(Cazenovia, NY – Feb. 2012) The Cazenovia Winter Festival will be held from Feb. 9 to 12. The following is a line-up of activities planned.

Thursday, February 9:

5:30-7:30 — Open House at the Cazenovia Community Preschool

Corner of Lincklaen and Nickerson Sts. Open house for families to tour the school, meet the staff, or get a fall application.

6:30 – 8:30pm — Opening reception for Winter Festival Art Exhibition

St. Peter’s Parish Hall – The community is invited to meet the participating artists at the gala opening reception. Over 100 pieces of artwork in a variety of mediums and styles will be on display. Sponsored by Cazenovia Arts. Call 415 558 8310 or email bcw13035@gmail.com for info. Admission is free. Refreshments served.

Friday, February 10:

10:00am-3:30pm — Winter Festival Art Show

St. Peter’s Parish Hall – Sponsored by Cazenovia Arts – Admission is free.

7:00-9:00pm — Winter Festival Talent Show and Opening Ceremony

Cazenovia High School Auditorium – Organized by Project Cafe.

Tickets $5.00 at the door.  Proceeds to fund student scholarships.

Crowning of King & Queen. Refreshments available at intermission.

Saturday, February 11:

Morning — Scholastic Snow Sculpture Construction

Memorial Park area, Albany Street – Judging at noon.

Theme: Walt Disney – IF SNOW CONDITIONS ALLOW.

Morning-1:00pm — Community Snow Sculpture Competition

Throughout the village – Families, community groups or businesses. List of sculptures posted at Common Grounds.  Pre-register at 877-1742.

7:00am-12:00pm — Pancake Breakfast

Masonic Hall, Albany St- Sponsored by the Cazenovia Masonic Lodge

9:00am-12:00pm — “Hearts and Flowers Sale”

Sponsored by the Cazenovia United Methodist. Valentine-themed food items as well as other yummy treats and a variety of craft items will be available at the church. Call 655-9679 for more information.

10:00am-4:00pm — NO Downhill Skiing for 2012

Due to the lack of snow, downhill skiing at the Cazenovia Ski Club

(www.skicaz.com) will not be feasible this year – see you in 2013!

10:00am-4:00pm — Family Ice Skating

Burton Street Skating Rink – Weather Permitting

10:00am-3:30pm — Winter Festival Art Show

St. Peter’s Parish Hall – Sponsored by Cazenovia Arts – Admission is free

12:00 noon-4:00pm — Medallion Treasure Hunt and Pine Cone Craft at Stone Quarry Hill Art Park

Combine creativity with nature and the arts in a Pine Cone handicraft or pick up clues at the Art Barn and get started on the Medallion Treasure Hunt.  Hot chocolate served all afternoon in the Art Barn. Sledding and snowshoeing are offered if we have a winter wonderland.  For more information, contact SQHAP at 655.3196, office@stonequarryhillartpark.org or www.stonequarryhillartpark.org.

1:00pm-4:00pm — Hearts for Hope “Stuff in Fluff Workshop”

Common Grounds – Build a cuddly bear (Cost $15-$20) – All proceeds to benefit the Carol M. Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund, Inc.

Call Patrice Muller 525-1986 to preorder or for more information

1:00 pm — High School Winter Olympics

HS Football Field – Snow volleyball, relays, sled race, and more!

1:00 pm — Snowflake Run

Emory Avenue – 800 meter race around the Village Green sponsored by the Cazenovia Children’s House. Register by Middle School @12:30

1:00-4:00pm — “Snow Snake” competition and Klondike Sled Races sponsored by Boy Scout Troop 18

Near Scout lodge on Riverside Dr (behind library) weather permitting.

Based on “Gawasa,” a traditional Native American winter game. Three categories for sled races – youth, family, teen/young adult.

8:00-11:00pm — Winterfest Dance

High School Gym – Students of Cazenovia High School

and guests only. Admission is $3.00

7:00pm —  SNOWBALL  to benefit Cazenovia Community Preschool

Hosted by the Brae Loch.  Live music featuring the Party Nuts.

