Greater Niagara Frontier Council, Boy Scouts of America, honored the Rev. Joseph L. Levesque, Niagara University president, with the Scouting Salutes Award during the council’s fifth annual Scouting Salutes Award Reception on Tuesday in Como Restaurant, Niagara Falls.

Levesque was honored for his years of service to the local community and for being a strong advocate for Scouting. Scout Leader Rob Stevens, of Niagara Falls, also was recognized.

U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary members from all four flotillas in Western New York donated a wide range of food and beverages to serve Coast Guardsmen in the Buffalo region at a Thanksgiving weekend feast. Auxiliary members served

Thanksgiving dinner in the Community Room at Sector Buffalo, and Chris and Ray Gress, members of Flotilla 3-5, served an array of homemade sweet rolls and coffee cakes for breakfast.

Dinner also was served by auxiliary members in Flotilla 3-1 at Station Niagara in Youngstown.

Local jazz trumpeter Lew Custode will once again donate his talents to help raise funds for this year’s Salvation Army Christmas Fund Drive.

Custode, best known for his work with the Barroom Buzzards and the Custode&Parisi Jazz Trio, will perform Holiday Music at various Salvation Army kettle stands across Niagara County.

This is the second year he’s participated in the fundraiser, giving the charity organization a different spin on its traditional holiday bellringer presentation.

“It is very rewarding to participate, and it is my way of giving back to the community that I grew up in,” Custode said.

Among stops on Custode’s schedule, right up through Christmas Eve, are at kettle stands at Tops Markets in Niagara Falls and Lewiston, and Sam’s Club, Kmart, Walmart, Save-A-Lot and Big Lots stores in Niagara Falls and the Town of Niagara.

Genesee Community College’s Phi Theta Kappa honor society inducted its 50th group of members at the Batavia campus recently. Amanda Kropp, of Middleport, was among them.

Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society serves to recognize and encourage the academic achievement of two-year college students and provide opportunities for individual growth and development through honors, leadership and service programming. To be eligible for membership, a student must complete a minimum of 12 hours of associated degree course work and earn a grade point average of 3.6 or higher. Students must maintain a high academic standing throughout their enrollment in the two-year college.

GCC’s chapter, Alpha Iota Upsilon, was founded in 1985 by Bernie Hoerbelt, longtime adviser of PTK and retired professor of mathematics. To date, the chapter has inducted more than 2,400 students at Genesee.

Each year, the Wilson Lions Club teams up with Wilson Middle School art teacher Brian Baker to participate in the International Peace Poster Contest. The theme of this year’s contest was “The Power of Peace.” More than 90 students created posters, and results of the poster contest are as follows: First place, Audrey Wagner; second place, Emmett Dinse; and third place Regina Hoy. Honorable mention went to Vayda Kiekbush, Alex Brosius and Mackenzie Horvath. All of the entries from Wilson Middle School were on display in the Wilson House restaurant during the first week of November, and Audrey’s first-place entry also was on display last month at the Charles Burchfield Nature and Art Center in West Seneca.

The Main Street Business and Professional Association recently made a $750 donation to the YWCA’s Carolyn’s House during one of the catering department’s monthly luncheons. The check is from the proceeds of Main Street’s annual Carolyn Van Schaik Golf Tournament.

Association board members Jill Shuey and Don Masocco presented the check to Carolyn House Director Teresa Martinez.