shelf life and stored crop quality with experienced precision."

Three of the top 20 farms in the Northeast -- Torrey Farms, My-T-Acres and Turek Farms -- are some of the ones that house refrigerated systems built and managed by Arctic.

"These farms we service, received their awards in 2010. It is cool to see them recognized."

Arctic also has designed and installed one of the first geothermal heating and cooling systems in a home in this area.

As an alternative to using fossil fuels for heating and air conditioning, "geothermal in the simplest form is taking heat or cooling out of ground, running it through equipment to produce 400-percent-efficient systems," he said.

Because the depth of the Earth remains a constant temperature of 50 degrees, little electricity is used to pull energy out of the ground.

“In essence, it’s like free money,” Jonathan said. "With huge heating bills and costs rising, we are always looking for ways to be energy-efficient.”

Geothermal is not a new idea, having once been tried when there was a shift in the heating oil markets due to the Energy Crisis of 1970s. But it lost popularity just as quickly as it appeared.

More recently, geothermal techniques are finding their way back into commercial and residential heating/cooling systems across the country as consumer trends adopt a more "green" solution.

“Everything we do is energy consumption. Farmers and homeowners want to lower energy bills and this means what we do is lead by being ‘green’.”

Arctic Refrigeration will continue to advance heating and cooling systems for the community by building on the most efficient, environmentally sound methods available.

This is the first in a series of stories about the 2011 winners of the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce Awards.

Since opening its doors for business in the fall, Palm Island Indoor Water Park at the Clarion Hotel has made a big splash.

Being chosen as the 2011 Innovative Enterprise of the Year by the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce is proof of its positive impact on the area.

On Sept. 30 last year, a risky dream became a reality for owner Chan Patel, when the doors opened at the new indoor water park in the Town of Batavia and people started to trickle in.

It began when Patel starting to think of ways to create a business to attract tourists throughout the stagnant winter months when business typically all but freezes.

The goal was to invest in a new product to provide a steady flow of revenue during the off season.

"I have many long-term employees who have families," Patel said. "I wanted to help keep jobs for them during the winter when it slows."

Previously, the hotel maintained around 60 employees.

This year, rather than laying off staff, the water park has generated additional jobs. Currently, Patel employs 100 people and is still hiring.

"What I have brought to town is unique," Patel said. "The water park is something different and a way to increase business."

Not only has the water park improved business at the hotel, it has boosted the number of tourists pouring into local restaurants and stores.

From September to December, the attraction drew around 10,000 more people than usual for that time of year.

"I have been told that business has increased in town due to what we have done here at the Clarion," Patel said.

He first came to Batavia in 2001 with his wife and two sons, buying what was once the Holiday Inn.

While living in Boston, a friend informed him the hotel was for sale and "I was up for the challenge," he said.

In 2004, after a family trip to Splash Lagoon Indoor Water Park Resort in Erie, Pa., he was inspired to provide a similar attraction here.

His oldest son was excited about the plans and told his father that "Batavia will finally be on the map. Everyone will know where it is."

After getting bank approval, work began on the project in 2006.

"When we first started, we traveled all over to try different indoor water parks," Patel said. "Our youngest son was our eyes, giving us many ideas through his perspective."

Right now the park is for children 12 years of age and under. Packages are available for overnight guests, and day passes available if rooms aren't sold out.

In a few years, Patel would like to expand another 10,000 square feet. This water park may be just the beginning of things to come.

The Geneseean of the Year for 2011 is Donna Saskowski, executive director of the local chapter of NY ARC. The Genesee County Chamber of Commerce made the announcement today.

Saskowski will be among the honorees at the chamber's 40th Annual Awards Ceremony on April 14 at the Clarion Hotel in Batavia. The other recipients were announced Friday.

Joe Teresi, above, accepts his 2010 Geneseean of the Year award from the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce during the its annual awards dinner Saturday at the Clarion Hotel.

Below, the articles we previously published about each of the award winners.

