SHERBURNE – After months of searching for a suitable candidate, Friends of Rogers has hired Simon Miller Solomon as the center’s executive director and he is wasting no time concocting different ways to breathe new life into the facility.
Solomon is returning to New York State after working for six years as the Sports Activities Supervisor for the City of Oxford, Ohio. Solomon and his wife, Karisha, are Chenango County natives and graduates of Sherburne-Earlville. After leaving S-E, Solomon went on to attend college at SUNY Brockport and SUNY Delhi, receiving degrees in Commercial Recreation and Natural Resource Management, before moving to Ohio. However, with a 19-month-old baby on board, the Solomons were interested in chartering a course back home to drop anchor. When the job at Rogers opened up, Simon immediately expressed an interest and before he knew it he was on a flight to NY for an interview.
Solomon is well equipped to deal with the challenges Rogers Center faces without state aid. As a Sports Activities Supervisor in Ohio, he was in charge of organizing athletic events for a population of 20,000 people and is familiar with the sort of outreach programs needed to keep Rogers afloat.
“We have a lot of goals we have to meet and need to work hard fund raising to bring in money to keep the lights on,” said Solomon.
Rogers is still maintaining all of its traditional annual events and will also be bring back the Animals of Halloween this year. New additions to the facility’s program list are also being added under Solomon’s stewardship, such as a summer camp where adults can drop off their kids for the day so they can learn about nature. Solomon is also already looking for ways to lure not only more children to Rogers, but also adults and seniors.
“There are going to be some charges for events, which is new,” he said. “But we are going to do our best to keep the costs down to just cover our expenses. We are faced with an uphill battle, but we will succeed over time,” Solomon continued, adding that Rogers will be looking to the community and corporate sponsors to attain the aforementioned success.
Although the center is no longer receiving direct funding from the state, a close relationship remains between the facility and the DEC stationed at Rogers as well as the state-funded educator and interns on-site.
With Solomon at the helm, Rogers will be making more efforts to get out into the community as well as a determined push to expand not just locally, but also to draw people in from further away through better marketing.
“There is a lot of state land around, but few places where people can go to get guided tours and human interactions,” he said.
Currently Rogers is open Thursday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Staff are in the office from Monday to Friday and anyone interested in checking out the center’s bookstore then are more than welcome to.
Solomon is also open to ideas from the public and wants to know what people would like to see at the facility.
For more information or to make a donation, visit friendsofrogers.org or call 674-4733.