Allegany/Nonprofits
Five Allegany-Limestone Graduates Awarded CRCF Scholarships
The Cattaraugus Region Community Foundation announced this week that five recent Allegany-Limestone Central School graduates received scholarships from funds it manages on behalf of local donors. Cadence Shoup was awarded the $2,500 Louis W. Ensworth Charitable Foundation Trust Scholarship, while Aubrey Luce and Colton Boser each received $600 through the Chipmonk Community Hall Scholarship for Allegany-Limestone graduates. Jaelyn Wojewoda-Ko and Paige Pecorella each received $500 through the Christine Conner Memorial Scholarship, a fund also shared with a graduating Oswayo Valley student. The awards are part of more than 100 scholarships CRCF distributes annually to college-bound seniors across the region.
Olean/Nonprofits
Olean Grad Domonick Hirliman Awarded Don Scholla Memorial Scholarship
The Cattaraugus Region Community Foundation announced this week that Olean High School graduate Domonick Hirliman has received the $1,000 Don Scholla Memorial Scholarship, one of more than 100 awards the foundation distributes annually to area students headed to college. The fund is one of dozens CRCF manages on behalf of donors to support local graduates pursuing higher education. The award adds to a string of CRCF scholarships announced this summer for Olean-area students. CRCF continues to accept new scholarship applications each year through its website for local seniors.
St. Bonaventure/Nonprofits
Leadership Allegany, Leadership Cattaraugus Set Aug. 20 Summit at St. Bonaventure
Leadership Allegany and Leadership Cattaraugus will co-host the 2026 Southern Tier Leadership Summit on Aug. 20 at St. Bonaventure University, continuing a partnership the two nonprofit leadership-development programs have run annually since 2013. The all-day event is expected to draw about 150 emerging leaders from area businesses, schools and nonprofits for keynotes and breakout sessions built around this year's theme of health and wellness in the workplace, including employee mental health, work-life balance and retention. Speaker Kate Welshofer will deliver the keynote address. Organizers describe the summit as a chance for professionals across the Southern Tier to build connections and pick up practical leadership tools.
Wellsville/Nonprofits
Wellsville Business and Professional Women Award Three $500 Scholarships
The Wellsville Business and Professional Women's club announced its 2026 scholarship recipients this week, awarding $500 each to three local honorees. Rebecca Maddox, a Wellsville resident and Volunteer Coordinator at the Hart Comfort House who is pursuing a master's degree in English literature and fiction publication, received the club's Adult Learner Scholarship. Mason Fanton, a Genesee Valley Central School graduate, plans to study agricultural and heavy diesel equipment technology at the University of Northwestern Ohio, while Wellsville High School graduate Ava Cole will pursue a business degree at the University of Alabama. The awards continue the club's longstanding practice of supporting both traditional and adult-learner students from the area.
Wellsville/Nonprofits
Wellsville Development Corp. Opens 2026 Business Improvement Mini-Grant Round
The Wellsville Development Corporation has launched its 2026 Business Improvement Mini-Grant Program, opening a fall funding round for local business owners through Oct. 15. The reimbursement-style grants are meant to help offset costs tied to projects and investments that strengthen business operations and support economic vitality in the Village of Wellsville. Under the program, businesses complete an approved project first, then submit receipts documenting the expenses before the corporation issues reimbursement funds. The nonprofit development corporation has run similar mini-grant rounds in prior years as part of its broader push to support downtown revitalization.
August 18, 2026·Apply by October 15, 2026·The Wellsville Sun→ Alfred/Nonprofits
Allegany County Farmer Neighbor Dinner Set for Sept. 30 in Alfred Station
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Allegany County announced its annual Farmer Neighbor Dinner will be held Sept. 30 at the Lake Lodge in Alfred Station. The evening, co-hosted with the county's Soil & Water Conservation District, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Farm Service Agency and Farm Bureau, opens at 5:30 p.m. with a cash bar and agricultural business exhibits before a farm-to-table dinner featuring locally grown and raised products. This year's guest speaker is John Wagner, senior director of county strategic partnerships for New York Farm Bureau. Organizers are asking attendees to preregister by Sept. 15 through Cornell Cooperative Extension's Allegany County office.
