The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

Westchester

The Buddha Walks Into A Yoga Class:

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A Workshop with Lodro Rinzler

An introduction to Buddhism for anyone who wants to ride the waves of life with mindfulness and compassion. Join the best-selling author and teacher, Lodro Rinzler, for meditation instruction, guided contemplation, a discussion on how to manage the pervasive “Incredible Hulk Syndrome,” and ultimately how you can start to bring your core intention into your work, social, and romantic life.

Saturday, March 14, 2015 • 1:30-4:30 p.m.

$35 for members/$45, non-members

At the Wainwright Yoga Center in Rye, New York

Lodro Rinzler is the author of the bestselling The Buddha Walks into a Bar and The Buddha Walks into the Office, as well as the award-winning Walk Like a Buddha. His advice and relationship columns appear regularly in the Huffington Post and Marie Claire. He is the founder of the Institute for Compassionate Leadership and currently teaches at the New York Shambhala Meditation Center. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

To register, email yogadad@optonline.net

For more information, visit www.ytayoga.com

Yoga Teachers Association (YTA) was created by a small group of pioneering yoga teachers in 1979 who saw the need for affordable and continuing education. YTA is a non-profit, educational organization based in Westchester, N.Y., serving members from the tri-state area.

The YTA offers workshops with notable teachers representing many yoga traditions on the second Saturday afternoon of each month. Workshops are fee-based and open to the public. Members of the YTA receive discounted pricing for monthly workshops.

Association of Development Officers Salute Philanthropy Award Honorees at March 11 Breakfast

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Paula Barbag of Chappaqua; among the five Honorees
Paula Barbag of Chappaqua; among the five Honorees

One of the largest nonprofit events of the year, ADO’s Philanthropy Awards Breakfast celebrates the profound impact philanthropy has on our community. It’s a morning in which over 300 nonprofits, elected officials and corporations come together to recognize notable contributions in philanthropy, fundraising and volunteerism to countless worthy causes and missions. The breakfast will be held at Tappan Hill in Tarrytown, New York on Wednesday, March 11, 2015, 8 a.m.- 10 a.m. Registration opens at 7:30 a.m. 


Here are the honorees:

Fundraiser of the Year: Keeva Young-Wright, 
   Northern Westchester Hospital Foundation

Board Member of the Year: Vic Leviatin, 
 WISE Services

Future Leader of the Year: Ezra Werlinich

Community Partner Award: O’Connor Davies

Peter J. Gallagher Award for Leadership & 
 Service to ADO:

Paula Barbag, CFRE, Consulting for a Cause

For tickets and sponsorship information, please visit www.adoonline.org.  

For 35 years, the Association of Development Officers has promoted excellence in fundraising and philanthropy throughout the Hudson Valley region. A volunteer-driven nonprofit, ADO achieves its mission through raising public awareness and interest in philanthropy and charitable giving; promoting high ethical fundraising standards; and providing educational opportunities for those involved or interested in the field of fundraising.

Boys & Girls Club of Northern Westchester Salutes Brian Skanes

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Brian Skanes
Brian Skanes

Boys & Girls Club of Northern Westchester (BGCNW) announced today that Executive Director Brian Skanes will leave the organization this spring. Skanes has served in his current role at the BGCNW since 1994, and celebrated his 40th year with the organization in 2014. Skanes will continue his career with Boys & Girls Clubs of America as Director of Major Metro Services.

During his time at the BGCNW, the Club’s budget quadrupled from $800,000 in 1994 to $3.2 million today, the majority raised through donations and a well-developed fundraising program. BGCNW celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2014 and currently serves more than 1,700 children yearly–between 500 to 600 daily–from 60 Northern Westchester towns. This year, Skanes will receive the Club’s prestigious “Humanitarian of the Year” award, and honored at the annual Humanitarian Award Dinner June 6 at the Hilton Westchester.

“Brian has devoted himself entirely to creating better communities and lives for children and their families,” said R. Todd Rockefeller, president of the BGCNW board of directors. Honored as Citizen of the Year by the Mount Kisco Chamber of Commerce in 2002, Skanes is involved with various civic and professional organizations throughout the town, including the Mount Kisco Rotary Club, the Mount Kisco Chamber of Commerce, and the President’s Board of Northern Westchester Hospital.

