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Recreation Director’s Report December 12, 2006 I can’t believe that we’re at the end of another year. Time certainly seems to pass by quicker and quicker each year. Happy Holidays to every one who has supported the Recreation Department in one way or another over the last year. I would like personally like to thank all the organizations, the individuals, & the parents who have donated their time, their expertise, and/or their resources so that the residents of Pittsford could reap the benefits. Just as importantly, I’d also like to thank the countless number of volunteers who help out and assist the Recreation Department. Volunteers are the key component to the success or failure of just about every program that the Recreation Department has to offer. As the Recreation Director I depend a great deal on these wonderful people to facilitate the programs we offer and I would like to make sure they know how much I appreciate what they do by saying “thank you, thank you very much”. Finally, I would like to recognize the Recreation Committee for their assistance and support they provide throughout the entire year. As I’ve said before, many of the programs, classes, and events could not have been planned, offered, or sponsored without the assistance and support of the Recreation Committee. On Sunday, December 3rd, the Recreation Department held its 9th Annual “Caroling on the Green” event on the Village Green. For the fourth year in a row the Recreation Department held this event in conjunction with the Pittsford Lions Club and the 18th annual lighting of the Memory Tree. We had a great evening to sing carols, as it was clear with temperatures around 35 degrees. Folks joined around the fire to sing carols, and to watch Santa “light” the Memory Tree. After the tree lighting ceremony everyone was invited back to Fellowship Hall at the Congregational Church to enjoy dessert treats and hot chocolate. I’m pleased to inform you that we had +40 people attend this year’s event matching the size of last years group, which was the largest number of participants that I had ever seen. After last year’s event there was a discussion about how to get more folks to attend this wonderful community event so this fall I contacted both the OV and Lothrop School chorus groups again to see if they would be interested joining our program. I did hear back from the Lothrop director unfortunately saying that she personally was already committed on the date of our event, but would pass along the information to her students. I never did hear back from the OV group. December marks the beginning of another basketball season for the Lothrop School and the Recreation Department. Lothrop 5th/6th teams will practice the month of December and games will begin after the New Year. The Recreation Department’s Youth Basketball program for grades 1st – 4th will begin on Saturday, January 6, 2007 and will run the next six Saturday mornings ending on February 10th for most of the groups. Registration for the Youth Basketball closes on Friday, December 15, but so far numbers are pretty near to what I expected. The 1st & 2nd grade programs are designed to teach kids some basic skills and to give them an opportunity to be on the court side by side with teammates. The 3rd/4th grade teams are a little more advanced with higher expectations. At this level they work a little harder on skill development, while at the same time they need to start to learn positioning on the court because they do play a few games also. On Friday, December 8, the Brandon and Pittsford’s Recreation Departments co-sponsored the Holiday Teen Dance at the VT Police Academy. This was the first time that we held a dance in December (this same dance was actually scheduled for December 2005, but a fast moving storm dumped about 6” of snow on the day of the dance and we had to cancel the event). It was a successful dance with 174 teens attending, down a bit from the last 2-year average of 201 teens per dance. However, there were other activities taking place at the same time that most likely cut into our attendance some. First Otter Valley was showing the movie Pirates of the Caribbean in the auditorium for students in grades 9-12, our dances are open to grades 7 -10. Secondly, there were three high school sports teams out of town (varsity/jv girls basketball & the wrestling team), which I know effected our turn out. Overall, the kids had a wonderful time and really seemed to enjoy themselves. I’d like to thank the many volunteers who helped make the event go smoothly. Thanks to Kathy Shortsleeves, Marie & David Fitzgerald, Joe Corbett, Jan Buxton, Tommy Shannon, Paul Gallagher, Lisa Rost, and Linda Hunt who all helped out as chaperones. Thank you to Crystal, Courtney, & April Hutchins for doing a fantastic job running the concession stand time after time. And finally a special thanks goes out to John D’Esposito for supplying the Rutland County START (Stop Teen Alcohol Risk Team) police officers that we have present at each of our teen nights at no cost to the Recreation Departments.
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