November 2016 NICA News
Featuring Member’s Voice with Frank Boeck, D & F Enterprises, Daniel McLean, Almond Garten, Carmel Dyer-Pittroff, The Original Australian Battered Potatoes, Todd Lavigne, Awesome Apple Crisp, and Theresa Johnson, All American Restaurant & Grill, Thoughts from a CCE withLarry McConnell, CCE, McConnell Concessions, Concessionaire Spotlight with Tom Frazee, Frazee's Concessions, President's Message with Paulette Keene, Director's Voice with Joe Potillo, Jr., Card's Corner with Michelle Card, Executive Director, and much more!
Featuring Member’s Voice with Frank Boeck, D & F Enterprises, Daniel McLean, Almond Garten, Carmel Dyer-Pittroff, The Original Australian Battered Potatoes,
Todd Lavigne, Awesome Apple Crisp, and Theresa Johnson, All American Restaurant & Grill, Thoughts from a CCE withLarry McConnell, CCE, McConnell Concessions, Concessionaire Spotlight with Tom Frazee, Frazee's Concessions, President's Message with Paulette Keene, Director's Voice with Joe Potillo, Jr., Card's Corner with Michelle Card, Executive Director, and much more!
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Friends Helping Friends at the<br />
Erie County Fair<br />
Kirby Lynn Dygert, Agriculture & Competitive<br />
Exhibits Department, Erie County Agricultural<br />
Society<br />
The saying “friends helping friends” hit a<br />
home run at the <strong>2016</strong> Erie County Fair. Joe<br />
Potillo, Jr., grounds cleaning contractor at the<br />
Erie County Fair and <strong>NICA</strong> Immediate Past<br />
President, approached Denny Lang, CEO, and<br />
Jessica Underberg, Assistant Fair Manager, about<br />
his thoughts of helping the mission statement<br />
of the Erie County Agricultural Society; namely,<br />
agricultural education. After a brief conversation,<br />
the group came up with the idea that would help<br />
many people in many different ways. Purchasing<br />
a 4-H Market beef steer and donating the meat<br />
to the Western New York (WNY) Food Bank<br />
would make a long lasting impact on the local<br />
community.<br />
For Chase Gerhardt, of East Aurora, NY, getting<br />
a beef cow ready to be sold at the County Fair<br />
takes time, hard work, dedication, and money to<br />
support the 11-month project. Chase, along with<br />
his three siblings, is a dedicated 4-Her that puts<br />
an immense amount of time and money into his<br />
projects. Chase is in his 9th year of 4-H at the<br />
age of 16 and has learned that, while winning<br />
is something you strive for, having a buyer to<br />
complete the project is the end goal.<br />
At the <strong>2016</strong> Erie County Fair, Chase was<br />
honored to place in the top 5 of all of the market<br />
beef animals. One of the most difficult parts of the<br />
entire beef project is finding a few potential buyers<br />
to purchase your animal at the sale and be back<br />
bidders to help raise the price. Many factors play<br />
into the reasoning behind it being so difficult; the<br />
main reasons are that a whole steer is typically<br />
too much meat for one family to store and it is a<br />
large financial undertaking to purchase an animal<br />
that weighs 1300 pounds! Many 4-Her’s contact<br />
local businesses and companies that can handle<br />
the cost of purchasing a steer and can split the<br />
meat up with fellow employees.<br />
The WNY Food Bank has been a partner of<br />
Cameron Murray, Chester’s Gators and Taters, Joe Potillo,<br />
Jr., Potillo’s Sanitation and Immediate Past President,<br />
Jessica Underberg, Erie County Fair, Chase Gerhardt, proud<br />
4-Her, and his prize cow<br />
the Erie County Fair for over four years. The<br />
Food Bank distributes to 329 member agencies<br />
including food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters,<br />
and many youth and senior programs. They<br />
service four counties in WNY and on average<br />
assist 129,000 families a month; that number<br />
broken down means the food bank services<br />
44,000 families, 45,000 children, and 17,000<br />
seniors. Like most food banks, they rely on their<br />
communities for donations. Over half of the food<br />
WNY Food Bank distributes is donated from the<br />
community. For Joe Potillo, Jr. and his staff, this<br />
hit close to home and with their involvement in<br />
their local food pantry, this connection made<br />
sense. Their drive goes beyond making sense; it is<br />
all heart and passion for Joe and the community<br />
of Concessionaires that came alongside him<br />
in this idea. To leave a lasting impact on a<br />
community that is only their home for 12 days a<br />
year is simply amazing. This group of people not<br />
only invested in the local agriculture community<br />
but they invested in the lives of the communities<br />
in WNY.<br />
The Gerhardt family was humbled with the<br />
honor of being selected by the Concessionaires.<br />
The group then decided to give back to the local<br />
community and donated Chase’s 1296 pound<br />
steer to the WNY Food Bank. This junior livestock<br />
►► “Erie County Fair” continued on page 19<br />
16 <strong>November</strong> <strong>2016</strong> <strong>NICA</strong> <strong>News</strong>
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