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Oakfield Alabama

A dedicated couple celebrates 20th anniversary and growth of Imagination Library

By Joanne Beck
imagine-reading-richmond-20-years
Tim and Linda Richter with a photo of Dolly Parton, founder of the Imagination Library program.
Photo by Howard Owens

When Tim and Linda Richter began their venture for the Imagination Library, they could only hope it would be successful in Oakfield. Even there, Linda says, it was a challenge.

“We were shaking in our boots,” she said with a laugh. “We had to do a 501(c)(3), and we were very nervous and thought, can we do this?”

Well, they soon found out that, of course, they could do it. And they're celebrating the 20th anniversary of establishing their nonprofit Richter Family Foundation in July 2004. 

They also founded the first affiliate of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in New York State. Now what strikes them the most is how these entities are nowhere to be found in bigger cities of Buffalo or Rochester, Mrs. Richter said, while theirs has only continued to grow in rural Genesee County. Editor's Note: There is a chapter of Imagination Library in Rochester, and Chapter Founder Matt Present reached out to set the record straight. He shared the following information:

"In fact, the Rochester Imagination Library sent out our 50,000th book this summer, and we currently serve almost 4,000 kids across the City of Rochester," he said. "We have been in existence since I founded the chapter in 2021 in a single zip code; we expanded city-wide 18 months later."

Lucky for those Genesee County kids, the Imagination Library—a program that sends out one free book a month to children from birth to age 5—began with 82 kids and, at last count, has signed up 3,264 children for a total of 93,700 books sent out.

How does that happen? The way you’d build any library: one book at a time. Mrs. Richter shared one of her favorite memories so far from the program. It was when a mom pulled up to her mailbox with her 3-year-old son.

“He’s sitting in the back seat behind her, and they pull up to the mailbox, and he gets his book,” Mrs. Richter said. “He’s just about jumping out of his chair, smiling and hugging this book. It was just a great picture. And I think, boy, if I could be at the houses when these kids get these books, that would be amazing, wouldn’t it?” 

After beginning with the Oakfield-Alabama school district, the Richters gradually made connections with other individuals, groups and committees and set up a program with Elba in 2010, Pavilion in 2012, Pembroke in 2013, Byron-Bergen in 2016, Batavia in 2016-17, Alexander in 2020, Le Roy in 2021, and, after Pembroke temporarily stopped in 2016, the Pembroke Corfu Darien Kiwanis Club picked up that area again in 2023. All school districts in the county now participate in the program, and the Richters — teachers at heart and by profession — couldn’t be happier. 

“We send out 800 books a month; we’re just thrilled with the progress,” she said. 

Mr. Richter referred to the bigger picture of the program since Dolly Parton’s vision was to inspire kids to read in her home county of Tennessee. She has surpassed that and been successful across the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland and Australia. More than 3 million books are mailed out each month to excited children, he said.

The Richters don’t feel as though their job is done just because Genesee County has been taken care of, the couple agreed, since there are adjacent counties with children who would benefit from the program. 

“When we started in 2004, there was just us. Now there are 79 affiliates in New York State, and we are seven of them," Mr. Richter said. "This is what I would hope: maybe people who see The Batavian don't necessarily live in Genesee County, but maybe Wyoming County, Orleans County, for example, don't have anybody. And I would like to be able to expand going that way."

They believe that Dolly Parton's company is one of integrity and that staff takes issues seriously. For example, there was a packaging issue at one point, and the books were getting wet. A different material was used to better protect the books, which impressed the Richters.

“I have nothing but spectacular thoughts about the Dollywood program,” Mr. Richter said. “She does a fantastic amount of work."

Given the number of affiliates they work with, Dollywood is able to get really low prices for books to make them more affordable for each participant, he said. They pay for the books and postage, which people sometimes question: "Why isn't Dolly paying for this?" 

“And I laugh. I laugh because they don't understand. But when you explain to them that there's a lot of overhead, I mean, they have a big storage facility, a huge warehouse where they store all these books, because they have to have the books months before they're able to send them out. They’ve got to pay for heating and so on and so on," he said. "They have to have the workers that they're paying. They have a committee that selects the books. They have to do the publishing negotiations. Then they have to keep sending out 3 million books. Just think of the amount of people there just responsible for this."

The Richter Family Foundation decided to pay for a third of the costs, and the remainder is from donations. To contribute, send a check to the Richter Family Foundation, 1600 Ham Road, Basom, NY, 14013, and put the respective school district in the memo line.

For more information or to check a child participant's eligibility, email richterfamilyfoundation@hotmail.com, call 585-948-9675 or go to imaginationlibrary.com.

