Charitable Times Newsletter 2022

100 YEARS PROVIDING NO BARRIERS

TO FUN

Rochester Rotary Sunshine Camp opened its doors on June 12, 1922 on 23 acres of land near Durand-Eastman Park with the goal of serving children in our community with disabilities and their families by providing a summer camping experience with no barriers. We served over 60 children that summer.

“Every Rotarian is right up to his toes now in the interest of the Sunshine Camp... It is going to be the greatest stimulant to our organization of anything that has ever happened here, and it is going to accomplish a wonderfully-effective piece of work. The camp will become Rotary’s Sunshine Camp” – Past President Gene Raines

In 1974 the camp relocated to our current location on 157-acres in Rush and we now serve more than 2,500 children and young adults in the Greater Rochester and Finger Lakes region each summer and are utilized by over 75 community organizations during the off season.

When kicking off our centennial year this past spring we were joined by Sunshine Camper Jake Snyder and his mom Ann. Jake has attended camp since 2010 and Ann says, “This has been Jake’s favorite week of the whole year every year since he started at Sunshine Camp. And he likes to take in every bit that camp offers by

Dear Friends,

Rochester Rotary has had a monumental year with the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Sunshine Camp. We honored our history with a variety of events and brought awareness to the original vision Rochester Rotary members had in 1922. We hope you were able to celebrate with us at any of the unique events including the Classic Car Road Rally, Red Wings game, Brunch with LPGA legend Nancy Lopez, and Wickham Farms Corn Maze. It is the collective power of our fellowship, connections, perspective, imagination, and commitment to service that will keep our camp a shining jewel for the next 100 years and beyond.

At Roberto Clements School #8 in Rochester, we are celebrating 28 years of partnership where we witness the light of learning and the social-emotional benefits to students that result from meaningful and consistent interactions with Rochester Rotarians as tutors and mentors.

Rotary is an organization where we bring together community leaders, exchange ideas, and take action for the greater good. Thousands of members over these past 112 years of our club’s existence have been shining examples of people who have imagined new possibilities and harnessed fellowship and action to do good with lasting impact. From the Sunshine Camp, to deploying Rotary volunteers throughout Rochester to assist in other worthwhile causes, to seeing Rotary scholars realize the dream of a college education, we have much to be proud of.

We know there are many worthy organizations in our community that benefit from your generosity. However, we hope you will take a moment to think about the diverse and long-lasting impact a gift to Rochester Rotary will make. One student…one camper…one scholar…and it is highly likely that one life may be changed for the better, because of you.

Thank you, in advance, for making a difference. As always, please be a part of Rochester Rotary, and help us strive to be the inspiration to the many lives we touch as well as imagine new and meaningful ways to serve every day.

Yours in Rotary,

2022 was a milestone year all around, not only did our Sunshine Camp turn 100 but we also celebrated the 25th anniversary of our Executive Director, Tracey Dreisbach!

Tracey started at the Sunshine Camp as our program manager when she first joined our team and has now been Executive Director for the last 15 years. To honor Tracey’s long time dedication to the Sunshine Camp members of Rochester Rotary raised over $14,000 for the Sunshine Camp in her name.

Rotarians also sent in stories and messages of congratulations that were made into an anniversary scrapbook and presented at the annual Camp Carnival this summer.

Congratulations Tracey and thank you for your years of unwavering dedication to Rochester Rotary and the Sunshine Camp.

Kathleen Pringle President

Rochester Rotary Club

Timothy Cook President Rochester Rotary Charitable Trusts, Inc.

Tracey Dreisbach Executive Director Rochester Rotary

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trying everything and challenging himself, cheered on by his fellow campers and counselors. He’s excited ever year to go back and see what cabin he’ll be in, which friends he’ll reconnect with and what counselors are back again.”

Sunshine Camp is full of fun and exciting activities from the pool and splash pad to boating and fishing in the pond, and the climbing tower and zipline but camp is even more than just these experiences. A week at camp brings opportunities for campers to spend time with their peers, make new friends and lasting memories and gain independence and grow in responsibility for their own daily life skills with exposure to new recreational and physical activities. The look of camp has certainly changed over the last 100 years but our vision and goals have not – provide a memory making, once in a lifetime experience with no barriers to fun for children and young adults with disabilities.

