The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

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Special HHREC Presentation- Agi Keleti: The Jewish Olympian’s Story of Survival and Triumph

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On Thursday May 16th The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center (HHREC) in partnership with the Ossining Public Library will host a talk and presentation on the oldest living Olympian Champion and Holocaust survivor. Agi Keleti: The Jewish Olympian’s Story of Survival and Triumph will be presented by HHREC Board Chairperson and GenerationsForward Speaker Michael Gyory.

Born in Budapest, Hungary, on January 9, 1921, Keleti’s journey is a tale of courage, survival and historic accomplishments. She survived the Nazis and outlasted the Communists to become the greatest female Jewish Olympian of all time winning 10 metals in women’s gymnastics for her native Hungary.

The program will also feature an exhibition that illustrates the story of a young girl’s survival during the Holocaust and drive to leave a legacy of courage, strength and will to win. This exhibit of 6 individual panels chronicle her life story.   

“I am looking forward to sharing the amazing story of survival and success of my father’s cousin.” said Gyory. “ With the upcoming Olympic Games this summer, I hope to shine a light on how she set an example for generations of aspiring athletes to pursue their dreams, and overcome any hardship or hurdles they meet along the way.”   

This event is free and open to the public. For more information visit the HHREC events page at   hhrecny.org. 

About The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center

The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center (HHREC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in White Plains New York that serves schools, synagogues, colleges, churches and civic centers in Westchester and the greater Hudson Valley area. The HHREC Mission is to enhance the teaching and learning of the lessons of the Holocaust and the right of all people to be treated with dignity and respect. HHREC works with teachers and students to help schools fulfill the New York State mandate that the Holocaust and other human rights abuses be included in their curriculum. Since 1994, the HHREC has brought the lessons of the Holocaust, genocide and human rights violations to more than 3,000 teachers, and through them to thousands of students. For more information visit www.hhrecny.org call 914.696.0738 email info@hhrecny.org

Hudson Valley Area Teachers and Students Attend Annual Human Rights Institute for Middle School Student Leaders

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Sheila Arnold, CEO and Lead Performer of History’s Alive

The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center (HHREC) hosted their 9th Annual Human Rights Institute for Middle School Student Leaders on November 15th, 16th and 17th at Congregation Emanu-El of Westchester in Rye, New York. Students and teachers from 37 public and private middle schools in the Hudson Valley attended.

HHREC staff and area educators facilitated a breakout session on the themes of What does the term “human rights” mean? , What does it mean to respect human dignity? and How do we incorporate human dignity and human rights while learning to be an upstander? Students were engaged in different activities to address these vital issues, and met within groups to develop activities to implement in their schools. Students from John Jay (Cross River) High School, Bryam Hills High School, Manhattanville College – Clark Scholars and Iona University helped to facilitate the breakout sessions. The event was organized by Jeanne Claire Cotnoir and Debbie Minchin, HHREC Coordinators of Student Programming.

The Institute began with a keynote presentation by Sheila Arnold, CEO and Lead Performer of History’s Alive! Ms. Arnold has also performed as a Regional Storyteller at Colonial Williamsburg, the Valley Forge Teacher Institute, and at conferences across the U.S.

This program was developed to further the mission of the HHREC by laying the foundation to encourage students to become “upstanders rather than bystanders.” Participating schools included: Albert Leonard (New Rochelle); Anne Dorner MS (Ossining); Ardsley MS; Barack Obama School of Justice (Yonkers); Benjamin Turner (Mount Vernon); Blind Brook MS; Briarcliff MS; Denzel Washington School of the Arts (Mount Vernon); Dobbs Ferry MS; Eastchester MS; Fieldstone MS (North Rockland); Fox Lane MS (Bedford); French American School; George Fischer MS (Carmel); German International School; Henry H. Wells (Brewster); Highlands MS (White Plains); Hommocks MS (Mamaroneck); Isaac E. Young MS (New Rochelle); Mahopac MS; Newburgh (Heritage MS, Meadow Hill Gem, South MS and Temple Academy); North Salem MS; Paideia School 15 (Yonkers); Pierre Van Cortlandt MS (Croton–on-Hudson); Pleasantville MS; Port Chester MS; Robert Bell MS (Chappaqua); Rye Neck MS; Scarsdale MS; Seven Bridges MS (Chappaqua); Sleepy Hollow MS; Somers MS; St. Joseph’s School (Bronxville); and Westlake MS (Mt. Pleasant).