August 16, 2026·Apply by September 15, 2026·The Wellsville Sun→ Olean/Nonprofits
OBDC Picks Nine Businesses for 2026 Laine Business Accelerator Cohort
The Olean Business Development Corporation has selected nine area businesses for the 2026 cohort of the Laine Business Accelerator, a free program for established small business owners looking to grow. Each selected business will receive $5,000 in seed funding and take part in a multi-week program of mentorship and entrepreneurial instruction. The accelerator is funded by the Erick Laine Entrepreneurship Fund, created through the Cattaraugus Region Community Foundation in memory of former Cutco Corporation CEO Erick Laine, and administered by OBDC. Since launching in 2021, the program has awarded a total of $200,000 in seed funding to area entrepreneurs across its cohorts.
Olean/Nonprofits
SPCA in Cattaraugus County Adds Two Members to Its Board
The SPCA in Cattaraugus County, the Olean-based animal shelter serving the region since 1905, announced it has welcomed Pamela Baker and Brooke McCarthy to its board of directors. The shelter says the additions bring new expertise and community leadership as it continues to build out its board and volunteer committee structure. Along with the appointments, the nonprofit is putting out a call for additional community leaders interested in getting involved in its governance and fundraising efforts. The shelter relies heavily on board and volunteer support to sustain its adoption, rescue and cruelty-investigation work across the county.
Ellicottville/Nonprofits
Ellicottville Rotary Sets Third Annual Chili Cook-Off for Sept. 26
The Rotary Club of Ellicottville has announced its third annual Chili Cook-Off fundraiser for Saturday, Sept. 26, from 4 to 7 p.m. upstairs at Madigan's on Washington Street. Attendees can sample unlimited chili from local cooks for $15 at the door, with a winner chosen by People's Choice vote, alongside live music and raffles. Home cooks and restaurants can enter the competition for a $25 fee, which includes a tasting ticket. Proceeds support the club's food pantry contributions, youth leadership programs, scholarships, mental health initiatives, and community beautification projects.
August 13, 2026·The Villager→ Wellsville/Nonprofits
Wellsville Rotary and Arc Allegany-Steuben Launch 2026 Cash Bonanza Raffle
The Wellsville Rotary Club and The Arc Allegany-Steuben have kicked off their joint 2026 Cash Bonanza raffle, with $10 tickets offering repeated chances to win cash prizes across drawings held through September, October and November. Every ticket sold is automatically re-entered after each drawing, so a single purchase can win more than once over the course of the fundraiser. Proceeds benefiting The Arc will go toward its Green Machine athletic program, which gives people with intellectual and developmental disabilities the chance to take part in basketball, softball, track and field, bocce, dance and bowling. Tickets can be purchased by mail, phone or in person at The Arc Allegany-Steuben's Wellsville office.
Ellicottville/Nonprofits
Bob McCarthy Foundation Delivers Latest Donation to Ellicottville Food Bank
The Bob McCarthy Foundation presented its latest financial support to the Ellicottville Food Bank, continuing a partnership that has spanned more than two decades. Food bank volunteers Pat Kurl, Sherri Barrera and Bob Duke accepted the donation alongside Rev. Ralph Mueller on behalf of the pantry. Beyond its regular quarterly contributions, the foundation has also historically helped fund equipment for the food bank and provided extra support around Thanksgiving and Christmas. The gift is part of the Ellicottville-based foundation's broader mission of quietly backing local charitable causes in memory of Bob McCarthy.
Olean/Nonprofits
Foster Cattaraugus Brings Back Adult Prom With Prohibition-Era Theme Aug. 15
Foster Cattaraugus will hold its third annual Adult Prom fundraiser on Saturday, Aug. 15, beginning at 6 p.m. at Woodside Tavern on the Range in Olean. This year's speakeasy-inspired, Prohibition-era theme will bring dinner, dancing, raffles and live entertainment to raise money supporting foster children and families across Cattaraugus County. Presale tickets are $40 per person or $60 per couple and include admission and dinner, available through the organization's Facebook page or online ticketing. Organizers note the event has sold out in past years and are encouraging early ticket purchases.
Belmont/Nonprofits
Belmont-Based Foundation Awards Over $380,000 in Scholarships to Allegany County Students
The Allegany County Area Foundation, headquartered in Belmont, announced it is distributing $387,240 in scholarships to local students for the 2026-2027 academic year. Recipients come from nearly every school district in the county, including Alfred-Almond, Andover, Belfast, Bolivar-Richburg, Cuba-Rushford, Fillmore, Friendship, Genesee Valley, Scio and Wellsville, plus Houghton Academy, area homeschool families, and Allegany County students attending Portville schools. The foundation runs more than 50 individual scholarship funds through a single online application, supporting students headed to four-year colleges, two-year programs, trade schools and shorter credential programs. Foundation staff credit decades of donor support for making the awards possible each year.
