Olean Rotary Honors Beautification Groups
 

A dinner hosted by the Olean Rotary Club Monday, at Woodside Tavern on the Range, recognized the contributions of two local service clubs toward improving visual appeal of the Olean and Allegany communities.

Organizations honored with the Rotary’s sixth annual Service Above Self award were the Enchanted Mountain Garden Club of Allegany and the Olean Gardens and Beautification Committee.

Rotary President Paula Bernstein, the evening’s emcee and Area Governor, welcomed the attendees and gave introductions. Salvation Army Capt. Megan Moretz, Rotary president-elect, gave the invocation and Rotarian Jeff Spears led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Rotarian Dennis Casey introduced the Enchanted Mountain Garden Club of Allegany, whose purpose is to encourage civic interest in the beautification of the village and town of Allegany.

Friend of Rotary, Betsy Price introduced the Olean Gardens and Beautification Committee, which shows perseverance and dedication to the community as members have worked hard to add color and texture to Olean’s North Union streetscape.

Keynote speaker Michele Starwalt-Woods, Rotary District Governor nominee from Dunkirk-Fredonia, said Rotarians are all different but have several main things in common, the biggest of which is living their motto: Service above self. “Our mission throughout the world is to serve others,” she said. “They become more important than our own families sometimes or our own mission.”

Starwalt-Woods said the Rotary Club will continue to honor those in the community who make a difference all over the world, adding that anyone can be a Rotarian by doing something selfless every day even if it seems small. “The folks who are being honored here tonight, you are Rotarians,” she said. “Your mission has beautified your local surroundings. Your commitment to the environment makes your Rotarians.”

- Paula Fidurko

Enchanted Mountain Garden Club of Allegany:

Rotarian Dennis Casey: “One day I was driving through Allegany as I do so often and I go, ‘Oh, there’s a beautiful garden box,’ and then there’s another one and then it became that I was expecting to see those garden boxes and have every year for years.”

The club’s objectives include designing, planting, and maintaining flowers in planters and subways; interfacing with municipal entities and local businesses to build relationships aiming towards creating a sustainable business section and researching viable opportunities to offer stakeholders in the community applicable grants.

In addition to maintaining 57 subway gardens and 27 planters, the group purchased memorial benches, planted trees, installed dog waste bag stations and little free library boxes, hosts the annual Scarecrow Row, maintains the veteran’s memorial, initiated a free seed library at the Allegany Public Library and works with the BonaGany organization and St. Bonaventure University students.

Olean Gardens and Beautification Committee:

Friend of Rotary, Betsy Price: “I know this committee has worked hard, but I had no idea how hard you worked. We see all of the many garden tenders, and we watch you clip, cut, dig, plant, prune, water, hoe, mulch, pick, thin, transplant, cover, fertilize, rake and bag.”

Commissioned in 2017, the committee meets with city officials 11 times a year and plans to provide long-term garden solutions, organizing and planting the street planters and hanging baskets. It also recruits numerous volunteers to tend to the gardens along the street. In addition, members have advised the city on long-term solutions for problem garden areas throughout Olean.