The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

Dawn Greenberg

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.

 

 

 

 

Notes of Deep Gratitude

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From the Founder and Director of the Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival

Have you ever had the feeling of teetering but somehow knowing that a safety net was beneath you, ready to make sure you didn’t hit the ground?

This was the disorienting but ultimately comforting feeling I had in March and April of this year. I was hospitalized and in intensive care and yet knew that my friends and community would take care of me and my boys…and somehow make sure the Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival would go on.

Dawn Evans Greenberg. Dawn’s Hair and Makeup Courtesy of Aura Salon and Style Bar in Chappaqua. www.auraboutiquesalon.com Photo by Donna Mueller

I had to hand over control to my husband, Paul, and to friends, and just focus on keeping myself alive for Jackson and Ben, my teenage sons. I don’t recommend falling ill, but for a means to learn to appreciate every breath we’re allowed, becoming vulnerable that way can’t be topped.

I entered the hospital for elective surgery on February 10th. My next memory was waking up to dozens of cards taped to my hospital wall. The cards were the only thing that held my attention–the only thing that made any sense. I recognized “Ossining Children’s Center” and read the message over and over again. And why did author Dan Gutman feel the need to write “get better soon?”  I was flattered but also puzzled. How did he know where I was and how did he know I needed well wishes?

The date was March 1st and I had lost three weeks of my life. I had a tube coming out of my trachea. I couldn’t speak or lift my arm.

The cards and what they represented from the community ended up being a highlight of my days. My husband would drive to NYU Langone Hospital each afternoon, always with more cards. So many cards. He told me that two dear friends Karen Visser and Robin Chwatko were taking care of our kids, along with dozens of other friends jumping in to help, even coordinating walking our beloved dog Flare. Beloved merchants reached out too. The Kings’ Scribe was facilitating the cards and they never seemed to stop. I couldn’t count them all and still treasure each one. 

Each day my husband would offer me my iphone, usually my umbilical cord, and I flat out declined it–a sign of just how sick I was. But he also knew I was worried about the festival and kept me current on book festival developments. Paul assured me that our volunteers were making sure it would happen in October. As the days went by toward my discharge of April 10th, I started to feel relief and excitement about getting back to real life.

Now, we’re three weeks away from the festival. I have gradually gotten stronger and feel incredibly optimistic about the future. The love that our community showed me that my family will be with me throughout the rest of my life. I will never stop being grateful.  

 

 

 

 

 

New Name & New Charitable Initiatives for: (914) Cares

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Editor’s Note: (914) Cares drew our attention recently and we learned of its numerous charitable efforts in Westchester. These began with Dawn Greenberg and Jessica Reinmann who together are the founders of  ‘Chappaqua Cares, Chappaqua Shares.’ Launched in 2014, it intended to “introduce our neighbors to lesser known local nonprofits and their needs.  The goal was to channel donations of goods and volunteer hours to these organizations,” stated Greenberg and Reinmann.

What you need to know about (914) Cares

The two founders explain the name change, too: “Initially our focus was on food, clothing and toys and was limited to organizations in Chappaqua for whom we ran short-term drives.  Our focus quickly grew into longer-term support for the pantries closest to Chappaqua with an annual fundraising event, Empty Bowls.   In addition, as part of our goal to teach children the importance of volunteerism, we created events for families like card-marking for nursing homes and pajama/book collection for Project Night Night.  Because our goals and mission have broadened over time to include nonprofits throughout the County and to involve communities beyond New Castle, in 2018 we updated our name to (914) Cares.”

Key Programs

Empty Bowls

Empty Bowls is part of an international grassroots effort to combat hunger with fundraising events reminding participants of the empty bowls throughout the world.  Our organization has raised over $300,000 with annual Empty Bowls events in 2015, 2016 and 2017.   In addition to providing financial support through these events to area pantries and organizations that combat hunger, we seek to educate our communities on the pervasive rate of hunger in our County.

Kids’ Kloset

Kids’ Kloset is a volunteer-driven program that provides Westchester County children and families in need with donated clothing and related items free of charge. Since Kids’ Kloset was opened in 2011, it has provided over 16,000 bags of clothing and diapers to local children.  Children, newborn to 18 years of age, receive “bags of love” with clothing prepared into outfits free of rips, stains, and missing buttons. The bags represent more than clothing. We believe they boost the confidence and esteem of the youth, potentially helping to improve grades at school and reduce stress in the household. And parents can be assured their children have clean, appropriate, well-fitting clothing.

We assist our Community Partners with publicity and execution of donation drives for a variety of items needed for basic human needs including: clothing, food, diapers, toiletries, books, school supplies, toys and gifts.  The focus is on new or gently used items getting quickly into the hands of those who can most use them.

