What are you doing over the weekend? Eating Pancakes with the Kiwanis and Fire Company, I hope.

The Kiwanis / Fire Co. Annual Pancake breakfast with real maple syrup will take place on this Sunday, March 22 from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Sardinia Fire Co. Training Hall on West Schutt Road, Sardinia. All proceeds benefit the Chaffee-Sardinia Fire company. 

Would you like to volunteer to help (busing tables etc.)? Contact any Kiwanian or respond through our website - www.cskiwanis.org.

What's your favorite pancake recipe? Post it here. I add wheat germ, cinnamon, nutmeg and a dash of smiles to mine.

HEAP Outreach - Home Energy Assistance Program

An Outreach for HEAP is scheduled on Thursday, February 26, 2009, for the Sardinia Community Center, 12320 Savage Road, Sardinia, NY.

We interview all prospective clientele at Outreach regardless of age or disability.We conduct interviews from 9-4, but a staff member will be on site as early as 8 am to sign in applicants and set up for the day.

Applicants should come prepared with the following:

1 form of ID for all household members (birth cert, license, SS card)
Proof of income received within last 30 days for all household members (paystubs, SS or pension award letters, proof of child support, rental income, unemployment benefits, worker's comp, etc.)
Current heat and /or electric bills
Current shut off notice, or statement of low fuel supply, if applicable
Proof of all household resources including: current checking and savings account bank statements, proof of other resources (stocks, bonds, IRAs, 401K, etc.)
If applicant is missing information we may allow them to mail the information to us in order to complete the application process.

Applications are available at the Town Clerk's office and will be at the registration desks for the Special Election for the Firemen's Service Retirement Award on Tuesday, February 24.Any questions, please contact Council Member Mary Hannon at 716-864-9472.

Reminder: Sardinia Republican Committee Pancake Breakfast This Weekend!

What: Pancakes, and lots of 'em. Plus sausage, juice, and coffee/tea, and sledding, basket raffles, and a bake sale

Who: the Sardinia Republican Committee

When: Sunday, February 22 from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Where: Sprague Brook Park Casino, Foote Road, East Concord

The Committee is also looking for interested individuals to join the team and run for office in the 2009 election. Meet the committee at the breakfast!

More Pancakes: The Sardinia Republican Committee

What: Pancakes, and lots of 'em. Plus sausage, juice, and coffee/tea, and sledding, basket raffles, and a bake sale

Who: the Sardinia Republican Committee

When: Sunday, February 22 from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Where: Sprague Brook Park Casino, Foote Road, East Concord

The Committee is also looking for interested individuals to join the team and run for office in the 2009 election. Meet the committee at the breakfast!

Fire Service Award Comments + Community Meeting Results

Some interesting sentiments in the Fire Service Award Poll comments. I agree with a lot of them. With a $3.2 million surplus, the Town is ably prepared to weather the financial poo-storm that continues to gather strength on a global level. The results of the community meeting in November, where dozens of good ideas were tossed around, were never publicized or given to the Board to my knowledge.

I will post the report here. Denise Scheiner emailed it to me as a powerpoint, which is not a web-friendly form of posting information, so I've copied and pasted the text. Many of these ideas have just as much, if not more, merit than the Fire Service Award program, and I wonder why in the name of grilled cheese this document has not been publicized or discussed? Discuss it here. (any typos are mine)

Town of Sardinia

Citizens Committee Report

Short & Long list of suggestions for use

of excess funds

Meeting 11/6/08, 25 people present

Categories

• Future

• For the good of the whole town

• Town buildings

• Seniors

• Wild ideas

• Residential

• Youth & Families

• Town Parks

• Various & Sundry Ideas

Short List/Priority

• Taxes, Fire and School

• Water for Chaffee

• Water for the Rt 16 & Rt 39 business corridor

• Town owned van service

• Web site – filled with pertinent info about the town, events, documents, also to promote the town

• Study, Plan & Act

Long Lists

Future

• 5/10/20/30 year financial plan

• Green energy for all new construction

• Solid long-term fiscal plan

• Invest

• Comprehensive plan

• Replace community center

• Look over old ideas

For the good of the town

• Pay fire taxes for residents

• Pay school taxes for residents

• Comprehensive on-going water and air testing program

• Sponsor health insurance plan for residents, under $100 per person per month

• Free Wi-Fi access

• Positive promotion of our town

• Town web site

• More open to working in partnership with corporations

• Town wide cable access

• Engineering study for water

• Large well in each of the town parks to supply the hamlets

• Disaster Facility

• Encourage new businesses

• Survey public on more ideas within the town

Town Buildings

• Replace community center with an energy efficient building

• Supply a new multicenter purpose state of the art meeting area

• Working elevator for handicapped access

• Sell the Old Town Hall for $1 to the Historical Society and subsidize with an annual stipend

• Spruce up highway building, landscaping

Seniors

• Exercise room

• Bingo

• Senior housing/apt.

