PROGRESS 2021 – Rogers Education Center: Dedicated to staying open for the community
The winner of the Rogers Center Tesla raffle was Virginia Huerfeld, she picked up her new electric car in October with her son Christan Grieco, presented by Rogers Executive Director Simon Solomon.
The Friends of Rogers is a nonprofit organization that relies on local community support, financial donations and volunteers.
With much of their school programs and events canceled, donations and federal relief help keep the organization afloat in 2020, as it kept the property open during the pandemic and even saw an increase in visitors.
“There was absolutely no way we could shutter our staff, shut our doors, go home and wait for this to be over and come back and think it’s going to be brighter on the other end,” said Rogers Executive Director Simon Solomon.
“So being relevant, to be there for the community, to write knowledge on our natural environment, to allow our community to retain their memories from coming to the Rogers Center as kids and now they’re grandparents coming to Rogers and bringing their grandchildren. So, we just want to be able to be here for the community the entire time, and I really want people to come out to the Rogers Center and just check it out.”
The center operates with only two full-time employees right now and two part-time staff. There are also about four or five temporary positions that are grant-funded interns and staff.
The Rogers Center started as a game farm in the early 1900s, and the game farm transitioned into an environmental center in 1967. In 2011 it transitioned into a not-for-profit when the state halted funding. Now it is a community based nonprofit organization called the Friends of Rogers.
Rogers has six miles of hiking trails and 600 acres of land and is located just outside the village of Sherburne on State Highway 80. They are open 365 days a year from dawn to dusk.
Typically, the group’s operating budget is somewhere between $250,000 and $300,000 annually.
The center was in the process reviewing possible changes in staff and other programs when COVID hit, meaning it was in a good position to adapt.
“Prior to COVID we were working on some of our education staffing and looking to go in a different direction. So coincidentally we had gone a different direction with some of our education staff and then COVID struck. So, in a way it was a blessing in disguise because we didn’t have to let anyone go due to COVID. We took a strategic direction in the spring of last year to revamp our environmental education initiative, and once COVID struck, at that point we were not forced to let any of our staff go,” said Solomon.
Federal relief made a big difference
The federal government’s Payroll Protection Program, or PPP, helped the center deal with the direct impact of the pandemic.
“It helped us keep our head above water this past year,” he said. “In addition, all of our local community foundation support has been top notch. I began in 2013, and I know they had funded the Rogers Center slightly in prior years, but our local foundations that are based out of Norwich and out of Chenango County in general, those grants and local foundation support has been a huge help to the Rogers Center to continue to stay afloat not only this year, but in years prior,” Solomon said.
The Friends of Rogers was strategic with investments a number of decades ago involving their support board for the New York State DEC. Those long-term plans have always helped the center deal with irregular years or unforeseen impacts to funding and it has also helped during COVID.
“Initially it was called the Mid York Conservation Fund. They changed their name in 1994 to Friends of Rogers. Prior to that, in the early 90s they had saved away little bits of money just for hit or miss events, maybe some program supplies, to offset DEC funding that could have helped justify the expense. So, there’s a little bit of a nest egg, but it’s a small nesting,” said Solomon. “If we’re going to have a deficit year, then we budget for a deficit year and we’re strategic about how we’re going to make it up. We want to be true to ourselves.”
The Rogers Center 2020 just about broke even, in terms of funding, in 2020 and 2019.
The federal PPP funding essentially offset the funding shortfall from the cancelation of the center’s summer camp program and school attendances.
A lot of the same challenges Rogers faced in 2020 persist in 2021. Somethings that have been impacted the most are educational programming and visits by school groups. Many events were slimmed down or canceled, such as the Winter Living Celebration, which was unable to offer horse-drawn sleigh rides.
The Rogers Center summer camp was canceled in 2020 but organizers hope that at least a reduced program might be offered in this year.
“Unfortunately, a lot of our programming is restricted to a certain number count, so right now we can have a maximum of 10 in attendance. We like to do summer camp, and we normally have 40 or 50 kids running around the property from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. every day. Doing that again is unlikely this coming summer, but we’ll just have to see what happens with the vaccine and what opens up. We’d like to do something, maybe a Monday, Wednesday, Friday type summer camp, from like 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. We’re still working things out,” he said.