OA FFA receives grant to grow maple program at school

By Press Release

Press Release: 

Oakfield-Alabama Future Farmers of America(FFA) is excited to announce that they have just received the “Tractor Supply Company/National FFA Grants for Growing, $5000 grant”. The Grant funds are made possible
through Tractor Supply Company and donations are made to local stores during National FFA Week in mid-February each year.

OA FFA will use the awarded funds to help offset the cost of a new 2x6’ maple arch. The OAE FFA Alumni will match the funds to complete the purchase of the new arch. 

"This is so exciting," said OA FFA advisor, Todd Hofheins.“The old 2x4 arch that the students made 10 years ago has done a great job for the maple program here at school but a new 2x6 will help the students be more efficient in the boiling process and will produce higher quality maple syrup, quicker. I am also very appreciative of the support Tractor Supply Company provided. Maple production can be very expensive and without this grant and help from our OAE FFA Alumni, we wouldn’t be able to make this upgrade.”

OA FFA is scheduling an open house during the spring of 2024 maple season and will be demonstrating their new equipment. Follow us on Facebook for more details: https://www.facebook.com/oaeffa.

Five Genesee Region ladies make all-state softball teams

By Press Release

Press Release:

The 2023 NYS All-State Softball teams were released earlier this week. Batavia Notre Dame was the only Genesee Region team with two selections. The players that were selected were:

  • Loretta Sorochty from Batavia Notre Dame - Pitcher - Class D 1st team

  • Katie Landers from Batavia Notre Dame - SS - Class D 3rd team (this is Katie's second time making the team, 2021 Class D 2nd team)

  • Kendall Phillips from Byron Bergen - Pitcher - Class C 2nd team

  • Caitlin Ryan from Oakfield Alabama - SS/P - Class C 4th team

  • Lorelei Dillenbeck from Lyndonville - SS - Class D 4th team

Notre Dame’s second half comeback secures win over Oakfield 45-37

By Steve Ognibene

Last evening the Genesee region girls basketball rivals, Notre Dame Fighting Irish versus the Oakfield Hornets kept the crowd cheering on both sides for an entertaining evening contest at Notre Dame High School.

Both teams battled the ball through four quarters to a close four-point game after Oakfield scored with 16 seconds left on the clock trailing 41-37. A technical was called against the hornets and foul shots benefited the Irish favor in the remaining seconds to finish on top 45-37.

Oakfield’s Coach Jeff Schlagenhauf’s postgame summary:

“We talked about getting off to a good start in their gym, it’s a tough place to play but great environment for high school basketball. Defensively we stuck to what we wanted with our game plan.

"It all came together in that early part of the game, knowing full well that they would make adjustments. Coach McCulley does a great job with his kids. We were able to weather that storm going into halftime with the lead. But we talked in the locker room, they were going to keep coming, it’s their gym, they’re a good ball club and that’s what they did.

"They really kind of took it to us in the second half a little bit of the standpoint of taking us out of what we wanted us to do. Couple things changed for us after halftime -- offensively we stopped running our plays and could not get the drops. They got a couple easier baskets that did not happen for them in the first half.

"I think that was a little bit of the momentum shift that happened for us not being able to score and they took that lead, four, five points and kind of hung there the rest of the game."

Notre Dame’s Coach Tom McCulley postgame summary:

After the first quarter being down by 10, we talked about not panicking and do what we can do, were a good team. Oakfield obviously came out with more energy than we did and they got up big, but we got players that can do good things out on the court offensively and defensively and by that we had to dig in, get some stops. 

"Oakfield was getting some easy buckets back in transition on us and we were not getting back very well in the beginning half. Once we started getting back and getting into a half court man to man coverage, they didn’t get so many good looks at the basket and we were able to claw back into it.

"We have some young players that are in new roles this year that have never been in before. When you play a quality team like Oakfield, sometimes you got to get your feet wet, you have to get in the rhythm of the game before you start to feel comfortable and that’s what exactly happened.

"We were able to weather the storm in the first half, Amelia and Sara got comfortable in the game and were the ones that were open. Oakfield was doubling Callie and Stevie when they were in the paint and Sara and Amelia knocked off some huge shots in the third quarter and that got us up and gave us a spark and we never really gave it back.”

Notre Dame Callie McCulley had 12 points, 12 rebounds and eight blocks. Amelia McCulley added 12 points and Stevie Wilcox 10 points. Oakfield-Alabama Kelsey Shlagenauf had 15 points, Shelby Carson 10 points.

Photos by Thomas Ognibene. To view or purchase click here.