Hors d’oevres, raffles, silent auction, cash bar and more.

Tickets $20 at Brae Loch or call the CCP at 655-7234

8:00pm  — An Evening with Guitarists LOREN BARRIGAR

& MARK MAZENGARB

Catherine Cummings Theatre at Cazenovia College.

General Admission.  $15 Tickets available at the door.

Special $3 admission for all HS students/college students with ID.

Sunday, February 12:

All day — Snow Sculptures

Throughout the village – weather permitting.

10:00am — Snowshoe/Road Race/Walk at Highland Forest

5k and 10k race and walk on wooded trails, starts at lodge.

Running race will be conducted in lieu of snowshoeing if there is no snow. Entry form and information at  www.bikeloft.com.

10:00am-4:00pm — NO Downhill Skiing for 2012

Due to the lack of snow, downhill skiing at the Cazenovia Ski Club

(www.skicaz.com) will not be feasible this year – see you in 2013!

10:00am-4:00pm — Family Ice Skating

Burton Street Ice Skating Rink – Weather Permitting

12:00-3:30pm — Winter Festival Art Show

St. Peter’s Parish Hall – Sponsored by Cazenovia Arts – Admission is free

2:00pm — Haiti Fundraiser Event

“An Afternoon of Irish Music and Step Dancing”

A fundraiser sponsored by the Haiti Committee of St. James Church featuring Joe Davoli, fiddle; Bill Delaney, guitar; and the

McDonald-Ashford Academy of Irish Step Dancing.

Catherine Cummings Theatre at Cazenovia College,

16 Lincklaen Street, Cazenovia

General seating: $15; $10 for children 10 years and under

Tickets available at Cazenovia Jewelry, Matthew’s Salon in Cazenovia, and at the door

2:00-3:00pm — Storytelling and Chocolate Party

Cazenovia Public Library Albany Street. Two storytellers followed by hot chocolate and a variety of chocolate treats. Recommended for ages 4-8.  Sponsored by the Friends of the Cazenovia Library.

For information call 655-9322 or visit www.cazenoviapubliclibrary.org

Wednesday, February 15:

3:00-4:30 — Learn to Row — Cazenovia Rowing Club

Learn basics of the rowing stroke, terminology and rowing etiquette. FREE!! All are welcome. Cazenovia High School, Auxiliary Gym.

Visit www.projectcafe.org for updates.

Please note that all outdoor events are subject to weather conditions.

Dave Evans, director of Nelson Farms, left, and Amanda Hewitt, right, product development manager, pose with Cazenovia resident and entrepreneur, Bob Rose, middle, at Nelson Farms.

 Pictured is Bob Rose’s Thermal Bar. (Photos by Nicolas Murphy)

Morrisville State College News

By Franci Valenzano

(Morrisville, NY – Feb. 2012) You’ve heard about performance bars that give you energy and boost endurance. How about one that’ll keep you warm too?

Introducing the Thermal Bar—an edible performance energy product that enhances circulation to combat the cold. It’s the mastermind of Cazenovia resident Bob Rose, an avid outdoorsman who came up with the idea to help him stay warm while enjoying his favorite activities.

After a frigid day of ice climbing, Rose decided to take his venture into his own kitchen to experiment. He first researched spices that warm the body, then bought and cooked them up into different recipes.

When numerous trials started to produce desired results, Rose reached out for help to fine tune his recipe and move Thermal Bar into the production phase.

He turned to Nelson Farms—an entrepreneurial agri-business incubator and food processing facility, operated by Morrisville State College, that helps budding entrepreneurs turn their ideas into marketable products.

He signed on to become a client and was soon working alongside Amanda Hewitt, product development manager.

In October, Rose’s high-energy bar packed with organic grains, nutrients, anti-oxidants, omega acids and spices hit the shelves at 68 Eastern Mountain Sports stores throughout the country.

He’s heating up the shelves locally too, selling Thermal Bar at the Nelson Farms Country Store, at Buyea’s True Value Hardware on Albany Street in Cazenovia, and in the snack bar at Highland Forest County Park in Fabius. They are also available through the Thermal Bar website at thermalbar.com.

