February 18, 2018
Issue No. 7
www.westsidenewsny.com
West Edition
Distributed to Bergen, Clarendon, Holley-Murray and Brockport-Sweden
Monika W. Andrews Creative Volunteer Leadership Award 2017 Three recognized for valued volunteer service to the community by Doug Hickerson In 2012 the Monika W. Andrews Creative Volunteer Leadership Award was established as a memorial by three municipalities “to encourage, recognize, and reward outstanding creative leadership by residents of the Towns of Sweden (including the Village of Brockport) and Clarkson who have served as volunteer leaders in improving the lives of their fellow citizens and the greater Brockport community.” In the February 5, 2018, Brockport Village Board meeting, the 2017 Monika W. Andrews Creative Volunteer Leadership Award was presented to Gary Skoog. Hanny Heyen and John Rombaut each received certificates of merit.
Gary Skoog Award Winner
Citizens in the wider Brockport area enjoy a high quality of life due in great part Gary Skoog’s leadership. From the Selection Committee’s list of his volunteer activities over 50 years (see side bar), some of the most immediate and most enduring are: The “Summer Serenades,” popular concerts at the Brockport Welcome Center coordinated by Gary who works on
Selection Committee’s list of Gary Skoog’s volunteer activities over 50 years Member and Past President, Brockport Kiwanis Member and Past President, Greater Brockport Development Corporation Member and Past President, Western Monroe Historical Society Past Chair, Town of Sweden/ Village of Brockport Master Plan Founder/Past Chair, Town of Sweden Environmental Board Past Member, The College at Brockport Alumni Board - started “First Fridays” events Past Member, Northeast Organic Farmers Association of New York Board Coordinator of the Brockport “Summer Serenades” Building Coordinator of the Village of Brockport Welcome Center Current Vice Chair, Oak Orchard Health Corporation Appointed to the National Advisory Committee of Migrant Health Member, Garlic Seed Foundation Volunteer Crossing Guard during National “Walk to School Day” Trustee/Treasurer of the Brockport Community Museum
logistics, fund raising, and signing up performers. He is also the Welcome Center’s building coordinator, assuring the facility is in good condition and serving our canal visitors well. Gary is vice chair of the Oak Orchard Health Corporation where top-quality health care is available at the Oak Orchard Clinic at 300 West Avenue and outlying counties. For decades, the Town of Sweden’s natural environment has been preserved and protected by the Town of Sweden Environmental Board which was founded and chaired by Gary in 1973. During the same period the Brockport – Sweden area has evolved as a viable, well-planned community under Town of Sweden/Village of Brockport Master Plan, with Gary as its first chairman. Leadership background and attitudes Born and raised in Jamestown, NY, all four of Gary’s grandparents were Swedish immigrants. He graduated from The College at Brockport in 1968 with a major in Economics and minor in History. He and his wife, Lori, were married in 1967. One week after graduation, he started working in The College’s admissions office, putting down Brockport roots for the first time. Just a few years later, he jumped into municipal government by initiating the conservation board, and, soon after, leading the Master Plan committee. Saying leadership was always important to him, Gary reflected back to junior and senior high school when he was voted into leadership positions on the Key Club, Varsity Club, and Student Council. As a member of the football and track teams, his self-confidence was boosted by his coaches. Gary sees leadership and care-taking as inseparable. He looked back at being a “caretaker” for his father in his last days, eventually passing away in their Brockport home. “I was that kind of a person: Take care of family, do for your community,” Gary said. “With Key Cub, Varsity Club, Student Council, there was always that essence of helping or doing in your community.” Gary finds his current work in health care to be the most significant “helping” he has done as a volunteer in the community. “Serving on the board (Oak Orchard Health Corporation) for four years, and now as vice chair, has been a real positive experience for me,” Gary said. “Of all the boards I have been on, this is the biggest responsibility because it’s health care and there is major federal funding involved. We have to meet very high standards of health care delivery. Fortunately, in 2017, we passed all 19 criteria the government requires. When you see the growth we are experiencing now, with more patients and better service, it is very fulfilling to me.”
Gary Skoog (center) has received the Monika W. Andrews Creative Leadership Award for 2017. John Rombaut and Hanny Heyen both received certificates of merit. Photo by Dianne Hickerson.
Hanny Heyen Certificate of Merit
Parks Go to 52 South Avenue in Brockport and you will see the latest evidence of Hanny Heyen’s creative and diligent work for the good of the people. Where an historic home had been demolished years ago, that vast lawn is now a village park. As a village board member in 2006, Hanny prompted the village board to designate the green space owned by the village as a park in an area that had none. In the spring of 2017 the second phase of playground equipment was installed with a grant she obtained. The nominating statement says, “Go to any of Brockport’s other eight parks and you’ll see evidence of Hanny’s guiding hand: the pavilions at the Utica and Barry Street parks, new fence bordering Corbett Park, the Pickle Ball Courts at Barry Street Park, new swings at Corbett Park.” Serving as chair, and recently co-chair, of the Brockport Parks Committee from 2014 to 2017, Hanny’s leadership for parks also has resulted in: a first-ever certified equipment safety audit; a parks usage survey; the Village Code Parks Law; equipment grants from Wegman’s and BISCO; media publicity on park activity; a parks brochure, new signage (including park rules); a mission statement for the Parks Committee, and the annual “Saturday of Service” in the parks by college freshmen, coordinated by Hanny, to clean, weed and upgrade. Senior Citizens Another hallmark of Hanny’s volunteer work “took root in the Village of Brockport with her shepherding of the new Sweden
Senior Center on State Street as Director (1982-86) and continued with her advocacy for Sweden seniors, including her efforts in 2014 to save the Sweden Senior Center from closing,” the nominating statement says. Through Sweden Town Board action, in 2017 the senior activities were moved from the State Street building to the Sweden Clarkson Community Center. Hanny remains an advocate for seniors at their new location, involved in programs like Dresses for Girls Around the World and the new “Souper Bowl” soup tasting event this year. Background and Motivation In 1962 Hanny graduated from The College at Brockport with a major in Health and Physical Education. She said the recreation aspect of her college major was a strong background for planning senior activities and parks facilities. That same year she married husband Bill. Hanny (born Hannelore Greiner in Berlin, Germany) came to the U.S. with her family right after World War II. The family settled in a rural hamlet called Nashville, New York. She traces her volunteer motivation to the caring she received from farm families in the area. “I think volunteerism for me stems back to people being so kind to me as an immigrant,” Hanny said. “They also knew my home life was not good. My neighbors took me in many summers. They involved me in 4H and church activities. In school it was the same thing. It was these people I learned to admire for their caring attitude, and that’s what I try to carry forward today.” continued on page 8