Diehl is champion of Grand Island service clubs

By Karen Carr Keefe

Senior Contributing Writer

Council member Rhonda Diehl has taken a proactive stance in putting Grand Island service clubs on the same page – but not in the same spot on the calendar page!

She created the Grand Island Service Coalition as both a steering committee to coordinate events and a group whose shared community service goals could be strengthened by cooperation.

“I wanted a place where people knew what organizations we have here and where they could connect in. Because people go, ‘Rhonda, where can I get involved?’ ” she said. “There was no singular place where you could say, ‘What are our service organizations. What’s Rotary’s focus? What’s Zonta’s focus?’ ”

The coalition will compile contact information, and the town’s Economic Development Advisory Board has been working on an online community calendar.

Elected last November to a four-year term as a Grand Island Town Board member, Diehl is full of energy and ideas. And organization is definitely her strong suit. Previously, Diehl was administrative assistant to the town supervisor.

Service clubs represented include the Chamber of Commerce, Zonta, Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions, Grand Island Nature Alliance, the Charles N. DeGlopper Memorial VFW Post 9249, the Neighbors Foundation and the Grand Island Cultural Center.

One recent activity the coalition participated in was helping the Grand Island Cultural Center – formerly Old St. Stephen Church – to clean and prepare its upstairs Old Church Theatre for a concert by rock group Strictly Hip on Saturday, May 16.

A unified community calendar

Rotary President Faye Teluk said she knows it could be a problem when there’s a Rotary-Salvation Army food distribution on the third Thursday of the month at the Town Hall parking lot, but another service club may have scheduled an event for the same day and time.

Diehl anticipated such inadvertent clashes and thought it was time to create a unified calendar. That way, all service organizations could put their plans out there well in advance to ensure there weren’t any schedule conflicts.

The logo she designed for the coalition says it succinctly: “Uniting service, strengthening community.”

National Night Out: A template for unity

“I’m a big community person,” Diehl said. “I think that we have too much division in our world and I think we need to start finding common ground and uniting.”

Last year, she chaired Grand Island’s National Out, held nationwide on the first Tuesday in August.

“I wanted to bring everybody in more,” Diehl said. “So, we expanded it so businesses were invited – and especially the mom-and-pop businesses.” Also included: pop-up stands for bakers, candle makers and food vendors.

During her campaign for political office, she said she met people who volunteered to give of their time and talent to help the community.

“During this National Night Out, I thought, if the (town government’s) advisory boards were here – most people don’t know we have those – then people kind of get a feel for what the town offers, where they can get involved – and the response was really good for it,” Diehl said.

At the event, she said, “The combination of our first responders, local organizations, advisory boards and businesses brought a uniqueness to Grand Island that offered something for everyone. The sense of community and relationship building is what National Night Out represents and, in my opinion, that mission was accomplished.”

It was just a hop, skip and jump for her to bring the community concept to the Grand Island Service Coalition.

The logo for the Grand Island Service Coalition.

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Service clubs working together

The new coalition has met several times and is making plans and learning from each other.

Zonta Club of Grand Island President Heidi Travagline said, “For us at Zonta, we recognize the benefits of co-collaboration and working together for the common good of our community!

“The coalition presents an engaging atmosphere where we can share upcoming events, group needs and discuss the services we provide.

“As a coalition, the resonating theme persists: ‘How can we best support one another in serving the residents of Grand Island?’ and that is a good place to be!”

Teluk, of the Rotary, said of the various clubs in the coalition, “We’re all so busy, and we all need more members. We kind of help each other out. And also, when we schedule functions, we can make certain that there’s not something else going on. We have to worry about the school calendar.

“We just, two weeks ago, had a meat raffle, and there was one going on at the firehall, which we didn’t realize. We may have taken customers from them, and they may have taken customers from us, so it’s better if we stretch them out.

“I did have a suggestion. I had spoken to one of the local real estate agents and I said, ‘Do you give information to your people who are moving on to the Island?’ ”

She told Teluk that she put together information about garbage pickup days and other similar useful facts.

 “I had suggested that we make a one-page, and each of us do a QR code that will link to our website, so that someone newly in from North Carolina who was in Rotary could realize that there is Rotary – or any of the other service clubs,” Teluk said. “We had two groups that deal with human trafficking come in to the Buffalo Launch Club, and we invited all the service clubs – Kiwanis, Zonta and the Lions to come and listen” to the presentation. “We do enjoy collaborating.”

Teluk said several years ago four service groups – again Zonta, Kiwanis, Lions and Rotary – decided to hold their scholarship presentations at the same time and place. She added, “The VFW does great things – there are so many (service clubs) that do such great things,”

 “The Lions Club helped us during our paint collection. And Rotary has gone over for their picnic,” held in the summer, at the Buffalo Launch Club, for disadvantaged children. “We help each other out.”

Diehl said members in the Grand Island Service Coalition find it easy to work collaboratively. The idea for the group came to her while having coffee with a friend. She set up a meeting and sent out an email.

“The first night, they were ready. So, I’m not shocked, because that’s groups of doers,” she said. “We need to keep the pipeline of the next generation, to step forward in service while there’s someone there to lead by example.”