Becoming a business owner wasn’t in the plan for Rose who grew up in Syracuse and after college, pursued a career as an engineer. He joined the National Guard in 1968 and become a pilot flying fighter jets, then later piloted planes for Delta Airlines, before officially retiring in 2007.

But sitting idle has never been in the cards for the 65-year-old adventurer who’s still getting used to his role running a business.

“I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit,” Rose said. “I’m an inventor and a dreamer and I had this idea (Thermal Bar) that I couldn’t ever give up.”

There were others who shared his tenacity. Among them, Nelson Farms, who he credits with taking his “out of the box” idea under its wing and working with him so it could take flight.

“You would not see my product on the shelves if it wasn’t for Nelson Farms,” Rose said. “Not once did anyone say it wasn’t possible or that I couldn’t do it. They jumped into the project with nothing but support and 100 percent encouragement all of the way.”

“We were working on three things at once: the flavor, warming effect, and making it something that would work with our equipment,” said Hewitt who’s been a part of the facility that’s helped nearly 600 businesses bring more than 400 products to market.

Hewitt, a graduate of Morrisville State College’s dietetic technician program, helped Rose tweak the recipe, working on scientific formulas and the taste. Additional staff at Nelson Farms also provided assistance along the way.

That support never waned even when Rose’s product exceeded Nelson Farms’ equipment capacity.

“We are very proud to assist our clients from the very start to finish to where they are able to get their products produced, packaged and into the marketplace and onto the store shelves,” Dave Evans, director of Nelson Farms, said. “But in this case, to meet these challenges to produce and package this very unique and unusual product, we did not have the exact equipment and therefore could not “fine tune” the product totally for sale. So we recommended a person who could possibly get this accomplished.”

That person was food chemist Dr. Danny Chawan of Srim Enterprises LLC, who further advanced the formulation of Thermal Bar.

“We are very proud to have been instrumental in getting Bob started from the beginning and to be able to work and support him through these years to see his Thermal Bar become such a success,” Evans said.

Word is out about the 230-calorie bar, a mix of carbs, anti-oxidants, omegas and protein that also contains Thermal Blend, a special mix of healthy spices, including grains, soy protein, nuts and oats.

“The effect of our warming spices is the breakthrough element and the basis for our unique performance,” said Rose who consumes a bar whenever he’s ice climbing, ski mountaineering, fishing, or involved in an outside activity.

But outdoor sports enthusiasts aren’t the only ones who can benefit from the bar wrapped in vibrant red and orange packaging designed by Rose’s brother, Don Rose. It’s for anyone who spends a lot of time outside in the cold: construction workers, landscapers, EMTs, hunters, sports fans and anglers.

Rose’s plans for Thermal Bar are heating up and include adding more flavors to his apple cinnamon line and marketing it as product that’s nutritionally beneficial year-round.

Nelson Farms is a unique combination of a business incubator, food product processing facility and hands-on academic classroom. Structured as an LLC of the Morrisville Auxiliary Corporation (MAC), Nelson Farms assists entrepreneurs including Morrisville students and existing private firms with product development, small-scale food processing, marketing and sales and distribution, and is also a Pride of New York distributor for the entire state.

It is located between Cazenovia and Morrisville in the village of Nelson on Route 20 and the corner of Nelson Road.

Franci Valenzano is Public Relations and Nicolas Murphy is marketing assistant at Morrisville State College.

(Cazenovia, NY – Feb. 2012) St. Peter’s Episcopal Church will host its 36th annual Winter Festival Art Exhibition Feb. 9 through 12 at 12 Mill St., Cazenovia. An opening night reception will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Feb. 9; show hours are Feb. 10 from noon to 6 p.m., Feb. 11 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Feb. 12 from noon to 3:30 p.m.

The event, sponsored by Cazenovia Arts, is free and open to the public.

For more information, call (315) 558-8310 or email BCW13035@gmail.com.

