Niagara Homecoming

OH MY I realized that I haven't been on this in a while. I've been very busy, working like a little bee on Niagara Homecoming. We will have a Brunch at the Aqaurium of Niagara on June 28, 2009. That is what I am in charge of. I need to fill 150 places (75 per seating) so if interested contact us at niagararises@yahoo.com
or check us out at www.niagararises.com

Charity Challenge

From www.niagararises.com


We all know that this year has been fiscally hard for many people. There are more people then ever in need. Many of us are stretching the dimes as far into dollars as we can. As a group, we plan on donating proceeds from the Niagara Homecoming to different charities (TBA). What I challenge you to do is find a creative way (not just writing a check, although that’s REALLY nice too) to donate to a local charity.
Maybe you give up your daily trip to TimHo’s and put the money aside.
Maybe packing a lunch once or twice a week
Maybe you collect your change each day for a week, month, year
Maybe you have a Christmas Exchange, but ask everyone to also bring in gloves or hats to donate
At my place of work, we have a snack machine that raised their prices this year (due to the high cost of fuel, etc). We decided that it wasn’t worth a dollar to have that snack fix. What I do now (because none of us were planning ahead and bringing in the chocolate) is purchase items from the store such as 12 packs of cookies, single serve bags of chips, candy bars and then I sell them to the at only a small profit (maybe a nickel or a dime on each item-we sell the cookies, candy bars and chips at 50 cents). We have chosen Community Missions for our “Chips for Charity” and since the inception in July, we year to date have $100.00 to donate. We will be donating the money shortly so that it can be used for Christmas.
It wasn’t hard, but it took thinking outside the box. We plan to continue this into the new year, and I will donate the money collected to one of the charities we choose for Niagara Homecoming.
I challenge everyone who reads this: WHAT can YOU do and can you beat US?!

Happy Halloween

Rhys finally decided to be a "good guy" and went as Batman. Bethany had a couple of choices thanks to Samantha's hand me downs. She wanted to be the GHOOOOOST. Jason was missing the proton pack for his costume.

Bethany went to a few houses and then helped me hand out the candy. We had close to 300 kids... Rhys also was in his first parade at school.

A great time:)

Niagara Homecoming

For 2009, Niagara Rises will be going with Buffalo Homecoming to present a "Niagara Homecoming". The event will be held June 25-28, 2009.
Why would we want to do this?
We want to show everyone whose left that Niagara County is a great place to live. We want to remind everyone that we are working toward a renaissance. This has been a long time in coming.
Let's keep our friends and family here instead of watching them move away. Can an event like this matter? YES if we all put our best foot forward.
Planned events will include a Job Fair (to show there are actually jobs out there!), a brunch at the Aquarium and tours of the city.
Interested in attending? Check out http://www.buffalohomecoming.com/ We hope to have the Niagara Falls Portion loaded soon.
Interested in helping? Come to a Niagara Rises Meeting (Every Third Tuesday of the month), or email us at niagararises@yahoo.com
We are searching for ways to help the city and county. Can you help? Do you have a great idea? Are you willing to donate your time? Contact US!

The Maize

We took the kids to the maize on Niagara Falls Blvd yesterday. Silly us started with the third maze and it took almost an hour. There was another family there that we wound up wandering around lost with. Regardless, we finally found our way out. It sure was a test of patience. IF you go wear old shoes (and old clothes), it was really muddy this weekend. Price wasn't so bad, $12.00 included all three mazes, a soda (just because I live in Western NY does not mean I will call it a POP), popcorn and three tickets for the rides. Bethany was free. They allowed us to use the tickets for the kids to go on the rides (Rhys just loves that giant tiger slide).
We go every year and every year I yell at my husband for dragging me there (we seem to always get lost), but it all turns out okay and we have a good time


http://www.cornfieldmaze.com/sites.php?ID=&username=nybuffalo

Rising Above Negativity

On Tuesday, Sept 16, 2008 GMA came to Niagara Falls as part of their "whistle stop" tour. They showed me why there is such a need for the group Niagara Rises... When Dianne Sawyer did her "tale of two cities" Niagara Falls, NY was shown in the light that it is. While I do not fault this, as I think that it is correct in that there is such a disparity between us and the other side, I did notice that her report about the occupancy in Canada made it seem like we weren't doing as well on the US side. I didn't see her go into any US Hotel and ask what their occupancy was that night. Had she, she would have received pretty close to the same answer. What they did do was show a full hotel on the Canadian side and then walk down Main street at 9 p.m. on our side. It wouldn't have mattered if they had done that at 2 in the afternoon, the buildings are still boarded up and vacant.
Why I mention this is because this is one of the things we need to fix, we will never be able to rise up and become a prosperous city again if we have a Main street that looks like a war zone. Great we have a new court house, but what else?
As a people we need to start being POSITIVE! What will we be 5 years from now? Do we want more closed businesses or can we rise above the petty politics that have hampered our city for too long?
Later Tuesday night we had a Niagara Rises meeting and everyone who saw the broadcast couldn't stop talking about it. We already have tourists telling other tourists to by-pass the US side for the Canadian, and now we had GMA doing the same. Will this be the bottom of the barrel, can we pull ourselves out? Maybe we can use this broadcast as the catalyst that is needed to jump start this city.

Pre-K

My 4 year old started pre-k yesterday. He had never gone to day care and I can count on one hand probably how many times in a year he was babysat. My husband and I agreed to give the program at Maple Ave school a try. Our biggest issue is that the Niagara Falls School system runs the program as a full day class just like all their other classes. Although we know that he needs to start with the formal learning, as kindergarten is not what it use to be, we both had hoped for a more gentle introduction. If we lived just a few miles north in Lewiston we could have him in a half day class. I know that it is going to take a while for him to adjust. Today he told me he doesn't want to go to school Wed because he misses me.

Is it normal for him to come home and tell us that he can't remember anything that he did that day? He's been in school two days and doesn't know any other kids names. I know he is outgoing because when we would go to the playground this summer, he would introduce himself to any kids that were there and ask them to play. I worry though. He's not smiling when we pick him up. Is it too much?