• Donate 1 or 2 new vans for Rural Transit and expand on hours and distance

• Senior assistance center/help line

Wild Ideas

• Sport center on the main road

• Small business and residential loans

• Indoor heated pool

• Community banquet facility

• Partnership with Chaffee water works

Residential

• Sidewalks

•Sponsor education on reducing energy needs, recycling etc.

Youth & Families

• Separate the sports fields from the town parks

• Offer entertainment i.e. movies, bowling

• Affordable housing

• Area for skateboarding and ice skating

Town Parks

• Sponsor a study for better use of park

• Path from Chaffee to Veterans Park space

• Trails

• Cabin/Building for use or rent year-round

• Road or path connecting Meyers Rd to the Veterans Park

Various & Sundry Ideas

• Water

• Investigating use or purchase of Erie County  buildings in our town (Warner Gulf & Genesee)

• Education Center/programs

• Tapping back into the Erie County Library system

• New Post Office for Chaffee

• Fire Hall on west end of town

• Scholarships for volunteer fire fighters

• Scholarships for town residents to complete education and remain in town

Countdown to Pancakes: Two Months!

The Kiwanis / Fire Co. Annual Pancake breakfast with real maple syrup will take place on Sunday, March 22 from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Sardinia Fire Co. Training Hall on West Schutt Road, Sardinia. All proceeds benefit the Chaffee-Sardinia Fire company. 

Would you like to volunteer to help (busing tables etc.)? Contact any Kiwanian or respond through our website - www.cskiwanis.org.

(People who eat their pancakes with Mrs. Butterworth and the like are truly missing out).

National News about Food Banks

According to CNN, food banks nationally are reporting a 30% increase in demand.

I have the number the food bank coordinator at the Sardinia-Chaffee Baptist Church (I don't know as if she'd want her name and phone number on the Internets), and the Trading Post in Springville can be reached at 592-4455.

Softball Signups for SYI

The sign-ups for Springville Youth Incorporated Soccer and Baseball also includes Softball.

The dates are as follows:

Saturday, February 7th: 9:00 - 12:00

Wedneday, February 11th: 6:00 - 8:00

Saturday, February 14th: 9:00 - 12:00

Saturday, February 28th: 9:00 - 12:00 (late sign-up date)

Baseball and Soccer Registration for Springville Youth Incorporated

Baseball and soccer registration will be at the Springville Town Hall on the following dates:

Saturday, February 7th - 9:00 - 12:00

Wednesday, February 11th - 6:00 - 8:00

Saturday, February 14th - 9:00 - 12:00

Late Sign - Up Date: Saturday, February 28th - 9:00 - 12:00

Play ball!

Food Bankin' Bins

Two plastic bins will be available before Wednesday's Board Meeting with signs for the Trading Post in Springville and the Chaffee Baptist Church up in Chaffee.

Food items - canned goods, canned or boxed juices, pasta and meals-in-a-box - are needed for the Church's pantry.

Food and children's items, including baby formula - are apprecitaed for the Trading Post.

Community Service Math

2008's election saw 1400 go to the polls in Sardinia.

The average American watches 4 hours of television per week.

If each Sardinian of voting age volunteered four of those television watching hours to community efforts each month - in a school, with a neighbor in need, at a library, at local food pantries, local non-profits - that would equal 67200 hours in a year (4 hours per month x 12 months x 1400 people).

Say there's about 50 full work-weeks in a calendar year: that's 1344 hours/week, and at 40 hours/week, that would be the equivalent of nearly 34 volunteers working full-time to better the town of Sardinia and the surrounding area.

I don't like math, but I do like those numbers. 

Is anyone else willing to commit to 4 hours/month? I'm sure there are many people in Sardinia who already contribute much more than 4 hours, but some of us need to start slow.