Cazenovia Public Library news

(Cazenovia, NY – Feb. 2012) Until March 31, visitors to the Cazenovia Public Library Art Gallery can enjoy “Keeping Up Appearances,” the latest collection by local artist Elizabeth Cummings Monroe. There will be an artist’s reception Friday, Feb. 10, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Cazenovia Public Library Art Gallery.

Monroe uses watercolor, inks and acrylic paint interchangeably. She begins a painting with transparent watercolor in order to achieve a luminous quality and then moves to ink and acrylic for opacity and contrast.

“My current body of work features my usual unconventional abstract style in which I have now incorporated the human figure,” Monroe said. “I am constantly mesmerized by the human body, and in the past I painted people in a more realistic style, a style that I do not particularly enjoy. Now, I have found a way to incorporate a hidden world into my abstractions. The addition of a figure or groups of figures in my painting gives an immediate focal point for my viewer, and the painting becomes a mystery, story or puzzle to solve.”

The Cazenovia Public Library is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays. Free transportation is available through CRIS-CAT for Cazenovia, Fenner and Nelson residents over 55 and ambulatory. Just call 655-0612 between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. three to five days in advance. More information about this or other library events, call 655-9322 or visit cazenoviapubliclibrary.org.

(Madison County, NY – Feb. 5, 2012) Side Hill Farmers, a cooperative of livestock farmers in Madison County, is launching a local-meat-delivery service in Central New York, where CNY residents can go on-line and order packages of the Cooperative’s own beef and pork.  Then, once a month, Side Hill Farmers will deliver the orders to central pick-up locations in communities in the Syracuse region.

Side Hill Farmers has developed a meat CSA to bring their locally-raised meat to Central New York consumers.  Many local-food devotees are familiar with vegetable CSAs (which stand for “Community Supported Agriculture”) wherein consumers buy shares in a farm’s production.

The Side Hill Farmers’ meat CSA is similarly structured, so that consumers buy shares of the Cooperative’s meat production.  Side Hill Farmers’ CSA Coordinator Sue Parker explains that “the meat shares are primarily beef, with pork as an option, all pasture-raised and natural.  We expect to be able to offer pasture-raised chicken in the spring.”  CSA members will also be able to order Madison-County-produced eggs and butter, as well as some other local farm goodies.

Getting meat through the Side Hill Farmers meat CSA is a very simple process.  On the Side Hill Farmers website (www.sidehillfarmers.com), customers select a monthly meat delivery package, pay online via PayPal, select the community they’d like their order delivered to, and then once a month, on a set date, the order is delivered to the hosting pick-up site in the selected community.

The Side Hill Farmers CSA officially launches on Monday Feb. 6; first deliveries will be made the second week of February.  Deliveries will initially be made to five area communities: Skaneateles, Fayetteville, Downtown Syracuse, Hamilton, and Cazenovia.  The meat CSA will soon expand to reach customers in Liverpool/Clay and SU/Westcott.

Five local businesses are partnering with Side Hill Farmers to serve as pick-up site hosts in each of the five communities.  In Fayetteville, CSA members will go to Papa Gallo’s to pick up their order; in Cazenovia, Circa Restaurant; in Downtown Syracuse, Empire Brewing; in Hamilton, the Colgate Inn; and in Skaneateles, the Sherwood Inn.

“These businesses are really supportive of local food, and are making space for our Cooperative and CSA members,” said Parker.

Canastota beef farmer and Side Hill Farmers’ Cooperative member Paul O’Mara says that the Cooperative wants to make a connection to consumers looking for more local, more known, sources of food, particularly meat.

“We’ve formed this Cooperative so that we as farmers can work together to bring our meat directly to the people in our area.  There is no middleman.  The food is going directly from us as farmers to the families who eat it.  Our CSA is for people who care where their meat comes from and how it’s raised, and who want to support the small farmers in their backyard.”

(Cazenovia, NY –  Feb. 3, 2012) Live Space Entertainment, in association with Cazenovia College, presents SAMMY award-winning acoustic guitar standouts Loren Barrigar and Mark Mazengarb live on stage at Catherine Cummings Theatre, 16 Lincklaen St., in Cazenovia, on Saturday, Feb. 11, at 8 p.m.

