Donald Lage
Monika W. Andrews Creative Volunteer Leadership Award winner
Clarkson Academy restoration
After many decades of neglect and water damage, the once derelict Clarkson Academy building is now an historic showcase, restored to its original dignity and serving as a museum and community center. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Greek Revival two-story brick schoolhouse is located next to the Clarkson Community Church at the four corners in Clarkson. Built in 1853, the Academy was an institution of higher learning until the late 1800s. Then it served as a local school house until it was abandoned in 1956. Its restoration began in 2003, when the Clarkson Historical Society (CHS) organized for that purpose. Over a ten-year period ending in 2013, Don Lage methodically designed and directed the project. He also served as president of CHS in the midst of the project from 2006 to 2012.
Lage proved himself a “man for all seasons,” with skills in construction, fundraising, record keeping, and project management. “Don had a unique ability to get others to buy into our effort and to provide material, financial and moral support,” said Mary Edwards, current CHS president.
The building’s entire mechanical system had to be completely revamped. With a background in construction, “He was blessed with a way of working with the many contractors over the years,” said Edwards. “He worked with roofers, carpenters, painters, expert craftsmen and electricians. Encouraged by his zeal for the project, many of the artisans and tradesmen also wanted to be a part of this area-wide volunteer effort and gave of their resources without compensation.”
Lage kept the total cost to $197,000 for the project which was valued at over a million dollars. The sources of support were generous and varied. The Town of Clarkson and Clarkson Community Church donated in-kind services worth $22,000. Friends and members of the Clarkson Historical Society gave $69,000. Rochester Area Community Foundation and New York State grants totaled $93,000. Contractors and wholesale corporations gave in-kind services valued at $13,000. And, volunteer support made it happen. “The unseen contributions that are so necessary in such a venture have been from volunteers, whose work has totaled more than 4,500 hours,” Lage said in his final report on the project.
“Among Don’s many talents are his well-honed organizational skills and his attention to detail,” Edwards said. “He kept meticulous records and detailed photos of the restoration from start to finish while also maintaining excellent records as president of the Clarkson Historical Society.”
The Clarkson Academy now stands as an historic gem as well as a community meeting place. The first floor has refurbished walls and ceiling, a new white oak floor, new lighting, and a built-in sound system. Its uses include local organizations’ meetings, history lectures, fund raising events and funeral memorials. The second floor is a restored classroom with refurbished original book cases and a table. The room is complete with thirty-five 19th century desks donated over the ten-year period. It is used by local 4th grade students to learn about school days of the past.
The completed work of Lage and the Clarkson Historical Society has been well acclaimed. In April 2013, Lage and Edwards were asked to present a paper on “Rehabbing of the Clarkson Academy” at the Rochester Landmark Society’s Preservation Conference held in Brockport.
At an August 1, 2013 event celebrating the project’s completion, over 100 people attended including local, county and state elected officials each presenting a framed resolution thanking Lage for his outstanding contribution to historic preservation in Clarkson.
On November 10, 2013, the Landmark Society of Western New York presented the Clarkson Historical Society with its Stewardship Award. The award was one of awards in different categories presented to eleven individuals and organizations in a nine-county area for “outstanding efforts in the preservation of their homes, historic properties and landscapes.” CHS was the sole winner of the Stewardship Award which recognizes “continued care of and commitment to the preservation of an architecturally and/or historically significant property … over a period of years.”
Lage, at age 80, reflected on what the Monika Andrews Award means to him: “I am proud of myself and my team when I look at the completed building. It brings me joy to know the schools are using it to teach the children what school was like in yesteryear. I’ve made lifelong friends during the process. The award says to me, ‘Don, you did something right to have such dear friends nominate you and stand by you during the whole process.’ I thank everyone dearly for a job that took a whole village to complete.”
Debra M. Cody
Honorable Mention
“After Hours” annual fund raiser for Seymour Library
“Deb is a vibrant, dedicated supporter of the Seymour Library,” begins the nominating letter from the library’s Board of Trustees. “She is the force behind After Hours, the phenomenal fundraising event that Deb has chaired for the past three years.”
The annual After Hours is likely the largest social event in Brockport, raising $35,000 in the last three years. Cody’s work includes: organizing volunteers with monthly meetings beginning in July, requesting financial support from businesses and individuals, arranging catering and the donation of wine for wine tasting, and coordinating the giving tree.
The board also recognizes Cody’s “innovative ideas for making the event a class act.” After Hours began in 2009, and Deb took over the event in 2011. As part of a gala evening, she includes entertainment by local performers, presentations about local history, and demonstrations by local artists. In 2011 she provided reenactors for the Civil War anniversary representing Brockport’s, Sweden’s and Clarkson’s participation. The next year featured demonstrations by local artists and craftsmen, and the dance group Sankofa from The College at Brockport.
The Dady Brothers entertained at the 2013 After Hours. The 2013 program began a three-year series to recognize the three governments that support the library, starting with the Village of Brockport. This year’s event will feature the Town of Sweden’s Bicentennial celebration. Clarkson will be featured in 2015. The funds raised through After Hours have supported new computers for patrons’ use, as well as furniture for the children’s room and adult area. The current three-year series will help support an anticipated new addition for a local history room, pending the approval of a grant application.
