East End Community Center Alive and Well

Reports of the demise of the East End Community Center are greatly exaggerated. At this writing, the Center is alive and well! In 2010, when a loss of grant funding forced the Center to close its doors at 46 Elm Street, many thought the Center’s days were over. Thanks to a gracious offer by the City of Cortland, the Center has now taken up residence at the old NYS Armory at 25 Wheeler Avenue in Cortland. While still working out logistics, the Center hopes to have three of its favorite programs up and running by this summer: Intro to Computers Class, the Indoor Walking Program and the Computer Repair Program.

Meanwhile, the Center is busy working on two fundraisers to assure that these and other programs can be sustained in the future. One fundraiser is the development of the 2011 History of Sports calendar. After a very enthusiastic community response to our 2010 calendar of the same name, the East End Center and the Cortland County Historical Society have decided to join forces once again to produce a calendar celebrating the community’s sports and recreational pursuits over a hundred year period.

We are asking for your help! If you have any photos that fit this theme from the approximate time period of 1870 to 1970 please contact the Cortland Youth Bureau at 753-3021 or the Historical Society at 756-6071. You can either make a copy of the original photo to bring to us, or we will make a copy of the original and return it to you. Please make sure to identify the people in the photo, note the date and any other pertinent information that would be of interest to the public. All proceeds from the calendar go to help both the Historical Society and the East End Center continue to bring historical programs and services to the Cortland community.

The second fundraiser is also a second edition project for the community center, our “Taste of Tradition II” cookbook. The first edition made its debut at the 2009 Great Pumpkin Fest and became an immediate hit, selling out within just a few months. Here is your chance to be a part of the second edition, but you’ll need to act fast! The deadline for all recipes is April 29th.

Send your favorite recipe to the Cortland City Youth Bureau by either faxing it to 753-3023 or mailing/dropping it off at 35 Port Watson Street in Cortland. If there is a story that goes with your recipe or a photo, please include these as well. The historical photos and stories are what make these cookbooks true community treasures.

For more information on the above projects, you call visit the East End Center’s web site at www.eastendcenter.org or call the Cortland City Youth Bureau at 753-3021. Your interest, involvement and support are greatly appreciated!

Cecile Scott is project director for the East End Community Center, and she can be reached at the Cortland City Youth Bureau, 753-3021, ext. 26.