“We are very pleased to continue offering this important program to Hudson Valley area middle schools.” said Steve Goldberg, HHREC Director of Education. “Seventy-five years ago, the United Nations created the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that enshrined the rights and freedoms of all human beings.  Our goal is to work with our education partners and their students to embrace these ideals as they become global citizens in our ever-changing world.”

HHREC Coordinator of Student
Programming Jeanne Claire Cotnoir

For more information visit the HHREC website at HHRECNY.org or contact Steve Goldberg at sgoldberg@hhrecny.org.

News and Photos Courtesy of the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center

Saint Joseph’s Medical Center and Saint Pio Foundation Announce A Margherita for a Smile Community Initiative

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Saint Joseph’s Medical Center President and CEO Michael Spicer joined with Saint Pio Foundation Founder and CEO Luciano Lamonarca and Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano on May 25 to announce an exciting and unique community initiative called A Margherita for a Smile. Hollywood actor Joe Mantegna (“The Godfather: Part III,” “Criminal Minds”) attended the ceremony via video.

The A Margherita for a Smile initiative aims to provide a minimum of 1,000 authentic Margherita pizzas each year to community residents and patients in South West Yonkers. To celebrate the announcement, two pizza trucks were stationed behind Saint Joseph’s Medical Center’s Thomas and Agnes Carvel Foundation Family Health Center to serve Margherita pizzas to patients of the center. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held with a red ribbon attached between the two pizza trucks.

The initiative is available on the following two websites:

https://pizzaforasmile.org/
https://www.saintpiofoundation.org/smile

Michael Spicer, President and CEO of Saint Joseph’s Medical Center stated: “We are delighted to partner with Saint Pio Foundation on this initiative. In addition to our on-site patient food pantry at our Family Health Center and our monthly mobile food distributions with Feeding Westchester, it is unique to be able to offer our patients and members of the community a hot meal and an authentic Margherita pizza experience. Saint Pio’s Foundation and Saint Joseph’s Medical Center share the same mission, to help those in need. So, it is only fitting that we have partnered with them on this initiative to benefit our patients and the community we serve.”

“By launching this initiative, the Saint Pio Foundation intends to change the way we bring nourishment to those in need. We strive to feed not only the body but also the soul of those who are hungry. A Margherita Pizza delivers both experiences perfectly, and we could not be prouder to borrow from our Italian culture and cuisine to help Saint Joseph’s Medical Center’s patients that face significant health challenges,” said Saint Pio Foundation Founder and CEO Luciano Lamonarca.

“During his lifetime, Saint Pio set up a medical clinic for the poor that eventually became a large hospital called the Home for the Relief of Suffering, much like the Sisters of Charity did with Saint Joseph’s. We appreciate the Saint Pio Foundation’s collaboration with Saint Joseph’s to bring smiles and nourishment to people in need. This effort truly embraces the spirit of Saint Pio’s ministry and his life’s work,” said Mayor Mike Spano.

About the Saint Pio Foundation

Based in Tuckahoe, the Saint Pio Foundation is a national not-for-profit organization that promotes the legacy of Saint Pio, the popular modern Saint of the Roman Catholic Church, by supporting healthcare, educational, social, religious, and cultural initiatives that influence and advance the public’s knowledge of the teachings, legacy, and importance of Saint Pio.