“I never imagined I would work in a club and stay for 20 years. I am privileged to have had the chance to help grow and develop this wonderful organization,” said Skanes, a former Boys & Girls Club member himself. “It’s been a very rewarding career and a truly remarkable feeling to see the positive impact that the Club has had on so many lives.”

BGCNW has created a board-led search committee which is looking at qualified leaders able to bring a wealth of experience and deep dedication to the role. To learn more about BGCNW leadership opportunities, program initiatives, or upcoming events like 
the Humanitarian Award Dinner, please visit www.bgcnw.com or call 
914-666-8069.

Feb. 27: Westchester Kicks Off a First Smart Mobile App Development Competition

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More than 40 high schools and universities throughout the tri-state area will be taking on the challenge of developing app for treatment and management of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

WHEN: Friday, February 27 at 1 p.m.
WHERE: Westchester County Center
198 Central Avenue, White Plains

WHAT: County Executive Robert P. Astorino and students from more than 40 schools in the New York Metropolitan area will kick off the first Westchester Smart Mobile App Development Bowl. Sponsored by Westchester County, Pace University’s Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems and the David and Minnie Berk Foundation, this competition is providing some of the best young minds in high school and college an opportunity to create mobile applications to help with the management and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Teams will be announced at this event, which officially starts a two-month competition where contestants compete for cash prizes and paid internships.

Students from high schools and colleges throughout the region will participate including those from: Byram Hills, Blind Brook, Fox Lane, Tappan Zee, Hendrick Hudson, Rye, Ossining, Scarsdale and New Rochelle high schools as well as St. Francis Prep in Queens, Fordham University in the Bronx, Greenwich High School in Connecticut, New York University, NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering, Pace University, Manhattanville College and Suffolk County Community College

EntThe Westchester Knicks Dancers, Marching Cobras of Westchester and mascots from many of the schools will also be present for the pep-rally style kick-off

Event co-sponsors include: IBM, Burke Rehabilitation and Research, The Bristal Assisted Living and Liberty Lines

The New “Hearing Voices Network:” for Help in Coping with Hearing Voices and Other Sensory Challenges

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The new Hearing Voices Network of the Lower Hudson Valley Region (HVN-LHV) is a grassroots initiative working to introduce to our community self-led support groups for individuals who hear voices and have other unusual or extreme sensory perceptions, such as seeing visions. Hearing Voices challenges the stigma around such experiences by offering a supportive environment free from judgment or the assumption of illness.

Commissioner Mark S. Herceg, Ph.D.: “On behalf of the Westchester County Department of Community Mental Health and our community collaborators, I am pleased to co-sponsor an important effort as bringing the Hearing Voices Network to Westchester County and the Lower Hudson Valley Region. We know from those who have been involved in the Network of its profound effectiveness and ability to reach individuals in a unique and supportive way. That we will soon be able to offer this to our communities is very exciting and I hope that anyone interested in facilitating or joining these groups will avail themselves of this opportunity.”

Hearing Voices groups offer people who have had such experiences the opportunity to understand, learn, and grow from them together.The effectiveness of the Hearing Voices approach is well documented in the research literature, and growing numbers of peers and mental health providers on three continents are incorporating Hearing Voices principles into their work.

To learn more about the Hearing Voices approach, the following sites are recommended: www.hearingvoicesusa.org, www.intervoice.com and www.hearing-voices.org.

A training for those interested in becoming a Hearing Voice group facilitator will be held on March 17 and 18, 2015. To apply, complete the following http://bit.ly/1aeQzGn and email the completed form to rosenowc@mhawestchester.org.

HVN-LHV has grown from a collaboration among CHOICE of NY, The Empowerment Center, Human Development Services of Westchester (HDSW), New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services, Inc. (NYAPRS), The Mental Health Association of Westchester (MHA), The Westchester County Department of Community Mental Health, and Westchester Independent Living Center (WILC).