WNY Women Volunteers
Ann Angelo:
The Good Neighbor
Read More WNY Women VolunteersBy Maria Scrvani
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This is apparent in looking at the projects Angelo has initiated and led. They revolve around improving her neighborhood—the Kleinhans and Symphony Circle area—and other aspects of quality of life—gardens, parks, literature, the arts.
In her early career, Angelo worked with neighbors to start a community organization and served on a number of boards, including several years on the board of the Allentown Village Society, which runs the annual Allentown Art Festival, and on the Olmsted Parks Conservancy. She was also the second woman named to the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency.
But it was only after leaving Buffalo and returning that Angelo began in earnest to work on the community-based projects that have brought her so much satisfaction. Angelo spent several years in the late seventies in Atlanta, having been promoted to director for the American Heart Association for the state of Georgia. But during this time, she was traveling constantly and didn’t have any time to volunteer. When she was offered a chance to return to Buffalo in 1983, she took it over several other offers, returning to the house she was born in, that her parents had bought in 1942.
“It was really returning to this building that probably caused me to do so much for this neighborhood,” she says. Angelo has increased her commitment to volunteerism since she stopped working. “Several years ago, I downsized my life in order to care for my mother and I found I had the time to work on various projects.” Angelo says she only works on public projects, “things that everyone can enjoy and be a part of.” Her signature project has been the restoration of the circle at Symphony Circle, a multi-faceted endeavor which has taken thirteen years to complete.
It was not long after her return that Angelo began working on this project, first with the Kleinhans Community Association and later with the Symphony Circle Steering Committee. Her focus has been on restoring the circle to its nineteenth century glory, starting with benches and flower beds, and culminating in the major construction project last fall that restored the circle, complete with a replica of the original lamppost.
A project of this magnitude, involving numerous grants from a variety of federal, state, and local agencies, takes not only perseverance but team work as well. “The amazing thing to me,” Angelo notes, “is that it is basically the same group of people that have been working on this project for thirteen years. We get a kick out of seeing that we can work together and make things happen. We started out with just an idea.... My favorite phrase is ‘ideas are a dime a dozen.’ It’s getting them realized that takes work. We just took it one step at a time, and as we were successful with each part of it that gave us the momentum to go on to the next stage. ”
Along with the restoration of the circle, Angelo has worked closely with the Pennsylvania/Plymouth Revitalization Project. They received a grant from Erie County for bus shelters so Angelo turned to UB Architect Brad Wales, whose students were doing public art/architecture for the Allentown Association. “I asked Brad, ‘how’d you like to work on bus shelters,’ and he replied ‘I’ve always wanted to do that!’” Wales and his students created two shelters, one right on Porter outside Kleinhans and the other on Pennsylvania. “They really add to the character of the community,” says Angelo. “They are functional and, in that sense, they provide a real service, but they are also beautiful works of art...they echo the unique character of Kleinhans.”
A related project has been bringing the Garden Walk to the neighborhood. Angelo served on the Garden Walk committee for five years and was instrumental in putting Kleinhans gardens on the walk. “The Garden Walk ...really shines a spotlight on this historic area,” Angelo says. “It’s an area filled with landmarks...a gateway to the city.”
Before the restoration of Symphony Circle, Angelo was probably most well-known for the reading group she founded, Bistro Bookers. “It seems I always looked for things I wanted to do but couldn’t find a group. Bistro Bookers started like that. I had always wanted to have a bookstore café and this just wasn’t happening for me as a vocation, so I thought maybe as an avocation it could.” Shortly after returning from Atlanta to Buffalo, Angelo was at a meeting with Diane Chrisman, the recently retired head of the Buffalo Public Library. Chrisman liked the idea so Angelo got a group together and Bistro Bookers was born. “We were definitely ahead of our time,” says Angelo. “This was 1990, long before Oprah’s Book Club and the popularity of reading groups. It was one of the first book review groups involving books, food, and speakers. In 1990 we were featured on the cover of the journal Public Libraries.”
Though Bistro Bookers averages around one hundred people at each meeting, there have been standing room only events. “I remember one meeting where we had Vincent O’Neil in to read from Angela’s Ashes. Two hundred people showed up at Hemingway’s and we had to turn away another three hundred outside.
“People often ask me how I can stay so long with one project,” Angelo says. “Well, first off, you don’t expect it’s going to take so long. But also doing serious work is a real commitment and it’s hard to walk away.” Angelo distinguishes between serving on a board of an existing organization and working on a project from scratch. “It’s different from serving on a board. That’s hard work too, but you always know the organization has existed without you and will go on if you have to step down. But when it’s your baby you don’t want to walk away from it.”
Angelo often wonders where that impulse to volunteer comes from. “It’s an important question, because if we could understand it I think we could get more people to see the value of volunteering in their communities.” After suggesting that maybe it’s genetic, “a volunteer gene,” she concludes that early exposure to the power of volunteering is crucial. “I think it’s experiencing early on that one person can make a difference, when you can see the impact of your efforts. Then it’s almost like an addiction. You want to give more.”
Anna Geronimo Hausmann is Associate Editor of Buffalo Spree.
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