February 12, 2025
Reporter: Katie Marks
Wednesday, February 19th meeting:Amy Kremenek, President, Tompkins Cortland Community College
“TC3: Your Community’s College for 50 Years and Beyond”
COLTIVARE and on Zoom
WELCOME & TRADITIONS
NOTE: you can watch previous meetings by going to our YouTube channel!
President Angela Sullivan called the meeting to order promptly at 12:15 PM and welcomed all on “yet another cold day.” She then asked members and guests to join her in the Four-Way Test—which was followed by Angela’s fifth element, “Will it be fun?”
Angela introduced our guests from the podium:
- Kate de la Garza, INHS and our speaker
- Amrit Singh, guest of Jack Roscoe
- Aarti Patel, member in process
- Brian Greene, member in process
- Kyle Jensen, guest of Jeremiah Craig
- Jen Jones, guest of Chris Roscoe
And we had one visiting Rotarian: Ed Pasto from the Sunrise Club (who apparently never signs in, jested our President as the room laughed along).
ANNOUNCEMENTS
President Angela reminded all of CNY Rotary’s Birthday Extravaganza on February 23rd (2–4 PM) at the Canopy by Hilton Ithaca Downtown, which will now have refreshments beyond the celebratory cupcakes! Corporate members Kathy Taylor and Teri Tarshus have donated some additional food, and beverages will be available to make our extravaganza EXTRA Extravaganza.”
The Ithaca Rotary Club has a NEW MEETING LOCATION! The Board of Directors has decided on Moakley House at 215 Warren Rd. in Ithaca. Thank you to Bob Gravani for suggesting it! The new cost for lunch will be $25 per person, which includes all the real costs of an event each week. This includes the meal, space costs, technology, gratuity, and tax. There will be a coffee and dessert option for $5 per person—and parking is free.
Angela said she’d be postponing “Rotarian in the Wild” until next week, so we all have another week to get our pictures taken wearing Rotary swag in the community. Send photos to Angela at
angelasullivan14@gmail.com. Remember there are prizes!
The next Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI) learning event will be held on Saturday, March 1
st at the Johnson City Senior High School, 666 Reynolds Rd. in Johnson City (8:30 AM–3:30PM), with breakfast and lunch provided by the Owego Kitchen. Our club has some scholarship funds available to help members attend. Register for the event
here.
And registration for the CNY Rotary District Conference is open! It is a wonderful and uplifting event! Come and see what is happening around our district and the world; info can be found
here.
Representing “Team Rotary ReUse,” Mary Kane, Perri LoPinto, and Jeremiah Craig enthusiastically shared that our partnership with Finger Lakes ReUse is back up and running for 2025. Mary reminded the club that our volunteer efforts to sort and tag donated items for ReUse makes money for our club’s Community Grants. Perri added since fellow Rotarian Todd Nau “has the keys,” we will meet every other Thursday from 5 to 8 PM, beginning on February 20
th. There will be goodies, music, and fun. Jeremiah reiterated the fun and said that we can sort through more with more people. After the sort, a gathering for drink and good burgers at Longshots next door usually occurs! Please sign up to join in the fun
HERE.
NEW MEMBER INTRODUCTIONS
Frank Towner was pleased to introduce his friend, John Chilkotowsky, who moved here from the state of Washington with his wife (and Ithaca native) over ten years ago. Frank connected with John through his previous work with Primitive Pursuits and a YMCA collaboration that helped nurture the friendship between the two. Frank, of course, introduced John to Rotary right away, but the timing wasn’t right for him to join until September 2024. John shared that he currently works “with leaders and teams at all levels to help communication, collaboration, and a sense of fulfillment in their work.” He is thrilled to be involved with the club proclaiming, “Rotary keeps me grounded.”
Sherrie Negrea had the “pleasure of introducing Kathy Taylor, General Manager of Canopy by Hilton, one of our 13 new corporate members.” Kathy has already collaborated with our club by offering a venue for the Feb. 23
rd Rotary 120
th Birthday Extravaganza and looks forward to future opportunities together. Kathy shared how she ended up choosing Rotary, mentioning the admiration and respect she held for a Corning Rotarian whose dedication and service to community resonated with her. Looking forward to developing lasting friendships and working with our club, Kathy shared that her recent volunteering at ReUse with five of her team members was what ultimately brought her to Rotary. She is honored to be an Ithaca Rotarian and is looking forward to getting to know everyone.
PAUL HARRIS FELLOW
Chair of the Rotary Foundation Committee, Dale Flinn presented Brandon Brylinsky with his first Paul Harris Fellow award. He was a member of the Ithaca Sunrise Club for nearly ten years before joining our club last year. Brandon shared that his interest in giving to the Rotary Foundation was first sparked when he was in college and a beneficiary of the foundation as an Ambassadorial Scholar. He said the program has always been near and dear to his heart, even long before he was a Rotarian. Brandon has always been impressed by our club’s tenacity in recognizing the Rotary Foundation. Congratulations, Brandon!
INTERNATIONAL SERVICE COMMITTEE
Chair Ray Brisson shared an update on the 2024–25 Peace Building Grants with a slide of the four awardees
:- Enhancing Community Awareness of Disability for Peaceful Coexistence: Rotary Club of Kampala Muyenga Breeze, Uganda ($2500)
- Amplifying Peace Building through Youth Training and Action: African Harmony Collective (formerly Harmony for Families & Communities), Malawi ($2500)
- Strengthening Her Abilities for Peace Building and Protecting the Environment: SHAPPE, Nigeria ($5000)
- Solar Charging Center: Abukloi Secondary School's Youth Empowerment Summit Club, South Sudan ($1500 to Abukloi Foundation based in VA)
Following the presentation, committee member Brandon Brylinsky spoke about the Nigerian awardees of the SHAPPE program, a women-based program to educate and empower women in Northern Nigeria. Under threat of the Islamic group Boko Haram, who discourages any western education and has targeted over five million women in various conflicts over two decades, the SHAPPE program helps women participate in peace building, climate and environmental advocacy, and involvement in bringing women’s voices and issues to the forefront. This work will reach over 5,000 women to create a powerful, educated female population that will ripple in strengthening women’s place in society overall.