To the Rotarians, camp staff, donors, our community, and supporters we want to say a sincere THANK YOU! The Sunshine Camp would not be what it is, and we would not be able to serve all of our campers without each and every one of you. As we look to the next 100 years we can only imagine what the future of Sunshine Camp holds but we know that with the work and dedication of Rochester Rotarians and our community the sky is the limit.

ROBERT B. WEGMAN LODGE RENOVATION

The Wegman family support has been long standing at the Sunshine Camp for over 25 years. In June 2006 Founders Hall, our main dining hall and gathering space on the campus, was renamed the Robert B. Wegman Lodge. The dining hall hosts all meals, our music and drama programs, many events throughout the year, and is a center point of camp. The building includes seating space for over 200 people, a stage for events and summer camp shows, a full kitchen, storage and restrooms.

In honor of the 100th anniversary and the legacy of Bob Wegman the Wegman family generously pledged the funds to renovate the entire building to include new flooring, new ramp for our campers to get onto the stage, renovated bathrooms, a new patio and pavilion, and a beautiful renovation to our kitchen that included new donated equipment, storage room remodel, painting, and redesign.

In addition to the Wegman Lodge renovation Wegmans employees dedicated a week of volunteer time to help with repainting the inside of our cabins, setting up a new athletic shed, building a new fire pit, and a full day with over 100 Wegmans employees beautifying the campus with spring leaf clean up, trail clean up, planting dozens of flower beds and planters, and cleaning cabins and the Ad Staff building.

A YEAR OF CELEBRATIONS!

LPGA champion Nancy Lopez joined us for a celebration and ladies tournament at Locust Hill Country Club to raise funds for Sunshine Camp!

Thank you to Keller Williams for choosing to support the Sunshine Camp on their annual Red Day!

Congratulations to our 84th Rotary Award recipient Howard Konar!

Thank you to Heroes Brewing for supporting our 100 years with a specialty brew!

Sunshine Camp night with the Rochester Red Wings. Campers got to go out onto the field, meet Spikes and Mitsy, and throw out the first pitch!

This summer Farhan one of our scholarship students and his brother joined us for Buffalo Bills Training Camp at St. John Fisher and QB1 Josh Allen gifted them each a signed cleat!

Thank you to our fall clean up volunteers including our friends from L3Harris!

The annual Construction for Kids reception that raised over $53,000 for Sunshine Camp - thank you to the building trades unions!

Students from Roberto Clemente School No. 8 and kids from Golisano Children’s Hospital at the “Eight in Flight” field trip sponsored by KeyBank. The kids got to see the F-22 jets up close and meet their pilots at the Frederick Douglass Greater Rochester International Airport before they went to camp, then traveled to the National Warplane Museum - Geneseo Airshow to learn about a C-130 from Vietnam, the Tuskegee Airman and the famed “Whiskey 7” from WWII.

Wickham Farms made their annual corn maze in honor of the Sunshine Camp 100 logo.

Rotarians gathered in June of 1922 to kick off the first summer of Sunshine Campthis year over 200 Rotarians and guests gathered to kick off our 100th summer!

Rochester

Thanks to the Rochester Porche Club and Rotarian Richard de Asis for planning a Road Rally and BBQ to celebrate 100 years of Sunshine.

Birdhouse Brewing Company,

in of Honeoye, created a Sunshine Maple Brown Ale with our own maple syrup and presented us with a check for $1,000 from the proceeds!

Thank you to former camp counselor Scott Gillen and his team.

Thank you to Wegmans for a week of volunteer work at camp including a day with over 100 employees freshening up our gardens, painting, mulching, cleaning up leaves, and more!

Jake and Ann Snyder help with our 100th anniversary kick off announcement talking with the media about Jake’s experience at Sunshine Camp since 2010.

Thank you to all of our runners in this year’s Sunshine Camp Trail Mix 5K + 10K.

This was our fourth year hosting the run and raised over $40,000 for Sunshine Camp.

Our scholarship students Shyann and Devante graduated high school this year! Devante graduated from School Without Walls and Shyann graduated a year early from Rochester Early College International High School. Shyann attends Ithaca College and Devante is planning to attend MCC in the spring.

Rotarian Pauly Guglielmo created a special Guglielmo Sauce to commemorate our anniversary year and fellow Rochester Rotarian Megan Alchowiak created the design for the label!

based

Six months before camp begins Sarah starts to plan and pack for her stay at Sunshine Camp. In the early summer the official packing list arrives, and the final touches are put in her suitcase, and she is ready to go. Sarah’s parents Jane and Steve learned about the Sunshine Camp 10 years ago from parents of Sarah’s classmate and the rest is history!

