Tompkins Weekly

Faces of Dryden: A new look for the Dryden Community Center Cafe



The day she’s been waiting for will finally arrive. Dryden Community Café Manager Tammy Annonson was practically singing in her seat as she told me about the upcoming remodeling project that will be taking place at the Café from Friday, Oct. 12 through Monday, Oct. 15. As with everything else at the café, the project is a volunteer event.

Annonson said the dream became a reality when the Dryden Rotary Club was approved for a Community Grant from the local Rotary District 7170. The $1,875 grant will provide supplies for painting the café as well as new restaurant-quality shelving for the storage room where supplies are kept.
“The money provided by the Rotary District Grant was not enough for all of the work that needed to be done,” Annonson explained, “so the Café board agreed to seek donations from the community.” With an original fundraising goal of $3,500, they had met two-thirds of their fundraising goal within two days. When Tami and I talked last week, they had raised $4,200. “Other than Bruce Baker of B&B Floor Covering, the biggest contributors were Baily Place Insurance and Dryden Mutual Insurance,” Annonson added. “Our board members, café members, and volunteers also donated.” The additional funds will allow the Café to purchase a new stove. Annonson said her volunteer bakers are thrilled with that news. The next item on the wish list is a new dishwasher.

B&B Floor Covering will donate tile for both the front service and food prep area as well as the kitchen in the back, an area rug for the seating area in the rear of the café and the labor to install it all. It is also providing the vinyl flooring throughout the rest of the café at cost.

Evan Kurtz, the project coordinator for Dryden Rotary, explained “The café is a community home and it is our club home. It needed a bit of refreshing. Bruce Baker is part of Design for a Difference, an organization which ‘couples socially conscious showrooms together with interior designers and other businesses to makeover much-needed spaces at local charities.’ Jim Wood of B&B installed the original floor in 2008 and will lead the work again a decade later. We’ve been talking about doing this project for a couple of years. The synergy of various groups working together is making it all possible.”

Dryden Rotary members will be leading the volunteer charge with a different club member overseeing each of the areas of the project. Each team leader is responsible for gathering the necessary materials and managing the work and the volunteers. Projects include painting, installing the new shelving, cleaning, sorting and restocking the shelves, cleaning out the basement, and updating the upstairs storage closet.

The café will close on Friday, Oct. 12 at 1 p.m. and reopen on Tuesday morning, Oct. 16.

Additional volunteers are always appreciated, especially during the basement cleaning on Friday afternoon and evening and painting on Saturday. Interested folks can e-mail 7170DrydenRotary@gmail.com to sign up for a work shift.

 

Purple Lion Roar
Spirit Week at Dryden High School runs for the entire week, after today’s Columbus Day holiday and culminates in the homecoming football game Friday night. Students and staff will go “Back to the Future” with themed spirit events throughout the week. The movie “Back to the Future” was shown to students after school on Thursday, Oct. 4, for those that weren’t alive when the movie series first became popular.

During the week, students in grades six through 12 can participate in the Find the Lion Scavenger Hunt. They can work individually or in teams to solve daily clues, which are posted outside the main office in both the middle and high school. The clues will ultimately lead to a hidden lion disk. The first to find the lion and turn it in to Mrs. Piger in the high school guidance office before 3 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 12, will win a basket full of prizes worth approximately $75.
Students, teachers, and parents are invited to wrap up homecoming week celebrations at a Community Bonfire sponsored by the Dryden Fire Department. The bonfire will be lit out behind the fire department, 26 North Street, at the end of the football game, and run from approximately 9 to 11 p.m. Visitors are encouraged to bring their own lawn chairs.

Matt Gardner student class advisor for the Dryden High School class of 2020, shares that students are selling the Enjoy the City Coupon Books. The funds that each student raises from this effort will go into an individual student account and can be used for school-related activities such as tickets to the semi-formal and prom, graduation announcements, yearbooks, and trips during senior year.

“In my opinion, they are one of the best fundraisers to do because there is really no cost for us to participate and students make 50 percent of the profits,” Matt explains.

 

Engage with Nature in Freeville
The Freeville Community Council will host local author and educational consultant Laurie Rubin for an interactive workshop for folks of all ages. Nature Journaling will begin at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 13 at the Freeville United Methodist Church, 37 Main Street.

Rubin’s book, “To Look Closely: Science and Literacy in the Natural World” is a resource for teachers who want to “integrate the skills acquired through nature study into every subject,” according to the book’s summary in the library catalog.

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