• Meet Joseph Teresi, Geneseean of the Year
• Business of the Year has it covered
• Pudgie puts the local into 'locally grown' produce and garden plants
• Stuart Steiner: Leaving at the 'top of his game' and reaping a special reward
• Robert Bennett honored for outstanding community service

Ron Weiler, Sterling Tents, Business of the Year.

Robert Bennett, winner of Wolcott “Jay” Humphrey III Excellence in Community Leadership Award.

More pictures after the jump:

MC, Dan Fischer, WBTA.

Jeff Boshart, chairman of the chamber board.

Chamber President Lynn Freeman.

Stu Steiner accepting the chamber's first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award.

Stu Steiner.

Daniel "Pudgie" Riner, owner of Triple P Farms, 2010 Agricultural Business of the Year.

This is the third in our series of stories about the 2010 Chamber of Commerce award winners. The awards will be presented at a dinner Saturday at the Clarion Hotel.

Like many small businesses, Triple P Farms in Oakfield started with a budding business owner seeing a need and believing he could start small and grow his enterprise.

Daniel "Pudgie" Riner, 52, was raised on a farm in Byron. After his father sold the family farm to the My T Acres, Riner spent 11 years working for the Call family.

He was pretty confident he could grow things. He had just never tried growing anything in a greenhouse before.

Shortly after marrying Patti Call more than 22 years ago, he opened Triple P Farms with a single 2,000-square-foot greenhouse.

Riner was encouraged by his brother and Craig Yunker of CY Farms to start with tomato seedlings.

"They were not happy with quality of transplants that they were buying out of the south and I thought I could grow something better," Riner recalled. "They gave me an opportunity to try and that’s what started the greenhouse business."

Today, Triple P Farms is comprised of more than two acres of greenhouses and he's adding on another 25,000 square feet. Triple P annually produces more than 12 million onion and cabbage plants for local farmers.

It's that kind of growth and contribution to the local agriculture community that led the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce to select Triple P Farms as 2010 Agriculture Business of the Year.

It's an award, Riner said, he finds humbling.

He credits his employees, his customers, his vendors and other members of the agriculture community, even his bank, for making the award possible.

"I always say, one of my biggest assets is the people around me who help make it work. I have the right team around me."

After more than 22 years in business, Riner said what gives him the biggest satisfaction are his employees. He keeps five full-time employees year around and employees 15 to 20 more people during the summer months.

"It feels pretty good that you’re doing something to help people survive."

He said people like his office manager, Debbie Lynch, who has been with Triple P almost from the beginning, and his retail store manager, Scott Fisher, are the ones who really get the work done.

"I don’t know how we could do it without the key people around that make it work."

In the summer, much of Triple P's staffing increase comes from Riner hiring young people.

Riner -- whose friends started calling him "Pudgie" when he was a teen and the nickname stuck -- said he likes new hires to be juniors in high school. It's hard, physical labor, but he enjoys working with youngsters, even mentoring them right through college.

"I always tell them, If you work for me you'll figure out why you don’t want to do this for the rest of your life. Go to college and get a brain."

About 11 years ago, Riner bought a retail nursery on West Main Street in the Town of Batavia from the Riegel family.  

He renamed it Pudgie's Lawn and Garden Center.

“They (the Riegel family) had a wonderful reputation and I’d like to think that we have continued that wonderful reputation of high quality plants that are locally grown. The lawn and garden store we call Pudgie's has been good to us and we try to add more and more to it every year. We have a very good customer base there."

All of the "bedding" plants sold at Pudgie's are grown at Triple P, giving gardeners a chance to buy locally grown plants from local plant experts (most of Pudgie's employees are master gardeners).

This year, Riner lost his pea-picking business as the frozen food industry has consolidated around just two harvesting companies (Riner said he's proud that his business was one of the final four out of a few dozen once upon a time), but he's already taking Triple P in a new, promising direction.

This winter, he and a partner, A.J. Wormuth, started growing cucumbers in the Triple P greenhouses to sell through area retail stores under the Fresh Harvest Farms brand.

The new line is off to a promising start and the time is right, Riner said, to expand into other winter-grown vegetables because of the strong consumer interest in locally grown produce.