Alfred/Nonprofits
Alfred Church Nears Finish Line on Historic Organ Restoration
Trustees at Union University Church in Alfred say their campaign to restore the sanctuary's 1930 Moller pipe organ, known as the 'Rosebush' organ, has cleared its original $25,000 goal by $3,500. The organ was given in memory of Sara Burdick Rosebush, a talented musician whose sons donated it to the church nearly a century ago. With mechanical repairs largely funded, trustees have opened a second phase of fundraising to cover roughly $6,500 in remaining costs, including returning the facade pipes to their original gold bronze finish after decades painted first white and then brown. Restoration work is being handled by organ builder Jason Klinger of Middleport. The church says the project will preserve both the sound and appearance of the century-old instrument for the congregation and community.
Olean/Nonprofits
Goodwill Opens First-Ever Cattaraugus County Store in Olean
Goodwill of Western New York held a ribbon-cutting Saturday morning for its brand-new store and donation center at 2610 West State Street in Olean, marking the nonprofit's first retail presence anywhere in Cattaraugus County. The renovated 24,000-square-foot building is among the region's largest Goodwill locations and stocks more than 25,000 donated items across clothing, housewares and other categories. Beyond retail, the site includes a 1,200-square-foot career center that will begin offering free job-training workshops this fall through Goodwill's Goodskills Career Builder program, developed with input from local employers. Proceeds from items sold at the store help fund that workforce-training program across the region.
St. Bonaventure/Nonprofits
Olean Alum Establishes $50,000 Endowment Honoring Longtime Bonnies Reporter
Shirley Whipple Struchen, a 1960 Olean High School graduate, has created a $50,000 endowment at St. Bonaventure University honoring Bob Davies, the Olean Times Herald sports reporter who covered Bonnies basketball for 17 years until his death in 1980. The Bob Davies Excellence in Sports Media Endowment will support the Jandoli School of Communication through programming and experiential learning opportunities for students interested in sports journalism and media. Struchen never attended St. Bonaventure herself, but said Davies mentored her for years, encouraged her to pursue higher education, and supported her through personal hardship. She established the fund to honor his legacy and help future students pursue sports media careers.
Houghton/Nonprofits
Houghton Alumna Leads Therapeutic Riding Programs for People with Disabilities
Houghton University featured 2019 graduate Shelby Dytschkowskyj, who has built a career helping people with disabilities through therapeutic horseback riding. Dytschkowskyj, who studied equestrian studies and psychology at Houghton and holds professional therapeutic-horsemanship certification, serves as program director at High Hurdles in Sardinia and recently became director of equine-assisted services at Lothlorien Therapeutic Riding Center in East Aurora. The two barns work with riders as young as four through adults in their eighties who live with conditions such as autism, Down syndrome, or cerebral palsy. Staff aren't therapists, but they use horsemanship to help riders build independence and develop verbal and physical skills, aiming to make riding an accessible sport for people with disabilities.
Cuba/Nonprofits
County Grant Round Backs Cuba Food Pantry and ACCORD Corporation
The Allegany County Area Foundation awarded a round of emergency grants through its Carter-Windus Family Fund to six food pantries facing rising demand, including $750 for the Cuba Council of Churches Food Pantry and $1,250 for the ACCORD Corporation food pantry in Belmont. ACCORD, formally the Allegany County Community Opportunities and Rural Development Corporation, is the county's federally designated community action agency, providing food, housing, child care and other anti-poverty services; its Director of Community Operations, Belinda Knight, said the funding would help the pantry serve more than 250 families a month. Grant committee chair Leslie Haggstrom cited cuts to benefits and kids being home for the summer as drivers of increased food insecurity. The Carter-Windus fund itself was established by Friendship native V. Perry Carter and his sister in honor of their Allegany County upbringing.
Little Valley/Nonprofits
Former Little Valley School Gym Reopens for Public Fitness Use
The gymnasium in the former Little Valley school building has reopened to the public for fitness activities through a collaboration between the Little Valley Alumni Association, the Cattaraugus-Little Valley Central School District, and a local community group. Alumni association members Brad Lockwood, Ray Johnson and Kevin Andrew helped lead the effort to bring the space back into community use. Organizers say they hope to expand programming and hours at the site over time, giving village residents another local option for exercise and recreation in a building with deep ties to the community's history.