Volunteer Drives are used to help area nonprofit organizations fill volunteer hours for both short-term and ongoing programs.  We help provide volunteer hours for food pantry stocking and disbursement, sorting of goods from drives, fundraising events, reading mentoring, cooking and many other requests.

 Family Support, Frequently we help provide local families with immediate short-term help including clothing, housewares, food drives and/or meal trains. We also provide referrals to agencies able to help with long-term support.

For more information, visit 914Cares.org.

Or, contact directly: Jessica Reinmann: jessica@914cares.com and Dawn Greenberg dawn@914cares.com

 

Kristen Browde Leads “Stronger New Castle” as Team Aims to Capture Town Board Seats

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Kristen Browde Leads Ticket kicking off Historic Run for Town Supervisor

Ivy Pool and Gail Markels Seek Town Board Seats

Town Justice Noah Sorkin in Re-election bid too

New Castle Democratic Committee at Annual Fundraiser Celebrates New Slate; also Honors Up2 Us Group and Greeley Tribune Student Editors

Article and Photos by Grace Bennett

(L-R): Stronger New Castle Candidates Kristen Browde (for Town Supervisor), Gail Markels and Ivy Pool for town board seats, with Jerry Curran, co-chair, New Castle Democratic Committee  

Chappaqua, April  11— Each of three candidates in a new all-Democrat slate calling themselves “Stronger New Castle” expressed a promise to bring greater transparency and change to New Castle.

With  a unifying theme in place, Kristen Browde, running for Town Supervisor, together with Ivy Pool and Gail Markels for Town Board, on April 5, announced their respective campaigns for elective office serving New Castle. In an expression of Democratic unity, Browde stated outside Chappaqua’s Town Hall: “I’m going to be a Democrat who up and down the line will support Democrats.”

Browde, a resident of New Castle since 2004, is a divorce attorney and former Emmy-winning reporter and television news anchor at CBS News (where she worked for 17 years). She also brings a historical significance, along with national interest to a town supervisor run–as a transgender individual seeking public office in New Castle. 

Two-term incumbent Robert Greenstein currently holds the seat here in the hometown to a President and twice nominated presidential candidate and Secretary of State.   

Her candidacy, Browde said, “has nothing to do with being transgender or not,” she stated in her remarks, adding that each candidate brings to the table “what they are qualified to do and what they are motivated to do.” Her own work in town has included serving on both the Chappaqua Central School District’s Financial Advisory Committee and the Town’s Inclusion and Diversity Committee.

Browde added that while she is running on her qualifications, she is also not shying away from being open about her life as transgender, adding that she feels “a special honor and responsibility to those who came before us, citing Stonewall and how she “stands shoulder to shoulder” with those who have been harassed, “by being visible and not hiding my past.”

Browde’s professional background as an attorney and journalist includes being a member of the Board of Trustees of the AFTRA pension fund, a member of the LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York and as a founding member of the Transgender Bar Association.  

Browde stated that (as far as she knows), she is one of only eight other transgender individuals running for public office across the country, and that she is the first to be endorsed in New York by a major party.

National media immediately took notice. The Daily News picked up the story the night before the official announcement and a CBS reporter and cameraman were among regional and national media covering the official race announcement outside Town Hall.

Standing with members of Up2Us (the formerly Chappaqua Friends of Hillary group–of which Browde, Pool and Markels are all members) and with Karen La Porta and Jerry Curran, co-chairs of the New Castle Democratic Committee (NCDC) which nominated the three-candidate team, Browde said that like so many in New Castle, she was “stunned and disappointed at what happened on January 29th’” when, she said, so many expected Hillary Clinton to be sworn in as President.

In a question/answer period with reporters following her remarks, Browde said she looked forward to welcoming new residents when they arrive to live in affordable housing in Chappaqua at new multiple unit housing at the Hunts Lane site (that stirred so much controversy in town, but which is, on course).

“When the families are moved in, we will make them feel welcome and make them feel safe here,” she said.  Browde has a son at the Seven Bridges Middle School (and a second studying abroad).

Browde also expressed concern about how the town was addressing climate change issues, recalling the impact of Hurricane Sandy in town. “Sandy threw us for a loop,” she said, “and this town has done virtually nothing to be more prepared if there’s another Sandy.”

Some background: Robert Greenstein, a registered Democrat, won a second term in 2015, by a little over 300 votes, in his run against challenger Victoria Alzapiedi, the New Castle Democratic Committee nominee. Democrats Jeremy Saland and Hala Makowska won two open town board seats beating out Republican candidates Seth Chodosh and Eileen Gallagher, members of the “Team New Castle” ticket (together with Greenstein, a registered Democrat). Saland and Makowska are not up for re-election.