From day one Sarah absolutely fell in love with camp, she finds camp interesting and loves the opportunity to hang out with her friends in a relaxed fun environment away from home for a week. She loves to swim, color at arts and crafts, and climbing up the climbing wall and going down the zip line. Her first time down the zip line she was nervous but now she is in love with it and loves cheering on other newer campers when it is their first time, and they need encouragement. The bond that is formed at camp between friends is unmatched.

Summer of 2022 was Sarah’s last summer as a Sunshine Camper as she aged out of the program however Sarah’s parents talked with Brandi Koch, Sunshine Camp Director, about other opportunities available to Sarah. The Hart’s were introduced to Sunshine Escape, our adult weekend of camp, held each year on Columbus Day weekend for campers 21+ who have aged out of our traditional Sunshine Camp program. In its first year Sunshine Escape hosted 20 campers, this year in its sixth year we hosted over 75 campers!

Sarah’s schedule at home consists of respite programs including horseback riding at Heritage Christian Services and a work week as a baker at Special Touch Bakery. Sunshine Escape continues to provide the independence our campers are looking for away from home and work for a weekend as well as the added benefit of programs and activities with their peers. Sarah’s favorite part of Sunshine Escape is hanging out with friends and dance parties!

For more information about the Sunshine Camp program or Sunshine Escape visit www.sunshinecamp.org

LEAVE A LITTLE SUNSHINE

Planned giving is a general term that describes any major gift made during lifetime or at death as part of a donor’s overall financial and estate planning. Planned gifts can serve a number of different goals. Examples include providing lifetime income to the donor, helping manage capital gains and estate taxes, leveraging the donor’s estate, and fulfilling charitable goals. There are three main categories of planned gifts: outright giving using appreciated securities, gifts that provide income to the donor, and gifts payable upon the donor’s death.

Outright gifts usually involve appreciated assets, such as stocks, real estate, art, or other assets that would incur capital gains tax if sold. Donors usually receive a charitable deduction for the full value of the gift and can also avoid paying tax on the capital gain. Outright gifting strategies can also help reduce the value of taxable estates.

Planned giving strategies that pay lifetime income to the donor include charitable gift annuities and charitable remainder trusts. Both involve an upfront donation in exchange for income over time. There are also other strategies that provide lifetime income or other financial benefits to the donor.

Gifts payable upon death could include a charitable bequest, the purchase of a life insurance policy that pays to a charitable beneficiary or naming a charity as the beneficiary of a retirement account.

All of these strategies have tax benefits and implications. It is best to discuss them with your tax advisor before proceeding. If you think planned giving may be right for you and your family, we would be happy to discuss your goals and how they could be met with various planned giving strategies. Contact Development Director Heather Rossi at 585-546-7435 x203 or heather@rochesterrotary.org

“Camp encourages independence without barriers but enough structure to help her grow as a young adult”

- Jane Hart, Sarah’s Mom

Mark Armbruster, Past President of Rochester Rotary

11th Annual Andrew Kittel Memorial Ride

Thank you to the Andrew Kittel Memorial Ride for their continued support of the Sunshine Camp. Each year the event includes a group ride that ends at the camp where guests enjoy a pulled pork dinner, raffles, a live gospel blues band and more! This year’s ride raised $3,000 to support camp!

Thank you to our 2022 grant supporters

Charles J. and Burton S. August Family Foundation Davenport-Hatch Foundation, Inc. J.M. McDonald Foundation, Inc. KeyBank

Kilian J. & Caroline F. Schmitt Foundation

Rochester Area Community Foundation The Marilyn Lichtman Foundation Thomas and Diane Weinrich Waldron Rise Foundation

Walmart

Rochester Rotary offers a two-week program at the camp to children with disabilities at no charge, thanks to generous contributions from Rochester Rotarians and from the community. Throughout the rest of the summer, the camp is enjoyed by campers from partner agencies, including American Diabetes Association, Camp Haccamo (supported by Rotary Clubs of Monroe County), Camp Joy, Cancer Support Community Rochester, EPI (Empowering People’s Independence), Heritage Christian Services, Holy Childhood, and SportsNet.

Rochester

Administrative Office 585.546.7435 rochesterrotary.org

Sunshine Camp 585.533.2080 sunshinecamp.org

Rochester Rotary Charitable Trusts, Inc. publishes Charitable Times magazine