“If you want to get something done, ask a busy person.” Variants on that nugget of folk wisdom have been around since at least the mid-19th century, but even today, we probably all know people who fit the bill. Plenty of charitable organizations are fueled by the energies of folks who have found success in life and now feel the urge to give back to their communities. But when most of the work over a protracted period falls on a small handful of the most reliable volunteers, the result can be burnout.
The way the New Paltz Rotary Club avoids this potential problem is by cycling responsibilities among its members frequently. A motivated individual might stick to a favorite committee for a long time, but a new person serves as president of the organization every year. On July 1, at the same time that the new president is inducted, another member is chosen as “president-elect,” and will spend the next year as a sort of apprentice, learning the ropes in preparation for taking the reins the following year. Earlier this month, 2022 president Stephanie Blaisdell passed the baton to a well-known local philanthropist and busy volunteer, Cathy Sifre, while Geraldine Kelly will be waiting in the wings to take over in 2024.
Many Paltzonians will find the Sifre surname familiar: Cathy’s husband George, along with his brother Rick Sifre, have been running Seakill Custom Home Builders for nearly half a century now. The couple were introduced by a co-worker while Cathy – who grew up in Bridgewater, New Jersey and got her degree in Communications from the University of Delaware – was in the midst of a high-powered advertising career in New York City. “He was building a house in New Paltz for a woman I was working with at Young & Rubicam,” Cathy recalls. “She said, ‘I want you to meet my builder.’ The rest is history.”
Cathy moved with George to raise a family upstate, and soon was channeling her marketing skills into fundraising for a variety of not-for-profits. She has been involved since 2003 with the Hudson Valley chapter of the Make-a-Wish Foundation, including six years on the Board of Directors and two years as president. She was a board member at St. John Bosco Child & Family Services from 2002 to 2021, the last decade of that stint as president. In 2007 she became one of the founders of Carve for a Cause, which organizes an annual pumpkin-carving contest to raise funds for a different not-for-profit each year that “strive[s] to fulfill the basic unmet needs of families and children in Ulster County.”
Sifre has also played leadership roles in the New Paltz Athletic Association, the PTA and other community organizations, while also making grants directly to favorite causes via the George and Catherine Sifre Family Fund. From 2010 to 2020 she was a board member of the Chamber of Commerce Foundation at New Paltz, a scholarship-granting arm of the New Paltz Chamber of Commerce until the Chamber’s recent demise. “We decided to take it to Rotary,” she explains. “By combining forces, we were able to expand it. We’ve done it with Rotary for two years now.”
“Expand it” is putting it mildly. The New Paltz Rotary Club’s website touts the completion of “a year of epic fundraising for our 2023 Scholarship Fund. Through the generous donations of Hudson Valley residents, community members, local businesses and philanthropists, we are proud to introduce a large variety of new scholarship offerings for students in the New Paltz community.” In all, five new $1,000 scholarships and four more of $500 each have been added to the Rotary’s annual scholarship program.
The past year has also seen the resumption of several Rotary Club programs that were either put on hiatus or conducted virtually during the pandemic. The Touch-a-Truck and Fishing Derby events are back, for example. And the New Paltz Rotary’s single biggest annual fundraiser, the Win a Bundle 50/50 raffle, will return to Novella’s on November 3. “It’s our first year after COVID of doing it live in person. We’re excited about that. The community really enjoys that event,” says Sifre. “We only sell 300 tickets, at $100 apiece. They’ll probably go on sale the end of August. And we always sell out.” The top prize in the drawing is $10,000.
Each incoming New Paltz Rotary president is expected to choose a “theme” or pet project to emphasize – one where real progress can be demonstrated within the short span of a one-year term of office. Since becoming a member five years ago, Sifre has been most engaged with the Backpack Program, which provides weekend food for nutritionally at-risk local schoolchildren via a collaboration with the New Paltz Central School District. Using funds raised through a variety of events, the Rotary fills dozens of backpacks with food purchased from the Food Bank of the Hudson Valley and sends them home on a weekly basis with students identified by District social workers as being in need.
That program has been in growth mode as well, now serving about 70 students, and Sifre wants to take it to the next level in the 2023/24 school year. “We’ve doubled the numbers,” she says. “I’m hoping to put something special in there, maybe once a month. Maybe we can provide the kids with snacks during the day. We’re also looking into hygiene products. We’ll need to have some fundraisers.” Luckily, raising money for charitable causes is something Cathy Sifre seriously knows how to do.
To learn more about New Paltz Rotary Club programs, how to donate, become a member or purchase Win a Bundle raffle tickets, visit www.newpaltzrotary.org.
Join the family! 