“The biggest change that we’re going to see in 2021 is that we know the school kids are not going to be here necessarily. So, we have prerecorded all of our school programs and set them up on YouTube. They’re in restricted mode now, but if there are any school teachers or environmental science educators that are interested in seeing any of our programs, we’re happy to facilitate those out to the school groups.”
The Rogers Center is better prepared for 2021.
“We had a full operating budget prior to COVID in 2020 and then COVID struck and I had to slash and start redoing my budget. So, for 2021, we went in strategically prepared and so far, so good. I’m feeling upbeat. We’ve been doing this now for nine or ten years, and we’re really seeing a ramp up in the support that we’re receiving from the community, and that’s what we need,” said Solomon.
“We’re relying on the community. We don’t have a nest egg. So, are we financially stable? Every year is just - we hope for the best and we do the best that we can. And so far, we’ve ended up on the other side, we’re not in the hole. We’re a pretty nimble organization.”
A lack of reliable internet has been ongoing challenge for Rogers and many in our area, they also hoped county government will share more information with the public and reach out to the center for feedback.
“I know many people still struggle with that. We just so happened to be on a cable line. If we weren’t on cable, we’d be complaining about it still,” he said of internet access.
“I have not had too many conversations with local governments, except of course our local mayor and some individuals from Chenango County, but it would be great if local governments just wanted to proactively reach out to the organization. Let’s collectively think outside of the box together.”
New challenges and new focus
The center adapted to the changes the pandemic caused and shifted focus to things it could work on, allowing staff more time to focus on acquiring grants, rebranding and developing fundraising initiatives.
“COVID threw a wrench into a lot of our focus, but for many of our directives for 2020 we continued down the path as best we could,” said Solomon.
In 2019 The Rogers Center applied for and, in 2020 they received a $36,000 grant from New York State Parks and Trails for educational and interactive exhibit initiatives inside their visitor center.
“Now, $36,000 is nothing to sneeze about - unfortunately, it doesn’t go towards daily operations support. It’s restricted towards exhibit upgrades inside the Visitor Center, which I think everyone can say is kind of a needed thing at this point,” he said.
The center will soon announce a rebranding initiative it completed in 2020.
“We were looking to rebrand our organization The Friends of Rogers, the Rogers Center,” said Solomon.
“We finished our rebrand halfway through 2020, and we will soon be unveiling that out to the community. With COVID it’s weird because it gave us the opportunity to redirect some of our focus.”
The center held a popular electric car raffle in in 2020, selling fundraising tickets and giving away a Tesla Model S.
Despite COVID the number of people coming to the Rogers Center increased in 2020, with an uptick in attendance. About 20,000 visitors traveled to the center in 2020 an increase from 2019 that had an estimated 17,500 visitors.
“Although we haven’t had one-on-one programming as much, the property itself is doing very well. People are at home, they don’t know what to do with themselves, but they’re able to go to a park setting as long as they socially distance and that’s what we’re seeing people do. The fish feeders are off the charts this year with the amount of fish food that was fed to the fish. And that’s why we’re here. That’s what we feel, that we’re an opportunity for people to get solace when they here at the Rogers Center,” said Solomon.
Like the rebranding of the Rogers Center many of the group’s 2020 initiatives are being continued into 2021. Events such as the sugar and maple syrup operation will continue in partnership with Heartwood Maple in Sherburne.
At the Rogers Center more than 700 taps are installed on about 350 to 400 trees for maple syrup production. The process is done in a way not to harm the trees, with some of them having been tapped for 50-plus years.
“Heartwood has been instrumental in that assistance with us. They help us boil it down, and then we work out a percentage of who gets what, but the community seems to really love the maple syrup product that we’ve been producing here. And who doesn’t want to walk away with something that says ‘Rogers Center’ on it? So, we’re going to continue to do that,” said Solomon.
New York State has an initiative to help the center invest in updating the visitor center in 2021 as well, beginning in March or April. The upgrade will close the center into the early summer months.
The project plans to install new restrooms on the center’s lower floor, expand classroom space upstairs, and will likely install an elevator, for better access for those with disabilities.
Currently the center is not actually open to the public on a day-to-day basis, but those attending schedule programs can enter come into the building.
“We did a Black Friday maple syrup sale the day after Thanksgiving, which was a success. I’d say we had about 100 people coming in and out of the center that day. We’ve been renting cross-country skis and snowshoes out to the public as well. We’re requesting that the community or individuals who are interested either email myself, or my development staff and then we will set them up with what they need,” advised Solomon.
