- By Dan Veaner
- News
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The Tompkins County United Way funds programs in local towns by partnering with eleven area community councils. These councils act as clearing houses for grants, forwarding requests to the United Way and distributing the money when it is granted. In Lansing the Community Council has existed since before the United Way was here, and currently supports the Lansing Drop-in Center for toddlers and preschool children, Lansing Youth Services, the Recreation Department, Lansing Older Aldults Program (LOAP) and an emergency aid fund. Funding must come through the Community Council, because the United Way can not grant it directly to municipalities.
As participation on Lansing's council has dwindled, this funding is in jeopardy. "It's not hundreds of thousands of dollars, but it does make a difference," says the Town's Bookkeeper and Personnel Officer Sharon Bowman. She says Town officials want to reinvigorate the council by getting new people interested in volunteering. "The hope is that within the next few weeks that we can rally some people who will step up to the table. If we can make that happen that allows the groups that want to apply for funding to do the shortened version, with a lot less paperwork and a less cumbersome process."
Lansing's Community Council has been in existence for over 50 years. Bob Baker initiated it, getting people to raise money over the phone and by going door to door. The cash helped support scouting, the Senior Citizen's program and similar efforts. Members also donated their time to help the elderly winterize their houses, and to do significant work on the Lansing Community Center building after it was donated to the Town by the Lansing Lions Club.
Frankie Lechner
Today the council is held together by treasurer Frankie Lechner, who is also the Secretary/Treasurer Pine Grove Cemetery Association. She has managed to keep the grant money coming to Lansing. "It's life was extended by the fact that Frankie was so involved in keeping it going," says Town Supervisor Steve Farkas. "You have to say a big thank you to her, because the monies that we do get right now are important. We're working very hard to bring it back to its old status."
Lechner wants that, too. "I'd like to see it back like it was when it started," she says. She approached Farkas because as she gets on in years she wants new blood to take over the responsibility. "We need to get some system that works," she told him. She likes the hands-on aspect of the Council, but fears people are too busy to make it work.
Farkas and Bowman are betting she is wrong and that residents will step forward to rejuvenate the Council. A few weeks ago Farkas, Recreation Director Steve Colt and the United Way's Amy Bond met to clarify what needs to be done to protect the funding. "The Town had to have a clear picture of where we've been, where we are now, and what we need to do to legitimize," Farkas says. "As a result of that meeting we're moving forward to try to encourage people to get on board."
Lechner recalls joining the Community Council in 1958. Asked what interested her in being part of the Community Council, she says matter of factly, "The same thing that's always interested me. When I move into some place I become part of it."
"Their big event used to be Lansing Day," says Bowman. "It included lots of Town of Lansing community organizations, the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts, the 4-H, the Drop-In program. It evolved into Super Saturday (a day of LBP and LSP games). There was a huge chicken barbecue which was the Community Council's primary fund raiser. They had crafts in the Community Center. It really was a community event. Over the years it kind of lost its momentum." The event started before 1985 and ran for over ten years.
"I hated to see that stop," Lechner says. "So many people came and helped. No one person can do that. You've got to have everybody that's willing to do it. There were so many good people. And kids. Everybody pitched in. All of it was volunteer. Nobody got paid for a gosh darned thing they did."
She would love to see someone bring Lansing Day back. "It gives the kids a chance to come raise money and finance themselves," she says. "I'd like to see Lansing Days back, and I want to be right in the middle of it."
"I think that Frankie deserves so much credit for having stuck with this whole process to help facilitate the Town being able to secure this funding," says Bowman. "She's an unsung hero." Bowman and Farkas are actively seeking new people to reform the Community Council, hoping to have a new Council formed in time for an April training session.
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