Merry Christmas!

A successful Gasport Lions mitten tree...a wonderful light-up Gasport event by the Gasport Beautification Committee...Pack 18 bringing Christmas to a family in need of support...Zion Church's shoebox Christmas bringing gifts to children around the world...the Gasport food pantry keeping families fed for the holidays...a packed house at Christmas at the Barn at Becker Farms. These are just a few of the things that show that while we might be a small community, we've got big hearts. Thank you to everyone who makes Gasport so special and lives by the meaning of the holiday spirit. Merry Christmas, everyone...may your day be chock full of awesome memories!

Pack 18 makes a difference on Christmas

Watch this story from WIVB -- this is why I love Scouting. Scott Schultz exemplifies the Scouting Way. Under his leadership, Cub Scout Pack 18 of Gasport brought Christmas to a young Lockport family who lost their husband & father to cancer last month. You can rest assured America's future is in good hands when leaders like Scott instill love of community and fellow man into today's youth.

http://wivb.com/2016/12/22/community-gives-back-to-lockport-family-that-suffered-heartbreaking-loss-before-holidays/

Christmas with Zion

Pastor Rodney Klinzing and the Zion Lutheran Church will be celebrating Christmas at these services:
 
Christmas at the Barn: 4:00 PM on Christmas Eve at Becker Farms

Christmas Eve Service: 7:00 PM on Christmas Eve at the Church

Christmas Eve Late Service: 11:00 PM on Christmas Eve at the Church

There are no services on Christmas day.

The entire community is welcome to attend any of these services!

Roy-Hart update

ALL AFTER SCHOOL AND EVENING ACTIVITIES ARE CANCELED AT ROY-HART TODAY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2016

Lead testing at Roy-Hart

As an outcome of the lead crisis in Flint, Michigan, the New York State legislature passed a bill requiring schools to check all drinking water systems for lead. Roy-Hart recently conducted the tests and here are the results (the document opens as a PDF):  http://www.royhart.org/cms/lib/NY01913927/Centricity/Domain/4/Lead%20Testing%20Parent%20Letter.pdf

Gasport man charged with killing infant son

It would be nice if we could only publish good news on this page, but Gasport is not immune to the ills of society....WIVB reports on a Gasport man charged with killing his baby:

http://wivb.com/2016/12/12/gasport-man-charged-with-killing-6-month-old-son/

Scott Brauer featured in Buffalo News

In last week's outdoors page for the Buffalo News, Bill Hilts, Jr. offered a primer on ice fishing -- and who better for him to use as the centerpiece of the article than Gasport's ice fishing guru Scott Brauer.

Here's the article: http://buffalonews.com/2016/11/30/bill-hilts-jr-ready-drop-line-ice-finally-arrives/

Light Up Gasport

The Gasport Beautification Committee's annual Lighting of the Tree and Community Christmas for the Children will be on Sunday December 11th from 4-6pm at the Gasport fire hall. Santa will be there, along with crafts for the kids, refreshments, and a large basket raffle. There will be horse and wagon rides and the lighting of the tree. The committee is still accepting donations of new unwrapped toys along with basket raffle items. Items can be dropped off at Drum Oil. Contact Margie 628-7273 to arrange pick up or bring to the firehall the day of event between 2 & 4 pm.

10th annual mitten tree

When you’re out and about shopping for Christmas, please extend your giving beyond your family. Please buy a gift for a needy child in our community.

Last Tuesday, the Mitten Tree went up.

This is the TENTH year for this awesome program that is run by the Gasport Lions Club.

Here’s how it works…

There is a tree is located out front of the Gasport post office at the corner of Main Street and Route 31. New this year, are trees located at the Middleport Post Office, Drum Oil, and the Roy-Hart Schools.

Take a mitten from the tree and give a gift that is appropriate to the age/gender of the child noted on the mitten.

Attach the mitten to the unwrapped gift and drop it off at one of the drop off sites listed on the mitten. The Lions Club will distribute the gifts in time for the holidays.

Please participate and make Christmas a little better for a child – maybe even your neighbor – who is in need. That’s what the holiday is all about.

Christmas at the Schoolhouse

Christmas at the Schoolhouse will take place this Sunday the 4th at the town of Hartland's cobblestone schoolhouse at Carmen and Seamen Roads. Festivities begin at 11 a. m. and run until 3 p. m., with a ham or turkey dinner ($9 adults, $4.50 children), raffles, a bake sale, and Christmas music.

Giles open house is this weekend

Artist Kathleen Giles will host her 20th annual "holiday open house" at her studio at 2336 Hartland Road, this weekend; open house hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The report from the Lockport Union Sun & Journal:

http://www.lockportjournal.com/news/local_news/watercolor-wonder-artist-kathy-giles-marks-new-milestones-in-a/article_4cb20114-2459-5b5d-9aa9-a54c6a63fa0b.html

Pancake breakfast with Santa

Royalton benefits from Eagle Scout project

The Royalton Town Board with the flag retirement box

Samuel Nairne is currently a Life Scout in Boy Scout Troop 82, which is sponsored by the Elks Lodge 41 in Lockport. Troop 82 is under the Scoutmaster leadership of Russell Larsen, of Gasport.

Samuel is working towards his goal of earning the Eagle Scout rank. In order to achieve the rank of an Eagle, a scout must do a project to benefit the community. For his project, Sam, along with his Project Coach, Dave Keleher, lead a group of volunteers into making four flag retirement boxes.

The Town of Royalton is one of the four beneficiaries and the receptacle is now located at the town hall. The boxes were made so that anyone can easily dispose of the American flag in a proper manner when it is no longer in good shape. When the box is full, the Town can contact any local Boy Scout group to properly dispose of the flag in a respectful and ceremonious manner. Troop 82 holds a flag retirement ceremony annually.

Samuel Nairne is a 2016 graduate from Barker High School and a current college student at NCCC, majoring in computer science. Other than Scouting events, Samuel enjoys acting, singing and playing video games. His is a member of the Lock City Glee Club and a 3 year staff member for National Youth Leadership Training, a youth lead Boy Scouts training group. Samuel is currently employed as a tutor at NCCC for math and science.

Sam would like to thank Standish Jones / Ace Hardware, Home Depot, Newfane Lumber and other local contributors for donating the materials needed to make the boxes.