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The Barge Canal Optimist Club of Lockport recently donated dressed teddy bears to the YWCA of Niagara Frontier Domestic Violence Program to be distributed to the children who parents who need the program.

Barge Canal Optimist Club Holiday Teddy Bear  Co-Chairmen Pauline Leacock and Joan Pickles  present the dressed teddy bears to Kathy Jackson,  Safe House & Transitional Housing Manager  YWCA of Niagara Frontier domestic Violence  Program for distribution. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

“These little bears may be the only gift a small child will receive this Holiday Season, Co-Chairman Joan Pickles said. “Think of the joy on their face when they hug their little bear for the first time. Also we wish that the “dressed to the T” bears will be as much fun for the children to receive as it was for club members to dress them.”

Co-Chairman Pauline Leacock stated “The Barge Canal Optimist Club has been supplying these adorable bears to the YWCA for over 14 years and each year club members tend to out-shine the year before. There are Lion King bears, a princess or two, skating bear, Santa bears and baby bears to mention just a few. Club members are just so creative.“

The Barge Canal Optimist Club has been serving the Lockport Community for 25 years. Youth service projects include Just Say No!, Girl Power, Fifth Grade Basketball, Bike Safety, Internet Safety, Project Backpack, Project Warm-A-Kid, and Senior Awards.  Community service projects such as Partnership in Patriotism, Tee-Off Against Breast Cancer, Salvation Army Bell Ringing, Birthday Cards for Seniors,

Relay for Life and the restoration of the Rose Garden are also a part of the group's community outreach. Members of BCOC strive to maintain an upbeat attitude and help empower young people to be the best they can be.

Women interested in learning more about the Barge Canal Optimist Club are invited to contact President Anita Tice at 433-0162, Membership Chair Pauline Leacock at 438-0890 or visit the Barge Canal Optimist Facebook page.

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Lockport CARES Vice President Toby Mansfield is presented with a check for $380 from students of Phi Beta Lambda on the Amherst Campus of Bryant and Stratton earlier today. Bryant and Stratton students collected $380 last semester for Lockport CARES Emergency shelter on Genesee Street. From left to right are students Juan Brown, Wette Nichols, Mansfield, Megan Rhoades, advisor Dr. Landowski and Theresa Negroni. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

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Niagara County Legislature Chairman Bill Ross talks this afternoon at a ceremony in which over 180 Civil War letters were gifted to the County Historian's Office. (PHOTOS BY CRAIG BACON / CONTRIBUTOR)

By +Scott Leffler 
scott.leffler@eastniagarapost.com

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Some of the more than 180 items donated to the county were on display in  the Niagara County Courthouse rotunda this afternoon.

Over 180 letters, a diary and other items from the Civil War were gifted to Niagara County today by the great-grandson of their original owner, Union Pvt. Simon B. Cummins.

Cummins' great-grandson Melvin Jones was on hand this afternoon to make the donation in the rotunda of the Niagara County Courthouse. Niagara County Clerk Wayne F. Jagow gleefully accepted the donation on behalf of the Niagara County Historian's Office.

"This is a treasure for us in Niagara County," said Jagow. "These letter document intangible yet very, very important moments in our history."

"We are honored that you have entrusted us with these priceless documents," Jagow added.

It was 1864 in the Niagara County Courthouse.

Jones was just as happy to be able to make the donation, which also included a list of absentees from Cummins’s unit, the 151st New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which was raised through recruiting in Niagara County; a letter from Cummins’s cousin describing his participation in the Battle of Gettysburg; Cummins’s first-hand accounts of the battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania; and Grand Army of the Republic memorabilia.
"We are delighted to find a home for them in the very place his regiment was formed," he said.

The collection will be made available to the public for research, according to Jagow's office.

+Craig Bacon contributed to this report. 

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