Markels and Pool seek the seats currently held by town board members Lisa Katz and Adam Brodsky, whose terms officially end this year.  Greenstein, Katz and Brodsky of “Team New Castle” have not formally announced their bid for re-election, but are expected to do so later this spring.

Stonger New Castle Campaign manager Carol Evans, former publisher of Working Mother Magazine and founder of Executive Women for Hillary, now called Executive Women for Her, told the Inside Press that she is inspired by the three new candidates nominated by the NCDC.

She described Pool as “a young mom with tremendous professional experience working for several terms in the administrations of former New York City Mayor Bloomberg” and Gail Markels as “an entrepreneur with extensive experience in government who will know how to negotiate effectively on behalf of New Castle.” 

 Pool, who has a six- and eight-year old at Grafflin, said she knows “how to take a project from a good idea to a finished project,” and that after the 2016 election she felt “a strong sense of responsibility to step up.”

Markels, who raised two children in the Chappaqua schools, promised to help promote an “open and transparent town government,” and that she “can’t wait to hit the trail and make New Castle blue.”

Full bios of the three candidates can be found at www.StrongerNewCastle.org

Town Justice Noah Sorkin announcing his run

In addition to the new team slate, Town Justice Noah Sorkin, also announced a bid for re-election, saying that he would work hard to “safeguard the rights of individuals coming through the town.” County Legislator Michael Kaplowitz, up for re-election as well, praised the new team for a “very positive, very energetic  kickoff.”

New Castle Democratic Committee Annual Dinner 2017

Later the same evening, over cocktails and dinner, all three candidates had an additional chance to speak at the annual meeting and fundraiser the NCDC held at Crabtree’s Kittle House.

 Along with endorsing the new team ticket, the NCDC honored Chappaqua’s UP2Us board: founder Dawn Greenberg, Randee Glazer, Steven Goldenberg, Jason Lichtenthal, Julie Gaughran, Francesca Hagadus, Iris Lauchaud, Kelly Leonard, Kristin Lore, Holly McCall, Lori Morton, Beth Sauerhaft and Marie Short. 

Jerry Curran stated that the efforts of Up2Us were “colossal” and called it a  “truly grass roots  group.”

“They envision an America in which individuals are represented fairly and treated with kindness, respect and dignity,” said Curran. “They seek to empower and support all Americans by driving political and social change to build a brighter future for us all.”

 Greenberg said the group started out with 12 members (it has grown to 3,738 on Facebook), and that they will remain active in a growing resistance movement that has sprung up all over the country.

She indicated her group was going to be active bringing Democrats to office on the local, regional, and national level.  “Astorino, watch out. We are coming for you,” she said, in reference to County Executive Rob Astorino, whose seat is also up for grabs.  “We are going to come out hard and strong… We are not going to stop until we get our country back.”

Dawn Greenberg speaking on behalf of the UP2Us board. (L-R) and with Steven Goldenberg, Marie Short, Randee Glazer, Jason Lichtenthal and Geri Shapiro

 Greenberg took the opportunity to also honor Geri Shapiro, a former campaign manager for Secretary Clinton in a second successful run for U.S. Senate. Shapiro now works on behalf of U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Shapiro, for her part, recalled the Clintons arrival in New Castle and honored the memory of both Town Supervisor Marion Sinek and Maureen Keating (who she called ‘a force of nature’) in helping to welcome the Clintons to the community.

Oscar Flores with Geri Shapiro

Shapiro praised the Up2Us group, expressing appreciation for the friends she has made. She also honored Oscar Flores who worked with the Clintons in the White House, and continued to in Chappaqua. “He is such an important part of this community and all of our lives,” Shapiro stated.  “Oscar’s response is always the same, “I’ll take care of it.” And that usually means “the sun will come out tomorrow.” Oscar rose to the podium to thank Geri.

Finally, also honored, were a group of Horace Greeley high school students–Amanda Cronin, Claire Hotchkin, Billy Perlmutter and Meaghan Townsend–for their editorial work at the Greeley Tribune, and for ‘breaking tradition’ in endorsing Hillary Clinton during the Election.

The New Castle Democratic Committee program journal for the evening included a signed tribute from Hillary Rodham Clinton.

 

Greeley Tribune staffers after accepting their citations.
Kristen Browde

Grace Bennett is Publisher and Editor of the Inside Press which aims to follow Election 2017 in New Castle.

 

Jane Silverman, Up2Us; Carol Evans and Catherine Wilson, Executive Women for Her and Up2Us; and Reginald Lafayette, Westchester County Democrats.

 

Browde with (l-r) Up2Us members Jason Lichtenthal, Lori Morton and Jane Silverman

 

Browde with Corrine Pena of Up2Us