Asked if Rogers has adapted to the pandemic Solomon responded, “Anyone heard of the group called Zoom? I didn’t even know what that was a year ago.”
“Zoom has really come in to play and it has just been a huge asset. I think Zoom is going to be here for the long haul, even after COVID.”
The Friends group is in its 11th year of operation, and the group was formed to keep the Rogers Center open after the state tried to close it.
“We’re a nimble organization. Back in 2010, 2011 the board was faced with a lot of adversity when the state closed the Rogers Center.”
Initially the group had a shoestring budget back and knows how to make the best of limited resources.
“We focused a lot of time and efforts on property enhancements here because we couldn’t do some of the things that we’ve done before. Funding is still a concern for sure, but we haven’t missed a beat,” said Solomon.
Stable and optimistic or 2021
“I try to be optimistic, so that’s what I’m going to say. I think we’ll be in a better place. This year we knew what we were up against, and I think society as a whole will be in a better place,” said Solomon.
The center hopes school will return by the fall of 2021 and summer camp will be able to resume.
“Everyone knows what they’re doing now, you have to wear a mask to be safe in the public. So, if we can get past COVID, maybe we can de-mask and continue to do what we’ve done before, like our annual events and things like that. But as soon as COVID is over we’re right back to doing the things we’ve always done before, from the camp programs to kids’ programming.”
He, like many, hopes the vaccine will be a major turning point. He said the Rogers Center would continue to following masking and distancing guideline to help do its part to stop the spread. The current guidelines permitting only 10 people at events has been difficult.
“Of course, we’re going to need to have those attendance level thresholds increased a little bit from 10. I’d like to see at least a minimum of 50 people able to attend events come July. I totally expect to offer our annual free Family Fishing Day event on the property and I fully expect to offer some sort of boating program, possibly a day camp throughout the summer. These are just hopes and dreams of what we’d like to do in the next six months. You have to stay positive,” he said.
“We’ve learned that we can be a lean organization and that we’re agile,” said Solomon. “Ever since COVID came and everything was shuttered, the properties never shut down. The DEC allowed us to keep the property open the entire time with appropriate signage and socially distancing on property. So, we’ve learned that through thick and thin it looks at this point like the property will continue to be open from here on out.”
With much of their school programs and events canceled, donations and federal relief help keep the organization afloat in 2020, as it kept the property open during the pandemic and even saw an increase in visitors.
“There was absolutely no way we could shutter our staff, shut our doors, go home and wait for this to be over and come back and think it’s going to be brighter on the other end,” said Rogers Executive Director Simon Solomon.
“So being relevant, to be there for the community, to write knowledge on our natural environment, to allow our community to retain their memories from coming to the Rogers Center as kids and now they’re grandparents coming to Rogers and bringing their grandchildren. So, we just want to be able to be here for the community the entire time, and I really want people to come out to the Rogers Center and just check it out.”
The center operates with only two full-time employees right now and two part-time staff. There are also about four or five temporary positions that are grant-funded interns and staff.
The Rogers Center started as a game farm in the early 1900s, and the game farm transitioned into an environmental center in 1967. In 2011 it transitioned into a not-for-profit when the state halted funding. Now it is a community based nonprofit organization called the Friends of Rogers.
Rogers has six miles of hiking trails and 600 acres of land and is located just outside the village of Sherburne on State Highway 80. They are open 365 days a year from dawn to dusk.
Typically, the group’s operating budget is somewhere between $250,000 and $300,000 annually.
The center was in the process reviewing possible changes in staff and other programs when COVID hit, meaning it was in a good position to adapt.
“Prior to COVID we were working on some of our education staffing and looking to go in a different direction. So coincidentally we had gone a different direction with some of our education staff and then COVID struck. So, in a way it was a blessing in disguise because we didn’t have to let anyone go due to COVID. We took a strategic direction in the spring of last year to revamp our environmental education initiative, and once COVID struck, at that point we were not forced to let any of our staff go,” said Solomon.
Federal relief made a big difference
The federal government’s Payroll Protection Program, or PPP, helped the center deal with the direct impact of the pandemic.
