Paul Szmal: FLX Morning continues, it is 838, temperature on the way up, we've made it to 33, sun, a few clouds around. Time for our segment with our friends from Geneva Rotary joining us today, Diana Perry, good morning Diana.
Diana Perry, Dave Cook: Good morning Paul.
Paul Szmal: And also Dave Cook is hanging out with us, morning Dave.
Diana Perry, Dave Cook: Well it's actually Santa Claus, it's that time of year that I break out the suit.
Paul Szmal: Absolutely and we'll talk about the Santa Holiday Express cinema coming up here in a little bit. First we want to get into some numbers for people that may not realize just how big Rotary is and what it does here locally. Let's start with how big it is on a global front Diana.
Diana Perry, Dave Cook: Yeah definitely, now for those who are unfamiliar with Rotary, it is not just a single club in Geneva, New York. Rotary clubs can be found all over the world, in fact Santa has visited many of them himself. They're in over 200 countries and they can look really different from club to club as far as membership and activities but all 1,400,000 Rotarians who belong to over 35,000 Rotary clubs worldwide have at least one thing in common and that's that we all believe and uphold the principle of service above self. And through those acts of service, that's how these Rotary organizations around the world work with their communities to fortify them, make them stronger, make them better.
Paul Szmal: Absolutely. The best way that I can explain service above self is through the phrase, rising tides lift all boats. A phrase a lot of people have heard and it really embodies our belief that through acts of service we can build stronger, healthier, more vibrant communities for everyone. Not just Rotarians but everyone in the community and globally. And a lot of this is done through fundraising and these funds go to a variety of different places.
Diana Perry, Dave Cook: Let me jump in on that one for a quick, having Diana and I have made as a bunch of other Rotarians various trips to foreign countries and here in the United States, we really don't know how good we have it, meaning we have clean water for everybody. We have everybody's vaccinated for polio. There's bathrooms for girls in schools. That basic thing, those basic needs are taken care of by various Rotary clubs throughout the world, helping pick up the slack what their government doesn't take care of.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, that's a very important way to put things in perspective. Yes, Santa does travel as you might have guessed in his sleigh and it really, basic needs are taken care of. Again, the polio program. But having traveled, we're happy to say that we're going to have, Diana, I'm going to let you take it about the student for next year.
Diana Perry, Dave Cook: Yeah, another way that we provide service and improve our community is through our youth exchange program. And we have historically allowed youths from our area, high school students to travel abroad for either a summer or a school year. And we also accept students into our school districts locally. And we're very excited that this upcoming school year, we will be accepting a new exchange student who will bring new perspective and bring their culture to our community and allow students here to learn from them and vice versa.
Paul Szmal: I loved having exchange students when I was in high school. They came from Columbia, El Salvador. We had somebody from Australia one year that I was in school. Really enjoyed getting that, you know, learning about what things are like. And other parts of the world.
Diana Perry, Dave Cook: Absolutely, yes, you learn from them and they learn from you. And it's it's a great experience for everyone involved.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, in particular, the girl from Australia, still keep in contact with her on Facebook and follow along with stuff that she does. Let's talk for a minute about the financial contributions that Geneva Rotary has made in the course of the last fiscal year, because they are pretty significant.
Diana Perry, Dave Cook: Yeah, definitely. Of course, we provide service in a variety of ways, although one is financial support. And that's that's a pretty big one for our program. We have a really robust grant program during the last fiscal year, as you mentioned, wrapped up recently in July. We made grants through our grant program totaling over seventeen thousand dollars to over 19 local agencies. We provided financial support to the Geneva Library and victims of the Ovid fire. We provide financial support to Camp Anciagua, which is a local camp for children with special needs, offered at absolutely no cost to their families. It's a two week overnight camp on Seneca Lake. We made three scholarships to Geneva high school seniors, and we also have an interest And we also have an interest free student loan program, and we're able to make over twenty nine thousand dollars in interest free student loans to Geneva high school graduates. And this is done through various fundraising events and contributions that are made.
Paul Szmal: One of the major fundraising events every year is during the holiday season. It's usually the Santa train. This year it looks a little bit different. It's the Santa Train Express Cinema.