About Saint Joseph’s Medical Center

Since 1888, Saint Joseph’s Medical Center has served Yonkers and the surrounding communities of Westchester and New York City with patient-centered, quality-focused inpatient and outpatient care, including specialized programs such  as orthopedics, cardiology, family medicine, geriatrics; and wound care; advanced emergency treatment; state-of-the-art diagnostic imaging and ambulatory surgery; inpatient and outpatient behavioral health services; and a network of primary care services serving Westchester, the Bronx and Manhattan. Its Saint Vincent’s Hospital Westchester division in Harrison offers a comprehensive range of mental health, addiction and residential programs serving Westchester and The Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island.  Please visit us on the web at saintjosephs.org and on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

 

News courtesy of the Saint Po Foundation and Saint Joseph’s Medical Center 

 

Westchester County Office of Economic Development and Sustainable Westchester Team Up to Launch Clean Energy Accelerator Program

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Collaboration launches with formation of working group to identify local industry needs and support workforce development

Westchester County, New York  – The Westchester County Office of Economic Development is pleased to announce it has partnered with Sustainable Westchester to launch a Clean Energy Accelerator Program (CEA). The Program, which includes a Careers Working Group that recently met for the first time, convenes key stakeholders who will work together to identify the workforce needs of the clean energy sector and create strong clean energy career pathways for Westchester residents.

Westchester County Executive George Latimer said: “The clean energy industry is booming, with state, federal, and utility incentives, creating more career opportunities at every education level. And, clean energy projects are increasingly in disadvantaged communities, creating an opportunity to train a local workforce who historically and disproportionately have been harmed by environmental burdens. Expanding Westchester County’s capacity in this sector will have a tremendous benefit to both current and future employers, as well as our residents.”

Westchester County Director of Economic Development Bridget Gibbons said: “We understand that clean energy project implementation can be challenging due to workforce barriers, which range from lack of skilled talent to limited awareness among potential workers of opportunities within the industry. The climate career field is growing and there are opportunities for residents to both build new skills and pivot existing skills to a new industry.”

Sustainable Westchester’s Interim Executive Director Jim Kuster said: “We are delighted to partner with Westchester County to scale career pathways in clean energy for residents. The heart of this work speaks to Sustainable Westchester’s mission and we welcome the opportunity to participate in an initiative that benefits the community, economy and environment.”

Sustainable Westchester’s Program Director Rachel Carpitella said: “As a non-profit in the clean energy sector we know firsthand the challenges surrounding recruitment, hiring, and retention. We see our solution provider partners seek to hire skilled workers and at the same time we are aware of community members across the county who desire a career.  This program solves for the missing links and will accelerate the just transition to a clean energy economy.”

Among the CEA Working Group’s goals, are:

  • Align resources to implement existing and develop new clean energy training programs;
  • Provide local clean energy businesses access to a qualified workforce and increase their capacity to broaden their activities, including potentially hiring workers at a subsidized rate through the NYSERDA program;
  • Create strong clean energy career pathways for Westchester residents;
  • Support local businesses to broaden their services in correlation with the market demand for clean energy; and,
  • Attract clean energy companies to Westchester and ensure workforce availability to accelerate the implementation of money saving, pollution reducing technology across the county.

About The Westchester County Office of Economic Development

The Westchester County Office of Economic Development works to improve the County’s economic well-being and quality of life.  This includes a broad range of activities to attract, create and retain jobs, and to foster a resilient, pro-growth and inclusive economy. For information, visit https://westchestercatalyst.com/.

About Sustainable Westchester

Sustainable Westchester is a nonprofit consortium of Westchester County local municipalities that facilitates effective collaboration on sustainability initiatives. Sustainable Westchester’s goal is to bring socially responsible, environmentally sound, and economically viable solutions that create healthy, resilient, sustainable communities. For more information visit https://sustainablewestchester.org/

 

Editor’s Note: The above news release has been republished in its entirety to help support efforts of  the Westchester County Office of Economic Development partnering with Sustainable Westchester. Opinions and information presented have been neither independently reported or fact checked. Please refer questions pertaining to the news within to the sources cited.

 

 

Celebrating Service Above Self: A Look Back at the 2023 Awards at the Rotary Club of Chappaqua Charter Night

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The Rotary Club of Chappaqua held its annual Charter Night on Wednesday May 3 at Crabtree’s Kittle House. Attendees enjoyed a delicious dinner and an awards ceremony highlighting the accomplishments of our four wonderful honorees. The Rotary motto is “Service Above Self”, and this sentiment extends to every member, in every town. The Rotary Club of Chappaqua has been proud to carry that banner for 40 years, with many community service projects including our annual New Castle Community Day, as well as Pancake Breakfasts, Drive In Movie Night, Day of Service, and Charter Night. 

