Sold On Buffalo

Joni Stovroff (left) and Jacque Taylor, principals of two of the fastest growing WNY companies.

By Brendan J. Cunningham

A lot of people may say they are sold on Buffalo, but there is one company that is putting its money where its mouth is. Anyone that has lived here for a few years will probably have heard of the name Stovroff.  Joni Stovroff, together with her partner Jacque Taylor are owners of two of the fastest growing Western New York companies the last three years in a row, one of them a Real Estate company, the other a travel agency.  Both of them bear the moniker of Stovroff & Taylor.  In January of 2012 they rolled out their newest program, appropriately called “SOLD on Buffalo.”

Paradoxically, neither Joni nor Jacque is from Buffalo yet both chose to make their homes here.  “We love it here: the theater, the awesome and affordable restaurants, the 20 minute average commuting time, the Bills, 

the Sabres,  the Bisons, the Bandits, and the fact that we have probably the best and most affordable housing stock in the nation.  It’s just a great town.  From the Delaware District, to Depew, from Allentown to East Aurora, from Snyder to Swormsville, Buffalo and its surrounding area is just the coolest place to live anywhere. We are SOLD on Buffalo.”

      Having said that, one of the biggest challenges HR managers, employers, and relocation departments face is not so much getting people to take the job; it is convincing them that taking the job in Buffalo is not some cruel form of punishment or a bad joke.  Many of you have heard former Bills say they blanched when they heard that they actually might have to live in Buffalo only to hear them change their tunes after they lived here for a while.  The list of happy émigrés is extensive and so many professionals     eagerly decided to stay here and plant roots, long after their careers ended because they liked the Buffalo lifestyle so much.  That’s where this new program comes in.

Members of the Stovroff Taylor "Sold on Buffalo" relocation team: Left to Right Brendan Cunningham, Joni Stovroff, Mia Banazak, Joe Genevese, Carol Esposito and Jacque Taylor.     The “SOLD on Buffalo” program is designed to do two things.  First, it greatly allays employers’ concerns that their would-be employees will get the proper introduction to our town so they get sold on the area, before they decide not to take a position.  The bad publicity about the area and weather need to be put to  rest.  And no, it really doesn’t snow here in July and August.  To that end, Stovroff & Taylor Realtors have assembled a special team of agents who are sold on Buffalo themselves.  Agents work with incoming out of towners and in effect, become Buffalo best good will ambassadors. The second part of the program is to give an extra something back to the community.  For each home sold through the program, a portion of the firm’s professional fee will either be directed to the “Buffalo in Bloom” project—an organization dedicated to beautifying the city through gardens or to a charity of the employers choosing.  It’s a good thing no matter how you cut it and numerous business owners have jumped on this value added service in an effort to build their organizations and attract the best talent to their teams.

     As one would expect, this won’t be the first time Joni Stovroff (Business First Woman of the Year in 2010) will be caught making WNY an even better place to live. Quite to the contrary, she was also recognized for her beautification project in 2009 by the Chamber of Commerce in Orchard Park for her work in revitalizing and improving what is now known as the Stovroff Center on North Buffalo Rd.  As a result of her commitment and continuing investment to the place she calls home, it has become one of the busiest plazas in the entire town and attracted several new and exciting businesses.  What can I tell you, “I’m sold on Buffalo and all of its other communities.”!

Di Camillo Bakery

Back in 1920 one married couple, Tomaso and Addolorata Di Camillo, took the warmth and love from their Italian kitchen and generously offered it to the residents of the Niagara Falls and Buffalo regions. They opened their first bakery on 14^th street in Niagara Falls with their 11 children, who were all willing to lend helping hands. While some families bond over music or sports—this family bonded over food.

“It started in a three story commercial building,” said Michael Di Camillo, grandson of Tomas and Addolorata. “The store was on the first floor, the bakery was in the cellar and they lived on the third floor. The building is still standing.”

Michael, who currently works in the bakery, continues the tradition of making their famous Italian bread and cookies, along with a wide variety of other savory treats that were once delivered to neighbors by horse-drawn wagons and are now sent to customers all over the world.