"There’s a big push industry for local. The challenge is getting into the big box stores like Tops or Wegmans or Save-A-Lot, but with the impact of people pushing local, the door has opened a little more than in the past."

Riner and Patti have three children. One attends RIT, another is working on becoming a teacher and their oldest daughter lives and works in the Washington, D.C., area.

He said he and Patti keep most of their community involvement pretty low-key. They're active in Northgate Church and do what they can individually to help families and young people.

Patti supports the Cancer Society. She's twice survived cancer.

As he mentions her cancer battles, Pudgie chokes up.

“It still bugs me," he said, as his eyes moistened and his voice cracked. "You can tell. You can tell.”

In an awards ceremony themed "Simply Elegant," the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce honored its Class of 2009 with a dinner and presentation at a local hotel on Saturday night.  

Pictured above are, front row, Billie Owens, Naomi Silver, Chris Sardou, Mary Sardou, Christine Adamczak; back, Howard Owens, Gary Larde, Buddy Brasky, Tom Sardou, Steve Tufts,  Bill Dougherty, Tony Kutter and Travis Sick.

UPDATE 8:22 p.m., Monday: I should note, it was The Batavian's turn this year  to write, and WBTA to broadcast, profiles of this year's award recipients. I'd like to thank Genesee Graphics for printing, and Bill Mosman, a L.C. Mosman for framing the prints. Bill did an excellent job on was by necessity a rush order.

More pictures after the jump:

Dan "The Voice of Genesee County" Fischer, of WBTA, delivered a few opening remarks.

Tony Kutter accepts the award for Kutter's Factory Cheese Store.

Naomi Silver of Rochester Community Baseball with daughter, Desiree, 8.

Steve Tufts of the Batavia Area Jaycees with Tara Pariso and Cathryn Colby.

Chris, Tom and Mary Sardou of Viking Valhalla/Rose Garden Bowl, the Business of the Year.

Myron "Buddy" Brasky, Batavia High basketball coach (and JV baseball coach), the Geneseean of the Year.

ADDED: Thanks to Melissa George from the Chamber for the picture below.

Dan Fisher at WBTA was kind enough to air a story today about The Batavian, interviewing me and Billie, with Pachuco in the studio.

Ameka Cooper at Carlson's Studio shot the portrait picture.

You can listen to Dan's story here (mp3).

The awards will be handed out Saturday night at the Holiday Inn.

Previously, The Batavian ran the following stories on our fellow award winners:

• Genesee County Business of the Year: Viking Valhalla Restaurant
• Geneseean of the Year: Buddy Brasky
• Kutter's Cheese Factory Store: 2009 Agricultural Business of the Year
• Special Recognition Award: Rochester Community Baseball
• Special Service Recognition Award: The Batavia Area Jaycees

It was the day after the Batavia Blue Devils dropped a first-round Section V playoff game to Aquinas in 1997 that Alex Nesbeth and Mike Glow came to Coach Myron "Buddy" Brasky and said, "Next year, we're going to win the sectionals."

Brasky looked at his junior players, shrugged, and said, "yeah, OK."

"No, Coach," Nesbeth said. "We're going to do it. We're going to do whatever it takes."

The Blue Devils hadn't so much as won its division in years and years, and Brasky, in his seventh season as head coach, had just posted his first winning campaign, leading the team to a 11-10 record.

From the day Brasky took over, the naysayers told the young coach the Blue Devils would never win another championship in basketball. Batavia was too small of a school in a big-school division. There was just no way to beat the big boys from Monroe County.

An 11-10 season wasn't exactly a prelude to proving the skeptics wrong, but Nesbeth and three of his teammates decided it was high time to do just that.

"That’s when I was teaching at Jackson School," Brasky said. "It was the middle of winter and those kids -- there were four of them -- they would walk from the high school to Jackson School and do skill work with me. Almost every day, from about 3:30 to 5. We had a small, tiny gym, just two baskets, and they worked and worked and worked."