Lions Tournament: Oakfield stuns Notre Dame 73-68 in OT

By Howard B. Owens

Oakfield-Alabama came back from a nearly game-long deficit late in the fourth quarter to tie its opening round game against Notre Dame in the Lions Tournament smaller schools bracket to tie the game late in the fourth quarter.

The Hornets went on to win in overtime, 73-68.

Joey Burdick scored 21 points for OA, with Travis Wiedrich scoring 17, Aiden Johnston, 16, and Ty Kornow, 15.

For Notre Dame, Gabe McDonald had a double-double with 28 points and 13 rebounds. Spencer Misiti scored 12 points and Keith Szczepanski scored nine points.

In the smaller school bracket championship tonight at 7 p.m., the Hornets will play Elba.

Photos by Steve Ognibene. To view or purchase photos, click here.

'The Sound of Music' to be performed this weekend

By Steve Ognibene

Press release:

Oakfield Alabama Central School drama club presents "The Sound of Music" tonight at 7 p.m. with two shows also tomorrow night at 7 and Saturday at noon.

Tickets are Adults $8, students $6 and are available from any cast member or by calling 948-5211, ext. 4515.

Presented through R&H Theatricals.

Any questions contact, Advisor and Director Wendy Bergman at:  wbergman@oahornets.org  

Details are on the school website here.

5th Annual Oakfield Earth Day Community Clean Up a resounding success

By Jamie Lindsley

A huge thank you goes out to everyone who helped make the Fifth Annual Oakfield Earth Day Community Cleanup a great success! On the morning of April 19, 2014, over 60 individuals of all ages joined together to clear the roads in our community of unsightly litter in an effort to continue our annual earth day tradition. With Mother Nature’s cooperation this year, we were able to conquer twice the amount of roadside space as in previous years, thus eliminating many more contaminants from our beautiful environment! Participants joined together for lunch after the event to share feelings of accomplishment and to exchange stories about the experience. Most were amazed by the objects that were carelessly dispersed through the countryside! We hope that each year, we can continue to help people in our community choose to dispose of waste properly and to make them aware of the harmful effects in doing otherwise. Thank you to each person who donated a bit of their time to participate in this great cause! We also want to thank our sponsors for their assistance in making this event possible: Alli’s Cones and Dogs, Waldron Financial Group, Santino’s, Domoy Farms, Home Depot, Lorraine’s Daycare, Lamb Farms, Oakfield Lions Club, One World Projects, and the Town of Oakfield/Highway Department. We encourage you to support these local businesses and to thank them for their service to our community!

Sincerely,

The Oakfield Betterment Committee

First OA alumni game a success

By Brittany Baker

It might have been a rainy day and a ball field with more mud and puddles than grass and clay, but I can say with certainty that the first ever Oakfield Alabama Alumni Softball Game was a success -- I was there.

Yep, I proudly put on my blue and gold colors and --- although my cleats have been misplaced over the years -- my good old softball glove to play against the other 25 or so OA grads who bravely turned out for the rainy game.

While us “even graduation years” ended up beating the “odds,” everyone had fun stepping up to the plate one more time. I already can’t wait for next year!

Varsity baseball coach and organizer of the event, James Patric said he hopes for next year’s turnout to be better so a tournament can be arranged with more than two teams.

“We’re looking to improve from here, I’ve asked all the players what they’d like to see done differently and now that we have the first game to learn from, I’m hoping for a bigger crowd,” Patric said.

Retired OA athletic director Fred Francis agreed.

“What a great start we had, but you can tell everyone in the area that didn’t make it for some reason or other that I’d better see them on the field next year,” he said.

So as a personal challenge to all of those who couldn’t make it (especially the ones who still live in the area -- you know who you are) why not make next year the first of many alumni games to come? Hornet Pride Runs Deep… so prove it!

Oakfield Community Celebration "Day in the Park"

By Melissa Haacke

The Oakfield Community Celebration Committee is looking for Craft Vendors and Parade participants for their "Day in the Park" celebration to be held on Monday, September 6, 2010.  Please contact Melissa @585-314-4501 or Janette @ 585-704-3194 for vendor applications ($50 per 12X12 site) or parade participation.  The deadline for craftor applications is July 15, 2010.

Event Date and Time
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Oakfield Community Celebration "Day in the Park"

By Melissa Haacke

The Oakfield Community Celebration Committee is seeking craft vendors for the September 6, 2010 "Day in the Park"  For more information, please contact Melissa Haacke @ 585-314-4501 or Janette Veazey Post @ 585-704-3194, we will gladly send you the packet.  Deadline for crafters is July 15, 2010.

Event Date and Time
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