“It helped us keep our head above water this past year,” he said. “In addition, all of our local community foundation support has been top notch. I began in 2013, and I know they had funded the Rogers Center slightly in prior years, but our local foundations that are based out of Norwich and out of Chenango County in general, those grants and local foundation support has been a huge help to the Rogers Center to continue to stay afloat not only this year, but in years prior,” Solomon said.
The Friends of Rogers was strategic with investments a number of decades ago involving their support board for the New York State DEC. Those long-term plans have always helped the center deal with irregular years or unforeseen impacts to funding and it has also helped during COVID.
“Initially it was called the Mid York Conservation Fund. They changed their name in 1994 to Friends of Rogers. Prior to that, in the early 90s they had saved away little bits of money just for hit or miss events, maybe some program supplies, to offset DEC funding that could have helped justify the expense. So, there’s a little bit of a nest egg, but it’s a small nesting,” said Solomon. “If we’re going to have a deficit year, then we budget for a deficit year and we’re strategic about how we’re going to make it up. We want to be true to ourselves.”
The Rogers Center 2020 just about broke even, in terms of funding, in 2020 and 2019.
The federal PPP funding essentially offset the funding shortfall from the cancelation of the center’s summer camp program and school attendances.
A lot of the same challenges Rogers faced in 2020 persist in 2021. Somethings that have been impacted the most are educational programming and visits by school groups. Many events were slimmed down or canceled, such as the Winter Living Celebration, which was unable to offer horse-drawn sleigh rides.
The Rogers Center summer camp was canceled in 2020 but organizers hope that at least a reduced program might be offered in this year.
“Unfortunately, a lot of our programming is restricted to a certain number count, so right now we can have a maximum of 10 in attendance. We like to do summer camp, and we normally have 40 or 50 kids running around the property from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. every day. Doing that again is unlikely this coming summer, but we’ll just have to see what happens with the vaccine and what opens up. We’d like to do something, maybe a Monday, Wednesday, Friday type summer camp, from like 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. We’re still working things out,” he said.
“The biggest change that we’re going to see in 2021 is that we know the school kids are not going to be here necessarily. So, we have prerecorded all of our school programs and set them up on YouTube. They’re in restricted mode now, but if there are any school teachers or environmental science educators that are interested in seeing any of our programs, we’re happy to facilitate those out to the school groups.”
The Rogers Center is better prepared for 2021.
“We had a full operating budget prior to COVID in 2020 and then COVID struck and I had to slash and start redoing my budget. So, for 2021, we went in strategically prepared and so far, so good. I’m feeling upbeat. We’ve been doing this now for nine or ten years, and we’re really seeing a ramp up in the support that we’re receiving from the community, and that’s what we need,” said Solomon.
“We’re relying on the community. We don’t have a nest egg. So, are we financially stable? Every year is just - we hope for the best and we do the best that we can. And so far, we’ve ended up on the other side, we’re not in the hole. We’re a pretty nimble organization.”
A lack of reliable internet has been ongoing challenge for Rogers and many in our area, they also hoped county government will share more information with the public and reach out to the center for feedback.
“I know many people still struggle with that. We just so happened to be on a cable line. If we weren’t on cable, we’d be complaining about it still,” he said of internet access.
“I have not had too many conversations with local governments, except of course our local mayor and some individuals from Chenango County, but it would be great if local governments just wanted to proactively reach out to the organization. Let’s collectively think outside of the box together.”
New challenges and new focus
The center adapted to the changes the pandemic caused and shifted focus to things it could work on, allowing staff more time to focus on acquiring grants, rebranding and developing fundraising initiatives.
“COVID threw a wrench into a lot of our focus, but for many of our directives for 2020 we continued down the path as best we could,” said Solomon.
In 2019 The Rogers Center applied for and, in 2020 they received a $36,000 grant from New York State Parks and Trails for educational and interactive exhibit initiatives inside their visitor center.
“Now, $36,000 is nothing to sneeze about - unfortunately, it doesn’t go towards daily operations support. It’s restricted towards exhibit upgrades inside the Visitor Center, which I think everyone can say is kind of a needed thing at this point,” he said.
The center will soon announce a rebranding initiative it completed in 2020.
“We were looking to rebrand our organization The Friends of Rogers, the Rogers Center,” said Solomon.
“We finished our rebrand halfway through 2020, and we will soon be unveiling that out to the community. With COVID it’s weird because it gave us the opportunity to redirect some of our focus.”
