Full Circle Home

About a year and a half ago, I started writing short articles for a neighborhood publication – the Houston Barnard Magazine – under the heading “Making a Difference.” The editor allows me to choose the topic and gives me a healthy word allowance. There’s no compensation, but if even one reader is inspired to get involved in one of the non-profits I highlight, then I’ve spent my time wisely! After alluding to Full Circle Home in my recent blog about Rocappella’s trip to D.C., I thought it might be interesting to share an article I wrote for the magazine about that organization.

In 2007, Rochester resident Vickie Durfee had an idea. She and her good friend (and also a Rochesterian) Lisa Miller both had sons in the military. They understood first-hand the anxiety of having loved-ones stationed abroad, and the absence was particularly acute at holidays. So they teamed up to create a charity that would send Christmastime gift boxes, on behalf of the troops, to their special women at home – wives, mothers, sisters, or girlfriends. The packages included 12 pampering gifts, individually wrapped, as well as a hand-written note by the servicemen. In the first year, Vickie and Lisa worked primarily on their own, and managed to package, wrap, and send 150 gift boxes, primarily on behalf of their sons’ platoons.

In the almost 10 years since Full Circle Home began in Vickie’s basement, the operation has grown exponentially. The organization, a full-fledged 501c3, now has donated warehouse space in Brighton, where items are stocked for the upcoming holidays, which now include Mothers’ and Fathers’ Days. They average 1000 packages a year at both the December holidays and Mothers’ Day, and several hundred at Fathers’ Day. In total, Full Circle Home has distributed over 18,000 gift boxes since its inception.

Obviously, it’s not possible for Vickie and Lisa to wrap and box all of these gifts on their own, so they’ve also expanded to have wrapping parties. They usually coordinate with school groups or corporate sponsored events. The corporate events make a donation to the charity as well as provide labor to wrap. Vickie and Lisa are happy to travel for the corporate wrapping events, since not all of them occur in the Rochester area.

Full Circle Home caters primarily to active duty service members, who either sign up on the internet or in person. Vickie, Lisa, or one of their associates travel to a pre-deployment site, since the goal is to capture the service members’ actual handwriting on the notes to be included in the boxes. Each service member may choose one recipient per holiday, and there is no longer any gender discrimination; gifts are sent to and on behalf of people of both sexes. The exception to the ‘active duty’ requirement is for Walter Reed patients. Vickie and Lisa personally visit them twice a year, so that these recovering wounded warriors can participate in the program as well.

The organization relies on donations of both goods and money. For example, sometimes a school is looking for a Veterans’ Day project, so Full Circle Home supplies a list of needs – e.g., spa socks, pocket tissues (which go with every love note), ribbons, or strapping tape. Monetary donations are used to purchase most of the items that go in the box. Lisa proudly explains that she negotiates very aggressively with manufacturers, to get the best price, and they look for items that are made in America, whenever possible. Full Circle Home has no paid employees, so all donations directly support the actual program.

The boxes have evolved from mostly personal care products to a wide array of gifts, sometimes including Vera Bradley items, Harney Tea, and jewelry – little things that will remind the recipient of his or her service member. Full Circle Home not only brings joy to the recipients, but also to the service members, who are relieved to have someone helping them coordinate gifts while they are deployed.

Full Circle Home keeps a binder of all of the touching thank you notes it receives, with sentiments such as these: “When I received the box, I was so surprised, Love from Iraq! .... Upon opening it and reading the enclosed cards, I began to cry. Not sad tears, happy ones…. I thought, am I actually remembered? It’s easy to focus so much on my 3 children, and making sure that their needs are being met, and then making sure my husband’s taken care of…. It felt so great to know I MATTERED TOO!”

Vickie’s and Lisa’s sons came home from Iraq in 2009. But the labor of love has continued, and they sadly see no end in sight.

Rochester Public Library

The Art of the Book

The only time I’d previously been to the downtown Rochester library was a few years ago for a seminar, so I didn’t really know where I was going, but my brother, visiting for the holidays, was game to accompany me on this expedition. We parked at the Court Street garage, and crossed the street to the library building that overlooks the river. The Art of the Book exhibit was in the Lower Link Gallery, which we only realized later must be under South Avenue, connecting the Central Library and Bausch & Lomb Library buildings.