Cazenovia-based band The Unstoppables will open the show.

Doors open at 7 p.m., and a cash bar is available. General admission is $15, Students, $5. Tickets are available at the door, by calling 315-655-STAR, at Cazenovia Jewelry and at Sound Garden in Armory Square.

Barrigar, a native of Central New York, and Mazengarb, from New Zealand, have teamed up to form an incredibly dynamic finger-picking guitar duo, winning the hearts of music fans across Upstate New York. They have now gotten the attention of fans and festivals around the globe.

After their Cazenovia “Bon Voyage” show, they head to the International Folk Alliance Music Conference in Memphis, Tenn., and then to the Cordes Sensibles Guitar Festival in Bordeaux, France. They follow that with a concert in Kaisersesch, Germany. Later this summer they will again headline at the Chet Atkins Festival in Nashville.

Both Barrigar and Mazengarb have been heavily influenced by the finger-style picking style of guitar greats such as Chet Atkins, Tommy Emmanuel and John Knowles.

Visit www.cazenovia.edu/theatre for more information about events at the Catherine Cummings Theatre at Cazenovia College.

Life ring at the sewage treatment plant? Yuck.

From Here & Back Again

By Jim Coufal

(Cazenovia, NY – Jan. 2012) Like all my columns, I write this one for a “reason,” which is to be a kind of a break from my usual commentary, as a “pause that refreshes” (me). I’ve also just made a statement in explanation of the column, another way to define “reason.” Finally, I hope what I have said is a rational ground or motive for the column, a significant meaning of the word “reason.”

My intent is to share what others have said about reason, and reasoning, over the years. I chose reason as the subject because I do not think that there is enough use of it in the world today.

To begin, here is what Buddha had to say:

“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.”

Another great religious and political figure, Mohandas Gandhi said:

“An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it.”

This is reminiscent of the old saw, “The opinion of a thousand fools is still foolish”.

Gandhi also said, “I reject any religious doctrine that does not appeal to reason and is in conflict with morality.”

This can be seen as an acid test of what to believe, whether from tradition, doctrine, theology, common sense or science.

Founding father and major author of the Declaration of Independence and contributor to our Constitution, Thomas Jefferson, said, “Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear. In his own words, he described how he lived this thought; “I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and reason to whatever results they led, and bearding every authority which stood in their way.”

Truth and reason do not always lead us to what we want to hear.

Some make their point with humor:

“The reason I talk to myself is that I’m the only one whose answers I accept” (George Carlin).

But the point is still valid.

Some question the reason of things:

“They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country. But in modern war, there is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason” (Ernest Hemingway).

Such people may be called muckrakers, whistle-blowers, skeptics or dissenters. They are often called un-patriotic.

Some see reason as the way to exploring:

“Although nature commences with reason and ends in experience it is necessary for us to do the opposite, that is to commence with experience and from this to proceed to investigate the reason” (Leonardo da Vinci).

Not everyone sees reason as valuable to their interests. Martin Luther warned:

“Faith must trample under foot all reason, sense, and understanding.”

Pope Pius IX in 1846 said, “Unbridled license to think, speak, and write” resulted in a “filthy medley of errors.” Voltaire, who said, “Nothing can be more contrary to religion and the clergy than reason and common sense,” summed up religious worries about the use of reason.

Another great American skeptic, Thomas Paine, said, “Reason obeys itself, and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it,” believing that, “The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason.”

Despite the power of and great need for reason, many believe like C.S. Lewis that, “Reason is the natural order of truth; but imagination is the origin of meaning,” or Ralph Waldo Emerson, who said, “Trust your instinct to the end, though you can render no reason.”

Such people think faith, instinct, imagination are higher in authority than reason and sufficient to believe and act upon.

For myself, I agree with the Dalai Lama:

“The ultimate authority must always rest with the individual’s own reason and critical analysis.”

Jim Coufal of Cazenovia is a part-time philosopher and full-time observer of global trends. He can be reached at madnews@m3pmedia.com.

