The Ken
6/5/2023
Director: Steve Blass
Finemaster: Cathy Piciulo
Attendance/Split Club: Steve Blass for TJ Kodituwakku
Invocation: Paul Chisholm
Ken Writer: Donna DiFrancesco
The meeting was called to order around 12:15 p.m. with the Pledge and a prayer
from Paul Chisholm. President Brandon asked for announcements. Steve
announced our guests/speaker: Anna Kaplan, Executive Director of the Graycliff
Conservancy, and Charles LeFevre, President of the Conservancy Board of
Directors. Ed Hacherl read a very nice thank you letter from Matt Cook from Be
Your Own Hero.
Cameron let everyone know that the next KenToberfest meeting will be on
Thursday June 28. He confirmed Cheesy Chick food truck and Louies Hot Dogs will
be there and is working on a possible dessert vendor. As incentive for attendance
and sponsorships, he is looking to take in $1,000-2,000 more this year. More to
come. Holly has this year’s Sunshine Day planned for Wednesday August 16. This
year, it will be in the early evening (no sweltering sunshine), 7:00-8:45 p.m. The
condition of the games in the shed is unknown, as it’s been several years since
Sunshine Day has been held. Replacement of some is to be determined.
Steve planned our Installation Dinner, to be held on Monday June 26 from 5:30-
8:30 p.m. at Webster’s Bistro & Bar, 102 Webster St., N. Tonawanda. The cost is
$45 per person. Please mail checks to 3411 Delaware Ave., Ste. 206, Kenmore
14217 and RSVP to Steve (716-868-8085 or sblass61@gmail.com) by 6/19. He also
requests that everyone please pay your dues. Mike Austin is hosting the
Independence Day party again at Elmlawn. The fireworks will be displayed from
Kenney Field on Monday July 3 at 9:30 p.m., but festivities begin at 6 at Elmlawn.
A flier with more information will be emailed separately.
The speaker for next week, 6/12, is Timothy Karches from First Tee of WNY. There
is a board meeting on Friday June 16 at 8 a.m. at the Ken-Ton Chamber office.
There will be no meetings: June 19 in observance of Juneteenth, June 26 because
of our installation, July 3 in observance of Independence Day and July 10 because
of the Hole in One contest.
6/5/2023
Director: Steve Blass
Finemaster: Cathy Piciulo
Attendance/Split Club: Steve Blass for TJ Kodituwakku
Invocation: Paul Chisholm
Ken Writer: Donna DiFrancesco
The meeting was called to order around 12:15 p.m. with the Pledge and a prayer
from Paul Chisholm. President Brandon asked for announcements. Steve
announced our guests/speaker: Anna Kaplan, Executive Director of the Graycliff
Conservancy, and Charles LeFevre, President of the Conservancy Board of
Directors. Ed Hacherl read a very nice thank you letter from Matt Cook from Be
Your Own Hero.
Cameron let everyone know that the next KenToberfest meeting will be on
Thursday June 28. He confirmed Cheesy Chick food truck and Louies Hot Dogs will
be there and is working on a possible dessert vendor. As incentive for attendance
and sponsorships, he is looking to take in $1,000-2,000 more this year. More to
come. Holly has this year’s Sunshine Day planned for Wednesday August 16. This
year, it will be in the early evening (no sweltering sunshine), 7:00-8:45 p.m. The
condition of the games in the shed is unknown, as it’s been several years since
Sunshine Day has been held. Replacement of some is to be determined.
Steve planned our Installation Dinner, to be held on Monday June 26 from 5:30-
8:30 p.m. at Webster’s Bistro & Bar, 102 Webster St., N. Tonawanda. The cost is
$45 per person. Please mail checks to 3411 Delaware Ave., Ste. 206, Kenmore
14217 and RSVP to Steve (716-868-8085 or sblass61@gmail.com) by 6/19. He also
requests that everyone please pay your dues. Mike Austin is hosting the
Independence Day party again at Elmlawn. The fireworks will be displayed from
Kenney Field on Monday July 3 at 9:30 p.m., but festivities begin at 6 at Elmlawn.
A flier with more information will be emailed separately.
The speaker for next week, 6/12, is Timothy Karches from First Tee of WNY. There
is a board meeting on Friday June 16 at 8 a.m. at the Ken-Ton Chamber office.