Macey Ley's "The Sky
is Surely Open"

David Gisele's "Anatomical Wonder"

The Art of the Book, which is apparently the 6^th Annual International Juried Exhibit, is a display of about 70 works of art by slightly fewer artists (several artists are, for some reason, represented by multiple works, including Macey Ley, one of whose won 1^st Place in the “Altered Books” category, even though none of her works is derived from or in any way resembles books). Notwithstanding an over-representation of local artists and under-representation of international artists (like, none), the exhibit is engaging and creative. My brother and I were both fascinated by Judy Schewe’s “Variation on a theme of Madama Butterfly”: a sculpture cleverly covered in the vocal score of Madama Butterfly. Another favorite was David Gieske’s 2^nd Place Altered Books creation – an “excavated book” titled “Anatomical Wonder” (we also liked his “New Land,” which appeared to be excavated from an old atlas – great repurpose!).

Judy Schewe's "Variation on a theme
of Madama Butterfly"

Some of the works, sadly, were poorly displayed in a cabinet with thick wooden-framed doors, so you couldn’t see them in their entirety. Others required you to sit on the floor to see them properly, which my brother did (I was content to squat momentarily). Several of the works reminded me of a page in We go to the gallery, a parody of the Dick & Jane books, when the boy remarks, “I could paint that,” and Mummy retorts, “But you didn’t.” It was an odd exhibition to be in the basement of the Rochester Library, but a fun one, and worth the trip downtown, especially when coupled with…

The Secret Room

Charlie’s nephew’s wife told me about this room at Christmas, and I was captivated by the story! According to the sign in the room, “in 1935 students and teachers at Theodore Roosevelt School #43 contacted the then-existing 69 countries of the world…. The students offered to send each country a Shirley Temple doll… in exchange for a doll dressed in the traditional clothing of that country.” The collection of about 170 dolls was given to the Rochester Public Library, and additions have brought the number to over 200. My second “wait, what?” was that there were only 69 countries less than a century ago, since there are currently 195 or 196, depending on whether Taiwan counts. My first one was what I thought after I asked the woman behind the desk in the Children’s section where the room was, and she slyly told me I’d have to find it myself, since it was, after all, a secret room. She did give us an unnecessary hint: that it had to be behind a solid wall, of which there was only one (the rest of the section has windows) and a useful warning: duck and stay down. 

Once in, we marveled at the breadth of the collection and the excellent condition of the dolls (since they’ve never been “loved”), and my favorite was a little boy from Italy, whose face had depths of expression not usually found on a doll. We had the room to ourselves until a real boy snuck in, confiding that he was hiding from his little sister. Unfortunately, our emergence gave him up, but not before even he remarked on how amazing the doll collection is. We got one final bonus:

Free Parking

Because I was disoriented by leaving a different building than we’d entered, I asked at the desk how to get back to the Court Street garage, and the woman must have thought I was an idiot, because it was right next door – you didn’t even have to go outside! But our conversation did net me a validated ticket – the library gives you your first two hours of parking free – who knew?

The Art of the Book runs until January 8.

Edgerton Model Railroad

Growing up, my older brother had a small model train layout, glued to a sheet of plywood that my father had painted green. I liked to play with it, but it was kind of boring – my recollection was that it was simply a circle, there weren’t a lot of buildings, and the heavy metal train frequently derailed. I also have a vague recollection of the control box heating up to the point of fumes. While I was never inspired to create my own train layout, I am still fascinated by all things miniature  (like the Thorne Rooms at the Art Institute of Chicago).

So last week, I took Charlie’s nephew and his 5-year-old daughter to the Edgerton Model Railroad Open House, in the basement of the Edgerton Community Center, off of Lake Avenue (the center also houses the Stardust Ballroom). The four rooms, set up as the four seasons, are maintained by volunteers in the Edgerton Model Railroad Club. Volunteer Lee greeted us and explained the history of the layout, which was founded in 1950 by the City of Rochester and the Police Athletic League, with a donation of $5000 worth of trains and equipment from Lionel Trains (who also designed the original layouts). It was the “brainchild of a couple of police officers as a way to get kids off the street and give them something to do” (one wonders what sort of project would achieve the same effect in today’s world…). The equipment belongs to the city, but city funding ceased 10 years ago, so they take donations to maintain the railroads.