Your Scholars

Local students named to Springfield College dean’s list

Springfield College has named the following local residents to the dean’s list for academic excellence for the fall 2011 term.

Daniel Patane of Canastota. Daniel is studying Undeclared.

Logan Aikins of Sherburne. Logan is studying Applied Exercise Science.

News from SUNY Potsdam

SUNY Potsdam Students Earn Spots on President’s List

The State University of New York at Potsdam recently named more than 900 students to the President’s List for the Fall 2011 semester in recognition of their academic excellence.

Among the local students who made the SUNY Potsdam President’s List were:

Allison Forth of Canastota whose major is Childhood/Early Child Education

Corey Hopkins of Canastota whose major is Music Education

Kali Jarvis of Canastota whose major is Childhood/Early Child Education

Rhimmon Simchy-Gross of Canastota whose major is Music Performance

Mary Whitcombe of Canastota whose major is Childhood/Early Child Education

Robert Taube of Cazenovia whose major is Music Education

Emilie Weinheimer of Cazenovia whose major is Psychology

Cortney Mayo of Hamilton whose major is Speech Communication

Caleigh Tuttle of Hamilton whose major is Theatre

Timothy Simmons of Sherburne whose major is Psychology

To achieve the honor of being on the President’s List, each student must have satisfactorily completed 12 numerically-graded semester hours with a minimum grade point average of 3.5.

Local Students Named to Clarkson University Dean’s List

The following students were named to the Dean’s List for the fall 2011 semester at Clarkson University.

Beth A. Schneider, a senior majoring in civil engineering from Bridgeport.

Matthew R. Ager, a junior majoring in engineering and management from Canastota.

Tristan R. Jones, a freshman majoring in chemical engineering from Canastota.

Jeffrey R. Merrell, a freshman majoring in civil engineering from Canastota.

Michael R. Tornatore, a sophomore majoring in innovation and entrepreneurship from Canastota.

Michael A. Blanchard, a junior majoring in chemical engineering from Cazenovia.

Ryan J. Eklund, a freshman majoring in aeronautical engineering from Chittenango.

Danielle K. Cuddeback, a freshman majoring in pre-physical therapy/psychology from DeRuyter.

David E. Revette, a senior majoring in civil engineering from DeRuyter.

Andrea M. Riedman, a sophomore majoring in civil engineering from Kirkville.

Nicole M. Verone, a freshman majoring in engineering studies from Kirkville.

Raeanne J. Clabeaux, a freshman majoring in university studies from New Woodstock.

Molly E. Ogden, a sophomore majoring in history/interdisciplinary social sciences from Earlville.

Mallory J. Carhart, a senior majoring in interdisciplinary social sciences from Hamilton.

Heather H. Munz, a senior majoring in biology from Hubbardsville.

Loren J. McNamara, a senior majoring in civil engineering from Leonardsville.

Rebecca R. Kirley, a senior majoring in global supply chain management from Madison.

Colin Maykish, a junior majoring in software engineering from Sherburne.

Dean’s List students must achieve a minimum 3.25 grade-point average and also carry at least 14 credit hours.

Local Students Named Clarkson University Presidential Scholars

The following students were named Presidential Scholars for the fall 2011 semester at Clarkson University.

Ellen M. Heenan, a junior majoring in engineering and management from Bridgeport.

Thomas F. Wilkowski, a senior majoring in electrical engineering from Bridgeport.

Alexandra B. Cameron, a freshman majoring in chemical engineering from Cazenovia.

Josh Bunce, a freshman majoring in civil engineering from Chittenango.

Sean P. Shea, a freshman majoring in aeronautical engineering/mechanical engineering from Chittenango.

Presidential Scholars must achieve a minimum 3.80 grade-point average and carry at least 14 credit hours.

Evans Named to Sacred Heart University’s Dean’s List

Kiley Evans of Cazenovia was named to the fall 2011 Dean’s List at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn. To receive this honor, a student must achieve a 3.6 grade average, based on a 4.0 scale.

Feb. 6, 2012, 7 p.m.: Village Board meeting to include Clark Street bridge bid document review, Carpenter’s Barn bid document review (if available), update on Riverside Drive project and schedule 2012-13 budget work session(s).