 

Charter Night is an important event, as we honor both a Rotarian and a Community Member for their acts of service. In addition, we also recognize one or more local high school students for their community involvement, providing them with a scholarship. Each of this year’s honorees were given special certificates of recognition from the Rotary Club, as well as our State Assemblyman Chris Burdick, and by Michael Weinberg on behalf of our State Senator Pete Harckham. 

 

The 2023 Community Honoree is Dawn Greenberg, the founder and Executive Director of the Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival. Dawn has long been involved in working for our community, including co-founding the organization which became 914 Cares, along with many other endeavors. The CCBF, now entering its tenth year, has grown to become the largest children’s book festival on the East Coast, and continues to get bigger and better each year. One key aspect of CCBF is the fact that they donate a significant number of books to schools, libraries and other deserving recipients as well. As Assemblyman Burdick said, “Dawn is truly a pillar of the community, and that’s a phrase I use very judiciously”. 

We are also honoring Rotarian Marlene Canapi as our 2023 Paul Harris Fellowship Award Winner. The Paul Harris Fellowship award is the highest honour the Rotary Club can bestow upon a person, and represents a combination of fellowship and extraordinary service to the community. Marlene is the Immediate Past President of our local Rotary Club, and led the Club through the throes of the Pandemic, when meeting in person–a core tenet of our commitment to fellowship–was all but impossible. Her extraordinary commitment and work ethic helped keep Chappaqua’s Rotary Club alive. Outside of Rotary, Marlene is the Executive Director for ARC Stages, in Pleasantville. ARC Stages is a community based arts organization and 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Marlene was unable to attend the ceremony due to international travel, but will be formally recognized at an upcoming Rotary meeting.

 

Last but certainly not least, this year we are proud to honor the exceptional achievements and community service of two local high school students, who will each receive a Scholarship from the Rotary Club of Chappaqua. Our recipients are Nathan Dang, and Netra Easwaran, both seniors at Horace Greeley High School. Nathan is a 4.0 student who will be attending Cornell University in the fall, but closer to home, he helped organize the first TedxYouth talks at Greeley, volunteers at the Mt. Kisco Interfaith Food Pantry, works as an English teacher for students in Vietnam, as well as working as a kids’ gymnastics coach at World Cup. 

 

Netra is also an exceptional student, who will be attending Yale in the fall. She has served as a student panelist on the CCSD Hiring Panel, a student speaker of TruthSquad, and has served our local, county and state communities by interning in the offices of Senator Pete Harckham, County Executive George Latimer, and US Senator Chuck Schumer. Netra also serves as a volunteer on the White Plains Community Youth Court, which provides alternative adjudication for youth misdemeanors, and as the Head of Tutoring Services at Youth4Better, a 51(c)(3). 

 

Both Netra and Nathan related some of their experiences as students and as volunteers. Nathan’s story was touching as he relayed how personal his community service efforts are, as someone who immigrated to the US as a young child. Netra was eloquent and polished as she spoke of the depth of meaning she felt when working with the youth courts.  

 

It was a truly beautiful evening, filled with gratitude and celebration. Please join us in congratulating each of these extraordinary individuals and thanking them

for their service to our community! 

 

The Rotary Club might just be the quietest multi-billion-dollar organization you’ve never heard of, it is made up of remarkable people doing remarkable things in communities all over the world. Rotary International has over 1.4 million members worldwide in nearly 50,000 individual clubs. The Rotary Foundation has over $27B assets under management, funded entirely by its membership, and every year thousands of service projects are completed. Nevertheless, since many people aren’t very familiar with the organization, we cordially invite you to learn more about Rotary of Chappaqua and consider joining us at an upcoming meeting. More information can be found at rotaryofchappaqua.com. We hope to see you soon! 

 

Editor’s Note: This story and several of the photos were submitted by Cynthia Schames on behalf of the Rotary Club of Chappaqua.