“I think there’s like four leading items, but the main one is the Italian breads that we make, which are the Scaletta breads,” said Michael. “Our Biscotti we ship all over the world. Locally in the retail stores certainly our peanut donuts and Romano pizza are popular too.”

The Scaletta bread is a handmade loaf that is also referred to as Italian “curly bread.” This hearty bread is crusty on the outside and soft on the inside. It can only be shipped out on Mondays and Tuesdays to ensure freshness, which is one aspect they go to great lengths to guarantee. Their Scaletta breads range from $2.65 for a small loaf to $4.65 for a large loaf.

JoAnn “Distefano” Blatner has been an employee at Di Camillo Bakery at the Williamsville location for two years.

“I love working here,” said Blatner. “The customers are great and a lot of fun.”

Blatner says not only does the bakery carry traditional Italian bread, but they also pay homage to other heritages, as they are stocked with a wide variety of unique breads, such as the Placek, which is a Polish type of bread, Irish Sweet bread and Armenian bread. In addition they also sell cracked wheat bread, whole bread, rye bread, home-style bread and round bread.

At Christmas time the bakery also sells their seasonal Panettone bread, which they wrap in festive shiny red paper topped with a bow to celebrate the holiday season.

“Panettone is an Italian type of sweet bread and ours are brought right in from Italy,” said Blatner. “They tend to sell out very quickly. It has a baked almond crust on top. It’s delicious just on its own, toasted and some people buy it to make French toast. There are fruits in it and again it’s very traditional Italian.”

The specialty desserts at Di Camillo look just as delicious as they taste and are made to perfection, while remaining reasonable in price. 

“As far as the pastries my favorite would be the Napoleon,” said Blatner. “There are two different types of cream in it, then it’s topped with chocolate, so it’s pretty much perfect.”

Other treats on the menu to satisfy any sweet tooth include the éclair, cannoli, tiramisu, custard puff, Napoleon, ladylock, chocolate fudge tart, walnut butter tart and mini Cassatta cake. These desserts range from $1.10 being the cheapest for the custard puff and $4.99 for the mini-Cassatta cake, being the most expensive.

     Along with these desserts they also sell doughnuts, which include the peanut stix, chocolate iced custard, chocolate iced cream, iced jelly, cinnamon glazed, glazed rings, iced lemon, plain stix, glazed stix and maple iced apple. These can be ordered for $1.10 each, $6.30 for half a dozen, or $9.50 for a dozen. 

There is also a selection of cookies to choose from as well, such as sugar (or otherwise known as Pizelle), peanut butter, Chinese butter and chocolate chip, which can be ordered for $1.10 each, $5.80 for half a dozen, or $8.50 for a dozen.

 “We serve soups, sandwiches and pizza every day,” said Blatner. “Our busiest times are between the hours of 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and then it picks up again when people are coming home from work.”

At the Williamsville location there is a comfortable seating area for those who stop by for lunch. Like all the other traditional Italian food they make, their Sicilian pizza is prepared the old-fashioned way, sprinkled with Romano cheese. They also have other pizza options like the broccoli and cheese pizza. The pizza ranges from $1.90 to $2.50 a slice. Their enticing sandwich options include the turkey club, turkey and cheddar with roasted red peppers, pepper salami with turkey and provolone and capicola with provolone and pesto, which range in price from $5.50 to $6.50. 

“They’ve remained true to a very Italian product line and I think their strength is in that,” said Blatner. “People know this is a place to come for Italian bread and Italian pizzelles. The traditional Italian, the memories people have of the past. I mean not a day goes by where I don’t hear, ‘My grandmother used to make that,’ or ‘We drove from Washington to get this pizza.’”

     Di Camillo provides our community with a place for families to come from near and from far and wide to enjoy their substantial selection and traditional Italian food that brings back the memories people have of their own grandmother’s kitchen!

