Steve Appleton is a high energy, fast talking, get-the-job-done type of man and his energy spills over to the community in the form of Cool Kids programming – high energy, interactive, fast-paced family friendly events. “Cool Kids started when I owned Cool Scoops Cyber Café and Coffee Shop in Brockport,” he said. “I used to host interactive multi-player games for the kids.” The café also offered story times, concert series, field trips and classic car shows which Appleton ran in collaboration with others. That was 10 years ago and even after the café closed, Appleton said people kept coming up to him asking if he was going to keep doing events. The reason Appleton decided to keep running programs even after the demise of the café was because “there wasn’t enough cool stuff in Brockport.” He decided rather than bemoan the fact that there was nothing for the youth to do, he was going to do something about it. “People kept stopping me on the streets asking if I was going to do programs even though the store was closed, and then something powerful and magical happened – the village hired me to do the Cool Kids Concert Series,” he said. The entertainment events, he said, are billed as “cultural cool for kids” but the programs are always interactive and are geared toward getting the adults involved as well as the kids, he said. Because the village (of Brockport) said yes to the concerts but no to other Cool Kids programs, Appleton began a fundraising campaign. But, because he didn’t operate as a not for profit organization, he couldn’t officially solicit or accept funds. “Pat Baker at BISCO ‘adopted’ me and the programs and took Cool Kids programs under the umbrella of BISCO,” he said. “I think they wanted to help us make awesome memories for families because the programs we do are immersive, not just interactive.” Baker said that when she first met Steve she was president of the Brockport Integrated Service Community Organization (BISCO). “His enthusiasm about what he was doing and hoped to do for children was contagious,” she said. “As my life work was as a social studies educator, Steve’s creative ways of bringing values such as tolerance and open-mindedness to young people were an instant turn-on for me.” She said she was very pleased when the BISCO board voted to put Cool Kids under the BISCO umbrella, and even more pleased that financial support has evolved for the program. In 2004 Appleton was awarded Rotary’s Citizen of the Year recognition. “Brockport and the community at large are lucky to have such a dedicated, creative, caring person amongst its citizens,” she said. Appleton’s philosophy prompts him to expand the possibilities. He doesn’t just bring juggling shows to the area -- he brings juggling acts that bring enough items to juggle that everyone gets involved. “We want the moms, dads and kids to get into the act,” he said. “Parents get so involved in being parents that they forget to have fun with their kids and our programs teach everyone to have fun. We don’t just talk about fun, we involve everyone in it.” Appleton, whose enthusiastic voice carries with it an “exclamation point” at the end of almost every sentence, said when he talks about diversity he does more than talk. “If we’re going to celebrate being Irish we go all out – from food to dancing and singing and whatever else that culture might offer,” he said. “When we want to show African drumming techniques we bring enough drums that everyone who wants to participate can.” It’s really easy, Appleton explained, to put an ad in the paper and let people know there’s an open invitation to a program. Getting people out, getting them involved and making the program an extension of a “whole community feeling” makes it much more personal. From Cool Kids’ beginning in the cyber café to its move to a summer program in 1999 at the SUNY Brockport campus, Appleton has branched out into programs being run and hosted at Genesee Community College and for a few years at High Falls in Rochester and a storytelling even in Albion. Clifford Scutella, director of student activities at GCC, said that Cool Kids programs draw in the families. “Everyone who attends just loves what happens at a Cool Kids program,” he said. “They are great for any age and offer a family oriented event that is not only creative but interactive.” “Things just build, each event just feeds into the next,” he said. Appleton has no children of his own but said his nephews think he is the “greatest uncle ever!” He said he is “super close” to his family and has a “bunch” of godchildren. Having fun isn’t something that adults should give up just because they become adults. “Fun should be more ordinary for adults. It shouldn’t be something you have to go out of your way to have,” he said. “Our programs are so interactive that adults just can’t help having fun with their children.” One of the most important parts of Cool Kids and its energy is to keep stretching it to see as an individual and as a community, how much he can do to reach everyone. “It’s not just where you live, but how you feel about where you live,” he said. Part of the message he lives each day, Appleton shared, is to remember that what he does affects everyone he comes in contact with. “Everyone is all inter and intra dependent units – we aren’t independent units,” he said. “Everyone is connected in some way or another.” Part of that connection rubbed off on to Brockport resident and Brockport United Methodist Church member Norm Frisch. “Steve was an inspiration for our church to begin September Fest,” he said. “We started three years ago with one church, have grown to three participating and hope to be even bigger next year.” Frisch cited the “community feel” that Appleton puts into every event he coordinates as being one of the biggest pluses of Cool Kids programming. “I have such admiration for him and for what he does for the children and adults of this community,” Frisch said. “He is a phenomenal guy.” In addition to the “cool” events he plans, Appleton has extended the Cool Kids message to service projects. One of his most successful has been the annual Can-imals on Parade fundraiser that takes place during Brockport’s Summer Arts Festival. “I started this project because I used to work for Food Link in Rochester and know that not a lot of people realize there’s a need to donate food to shelters in the summer,” he said. “When kids are out of school they don’t always have access to lunches or other meals and the food pantries are desperate for donations.” Can-imals on Parade brings together service organizations that collect non perishable foods and other items such as diapers and work together to build various “food sculptures.” Following judging of the sculptures, the food items are distributed to food pantries in the area. As for what’s next on Appleton’s overflowing plate, he said, “Anything that’s cool that makes a difference in the community!” October 23, 2005 |