The next season, the Blue Devils posted an impressive 20-4 record. But more importantly, they won a Section V title -- the first of three titles the Blue Devils posted in Brasky's 20 years as the team's head coach.

"The Pride is Alive." 

That was the motto Brasky coined for the team when he took over as coach prior to the 1990-91 season.

The Batavia-born-and-bred athletics fanatic never forgot the glory years of Blue Devils basketball from his young days -- the years of John Walton, the Wescotts, Bruce Beswick and Billy Monroe.  

But by the time Brasky was the starting point guard, the glory years, the pride, were starting to fade.

"When I played here, we were just average," Brasky said. "We weren’t great. That’s where it started going down a little bit, and after I graduated, it went way down."

Brasky enrolled at GCC after graduation and then transferred to SUNY Cortland. He completed his degree in Physical Education and soon after moved to Denver, where he worked for health clubs. From there, he moved back to Buffalo.

Then a coaching and teaching position opened in Batavia. This is what Brasky had always wanted to do.

As an athlete, he gravitated toward the leadership positions on teams -- quarterback in football, catcher in baseball, point guard in basketball. He hung close to his coaches. He didn't strive to be the star of the team. He liked the leadership role and he looked up to the men that molded the teams he played on.

"I’ve known since I was 10 years old I wanted to be a coach," Brasky said.

But it wasn't easy taking over Blue Devils basketball. It was a program that wasn't in the habit of posting winning records -- the team would win only two games in Brasky's second season -- but the coach said he knew the spirit was there. "The pride is alive," he kept telling his players. There was a tradition to Batavia basketball, and Brasky was determined to bring it back.

Since that first winning season in 1997, the Blue Devils have not dipped into double-figure losses. They've won eight division titles and are on a run of 14 consecutive winning seasons.

Brasky credits the young athletes for their willingness to work hard, to work year around, but they're only willing to make that committment, Brasky said, because "the pride is alive."

"Now the kids (have) bought in," Brasky said. "We won. They want to be part of a winner."

Just in basketball alone, Brasky probably interacts with more than 250 students in the community every year. Besides the regular varsity season, Brasky coaches basketball year round, including summer camps and clinics. Every step of the way, he stresses that it isn't just about winning. It's about developing the habits that make young men succeed in life.

"I try to instill that all of this hard work you’re doing is not just to win basketball," Brasky said. "That’s part of it. We want to win. But these are habits that you’re going to carry on the rest of your life. These habits of hard work, and dedication, and loyalty and commitment – those are what companies look for. You will be a success in life if you can get these values."

No matter how important the game, Brasky said -- miss a practice, break a rule, and you're not likely to play. That isn't a position that is always popular with fans or parents, but it's the only way, Brasky said, to teach players to be winners both on and off the court.

“I made a decision early in my career that I would never put winning over doing what ‘s right for the kids,” Brasky said.

It's an ethic that has paid off. In the application to the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce for Brasky's 2009 Geneseean of the Year Award, student after student said they learned the value of hard work from Brasky and it has helped them be more successful in life.

"Coach Buddy Brasky shared with me the passion to be the best you can be in life," wrote Scott "Par Par" Partridge (Class 1997). "Every practice, every game, every scrimmage we took part in was completed with 100-percent effort -- if not, then we enjoyed running suicides until we did. I have learned from Coach Brasky that hard work and dedication pays off. Those who push themselves as hard as they can will reap the rewards in the end. The quote, 'The Pride Is Alive,' was printed on our shirts and through playing for coach, I took that to heart. Have pride in who you are and what you do -- give it your all and you have nothing to regret."

Brasky said he was moved by all the testimonials from former players, just as he is when he sees those young men out in the community or at games.

"You hope you're making an impact on kids," Brasky said. "They never tell you that until they get to be like 25 years old. A lot of times, they will see me out -- I'll be at dinner -- and they'll be with their girlfriends and they'll come over to the table, or a lot of them will come and see me before a game, or wait until after, so we can talk -- that's a very, very rewarding part of the job."

It was hard -- even 43 years later -- for Mary Sardou to retell the story of her husband's passing and what it meant for 13-year-old Tom.