Lead is bad but federal regulations are worse

After February 10, 2009, any consumer item intended for use by children under the age of 12 must be tested for lead. Read the latest news on the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) at Google News, or see the CPSIA regulation for yourself.

That sounds like a good thing, until you think of all the items that will be effected.

Handmade toys, clothing and books.

Hand-me-down toys, clothing and books.

Thrift store toys, clothing and books.

Donations to thrift stores and "community closets."

Items sold on Ebay/half.com/Amazon/craigslist.

Items sold at garage sales.

Large manufacturers won't have a problem with this regulation. Economies of scale will allow them to do testing and labelling en masse and they'll just pass the cost on to consumers. Small manufacters and small business will have a problem with this - CPSIA is one more nail in the coffin for entrepreneurs.

Many of the children's clothing pieces that have made their way through my house got minimal use - this regulation means that I'd be violating the law if I buy a hand-knitted sweater on etsy.com, or sold some gently-used books to a consignment shop. My grandma will be breaking the law when she knits caps for newborns in local hospitals, or sews small quilts for use by kids in domestic violence shelters. 

I want to protect kids from the dangerous health effects of lead exposure, but COME ON! The set of never-used onesies that I want to give to the Salvation Army shouldn't make me a criminal. 

I'm steamed. And I plan on regularly breaking this law. I emailed my local Congressional representative to ask what he is doing to protect local businesses and non-profit outreach from this POS regulation. (I didn't phrase it that way, though). Those in Mr. Higgins' district can do the same through his web site.

Update: a Florida newspaper has an early word on clarification of the regulation from the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission),  which sales consignment and thrift stores are not effected.

Thank goodness!

ZBA and Planning Board Openings

Per advertisements in the Springville Pennysaver (among other places?):

The Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) and Planning Board are accepting applications for open positions. Send resumes to the Town Hall, 12320 Savage Road, Sardinia, New York 14134.

Freepeats for Buffalo

I'm subscribed to a few parent-oriented web sites, most of which focus on time- and money-saving tips. One of them clued me in earlier this week to a site called freepeats.org, where you can register to give and receive "baby, kid and maternity stuff." 

A new "chapter" has opened up for Buffalo, and you can join for free until January 15, 2009. If you're a parent or grandparent who has some gently-used kid stuff, coupons or formula samples to unload, or who wants to pick up some extra gear, this is another opportunity.

Freepeats looks like a discussion-board version of other services like freecycle (which is email-based). Once it establishes a larger user base I think it will turn into a very useful site for parents, grandparents and parents-to-be.

Empty Bins

Take a long look at these two bins, because you'll be seeing them at future board meetings and events.

When I got home last night, I filled one bin with food for the Sardinia Food Bank/Baptist Church:

and another with coats, shoes and some random toddler toys for the Trading Post in Springville:

Earlier this week I went on a blitz of errands, and made a stop at the Amvets store up in West Seneca. There, I went a little bit nuts and loaded up with the warmest kids coats I saw and what was left of the hats. Total cost? About $20.

I hope to drop each off early in the new year - which starts tomorrow!

Vegetables and more for the Sardinia Food Bank

On the food pantry front: the message on the Springville Concord Community Care Food Pantry says they'll be back on January 2, so I hope to get more specific info from them in the new year.

The Sardinia Food Bank at the Baptist Church is in need of canned vegetables - peas, green beans, baked beans - plus items like hamburger helper and spaghetti-o's (which, really, are kind of gross, but they do taste delicious).

The Trading Post in the 'Ville is always looking for baby formula, baby food, canned goods, boxed pasta.

Since our family came home a bit earlier than I thought, I plan to be at tomorrow night's end-of-year meeting at 7 p.m. (December 30). I'll have a bin or two with me for food collection as an early toe-in-the-water to see what the response will be. With the holidays and all, I'm not sure how many people will be attending! Right now I'm off to the store to pick up some groceries!

Any ideas about the community forum ideas?

Does anyone know when and how the ideas brought up in November's community forum will be released? I wish I'd taken notes. We're 6 weeks past the meeting and it's as if it never happened. 

Food Needed: Trading Post

I talked with a lady at the Trading Post over the weekend, and the most needed items include baby formula, canned fruits and veggies, boxed meals like mac 'n cheese, and boxed pasta. To paraphrase, she said their shelves are "getting bare."

I plan to call a contact at the Chaffee Community Baptist Church, the Springville Concord Food Pantry and the Arcade Food Bank tomorrow - last week just got away from me.