We started in “Summer,” with a layout that depicts the city of Rochester in the background, and includes elements of Sea Breeze Amusement Park. “Winter” was by far the most elaborate layout, with lots of buttons to push (one made skiers climb up and down a hill, and another started the soundtrack of a McDonald’s order), and lots of blinking lights. My favorite, though, was “Autumn,” with balloons ascending and descending in Letchworth, and a staged train wreck. At one point, one of the controllers had to enter the layout to fix an inadvertent derailment… Each layout was incredibly elaborate, and you could easily lose track of time immersed in them, even if you were accompanied by an impatient child (because a neighboring room had kids’ books aplenty, along with a running video of Polar Express, and cookies).

They have additional special holiday hours this week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday), and are generally open the last Saturday of every month. The Club is definitely looking for young members to carry on the tradition, but given today’s electronic, virtual world, these hobbyists might be a dying breed.

"there are giants in the sky..."

Genesee Country Village & Museum – Part II – Yuletide in the Country

Our friend Becky Wehle (who also happens to be the Interim President & CEO, and granddaughter of the founder) invited us to join her for one of GCV&M’s Yuletide in the Country tours. Unfortunately, our schedule was so booked we could only go on the very last evening. Luckily, however, our recent snowfall gave even more charm to the grounds, and helped set the stage for transporting us back to the mid-1800s for a few hours.

We were warned to dress warmly, and were glad we did, since some of the tour exposition takes place outdoors, between houses. All in, we visited eight structures, and I was impressed with the number of actors and volunteers engaged in the cast. I particularly enjoyed the way the story wove together the characters in the different scenes – it really made the village come to life as an integrated community. An actress friend of mine (and sometimes Concentus singer), Katharine Sanford, played one of the characters, but unfortunately, not on the night I attended. I won’t give away the plot, since it tends to remain the same for a couple of years (it might have a minor scene change or two), and it really was fun to watch the drama unfold.

  

After the final scene, where we were subtly reminded of the pagan influence on Christmas, we retreated to the Meeting Center, where we warmed up over a festive buffet dinner supplied by the Caledonia Village Inn. We did a bit of last minute holiday shopping in the gift store, and decided it was time to become members – not just for the purchase discount, but because I definitely plan to return in March for the Maple Sugar Festival and in August for Laura Ingalls Wilder days!

Rubbish Removal

At the beginning of the year, the Democrat & Chronicle ran an extensive article on the inconsistencies of rubbish removal pricing, citing two neighbors, with the same service, paying vastly different fees. They compared it, not in a good way, to cable pricing. Interestingly, the D&C reported that Brighton had set up refuse districts, and in exchange for lower rates for its residents, the town organizes the billing, through the annual tax bill. It turns out that my street is just outside a very large set of these districts, and I was determined to get my street included. I chatted with Chad Roscoe, Junior Engineer at the Department of Public Works at Town Hall, and learned that I needed 75% of my street to agree (with notarized statements from each person listed on each deed) to the district, and then the entire street (including any opposing residents) would become a district. All or none.

A little background, though. Years ago, when my parents lived in Fairfax County, Virginia, they had a similar choice. My father (hm – perhaps he’s the inspiration for some of my community activism…) rallied the street and got the required participation. But there was one neighbor who opposed the plan – she hated the thought of the government controlling her trash pickup, and she wanted to stay with a private carrier, despite the additional cost – who became a dedicated adversary the rest of my father’s time there. I didn’t want that to happen to me – I plan to live in my house for a very long time, and I’m reluctant to deliberately antagonize any neighbor!

I offered to organize the district to include a neighboring street, but there was one resident there who was reluctant to sign on, in fear of losing the ability to leave their rubbish at their garage, instead of having to tote it to the curb. Based on my dad’s experience, I left that street alone, and stuck to my own, where my neighbors were all in. One couple, in evaluating the change, realized they were paying around $450/year, compared to my $360. They called to complain, and got a reduction down to… $380.