Feb. 13, 7:30 p.m.: Planning Board meeting to include an addition to National Grid building on Clark Street and Jim Griffin at 5 Ledyard Ave. addition of east side entry roof – portico.

Feb. 27, 7 p.m.: Historic Preservation/Architectural Advisory Review Committee meeting.

Wanderers’ Rest Humane Association Executive Director Glenn Ivers and volunteer Joyce Leinberger present a plaque to Kime Hardware Store Manager Patrick Kime. Kime Hardware in Canastota donated warehouse space to store and distribute 10 tons of dog food recently donated to the shelter.

Wanderers’ Rest Humane Association Executive Director Glenn Ivers presents a plaque to Doug Tudman, director of sales and marketing for Isadore Rapasadi & Sons of Canastota, whose truck shipped 10 tons of donated dog food from Tech Packaging Warehouse in Berwick, Penn., to Canastota.

By Martha E. Conway

(Town of Lenox, Canastota, NY – Jan. 2012) Joyce Leinberger grew up in Canastota, and after returning home in July, she brought with her animal advocate connections she had made while living in New Jersey.

“I made a friend there who worked for Del Monte – [Donations Coordinator] Carole Slade,” Leinberger said. “I worked with them to get dog food for people who couldn’t afford it.”

When people fall on hard times and can’t afford to feed their pets, those animals frequently wind up in shelters, said Wanderers’ Rest Humane Association Executive Director Glenn Ivers. Helping people feed their pets in times of need helps those animals remain in their homes.

“I asked Carole if there were any distribution centers nearby,” Leinberger said. “The closest was southeast of Wilkes Barre, Penn. She asked me, ‘What do you need?’ They had 15 pallets.”

“But we had to go get it, store it and find those who needed it,” Ivers said, adding that he was skeptical about the effort, which seemed to require so much coordination.

According to Ivers, they really wanted to coordinate the effort with the holidays when people are especially strapped for cash. He credited Leinberger’s coordination efforts and Canastota’s Patrick Kime of Kime Hardware and Isadore Rapasadi & Son’s Sales and Marketing Director Doug Tudman for their unhesitating assistance in the successful completion of the mission.

“Kime’s and Rapasadi’s really came through,” Ivers said, explaining that they were lucky to have Rapasadi’s trucks returning – empty – from that area after making their deliveries there. “Eighteen different agencies received a quantity of the food, and several church pantries have added a dog food section. Thousands of families and their dogs got a little something extra in their stocking this year.”

Agencies Benefiting from Del Monte’s Donation

The 10 tons of first-quality Del Monte dog food brands (Ol’ Roy, Kibbles ‘N Bits, Nature’s Recipe) were distributed during the holidays to:

Angels of Fur Canine Rescue of Central New York; Cazenovia Veterinary Hospital; Dog Daze Pet Food Pantry, Cicero; Dorothy’s Pet Grooming, Canastota; Hamilton Veterinary Hospital; Herkimer County Humane Society; Humane Society of Rome; Humane Society of Syracuse; Kiwanis Pet Food Pantry, Syracuse; Pit Bull Rescue of Syracuse; Rescue Me Purebred K-9 Rescue, Oneida; Spay and Neuter Syracuse Pet Food Pantry, Syracuse; SPCA of Chenango County; St. Lucy’s Church Pet Food Pantry, Syracuse; St. Matthew’s Church Pet Food Pantry, East Syracuse; Stevens-Swan Humane Society, Utica; Village Veterinary Hospital, Canastota; and Wanderers’ Rest Humane Association, Canastota.

Editor’s Note: Wanderers’ Rest Humane Association is an open-admission shelter dedicated to providing the highest-quality care and compassion for the animals entrusted to them while leading the community in creating a more humane society. The Association contracts with Madison County to undertake the housing of stray and impounded dogs picked up by the dog control officers of the various towns and municipalities within the county. The largely volunteer-supported organization always is in need of additional hands. For more information on volunteering or adopting a cat or dog, call (315) 697-2796.