The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

Happenings

#CHAPP100 Chappaqua Library Turning 100

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“Celebrating the Past, Inspiring the Future”

The Chappaqua Library is recognizing a major milestone in 2022 as it reaches its 100th year of service. will include activities throughout the year with a Community Centennial celebration on Saturday, June 4, 2022. 

The Chappaqua Library is the heart of a vibrant community where people of all ages, backgrounds and cultures engage in lifelong learning and discovery while actively participating in the life of the community. Its mission: to provide exceptional resources, programs, and services that promote the joy of lifelong learning and discovery and to offer a welcoming place for people to gather and share experiences.

“Over the past 100 years, the Chappaqua Library has enriched the community in meaningful ways, and thrived thanks to the overwhelming enthusiasm and financial support of the community. The Board looks forward to our dedicated staff continuing to provide innovative programs and outstanding service into the next 100 years,” says Ronni Diamondstein, Chappaqua Library Board President. 

Andrew Farber, Library Director says, “The Library has changed dramatically over the last one hundred years. We have strived to respond to our patrons’ needs. Our warm and welcoming staff work is looking ahead to the future and will continue to engage the community with diversity, inclusivity and innovative programs.”

The library welcomes everyone through its doors located in the heart of the community on South Greeley Avenue. In 100 years, the library grew from a space in Lou Kopp’s Coal and Feed Store, located across the tracks on King Street and near the current northbound entrance to the Saw Mill River Parkway, to its current beautiful facility.  Starting with only 2,683 volumes in its collection, the library now offers over 134,000 materials and has added digital content, streaming services, programs for patrons of all ages, and provides space for the community to study, read, and enjoy.  

The upcoming programming  will honor the library’s history and look ahead with book discussions, oral histories, and exhibits. Partnering with many community groups, children’s and family programs will also reflect on the library’s history and commitment to service. Look for garden plantings and a time capsule that will preserve community submissions!  The Chappaqua Library is excited to share its own story as well as the community’s.

2022 also marks the 50th anniversary of the Friends of the Chappaqua Library. In addition to the very popular Annual Book Sale, which will return in April, they will work with the library to commemorate their anniversary. As Katherine Whymark, President of the Friends of the Chappaqua Library, likes to say, “According to my Star Wars friend Yoda, always in motion the future is, and we must move towards and with the future. Thanks to all that have supported the Friends in the past, and thanks in advance to those looking to support us in the future. Never give up, never surrender!”

To learn more about upcoming events, visit chappaqualibrary.org/centennial.

News and Photo Courtesy of The Chappaqua Library

At a May 12 Festival de Primavera, Neighbors Link to Honor Community Health Partners

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– Celebrating those helping to ensure health equity during the COVID-19 health crisis –

 On the evening of May 12 Neighbors Link, which provides vital services to the immigrant community in Westchester County, will host Festival de Primavera (Spring Festival), a gala event to honor community partners who have made a tangible impact in ensuring health equity during the COVID-19 health crisis. They will be honoring the Community Outreach Department of Northern Westchester Hospital and giving special recognition to the Ossining Volunteer Ambulance Corps and Legend Pharmacy. There will also be a special presentation of the Gabby Rosenfeld award to Martha Palomino.

The Community Outreach Department of Northern Westchester Hospital will be honored for their work to ensure that all members of the community have access to lifesaving interventions and information during the global pandemic. The Ossining Volunteer Ambulance Corps and Legend Pharmacy will receive special recognition for their efforts to provide healthcare services to the immigrant community during these times of heightened need.

The Gabby Rosenfeld “Be a Hero” award will be presented to Martha Palomino in recognition of her 12+ years of service to Neighbors Link as a dedicated board member and later a valued member of our staff. The recognition is named for the late Gabriel Rosenfeld, a WW II combat veteran and consummate volunteer who served on the board of directors of Neighbors Link and also supported many other community organizations throughout Westchester County.

The Festival de Primavera, an evening with “cocktails and strolling dinner under the stars,” is expected to bring together 300 supporters from the Neighbors Link community. The event will take place outdoors in a safe space where guests will be required to show proof of vaccination per current CDC guidelines. Funds raised at the event will be used to support Neighbors Link’s crucial work to build stronger communities through the integration and empowerment of immigrants.

