Board Spotlight - Rich Winter

DCC: When did you first hear about the community center idea?

RW: About two years ago, it became obvious that the church would be closing. We had tried a number of things and they all failed. The big concern was “What is going to happen to the building?” When we heard about the New York Forward Grant, we thought maybe the Village would look at buying it to make it a community center. Tom Sinclair, Jennifer Dick and I went up to Homer Center for the Arts. They showed us around and they talked about how they developed their space. Nothing really much more happened with it until about a year ago January (2025). I called a few stakeholders of the church building together, Elizabeth (Gutchess), Tom and Jennifer, and we discussed how it might go. Then we had a second meeting which I very rudely forgot to come to. At that time, we realized that Tom was in a position to really make the thing go. He had the expertise and he had the connections to the Village and to the people who served on the committee who did the needs assessment for the grant, so he started to run with it. The rest is history.

DCC: How would you describe your position with the Center?

RW: I’m a member of the Board of Trustees. I was on the Board of Trustees for this church, but this position is more like when I was on the Executive Committee for the church. That group was more administrative which is sometimes nice and sometimes not so nice.

DCC: You’re the Chair of the Building and Grounds Committee. Tell me about that.

RW: The Committee has four very committed members. They spend a lot of time and are willing to spend a lot of time researching, meeting with architects, getting quotes. We all have expertise that is tremendous that we bring to bear. Craig Anderson brings building expertise. John Kiefer was the former director of Planning, Design and Construction at Cornell. Craig Scutt is like a cornerstone of the community, involved in so many areas.

DCC: Of the many upcoming projects that your team is working on, what’s the one that you’re most excited about?

Having been with his building for so many years, it’s the transformation of the sanctuary into a performance area. It has a whole suite of interesting challenges. For instance, ventilation will be vital because none of the windows in that space open so cooling will be an issue. That space is a little closer to the sky and we have a big roof. We were here yesterday trying to get an estimate of how much insulation is in the ceiling and in the walls to determine the specifications for an AC system. This building is just amazing. Can you imagine people putting this building together without the benefit of electricity, with twelve-inch beams and wooden dowels instead of nails. This transformation is going to be pretty exciting to see and be a part of.

DCC: What do you think the biggest hurdles are for this new organization?

RW: From what I’m seeing our biggest hurdle is getting everybody on the same page to understand that this is a diverse community and you must accept the diversity. I see quite a bit of that, but I need to see more.

Rich Winter and his wife Marlene moved to Dryden in 1976 after he accepted a position teaching science at Dryden High School. His first visit to the Finger Lakes region came while he was a graduate student in geology. “Marlene and I had been married and we were living in Jamestown at the time. When we drove back to Jamestown, I told her at some chunk of my life, I want to live in that area cause it’s absolutely beautiful.”