"When my husband passed, we sat in the funeral home for three days," Mary says, and then stops, pushing back tears. "I'm sorry," she says.

"You started the story, ma. You've got to finish it," says Tom, now 56, as we sit in the dining room of the Rose Garden Bowl/Viking Valhalla Restaurant in Bergen, talking over a plate of wings about the history of Genesee County's 2009 Business of the Year.

Doc and Mary Sardou bought the Rose Garden Restaurant -- 30 years in business at the time -- in 1954, added a bowling alley three years later and renamed it Viking Valhalla in 1966. They had some rough times as young entrepreneurs, working hard, trying to raise two sons, and dealing with the region's changing business climate. But it was the death of Tom's father that may have been the biggest challenge for the family to overcome.

"Everybody," says Mary, trying to start again, "everybody who walked up to us said to him ... 'now you’re the man of the house. You’re the man.' I’m sure that just stuck in his mind. It stuck in mine. I think he felt very obligated to stay with me."

"Did that have an impact on you?"

"Absolutely," says Tom. "That was drilled into me. When I went into high school I knew what my course in life would be. It was going to be running a business."

Tom Sardou did what many teenage boys did -- he went to school, made the wresting team and even dreamed of being a cop. But after graduation, he didn't enter the University of Buffalo or RIT or even GCC. Sardou started a different education program: "the college of hard knocks," as he puts it.

First, Sardou took a job at Gates Bowl as a night manager so he could learn the bowling business. The next year, at age 19, Tom started running, with his mother, the restaurant and bowling lanes.

And he's been at it, seven days a week, ever since.

"I do enjoy it," Tom says. "There’s times when I would like a little more time off than I get. There’s times when I wake up in the morning and say, 'geez, I’d like to call in sick today.'"

Hard work and innovation to adjust to an ever-changing business climate pretty much define Viking Valhalla and the Sardous.

At 82, Mary Sardou still comes to the restaurant every day to take care of the books and look over the operation. Tom took a special interest in the bowling business, even serving for years as president of the area's bowling operators association, and manages the restaurant along with his wife, Chris -- who met Tom, where else, at the Viking Valhalla.

When Mary, Tom and Chris attend the chamber's award ceremony Saturday evening, it will be the first time ever that at least one of them was not at Viking Vahalla on a weekend night.

That's quite a bit of dedication for a restaurant Mary wasn't sure she even wanted her husband to buy when they first saw it. She didn't even want to go inside after they drove from their home in Fairport to look at it. "We came all this way," Doc said. "We might as well take a look."

Her first day of work at the restaurant began minutes later, when she saw the owner's wife needed help with the dishes.

At first, the couple paid weekly rent on the restaurant. Doc cooked and Mary tended bar, pregnant with their son, George.

Doc happened to meet one of the county's richest men at the time, Oakfield's G. Sherwin Haxton. Haxton came into the bar one day to meet Mary. He decided the Sardous seemed like decent, hard-working people. He decided to help them out. Mary calls Haxton, "our angel."

“He liked us," Mary said. "He went to bat for us. He went to the Columbia Bank in Rochester and he talked to the owner of the bank and told him to give us the loan, and he did.”

The loan helped them expand.

Winters for a restaurant along Buffalo Road in Bergen were dead. In the late '50s, there were no snowmobilers riding up to your front door looking for a brew and a burger, and with Batavia Downs closed for the season, there was very little Rochester-to-Batavia traffic. The Sardous had to figure out a way to bring in business during the cold, snowy months.

The bowling alley seemed like the right idea.

That worked for a while, but after the Thruway opened, more and more traffic bypassed Bergen. While a lot of family businesses in New York shut down as a result of the Thruway opening, the Sardous were determined to hang on. They worked harder, started hosting more parties and found ways to make ends meet.

While other business owners might have given up, Tom Sardou said, "We've never been of that mindset."

To keep the bowling business going, the Sardous have added leagues to fit into any bowler's schedule, from monthly leagues and morning leagues for mothers to a "wine and cheese league" Chris created to attract people who like to try new, fine wines.

