Month: September 2021

Back in July I got to hang out with a bunch of cool kids taking photography classes over at Flower City Arts Center. Over two weeks I took them and their teachers on field trips around SEAC’s service area and gave them some history and pointed out cool street art and fun places to shop and eat.

The other day, I received some of the photos that the kiddos took and I wanted to share them with all of you! This was great fun and I hope to do it again. It’s always a pleasure to show off the South East Area!

Be well and enjoy the photos!

Mike Evans

Executive Director

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Please enjoy this slideshow of photos from our event with Jay Stetzer’s lovely story about SEAC’s beginning!

Thank you so much for being part of SEAC’s “blender” (our brand of a gala) at Sager Beer Works on Sept. 10th! Our largest annual fundraiser, we really “mixed things up” as we celebrated our southeast city community! Old friends, new neighbors, small businesses and benevolent companies and organizations all came together to enjoy a pint, learn more about what SEAC does, and share memories from more than 50 years of working to build a better community with you!

We want to extend special recognition to our very generous event sponsors, without whom we could not have pulled off the celebration.  Thank you to:

Premiere Fireworks: Facehead Digital

Bonfire: ESL

Roaring Fireplace: Woods, Oviatt, Gilman, University ofRochester, Genesee Regional Bank, and Harter, Secrest, Emory, LLP

Sunrise:  Wegman’s, FCL NY, the Locust Club, and Park Grove, LLC

Candles in the Dark: HBT Architects and Green Light Networks

We also want to thank the fabulous Don, Paul, Hannah, Nike, and the Sager Beer Works team for serving up a delectable spread of solid and liquid digestibles! Thank you to our honorary chair, Assemblyperson SarahClark, for inspiring us to keep tending both our roots and branches as we grow our community. Kudos to musician Jackson Cavalier, photographer Kay Novicky, community partners Mount Hope World Singers and 490 Farmers, storyteller JayStetzer, Print Roc, the Village Bakery at the Armory, the McQuaid volunteervalet service, and our incredible SEAC Board of Directors! Bravo! So many hands made much lighter work and perfectly demonstrated how our village continually rises to the occasion, proverbially washing each other’s hands! Please take a moment to check out click on their links and support these awesome local community partners and businesses.  Consider them for your next event, project, or celebration!

The generous donations from our last fundraiser in 2019 allowed SEAC to provide, among other things:

·        100 quadrant residents’ vouchers for their purchases of fresh produce at Foodlink’s Curbside Markets in our area.

·        To subsidize a two-week photography summer camp for RCSD middle school students at the Flower City Arts Center on Monroe Ave.

·        Four vocational scholarships for young people at the Center For Youth to apply toward their pursuit of job training or education like nursing, electrical, or CDL operator.

·        ROCing the Takeout initiative designed to support local restaurants during the pandemic shutdown.

None of this is possible without generous contributions like yours, which help to raise the needed funding for the many ways we positively impact our southeast city community. Your neighborhood is your best investment and we’re grateful for contributors like you. 

We are thrilled to share that we raised over $14,000 at the blender! More than 73 local businesses and individuals donated their time, talent, or treasure for our on-line auction, totaling more than $8,700 worth of biddable items. The heavy favorites on the block were the “consumables””- Battle of the Beers”, “Sweet and Steamy”, home-grown honey, and anything involving wine.  Congratulations to neighbor Tom W. for winning our Set Sail grand prize raffle and thanks to all who took a chance (or three) on it!

Wanted to do more for SEAC but ran out of time, got out-bid, or didn’t want all the “stuff” from the auction? Now’s your chance! Please consider donating to our Call to Action– Supporting the SEAC Tool Shed! All proceeds will go towards funding SEAC’s start up, inventory development, and operation of a community-wide comprehensive tool lending library. Imagine a place where you can borrow that tool you’ll only need once or are a small local contractor trying to get off the ground, we’ll have you covered. Whether you hit the “Blueprint” or “Nuts and Bolts” mark, every dollar will help make this much needed and requested dream a reality in 2022.

Missed the world-debut of our SEAC promotional video, kindly created and funded by Facehead Digital? Click here to learn more about who we are and what we do! SEAC is committed to working with you to keep building a healthy, safe, and happy community.

Many thanks and we look forward to seeing you at Sager’s next September! Remember to sign up for our newsletter to stay abreast of all our news and plans!

With much appreciation,

Kiki Smith

Fundraising Coordinator

A Quick Note from Mike

I really can’t say it better than Kiki, so I’m not going to try- but I do want to say thank you.  Seriously.  Thank you for the support and taking the time to come hang out with us.  Kiki, Lori, and I love what we do!  It is so great to collaborate and work alongside so many awesome residents, businesses, City staff and elected officials, and community partners.  So yeah- thank you for the excitement, support, and trust.  Thanks to all the businesses and organizations and vendors that supported us with donations for our auction.  Thanks to Sagers and their awesome staff!  You all made it a magical night.

I hope you will consider supporting our efforts to rebuild and launch SEAC’s Tool Shed.  Our program will make sure that anyone has accessibility to the tools they need to tackle home repair and renovations, take on contracting jobs and engage in fun neighborhood beautifications like Clean Sweeps, Block in Bloom, and more! 

Be well,

Mike Evans

Executive Director