2007 PRESIDENTS ANNUAL REPORT

This Newsletter is our 2007 Annual Report and we hope to make this a tradition. I wanted to do something different in this Beacon edition and asked the Chairs of our subcommittees to report on their wonderful accomplishments this year. This summarizes the hard work of our Board of Directors and many, many volunteers. If you were not able to visit this year we hope this newsletter will encourage you not to miss our 2008 season.

We had a great 2007! We were host to 3,000 visitors. This beats the attendance of the past 5 years. We want to give special thanks to the many volunteers who assisted our guests and made their visit enjoyable. Besides the visit to the tower, the biggest attraction was the special exhibit “From the Beginning: the Lighthouses of the Port of Rochester”. This excellent time line of the many lighthouses of Charlotte was developed and presented by June Codding, Judy Spring and our museum Curator, Mike May. In addition to this exhibit we hope to have a new exhibit for our 2008 season.

There were many new events in 2007. They include a concert on the lawn by the Irondequoit Concert Band. The First Elected Officials & Special Guest day, an Arts & Crafts Show & Sale and a Garage Sale were featured. We also had the good fortune to bring back a favorite of many, Ghost Stories. Since these events were all well received we hope that they become traditions on our Lighthouse Annual Calendar. We made efforts to reach out into the community this year by setting up a booth at the Rochester Harbor and Carousel Festival in June. In September we had a booth and presentation at the Regional History Fair. In October I went to Olympia High School for a Service Learning Fair where I had the opportunity to talk to students about possible volunteer experiences at the Lighthouse. We will be starting up a student program early this year.

This year we saw our grounds, facilities, and gardens come alive. In May we participated in the annual Day of Caring. Volunteers from Excellus came to the Lighthouse. They cleaned the Tower, the museum and helped in the gardens. They did a wonderful job. This was followed by the City of Rochester Clean Sweep in May of 2007 when several volunteers worked on our gardens. One of our tenants has been helping to keep the grounds in shape also.

After one and a half years our WEB site has accumulated over 20,000 visits from more then 16,275 sites (individuals). The largest number of visits (1,564) to our Web site was recorded in October.

Our partnership with Channel 10 and the Weather Bug has increased our visibility in the community and provided residents with up to date weather information and video of the Charlotte Community.

I am pleased that we were able to upgrade our computers and presentation equipment with a grant from Senator Joseph Robach. The grant also allowed us to purchase museum software which is helping us inventory and document all of our museum treasures.

We have had support from many local groups. Wegmans provided us with food cards which we used at several events. The Charlotte Community Association donated money on several occasions to help us support our internet connection and provide funds to use in support of children activities at the Lighthouse. The Ontario Beach Program Committee, Monroe County Parks Department and the City of Rochester helped us with our 25^th Re-enactment of the Passing of the Key from the Coast Guard to the Society in 1982. The Harbor Merchants in Charlotte paid for a new sign on our Annex.

Most of all your generous support has made the Charlotte Genesee Lighthouse a Museum that makes us all PROUD. Thank You!

Fred,

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October 2007

By Fred Amato

Hi Everyone! The Charlotte Genesee Lighthouse 2007 season is coming to an end Sunday, October 28^th. However, group tours are always welcomed and can be scheduled by calling our lighthouse number listed on the front of this newsletter.

Our 25^th Anniversary celebration on Sept. 8^thwas a huge success. The reenactment of the September 12, 1982 event in which the Coast Guard Commander gave the lighthouse keys to the President of the Charlotte Community Association was attended by many of our elected officials. They gave us thanks for our past efforts in preserving the Lighthouse and for our hard work showing off the Lighthouse over the past 25 years. Close to 100 people attended the event. This gave many of our current and former volunteers a chance to reminisce about what has happened over 25 years.

On Oct. 6^th and 7^th the Lighthouse sponsored an Art & Craft Show and Sale. Fourteen vendors presented their creative and talented works for display and sale. It was a thrilling weekend for all of our visitors, volunteers and vendors who made this a successful event. We are looking forward to continuing this next year with several improvements.

This year we brought back “Ghost Stories” at the Lighthouse. This was a very popular event in the past and thanks to several of our volunteers it has made a successful comeback.

This is the first year since 2001 that we have had over 2,000 people visit our lighthouse. Thank you for passing on the word and bringing your friends to visit us. Also wonderful thanks to Rich Codding and his many volunteers who helped with the tours and Gift Shop. Without their dedication we could never have accommodated so many visitors. We have received so many compliments from our visitors about the wonderful tour guides and how beautiful the museum and gardens look. Again, many people took part in making this a great place to visit.

Our website at www.geneseelighthouse.org continues to grow with 15,806 visits since we went online in May 2006. July of this year was our best month with 1,983 visits to our site. Our WEB site has given us another opportunity to share our hard work in accumulating a wealth of knowledge and sharing it with others. An example is a descendent of the Cole family contacted us recently regarding more information that we might have on the family drug store. He also shared with us some of his photos that he has which date back sometime in the 1970’s or 1980’s. Our researchers will continue to help pass on the information that we treasure at the lighthouse. Tourists from as far away as Washington State, Wyoming, California & North Dakota have contacted us asking for information or wanting to visit us when arriving in Rochester on vacation.

On Friday, October 12^th I was invited to set up a booth at Olympia High School in the Town of Greece for their senior student “Service Learning Fair”. There I was able to explain some of the opportunities we have for volunteers at the lighthouse. The students need to spend 20 hours volunteering in Community Service. Nine students signed up to help us at the Lighthouse. We are developing a program that will give them the opportunity to learn about the lighthouse and help us accomplish some of our goals. I will have more details on this at a later time.

Remember, volunteering is a very rewarding experience at the Lighthouse. We are always in need of docents to guide tours in the Museum, up the Tower and to be cashiers in the Gift Shop.

As always I thank you for your support and I invite you to send your ideas and comments to info1@geneseelighthouse.org or call me at 585-621-5605.

Fred

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