But bowling slows down in the summer when people are more interested in outdoor activities, so Tom added sand volleyball courts in 1993.

The constant tinkering and finding new ways to keep the business going are just part of the family tradition.

"After my husband died, people said, ‘she won’t last six months,’" Mary recalls. "They were thinking I would give up or fall on my face. I’m not sure which. But I was determined to make it.

"This is my whole life."

History. Community. Baseball. Three things Naomi Silver knows something about.

In 1956, 57 years after the Rochester baseball franchise was formed, the St. Louis Cardinals, which had owned and operated the Red Wings for the previous 27 seasons, decided to abandon the city. Naomi's father, Morrie Silver, made it his one-man mission to save baseball for Rochester.

Silver formed Rochester Community Baseball, Inc. In 72 days, Morrie sold enough stock in the team -- 8,882 shares to local investors -- to buy the team from the Cardinals, keeping it from being either shuttered or moved.

Today, Rochester is home to the only minor league baseball team that has operated in the same city since the 1800s.

Batavia is also a historic baseball city. The New York-Penn League was formed in Batavia and Batavia is one of only two cities -- along with Jamestown -- that still has teams connected to those original six franchises.

The Muckdogs trace their lineage to 1939.

It's that history, and the importance of baseball to the community, that attracted Naomi Silver and Red Wings General Manager Dan Mason, to the Muckdogs.

Prior to the 2008 season, the Muckdogs were on the ropes. 

The team lost $150,000 in 2007. It seemed nearly certain the NY-Penn League would force the team to move to a larger market. Silver and Mason heard about the dire straits of baseball in Batavia and decided to do something about it.

Rochester Community Baseball stepped in and paid off all of those debts and agreed to operate the team and see if the franchise could once again become a profitable operation.

Fewer than 200 cities in North America have professional baseball teams.

In cities such as Ithica, Elmira and Watertown, baseball fans are bereft each summer of the opportunity to see future stars swat homers the way Ryan Howard did a few years ago at Dwyer Stadium. They miss the joys of showing up at the ballpark and visiting with friends or mentoring grandchildren while watching young pros hone their skills in one of the most storied and historic leagues of professional sports.

"For Batavia to have a team is a great asset," Mason said. "It’s something that a lot of other cities would love to have. The pride that it generates, and the memories it generates for the fans in any minor league community, is something that is a great asset to the quality of life in that town."

Credit Rochester Community Baseball with saving the sport in Batavia, for now. It's the reason the Red Wings will accept a special recognition award Saturday from the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce. But it doesn't guarantee baseball in Batavia in 2011.

Even after winning a championship in 2008, the first year the club fell under Red Wings' management, the team still lost $100,000 in 2009.

This year's campaign is critical, Silver said, in determining the future of baseball in Batavia.

"I would have thought that last year we could have broken even," Silver said. "This year, we most definitely must break even. We should be better than that."

Fan support is important, but minor league teams survive on business sponsorships. At one time, local businesses were very supportive of the Muckdogs, but the sponsorships fell off in recent years. Muckdogs General Manager Travis Sick is working hard -- with help from superfan Russ Salway -- selling corporate sponsorships. The level of local business support, Silver said, will be key to determining the future of the Muckdogs.

"We’ll know in a relatively short time what the outcome will be,” Silver said. "We’ll be able to tell very soon what our sponsorships are going to be like. We won’t know if we’re going to draw more people until the baseball season starts."

It's clear that Silver and Mason care a good deal about baseball, history and community. It's woven into the mission and culture of Red Wings baseball, and it's why there's a Batavia Muckdogs team this year.

Now is the time, according to Silver, for the community to step up the effort to support baseball in Batavia.

"We definitely want to get people involved in this," Silver said. "Everyone has a stake in this in Batavia. Whether you’re a fan that should be making a decision to come out to the ballpark or whether you’re a business and would hate to see baseball leave Batavia, we hope they'll all get out there.

"There’s hardly a community I can imagine," Silver added, "that would want to lose an asset like this."