There will be no meetings: June 19 in observance of Juneteenth, June 26 because
of our installation, July 3 in observance of Independence Day and July 10 because
of the Hole in One contest.
Holly introduced our speaker, Anna Kaplan, hired in 2019 as the Executive
Director of the Graycliff Conservancy. Graycliff is a Frank Lloyd Wright property,
built between 1926 and 1931 as a summer home for the Darwin & Isabelle Martin
family. They owned the property until their deaths, and it was sold in the early
‘50’s to the Piarish Fathers, an order of Roman Catholic Priests from Hungary, and
was used as a hub for the Hungarian Community. In 1997, Graycliff was put up for
sale and buyers wanted to tear it down to build condominiums. Graycliff was
saved from that demise and the conservancy was founded in 1997 “specifically to
acquire, preserve, restore, and make accessible to the public the buildings and
grounds designed by Frank Lloyd Wright”. There will be a Summer Solstice Garden
Party on Saturday June 24. There is a lot of very interesting information and
things to do on their website and I encourage everyone to take a look
experiencegraycliff.org.
Split club of $20 was won by our President and Donna drew the 4 of diamonds.
Cathy asked for confessions. Ed ran the Buffalo Marathon in 2 hours and 27
minutes! Congratulations Ed! Cathy’s sister came in from out of town for a school
reunion and they had a great time. Cam drank and ate the weekend away and
volunteered for UB Alumnae weekend and had a lot of fun. He can’t wait to do it
again. Cathy then quizzed us on some trivia about our Championship winning
Buffalo Bandits, but wouldn’t ask the table that Brandon and I sat at. She raised
some money from the people who have never been to Graycliff and then she
quizzed us on some Buffalo Trivia. She was able to raise a few bucks. Meeting was
adjourned at 1:11 p.m.
2023-2024 Kenmore Rotary Board of Directors
President: Brandon Blatz
President-Elect: Cathy Piciulo
Secretary: Pat Griffin
Treasurer: Steve Blass
Satellite Club Chairman: Jim Jones
Directors: Joe Arcara, Donna DiFrancesco, Ed Hacherl, Dick Hanaburgh, Susan
Jandzinski, Cam Kukla, Holly Nowak, Linda Stoka.
Director of the Graycliff Conservancy. Graycliff is a Frank Lloyd Wright property,
built between 1926 and 1931 as a summer home for the Darwin & Isabelle Martin
family. They owned the property until their deaths, and it was sold in the early
‘50’s to the Piarish Fathers, an order of Roman Catholic Priests from Hungary, and
was used as a hub for the Hungarian Community. In 1997, Graycliff was put up for
sale and buyers wanted to tear it down to build condominiums. Graycliff was
saved from that demise and the conservancy was founded in 1997 “specifically to
acquire, preserve, restore, and make accessible to the public the buildings and
grounds designed by Frank Lloyd Wright”. There will be a Summer Solstice Garden
Party on Saturday June 24. There is a lot of very interesting information and
things to do on their website and I encourage everyone to take a look
experiencegraycliff.org.
Split club of $20 was won by our President and Donna drew the 4 of diamonds.
Cathy asked for confessions. Ed ran the Buffalo Marathon in 2 hours and 27
minutes! Congratulations Ed! Cathy’s sister came in from out of town for a school
reunion and they had a great time. Cam drank and ate the weekend away and
volunteered for UB Alumnae weekend and had a lot of fun. He can’t wait to do it
again. Cathy then quizzed us on some trivia about our Championship winning
Buffalo Bandits, but wouldn’t ask the table that Brandon and I sat at. She raised
some money from the people who have never been to Graycliff and then she
quizzed us on some Buffalo Trivia. She was able to raise a few bucks. Meeting was
adjourned at 1:11 p.m.
2023-2024 Kenmore Rotary Board of Directors
President: Brandon Blatz
President-Elect: Cathy Piciulo
Secretary: Pat Griffin
Treasurer: Steve Blass
Satellite Club Chairman: Jim Jones
Directors: Joe Arcara, Donna DiFrancesco, Ed Hacherl, Dick Hanaburgh, Susan
Jandzinski, Cam Kukla, Holly Nowak, Linda Stoka.