Do the Right Thing of Rochester Award Program Winter 2020 Newsletter Welcome! It’s been one year since we published our first newsletter! We’ve accomplished so much this past year, most importantly, recognizing several outstanding youth and their positive role model behavior. We’ve heard some phenomenal stories of bravery, courage, growth, selflessness, and leadership, and what’s most remarkable is these children live right here in our own community. We are so proud that we are able to highlight many of these stories and share them with you! Since our last newsletter, we’ve recognized sixteen students between two ceremonies, one in December and one in February. We have also welcomed three more sponsors to the program – Bill Gray’s Regional Iceplex, the Rochester RazorSharks, and Target. We are continuously welcoming new sponsors to our program. If you know of a business that would be interested in providing gifts or services to our winners, or a financial contribution to the program, please let us know! The Do the Right Thing Award Program is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization. We are excited to welcome Brennan Somers as the newest member of our Executive Board. Brennan works as a news anchor at News 10 NBC, and was able to attend and help MC our last two ceremonies. With Pat Taney leaving his post this past November, the position of Executive Board President is now vacant, so we hope to have elections soon to fill that position. We are also looking for more people to volunteer to serve on our Executive Board to fill several vacancies. New members are needed that are creative, and have ideas, time and resources to help our program grow so that we can recognize even more students! The next page contains information about the Do the Right Thing program. If you are interested in applying to become a member of the Executive Board, please reach out to any of our staff members for more information. Our contact information can be found on page 2, and staff information on page 3 of this newsletter. A copy of our by-laws can be found on our website. We had so much fun at the December Ceremony, with surprise visits from McGruff the Crime Dog and Santa. Officer Denny Wright also joined us to help recognize our winners, especially Bailey Clark, one of his biggest supporters! And for our February ceremony, several Rochester RazorSharks players joined us to recognize those winners and deliver some motivational speeches. Our next ceremony will be on April 2nd. We hope that you will be able to join us as we recognize more exemplary behavior from students in our area! Please keep sending us nominations. We know there are many students out there who are doing the right thing - tell us about them so we can recognize and reward them! Page | 1 About our Program The Do the Right Thing Award program has been part of the Rochester Police Department since 1995. The goal of the program is to foster positive relationships between local area law enforcement and the youth within Monroe County. The Do the Right Thing Award Program recognizes children for their positive behavior, accomplishments, and good deeds by rewarding students who strive to make good choices, do well in school, give back to their communities, or demonstrate “turn-around” or improved behavior. Any student enrolled in grades K - 12 in any school within Monroe County is eligible for nomination, and can be nominated for acts of courage and bravery, such as assisting first responders, as well as acts of volunteerism, leadership and role model behavior. Students may be nominated for incidents that have occurred within one year of the nomination and within Monroe County. Anyone over 18 years old can nominate a student (this includes first responders, teachers, coaches, family, and friends). Nominations are accepted throughout the year, and are reviewed by a committee that selects students to receive the Do the Right Thing Award. Selected students are celebrated at a public ceremony at the City Public Safety Building. Typically five ceremonies are held each school year, with up to ten students recognized at each ceremony. Do the Right Thing Award winners are eligible to receive several rewards and prizes donated by program sponsors, and winners may also apply for a scholarship when they are high school seniors. Since the program began, we have received over 4,000 nominations, awarded over 1,100 winners, and contributed approximately $30,000 towards scholarships for our winners. Students selected as winners must attend an award ceremony in order to officially be considered a Do the Right Thing Winner. All students that are nominated will receive a letter of recognition for their act, even if they are not chosen as a winner. The ceremony and our winners are highlighted in the media, courtesy