LAST WEEK’S PRESENTATION
Frank Towner led his introduction of Kate de la Garza, Executive Director of Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services (INHS), with a story about the power of connection through the trajectory of getting INHS to speak at Rotary. His story finished with a moral: “Make the ask, maintain the relationship, and keep connecting,” which was a great reminder that persistence usually pays off.
Kate de la Garza began their role as Executive Director of INHS in January 2024. After passing the one-year mark as leader, Kate shared that they recently moved with their family over this past summer to Ithaca and loves being a part of the Ithaca community. Kate said that Rotary’s mantra of “Service above Self” resonated with them, especially within their honorable work in the realm of affordable housing. In the presentation, Kate shared a detailed overview and impact of INHS, including the latest projects in the works for the organization. To learn more about Kate’s first year, visit
Celebrating One Year of Service.
Founded in 1976 in Ithaca, INHS is dedicated to expanding housing opportunities for low and moderate income residents of seven counties: Cayuga, Chemung, Cortland, Seneca, Schuyler, Tioga, and Tompkins. It seeks to foster communities that embrace diversity, equity, and sustainability in ways that produce lasting outcomes. Kate communicated that the previous week had been particularly difficult at INHS after the recent passing of co-founder Lucy J. Brown, who was a fierce and passionate advocate for racial justice, educational equity, and affordable housing, and who dedicated her life to championing social equity and justice in Ithaca. It is with this spirit of equity and inclusion that Kate leads INHS today.
In 2015, INHS affiliated with Better Housing of Tompkins County, which brought the organization to its current seven countywide reach. Affordable housing has become a regional issue, and INHS is constantly looking at both urban and rural solutions to develop new projects to increase the supply of affordable units. Home ownership has become more difficult in the City of Ithaca over the years, with the housing prices exceeding $250K, so most INHS homebuyer assistance is going to counties outside of Ithaca. To date, the organization has developed over 1,300 affordable homes, both rental and for sale, throughout the region.
INHS consists of four business lines:
- Rental Production/Real Estate Development: INHS Rental Properties own or manage 650 units in 91 buildings in 34 locations, including 13 commercial spaces. They service and maintain all of the properties.
- Home Ownership Department: offers home ownership education, HUD counseling, financial assistance programs, and serves over 500 people a year.
- Minor and Major Home Repair: predominantly helping elderly and disabled folks on fixed incomes.
- Rental Production/Manufactured Homes (the current 150-lot project in Trumansburg is an example of one of these projects): 10% of rural housing is manufactured homes and is critically important to supporting affordable housing issues. INHS manages over 800 rental units in Ithaca proper.
Kate said, “We pride ourselves in partnering with the state and every county and every city we are in to move the needle for low income folks either to stay in their house or find affordable housing.“ Each and every one of the business lines at INHS relies in some part on federal funding.
To learn more about the extensive work of INHS, including its current construction projects, building philosophy, and to better understand the breadth of all that they offer our community, visit the INHS website
HERE.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
In honor of Valentine’s Day, Ron Van Ormer chose some lovely quotes about love:
- “The giving of love is an education in itself.“ ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
- “Where there is love, there is life.“ ~ Mahatma Gandhi
- “Love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well.” ~ Vincent van Gogh
- “There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate.“ ~ Linda Grayson
NEW MEMBER APPLICATIONS
Membership Type: Corporate Affiliate
Employer: Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service of Tompkins County
Affiliate Member: Austan Diiorio
Position: Community Relations Coordinator
Sponsor: Tiffany Bloss
Membership Type: Corporate Affiliate
Employer: Ithaca Downtown Conference Center
Primary Member: Suzanne Smith Jablonski
Position: Executive Director, Downtown Ithaca Local Development Corp.
Affiliate Member: Katherine Taylor
Position: General Manager
Affiliate Member: Taryn Mullenix
Position: Director of Sales
Sponsor: Frank Towner
UPCOMING MEETINGS
02/19 Amy Kremenek, President, Tompkins Cortland Community College, “TC3: Your
Community’s College for 50 Years and Beyond”
03/05 Liz Kreitinger, Executive Director, Cayuga Lake Watershed Network
03/12 HANWASH, Haiti National Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Initiative, “How
Rotary partners with the government and people of Haiti to address
critical needs” (via Zoom)
03/19 Dr. La Jerne “Terry” Cornish, President, Ithaca College, “Leading in Turbulent
Times”
03/26 No formal meeting
06/18 Paul Debbie, Director of Research, Boyce Thompson Institute
THANK YOU ROTARIANS
Newsletter Reporter: Katie Marks
Program Chair: Beverly Baker/Frank Towner (February)
Photographer: Mike Brown
Greeter: Brandon Brylinsky
Newsletter Editor: Loralyn Light
Setup/Teardown: Richard Kops, Katie Marks
Cashier/Kettle Watcher: Kati Flynn
Audio/Visual Setup: Bez Thomas, Mike Brown
Recording Archive: Paul Martin; click
hereClub Service Facilitator: June Losurdo