Kawelle

An Interview with Co-Founder and Director of Kawelle, Dan Corrigan. Kawelle serves children in Africa with school supplies and other needed resources.

Why Africa? What stirred your heart to start a non-profit supporting education overseas?

First, as a teacher by trade education is a passion of mine and I have become well aware of how a focus in education can change lives and make dreams of students come true. It wasn't until college that I realized how fortunate I was growing up to receive a free public education that would allow me to pursue any avenue I chose. It’s something most students here in the states take for granted by wanting days off, enjoying days where a substitute teacher may just show a video, or by putting forth limited effort to just get by. I was inspired through many texts which described the educational systems overseas and how they very much differed from what I was used to. My growing knowledge of various oversea educational systems grew further when I met my wife, Jaclyn, who spent many months volunteering in Liberia as a dental hygienist. She met numerous young people and become a part of the community while she was there. She told me stories and showed me pictures of the lives of the youth in Liberia and the in-adequate educational system where students have no supplies and resources to attend schools, and where in many rural areas there is no school to even attend. The need is much greater in the areas we serve and our passion for Africa stems from that.

The second area of focus, Kisumu Kenya, came through discussions with Future in Our Hands (FOH) which helps to support teachers at Kanyamedha Mixed Secondary school in Kisumu Kenya since the teachers there receive no salary; only that which the non-profit FOH donates. As we began planning the trip, FOH arranged for us to stay with a teacher they sponsor named Paul. We began speaking with Paul about what we could do at the school once we arrived. We never took the missions trip with FOH, because we soon realized that Paul and Kanyamedha Mixed Secondary school was in much need for something greater than just two people looking for a missions trip; they needed school supplies and professional development that could be investments for the   future of their students. We saw a community with leaders who would take hold of and pursue their missions to succeed, but they needed help.

     We decided that we needed to do something for these two communities and soon asked friends of ours, Courtney McCann and Yan Shmatnik, if they would volunteer in adopting a mission to help bring the dreams of these students to fruition, thus starting Kawelle. Both are extremely talented, humble, and passionate individuals. Yan does web and graphic design through his business, Klyk Studios and offered to create the web appeal of Kawelle. Courtney aids with her resilient attitude, willingness to make a difference, extremely creative ideas, and as Kawelle's sole grant writer.

Your working on sending your first container of supplies, what do you hope it accomplishes and where specifically is it going?

The supplies will be going to both the school in Bong County Liberia and the school in Kisumu Kenya. They will provide students the ability to receive a better, more profitable education. Their imaginations will be put to work through the novels they receive. The expansion of knowledge on topics they never heard of will be gained from the textbooks they receive. They will be able to study what they have learned due to being able to take books home with backpacks and the reviewing of notes they took using pencils and paper.

What else is on your heart to do through Kawelle?

Never will Kawelle be an organization that thinks we know what is best for the communities we serve. These communities already have the answers to their problems yet lack the resources to act. Kawelle's  mission is focused around empowering those communities, helping them to become self-sufficient, and aiding in getting the resources to them they need. Our mission is simply the dreams and aspirations that already exist within the students of these communities.

How can people get involved?

People can get involved through any number of ways:

1) Pray

2) Spread the word by educating others about the need that exists within these communities. Doing this first will then help people to want to get more involved with any of the suggestions below.

3) Hold a Kawelle fundraiser such as a gift basket auction, garage sale, office gathering, benefit dinner, etc.

4) Organize clubs in your school, child's school, or college that support Kawelle with educating, fundraising, and supply collecting. Service clubs can be a huge help.

5) Attend our events. We hold a few events a year that we hope are family fun and enjoyable for all who attend. Attendance at these events helps raise awareness and funds for Kawelle.

6) Donate any denomination to Kawelle through our website. We are 100% volunteer with no staff and all donations go strictly towards our cause.

Where do you see the organization in five years?

We hope to have regular donors and partnerships, sponsorships and scholarships for students, have the teachers receiving our professional development become the trainers themselves for newer teachers, and create a holistic school in each community by creating sports programs and youth development programs.!