The center held a popular electric car raffle in in 2020, selling fundraising tickets and giving away a Tesla Model S.
Despite COVID the number of people coming to the Rogers Center increased in 2020, with an uptick in attendance. About 20,000 visitors traveled to the center in 2020 an increase from 2019 that had an estimated 17,500 visitors.
“Although we haven’t had one-on-one programming as much, the property itself is doing very well. People are at home, they don’t know what to do with themselves, but they’re able to go to a park setting as long as they socially distance and that’s what we’re seeing people do. The fish feeders are off the charts this year with the amount of fish food that was fed to the fish. And that’s why we’re here. That’s what we feel, that we’re an opportunity for people to get solace when they here at the Rogers Center,” said Solomon.
Like the rebranding of the Rogers Center many of the group’s 2020 initiatives are being continued into 2021. Events such as the sugar and maple syrup operation will continue in partnership with Heartwood Maple in Sherburne.
At the Rogers Center more than 700 taps are installed on about 350 to 400 trees for maple syrup production. The process is done in a way not to harm the trees, with some of them having been tapped for 50-plus years.
“Heartwood has been instrumental in that assistance with us. They help us boil it down, and then we work out a percentage of who gets what, but the community seems to really love the maple syrup product that we’ve been producing here. And who doesn’t want to walk away with something that says ‘Rogers Center’ on it? So, we’re going to continue to do that,” said Solomon.
New York State has an initiative to help the center invest in updating the visitor center in 2021 as well, beginning in March or April. The upgrade will close the center into the early summer months.
The project plans to install new restrooms on the center’s lower floor, expand classroom space upstairs, and will likely install an elevator, for better access for those with disabilities.
Currently the center is not actually open to the public on a day-to-day basis, but those attending schedule programs can enter come into the building.
“We did a Black Friday maple syrup sale the day after Thanksgiving, which was a success. I’d say we had about 100 people coming in and out of the center that day. We’ve been renting cross-country skis and snowshoes out to the public as well. We’re requesting that the community or individuals who are interested either email myself, or my development staff and then we will set them up with what they need,” advised Solomon.
Asked if Rogers has adapted to the pandemic Solomon responded, “Anyone heard of the group called Zoom? I didn’t even know what that was a year ago.”
“Zoom has really come in to play and it has just been a huge asset. I think Zoom is going to be here for the long haul, even after COVID.”
The Friends group is in its 11th year of operation, and the group was formed to keep the Rogers Center open after the state tried to close it.
“We’re a nimble organization. Back in 2010, 2011 the board was faced with a lot of adversity when the state closed the Rogers Center.”
Initially the group had a shoestring budget back and knows how to make the best of limited resources.
“We focused a lot of time and efforts on property enhancements here because we couldn’t do some of the things that we’ve done before. Funding is still a concern for sure, but we haven’t missed a beat,” said Solomon.
Stable and optimistic or 2021
“I try to be optimistic, so that’s what I’m going to say. I think we’ll be in a better place. This year we knew what we were up against, and I think society as a whole will be in a better place,” said Solomon.
The center hopes school will return by the fall of 2021 and summer camp will be able to resume.
“Everyone knows what they’re doing now, you have to wear a mask to be safe in the public. So, if we can get past COVID, maybe we can de-mask and continue to do what we’ve done before, like our annual events and things like that. But as soon as COVID is over we’re right back to doing the things we’ve always done before, from the camp programs to kids’ programming.”
He, like many, hopes the vaccine will be a major turning point. He said the Rogers Center would continue to following masking and distancing guideline to help do its part to stop the spread. The current guidelines permitting only 10 people at events has been difficult.
“Of course, we’re going to need to have those attendance level thresholds increased a little bit from 10. I’d like to see at least a minimum of 50 people able to attend events come July. I totally expect to offer our annual free Family Fishing Day event on the property and I fully expect to offer some sort of boating program, possibly a day camp throughout the summer. These are just hopes and dreams of what we’d like to do in the next six months. You have to stay positive,” he said.
“We’ve learned that we can be a lean organization and that we’re agile,” said Solomon. “Ever since COVID came and everything was shuttered, the properties never shut down. The DEC allowed us to keep the property open the entire time with appropriate signage and socially distancing on property. So, we’ve learned that through thick and thin it looks at this point like the property will continue to be open from here on out.”
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