Community Fair puts service in motion

By Phyllis Lehrer
Staff Writer

Published on May 09, 2008

Community is a commonly used word for Steve Kravetz, president of the Amherst Rotary Club.

"If you don't give back to the community, the community won't give back to you," he said during a recent conversation at the Center for Extended Care in Amherst, where he is the CEO and treasurer of the business his parents founded 40 years ago.

One of the biggest Rotary givebacks is the annual Community Fair that started Thursday and continues today and Saturday on the Town Common. "We will have 70 shifts, and there will be about 50 Rotarians there the whole weekend," said Kravetz. Rotary member Pete Scoon is in charge of the overall fair while Lloyd Henley in is charge of the food tent, where burgers, hot dogs, fries and all the fixings will be found.

The fair was open from 4 to 10 p.m. on Thursday, and will be open from 2 to 10 p.m. on Friday, and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday. Admission is free, but there is a fee for the Fanelli Amusement Co. rides and booths by local community organizations raising funds, such as the Pelham Lions Club and Amherst Regional High School Senior Splash.

The fair is one of several events Rotary holds to raise the $25,000 to $30,000 that it distributes to the community. Each year Rotary contributes to the Amherst Survival Center, the Amherst Family Center, Not Bread Alone and Family Outreach of Amherst; supports local baseball, hockey and football teams; and gives scholarships to Amherst, Belchertown and Hadley high school seniors. The club also hosts a holiday party for Family Outreach clients, providing gifts for 80 children and gift certificates to local supermarkets for families.

Beautifying the community is another ongoing Rotary project. The club is responsible for Sweetser Park and donated 15 trees to the town. Rotary also donates teddy bears to the Fire Department to give to children and gave the department a rescue sled.

"Sometimes people don't know what Rotary does," said Kravetz, who served on the Rotary's Speakers and Giving committees.

Rotary helps the global community, as well, with its Polio Plus program to inoculate children to prevent the disease and with water projects in the Sub Sahara. A major project is in Pskov, Russia, that began six years ago. The club supports a health clinic to deal with heart disease, diabetes and reproduction education. The club is partnering with the Plymouth Rotary to apply for a $300,000 Rotary International Grant for the clinic.

Kravetz joined the Rotary in 1994, the result of a newspaper piece about noted residents. "It was strange not to have any of us in it. Someone needed to be community minded. Gary Whitlock (a late Rotarian) said one way to meet people was at the Rotary Club." It worked. "I got to meet people, to get to know them talking over lunch," he said.

The membership served as a springboard to becoming involved with other community organizations, including the Greenfield Community College Foundation Board, the Holyoke Geriatric Authority, the Pathfinder Regional Health Care Advisory Committee, the Work Opportunity Center Board, the Franklin Hampshire Regional Employment Board and the Massachusetts Extended Care Federation.

Kravetz has a degree from Johnson and Wales and from the University of Massachusetts Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management. Before he joined the family business in 1991, he worked in the food service industry specializing in opening restaurants. "I would create the menu, and wine list. I got the opportunity to experiment with plates, silver, props," said Kravetz, who lives in Holyoke with his wife, Michele, their three children and dog.

As for Rotary, it is celebrating six members who have reached the 40-year milestone: D.H. Jones, Bob Shumway, Allen Torrey, Ray Wyman, Stan Ziomek and the late Duncan Fraser.

Rotary has new initiative, Rotoract, "like a Junior Rotary" at UMass, with 20 members already enrolled. The club also has a new fundraiser, an auction that will be televised on ACTV over two nights in the fall. "We borrowed the idea from Plymouth where they raised $60,000 to $80,000. If we can raise half that, it means we can double our contribution to the community," he said.