Besides managing the library’s big event, Cody has responded to an interest shown in paper crafting. She organized a Crafts Club which meets once a month in the library. She also does paper crafts with kids from kindergarten through fifth grade. Besides many crafting sessions at Seymour with kids, she has a crafts resume with the Monroe County Library System and is invited to various other libraries. Her hands are also at work making book marks that are sold at the circulation desk to benefit the teen program.
As for her After Hours project, part of the spiritual drive for Cody is her passion for the importance of the library.
“I think sometimes we are afraid to take something on because it’s so overwhelming,” she said. “But, for me, my passion for the library keeps me fearless. I feel that this is just such an important piece of our community. And, if I can do something to make people aware of it and appreciate it, I feel like I am on top of the world.”
Perhaps Cody’s strongest spiritual incentive comes from her devotion to the memory of her husband, Bill Cody, who passed away in 2009.
Bill Cody was a prominent, respected attorney in Brockport. The couple moved here from Boston with their young daughter in 1986. She was immediately drawn to Seymour Library, with the view that “libraries are the heartbeat of a community.” She frequented Seymour with her preschool daughter and in later years she worked at the circulation desk. She left the library in 2009 to close up Bill’s practice and deal with her grief. She returned after two years and offered to run the 2011 After Hours.
Asked if the volunteering restores her spirit, Cody said, “It does. It has kept me busy. Even though you lose somebody so close to you, life goes on and you have something to give. Bill gave so much to this community. They embraced him, and I think, in a way, it’s my way of saying ‘Thank you’ to the community and to show them that in the worst moments you can find the strength to do things.”
Jessica Lauren DeToy
Honorable Mention
“Souper Sundays” for the Brockport Ecumenical Food Shelf
In the late fall of 2010, Jessica DeToy initiated the first “Souper Sunday” campaign to collect food for the Brockport Ecumenical Food Shelf at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Brockport. As a church member, the campaign was her response to the dwindling food donations and the increased numbers of people needing the service. The first Souper Sunday was the day of the Super Bowl Game in early 2011. She was a freshman at Brockport High School at that time.
By setting a goal for the numbers of cans collected, she challenged her congregation to donate. The campaign exceeded the goal. Jessica doubled the goal in the 2012 campaign and collections increased approximately 52 percent. She had employed a new strategy of holding the collection for three Sundays including two prior to Super Bowl Sunday. In 2013 she doubled her collection goal again and met it. Donations fell short of the goal this year, but Jessica is cheering on the congregation, allowing the full month of February to donate, said Barb Deming, Jessica’s advisor for projects at St. Luke’s.
“The energy and enthusiasm with which she tackled the tasks and communicated project information was wonderful to behold,” Deming said. “She really thought through her campaign and the various aspects it would require to be successful.” Those aspects included publicizing the event in the Sunday bulletins and the church newsletter, and making Sunday service announcements in church. Setting a goal for number of cans was an effective “communicating tool with the congregation,” Deming said, especially involving youthful members attracted to the specific goal.
Asked what inspired the “Souper Bowl” campaign, Jessica said, “My mom, brother and I like to volunteer at church. I have learned a lot and enjoy doing it.” Her mom provided ideas for communication and she credits Deming for helpful advice on planning. As for reaching her goal for the 2014 campaign — getting from 402 cans (the day of the interview) to the goal of 600 in nine days — Jessica is resourceful. Besides more congregation support, she has help coming from a local pharmacist, a yoga instructor, a Scout troop, and her grandmother. And, Jessica says, she might do her own grocery shopping.
In conducting the Souper Sunday campaigns over four years, Jessica “has demonstrated leadership and commitment that is thoughtful, creative, enthusiastic, and continuously improving,” Deming said. “I found her to be consistently pleasant, personable and always dependable.”
Jessica was also very involved in the church’s Tents for Haiti campaign. She has given many hours of work sorting, cleaning and staffing the community Clothing Center. She also has worked in the church’s Harvest Kitchen.
Some of Jessica’s many awards and memberships in high school are: National Honor Society, High School Band, Ralph Beaney Sportsmanship Award Junior Varsity, and Excelsior Society. She has played on the Brockport Blizzard Travel Soccer Club since fifth grade. Graduating this June, she plans to attend The College at Brockport and study biology and environmental sciences.
Jessica is the daughter of Mike and Laurel DeToy.
Editor’s note: Jessica reported recently that the 2014 goal was met February 24.
About:
The Monika W. Andrews Creative Volunteer Leadership Award
The purpose of the Monika W. Andrews Creative Volunteer Leadership Award is “to encourage, recognize, and reward outstanding creative leadership by residents of the Towns of Sweden (including 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 3, 2014 Brockport Village Board meeting, the second annual award was presented to Donald Lage. Debra M. Cody and Jessica Lauren Detoy each received “Honorable Mention.”
Photo by Dianne Hickerson