Diana Perry, Dave Cook: Yes, so this year does look a little different, and I think I'll turn it over to Dave to explain why it looks a little different this year. Well, unfortunately, the Finger Lakes Railway doesn't have will not have passengers cars in December. They sold off their cars that they owned and have let a separate company come in and they lease cars and have had a very, very successful program this summer and are still running the cars for fall. Well, the foliage is gone, but they're still doing wine and cheese and various other passenger service at this point. The cars have to go back down to New Jersey. They were leased while they were here, and I believe they're going to be set up for the Toys for Tots train. So what does this mean for us? Diana came up with the idea of the Santa Train Cinema just to keep the program alive this year. We are sincerely hoping that next year we will have passenger service and the train will be back up and running.
Paul Szmal: So, Diana, you want to talk about what your idea was and what we expect to do?
Diana Perry, Dave Cook: Absolutely. Yes. As Dave said, we've hosted this Santa Train event for many years. We're actually in our 23rd year of hosting a Santa Train event, and we're committed to providing this magical holiday experience to guests, regardless of whether we have a train or not. So we came up with a slightly different idea this year. We're going to be hosting what's called the Santa Train Express Cinema, and that's going to be held on Saturday, December 6th at the North Street School Auditorium in Geneva. Still going to be all of the magic and fun our guests are used to. We're going to have a concession stand. They'll get to visit with Santa. We'll have a Christmas carol sing along. We even have a family pajama contest planned. So we're confident that guests who have ridden the Santa Train in prior years will enjoy this event just as much, even though it looks a little different.
We're going to have two showings, so we'll be showing a movie at noon and at three o'clock, and we'll have plenty of time before the film runs to do all of the fun activities. And I would love to tell you which film we're showing, however, our license does not allow us to name the film on the radio, but I'll give everyone a hint if listeners who are fans of Tom Hanks can brainstorm and think about holiday movies he's been in. He was in a lovely animated locomotive themed movie, so that should be a good hint. And it's the 30th anniversary of said movie.
Paul Szmal: Yes, absolutely. And I wanted to draw attention to the fact that in order for this event to happen, not only do a bunch of Rotarians participate in this, but you are looking for additional volunteers to help out because there's a lot of moving parts here.
Diana Perry, Dave Cook: There's a lot of moving parts here, yes. This is a big event that's going to require a lot of people to pull it off. So we are seeking volunteers to help with a variety of tasks throughout the day. Anyone can volunteer, whether they can give a few hours of their time or the entire day. We would love to have them. And we do have a link to a volunteer sign up form on our Facebook page with details of times and tasks that are needed to fill. So anyone interested should reach out.
Paul Szmal: I'm quite sure that anybody that volunteers, no matter how bad or naughty they've been the rest of the year, Santa will put them on the good list.
Diana Perry, Dave Cook: There you go. That's a great incentive.
Paul Szmal: Perfect. Also want to give a shout out to the main event sponsor, the Brenda and Dave Rickey Foundation, as well as the major sponsor, Finger Lakes Federal Credit Union. Tickets are still available for this event.
Diana Perry, Dave Cook: Tickets are still available. They are for sale through our website. And there is also a link through an event on our Facebook page.
Paul Szmal: Yep. Just look for it's a GenevaRotary.org, right?
Diana Perry, Dave Cook: GenevaRotaryClub.org. GenevaRotaryClub.org or just search Geneva, New York Rotary on Facebook. That'll take you to the Facebook page. And I know you're hoping that next year things will get back to the way they have been. My understanding is Santa, you and the missus have made the commitment that you will be on board, shall we say, for next year and years to come.
Paul Szmal: That's that's a given. You might recall that Lisa Toole used to well, she used to run the train for years and years, unfortunately, with her passing. But Lisa will always be on that train along with Santa and the rest.
Diana Perry, Dave Cook: Absolutely. And while we've got time for it, one more quick shout out. If you want to attend a Rotary Club meeting, they meet every Wednesday at Dana's Timeout in Geneva from noon to one and then the third Wednesday of the month they meet from six until seven. Guests are welcome. If you want to find out more about Rotary, find out how you can participate in Rotary, this is a great way to do it.
Paul Szmal: You know, Paul, I don't think you're on the radio at noon on Wednesday, are you? No, I'm not. Actually, I do some I do some behind the scenes work and I know exactly where this is going. And I may very well see you on the sixth to try and help out. I got to see what my schedule looks like. But if I have the time, I will definitely be out to be a part of that because I live right down the street. So that's good to see this movie on the big screen. I saw it 30 years ago when it first came out. It's much better watching it on the big screen than it is on TV.
Diana Perry, Dave Cook: Agreed. Agreed. Diana, Dave or Santa. Sorry. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for joining us here this morning. We appreciate it as always.
Paul Szmal: Thank you, Paul. All right. 852 on FLX Morning.