Franklinville/Nonprofits
Ischua Valley Historical Society Opens for 2026 Summer Season
The Ischua Valley Historical Society opened its Miner's Cabin museum on Pine Street in Franklinville for its 2026 summer season, with Sunday hours running from June 3 through August 26 and added Wednesday hours from July 11 through August 29. The volunteer-run nonprofit preserves local history for the Franklinville and Ischua Valley area through its collection of artifacts and archives. The extended summer schedule gives residents and visitors more opportunities to explore the museum during the warmer months before the society returns to a reduced off-season schedule in the fall.
Black Creek/Nonprofits
Volunteers Plant Oak Seedlings at Black Creek Preserve During Countywide Day of Service
Scouts, Alfred State College's Hiking and Camping Club, and members of the land-stewardship nonprofit IMPACT spent an April 18 afternoon planting oak seedlings at the Western New York Land Conservancy's Black Creek Preserve, part of a two-site countywide day of service that also cleared trails at Phillips Creek State Forest. Volunteer Marcus Rosten walked participants through proper planting technique before crews hand-dug holes for the young trees. The Land Conservancy supplied the seedlings and protective tubing through a watershed-protection grant aimed at improving wildlife habitat and water quality at the 226-acre preserve, which the conservancy acquired in November 2025. IMPACT, a nonprofit that raises private funds and volunteer labor for state-managed public lands, coordinated the broader day of service alongside Scout units from Alfred and Angelica.
Ellicottville/Nonprofits
Ellicottville Rotary Expands Mental Health Partnership With TICCAT
The Rotary Club of Ellicottville is deepening its partnership with the Trauma Informed Coalition of Cattaraugus County (TICCAT) to expand mental health and trauma-support programming through 2026. Club leaders say the effort grew out of tragic events in the community that highlighted the need for stronger local crisis and addiction-support resources. Building on a 2025 slate that included wellness workshops for the Department of Aging and the launch of the Firekeepers peer-wellness program at Ellicottville Central School, the partnership plans further community mental-health education events and continued support for students and staff. TICCAT itself is a coalition of faith groups, local government, schools, nonprofits, law enforcement, the Seneca Nation and health providers, fiscally managed by Connecting Communities in Action.
Friendship/Nonprofits
Literacy West NY Offers Free Adult Education, Runs Youth Programs in Friendship Schools
Literacy West NY, Inc., a nonprofit that has served rural Western New York since 1986, held a free public workshop at its CORE The Learning Center site in Belmont to showcase its no-cost adult education, GED prep, OSHA safety training, digital literacy and job-search support. Separately from its adult programming, the organization directly partners with Friendship Central School to run Extended School Day enrichment activities, such as theatre, art, dance and STEM, for students in grades 6-12, alongside a School Violence Prevention program offering crisis counseling and support groups for K-12 students. Literacy West also partners with Belfast and Fillmore school districts on similar programming. The group's leaders describe the effort as part of nearly four decades of community-based work across Allegany and Cattaraugus counties.
Swain/Nonprofits
Swain Resort Rallies Behind Longtime Employee's Cancer Fight
Swain Resort launched the "Swain Strong" fundraising campaign on February 13, 2026 to support longtime employee Scott, who was diagnosed with Stage 3 lung cancer in November 2025. Because the tumor sits too close to his heart for surgery, Scott is undergoing daily radiation and weekly chemotherapy at a hospital in Rochester, forcing him to stop working. The resort community directed donations to a GoFundMe campaign to help cover his family's lost wages, travel expenses and medical costs through March 31, 2026. Colleagues describe Scott, a resort employee since 2018 and father of four, as someone who has spent years quietly fixing problems and looking out for others at Swain.
February 13, 2026·Swain Resort→ Belmont/Nonprofits
New Allegany County Development Corporation Launches From Belmont
The Allegany County Industrial Development Agency announced the formation of the Allegany County Local Development Corporation, a new nonprofit headquartered at the Crossroads Commerce & Conference Center in Belmont. The ACLDC will offer low-interest gap financing, generally between $30,000 and $100,000, to complement traditional bank loans for local businesses looking to expand or retain jobs. ACIDA Executive Director Craig Clark and Board Chairman Judith Hopkins framed the corporation as a step toward strengthening the county's business-financing toolkit. The nonprofit operates under New York's Not-for-Profit Corporation Law and is intended to fill financing gaps that conventional lenders often won't cover.