On March 30 (two months ahead of the June 1 deadline), I delivered six notarized forms, which represented 75% of the eight houses on our lane. The woman at the desk was alarmed – only six? I did the math for her, and explained that I stopped nagging my neighbors for the forms once I had enough. The town board then had to vote at a meeting to make our street a refuse district, which they did. Just recently, we were notified by Waste Management of our new Refuse District status, and we were relieve to learn that our pickup day would remain the same, as would all other terms of service. I phoned Chad Roscoe to thank him, and ask him what our new annual fee would be. He said he didn’t know for sure, and that it would be billed annually on our tax bill, but that it would be in the neighborhood of…$215.

So it does pay to get the local paper! Now, if only we could get Greenlight to come to our neighborhood so we could ditch cable...

Rocappella Road Trip

Several years ago, I took a leap and started a women’s a cappella group. I modeled it on a group I sang with and directed in London – the Treblemakers. That group performed two sets of music: holiday and doo-wop/broadway/pop. The Trebs performed for charity; we sang at nursing homes, Kew Gardens, London’s Open Gardens days, the Junior League’s Holiday Bazaar – sometimes as the entertainment, but more often as background, or “wallpaper.” Once Rocappella started going, we mostly targeted nursing homes, and other places (like the YWCA) where we could bring our joy of singing to a group that needed a little musical entertainment. We agreed that we’d never charge a fee, and we’d try to refrain from taking paid gigs away from other real musicians.

One of my fella Pellas, Lisa Miller, co-manages a non-profit serving our military and their families: Full Circle Home (for more information on Full Circle Home, click HERE). She has been a frequent visitor to the official home of the Bidens, in D.C., because of their involvement with the organization. On one of her autumn trips to organize gift-wrapping, she learned of an opportunity from Carlos Elizondo, the Biden’s Social Secretary, for our group to sing at a holiday party at the Naval Observatory. Even though it was a little outside of our regular Rochester radius, we volunteered our availability and were rewarded with a 7pm party on a Friday night! We would only be wallpaper, but we rehearsed diligently, and even added two new songs to our repertoire.

Rocappella with Carlos Elizondo

The Friday night gig turned into Saturday night, which turned into Saturday afternoon, but we adapted, and left Rochester at 6am for the 7-hour drive to D.C.. Number One Observatory Circle was built in 1893, and authorized by Congress to be the temporary official residence of the Vice-President in 1974 (although Walter Mondale was its first full-time resident), until a permanent one could be built (in 1991, the Navy conceded the standoff…). It’s a beautiful mansion, and we had a prime position on the way to the food, just opposite the staircase leading to the private quarters. Carlos took great care of us, even moving things out of the way so that we could arrange ourselves behind the piano in the alcove, instead of stretching out in front of it. The house was beautifully decorated, and we got a quick peek around before the guests started arriving and we were “on.”

We sang a 45-minute set of our holiday music, and threw in the Wailin’ Jennys’ “One Voice” for good measure in these trying times. I wasn’t well-positioned to see the various Bidens descend the staircase, but at a lull between songs, Dr. Jill Biden appeared, and Lisa urgently said, “Hurry, let’s sing ‘Lo How a Rose’!” At one point, a gentleman approached me mid-song to request “Ave Maria,” and I was doubly sorry to disappoint him – not only because we don’t know an arrangement of it, but because we suspect he was Beau Biden’s father-in-law!

We took a quick water-break, and Carlos invited us to sample the food as well (everything was delicious and beautifully displayed).

During our second set, more guests actually stopped to listen and applaud us, which was extremely gratifying. Then Carlos summoned us to the front porch for our official group photo (because of our numbers, we had to split in two). Vice-President and Dr. Biden were incredibly gracious and patient, and it made me wish he’d run for President. 

When we were finished singing, he even came over to us to thank us, and chatted with us about snowfall in Syracuse and shared personal family stories. He just seemed so…normal.

We had a quick glass of champagne before departing – sad that it was over, after all the planning and anticipation, but exhilarated at the incredible experience – one I hope I never forget.

After our gig, we hopped in a limo for dinner at the Sulgrave Club and then a moonlight drive around town. Thanks, Lisa, for brokering this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!