For additional information please contact Adrienne Vogel at 914-666-3410 x114, avogel@neighborslink.org

 

 

 

Plenty of Pizza & a Serving of Gratitude to the Staff of Northern Westchester Hospital at Pre-Valentine’s Day Celebration

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Local restauranteur Gianni Piccolino survived a life-threatening case of COVID-19 in 2020 thanks to emergency surgery at Northern Westchester Hospital. On February 13, he and his wife Dianna, their three kids, along with Gianni’s brother and business partner Tommy, found a perfect way to express their gratitude–preparing and giving out dozens of pizzas and salads too–all this, about a year to the date of his discharge.

Enjoying the more spring like weather too, appreciative hospital staff formed a line outside the portable wood burning pizza oven Mr. Piccolino brought in from his two Mount Kisco restaurants, Stone Fire and Basilico.

Dianna Piccolino told the Inside Press: “Everything was going wrong, but Northern Westchester Hospital brought in a special surgeon to find out what was going on inside, and they were able to repair it.  We are all just so grateful.”

Mrs. Piccolino said that this was not the first time Northern Westchester Hospital saved her family either–her twins were born premature and cared for in the hospital’s neonatal unit.

“They have been just extraordinary to us,” she said.

“Pizza and salad is up for grabs all day today, and we will be back tonight for the night shift!” 

Mr. Piccolino, who generously fed first-responders at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, was admitted to Northern Westchester Hospital days before Thanksgiving, 2020, with a life-threatening case of COVID-19. He spent two months in an induced coma. On Christmas Eve, Mr. Piccolino underwent emergency surgery made necessary by an additional diagnosis of sepsis due to a perforated stomach ulcer; happily, just one day before his birthday on February 12, 2021, he was able to return home.

Northern Westchester Hospital Northwell Health’s care team and friends who were instrumental in saving Gianni Piccolino’s life from COVID-19.
Gianni Piccolino and family said thank you to Northern Westchester Hospital Northwell Health for saving his life last year from severe COVID-19. Left to Right: Gianni’s daughter Adriana & son, Gianni Jr.; wife, Diana and Gianni; Dr. Yael Marks, Bariatric & General surgery; Dr. Jade Gallardo, Critical Care Medicine and Dr. Richard L. Stumacher, Pulmonary Disease, Critical Care & Internal Medicine) Photos courtesy of Northern Westchester Hospital

 

 

 

 

 

                                                          

Chappaqua Library Author Talk with Dorothy Wickenden, Author of The Agitators: Three Friends Who Fought For Abolition and Women’s Rights

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March 8 @ 7pm

Dorothy Wickenden Photo by Jayme Grodi

From the executive editor of The New Yorker, comes The Agitators: Three Friends Who Fought for Abolition and Women’s Rights, a riveting, provocative and revelatory history of abolition and women’s rights, told through the story of 3 women–Harriet Tubman, Frances Seward and Martha Wright–in the years before, during and after the Civil War.

“These friends are the examples we need right now–another time of divisiveness and dissension over our nation’s purpose ‘to form a more perfect union.’” –Hillary Rodham Clinton

Ms. Wickenden has offered to visit Scattered Books ahead of the event to sign copies which you can pre-order at  info@scatteredbooks.com

Grace Bennett, publisher and editor, Inside Press, will interview Ms. Wickenden.

Please register at:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_KJ6nv9HYRVS6VrlH-z2i5Q

Don’t Miss CT22 Day in Town: 2/2/22

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By Bryce Bernbach

The CT22 Club is a Horace Greeley High School club founded to honor the memory of Casey Taub, a Horace Greeley student and varsity soccer player (#22) who passed away in 2017 from brain cancer. The club’s mission is to raise awareness about pediatric brain cancer and funds for the Matthew Larson Foundation, a charitable organization promoting and fundraising for pediatric brain cancer research and providing support to families impacted by the disease.CT22 is planning a CT22 Day in town on 2/2/22 in order to raise funds for the Foundation.

Lange’s, Bobo’s and Royal are all ready to help us toward this goal: Lange’s will be offering a 20% discount on its Casey Taub Sandwich and Bobo’s a 15% discount on an acai bowl, with both of these percentages to be donated to the foundation, while Royal will be donating a certain percentage of their profits from the entire day’s sales to the Foundation.

In addition, members of the club will be selling CT22 merchandise outside of Bobo’s.

All proceeds from the merchandise sale will go to the Foundation. February 2nd can be a terrific day to increase awareness of and raise funds for our worthy cause. It is also a great day to shop local, so bundle up and come on out and lend your support!

Bryce Bernbach is a junior at Horace Greeley High School and one of next year’s captains of the varsity soccer team. He has a strong interest in politics and history and hopes to pursue those fields in college. He lives in Chappaqua with his parents, sister, and his Great Pyrenees Titan who his family adopted following a post on Chappaqua Moms.