of program sponsors News 10NBC WHEC- TV and the Democrat and Chronicle. Stories are televised on WHEC, published in the print edition of the Democrat and Chronicle, and highlighted on-line for both outlets as well. Visit their websites at WHEC.com and Democratandchronicle.com for more information. For more information about our program, or to nominate a student, please visit our webpage at Cityofrochester.gov/DoTheRightThing. We are also on social media. Please take a moment to like our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages. You can find all of our contact information below. Do the Right Thing of Rochester, Inc. * Rochester Police Department* Phone: (585) 428-7863 Fax: (585)428-6093 Email: [email protected] Website: www.cityofrochester.gov/DoTheRightThing Follow us on Facebook: @DTRTROC Follow us on Twitter: @rpd_dtrt Follow us on Instagram: @DTRT_Rochester Page | 2 Do the Right Thing Program Staff Please contact a member of our staff with any questions or feedback you may have. We welcome your input, and are excited to work together and watch this program grow! Sergeant Jose Vargas Laurie Kingsley-Henry Lisa Hayes Program Director Program Coordinator Program Assistant Members of the Executive Board Rochester Police Department’s Do the Right Thing Award Program is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization governed by a Board of Directors, and operated under the auspice of the Rochester Police Department. Members of our Executive Board include: Mayor Lovely Warren (City of Rochester) Police Chief La’Ron D. Singletary (Rochester Police Department) President: *VACANT* Vice President: Joy Claboine (The Gregory Jefferson Memorial Scholarship Fund) Treasurer: Suzanne Warren (City of Rochester) Secretary and Program Coordinator: Laurie Kingsley-Henry (City of Rochester) Program Director: Sergeant Jose Vargas (Rochester Police Department) LaShay Harris (American Medical Response) Glen Jeter (McDonalds, Upper Falls Boulevard) James McCauley (Camp Good Days and Special Times) Nydia Padilla-Rodriguez (Rochester City School District) John Picone (City of Rochester) Joan Roby-Davison (City of Rochester) Brandon Smith (Memorial Art Gallery) Brennan Somers (News 10NBC WHEC-TV) Grace Tillinghast (The Battery) Page | 3 Do the Right Thing Award Ceremonies Our second ceremony of the 2019-2020 school year was held on December 12th, and the third was held on February 13th. Ten students were awarded in December, and six students were awarded in February! December 2019 Ceremony Winners nd Liam Adanti 2 Grade Brookview School, West Irondequoit CSD th Zachary Adanti 4 Grade Rogers Middle School, West Irondequoit CSD Liam and Zachary are brothers, and were nominated by their grandmother, Teresa O’Hare, for their ability to remain calm and brave, working as a team, during a scary situation. This past August, Ms. O’Hare fell in the driveway of her home while taking her dog outside. While on a leash, the dog began to chase another animal, causing Ms. O’Hare to fall backwards, striking her head on the pavement. Liam and Zachary were in the house at the time, preparing to go to summer camp for the day. Unable to get up as her leg was also injured during the fall, Ms. O’Hare called out to both boys. Zachary came out first, and immediately ran back in the house to get Liam and a phone. Although Zachary wanted to call 911, Ms. O’Hare told him not to until she could assess her injuries. Instead, Zachary went back into the house and called his mother, who is Ms. O’Hare’s daughter, and told her what had happened, and that their grandmother was still laying in the driveway. While this was occurring, Liam was able to retrieve the dog, bring it back in the house, and secure it in its crate. After getting the call from Zachary, their mother called for help. Both boys stayed outside with their grandmother until help arrived. It turns out Ms. O’Hare had severely broken her ankle. Had the boys not been there to help, who knows how long she would have lay there, as the area of the driveway where she fell is not visible from the street, and the neighbors on both sides had already left for work. th Dominic Brunet 5 Grade Theodore Roosevelt School #43, RCSD th Dominic was nominated by his 4 grade teacher, Ms. Smeaton, who was very impressed by the turn-around behavior Dominic exhibited throughout the past school year, making great improvements both behaviorally and academically. Before the start of 4th grade, Ms. Smeaton was informed that Dominic had moved to their district halfway through the previous year, and was observed to have some behavioral problems stemming from being unable to express his frustration in an appropriate way, as well as a lack of respect for authority. At the beginning of the 4th grade it looked as though this pattern would repeat itself.