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Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

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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.  

 

 

 

 

 

Danielle’s Dreams: Sprinkling Joy Through Art and Adventure

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On an early summer day in 2019, Danielle Leventhal stepped into room 205 at Seven Bridges Middle School in Chappaqua. Danielle, a 2012 graduate of Horace Greeley High School, had attended Seven Bridges, as did her younger brother Alex. 

In a story that embraces the remarkable twists and turns of fate, Danielle was returning to Seven Bridges–on her actual 25th birthday–to speak to Brian O’Connor’s fifth grade class as a part of his curriculum on the CNN Heroes program. 

Brian O’Connor’s Seven Bridges Middle School teacher’s wall of CNN Heroes

Celebrating Heroes

For 12 years, O’Connor’s social studies class has watched CNN Heroes and discussed the 10 everyday heroes and their amazing accomplishments. Students then write a letter to one hero, sharing how they were inspired by their story. “We have sent out 5,000 letters in the last 12 years,” says O’Connor, who will teach the program for the 13th time this year. Many heroes write back and have even come into the classroom to meet the students and share more of their story. 

CNN’s production team got word of O’Connor’s program and visited the school to film a three-minute segment for their 10-year anniversary special. O’Connor attended the live event at the Museum of Natural History in New York. There he met and connected with Brad Ludden, a 2016 Top 10 CNN Hero and the founder of First Descents, a non-profit organization that provides life-changing outdoor adventures for young adults impacted by cancer. 

Jennifer Leventhal (Danielle’s mother) had stayed in touch with O’Connor over the years. When she saw the segment, she reached out to offer congratulations. “Jennifer also shared that Danielle had been diagnosed with cancer, had gone through treatment, and was going to take part in a First Descents program,” says O’Connor. O’Connor later invited Danielle to come to speak to his students about her powerful First Descents experience, which is what she joyously did that summer day in 2019. 

Danielle on O’Connor’s wall of CNN Heroes

Diagnosis

 After high school, Danielle, a gifted artist, graduated in 2016 from the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis with a double major in painting and art history. She was busy painting and working in the art world when, in 2017 at 22, she noticed a pain in her shoulder and chest. It impacted her breathing on her runs, so she went to urgent care, but the EKG showed nothing. Danielle wasn’t satisfied. She requested a chest X-ray. It revealed a softball-sized mass near her aorta. “Danielle had excellent body intuition and her follow through helped save her life for another four adventure-filled years,” says Jennifer. 

Despite the diagnosis of a rare sarcoma, Danielle had unrelenting hope balanced with a firm grasp on reality. “If you looked at a snapshot of Danielle and her high school friends and asked which kid could handle adolescent cancer the best? I’m sure Danielle’s name would not have come up,” says Jennifer. “She was gentle and perhaps even delicate, but she was indeed fiercer than we, or even she knew and funnier than she had ever been.” 

William D. Tap, M.D. chief of Sarcoma Medical Oncology Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) was Danielle’s oncologist. In addition to surgery, her treatments included proton therapy, a radiation treatment used to shrink the tumor, followed by chemotherapy, studies on acupuncture and eventually clinical trials of new drugs. 

Sarcomas are a rare group of malignant cells that begin in the bones or soft tissues says Dr. Tap. “There are some 60 different sarcomas and for each sarcoma subtype there may only be a few hundred to a few thousand people diagnosed in the United States each year,” he adds. 

Because sarcomas are so rare, and because youngsters often have lumps and bumps that are not given adequate attention, sarcomas are often misdiagnosed or receive a late diagnosis. “Sarcomas present with a remarkably wide range of symptoms from belly pain to shortness of breath,” says Dr. Tap. “Honestly, they are easy to miss.” Treating sarcomas in the young adult range (age 15-39) is very challenging. “The survival rate of pediatric cancers has increased greatly, but we need more research to discover how we can positively treat these rare cancers that are affecting young adults.”

This demographic also has a diverse range of needs, worries and concerns, specific to their age group says Dr. Tap. There are questions regarding their education, career, future fertility, and emerging independence. “For well-rounded care, it’s important that the medical team understand these unique psychosocial aspects and how they affect the patients’ life,” says Dr. Tap. 

Danielle was an inaugural participant in Tap’s Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) program at MSK. The program brings together care experts across specialties along with the patient’s oncologist. This can be a social worker or fertility expert–whatever is needed. “They usher the patient through treatment and assist with the stressors of their diagnosis,” says Dr. Tap. “The program also creates a peer group environment where patients can have meaningful dialogue and combat the isolation the patient may be feeling.”

When Danielle lost her hair, her friends all wore wigs to her 23rd birthday party so she wouldn’t feel alone.

Dr. Tap praises Danielle’s ability to grow with her cancer diagnosis. “She gained an agency and confidence that strengthened her relationship with her family and friends and that was dramatic to see,” he says. Her dedication to help develop the program for others to benefit even when her disease was threatening her life showed strength and resilience, which Dr. Tap says is a testimony to Danielle as a person.

Donut Paintings for Project Bakesale, 2021. Acrylic on Wood Panels. Each square painting was created in exchange for a donation to Blue Georgia runoff candidates.

Her mother recalls an early lesson Danielle took home from AYA. She learned that it’s your journey. How much you want to share is your choice, she says. “If you look at cancer as a slice of pie, it’s a small part of the whole pie. It’s not nothing, but it’s not everything either,” she says. As she got sicker, Danielle shared more. She wanted to create a legacy with intentions of being helpful to other young adults with cancer. 

Sharing opened new doors. One day in New York City Danielle spotted Suleika Jaouad, who at 22 was diagnosed with leukemia and documented her journey in The New York Times column, “Life Interrupted”. Danielle thanked her for her articles and later hand delivered a portrait she had painted of Suleika. It was Suleika who encouraged Danielle to go on a First Descents trip. “She said it would change her life,” says Jennifer, “and it did.”

First Descents

Brad Ludden, a professional kayaker, was in his teens when his young aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer. He took her and her friends on a kayaking adventure and learned that outdoor adventure could be profoundly healing. Ludden founded First Descents to offer healing adventures to young adults impacted by cancer and other serious health conditions. 

“First Descents” is a term used widely in adventure sports. It’s a feat that someone has completed before anyone else and merits respect, as in kayaking white water rapids that have never been descended,” says Emily Burick, First Descents development officer and now an ambassador for Danielle’s Dreams Adventure Program.

Burick says First Descents encourages participants to make the most of the time you have, in the places you are in, and the people you are with. Their tag line, Out Living It, is a play on words celebrating the spirit that participants embrace. 

In 22 years, some 10,000 young adults have gone through the core program, which includes a weeklong adventure free of cost. Adventures range from rock or ice climbing to whitewater kayaking and surfing. Participants develop an unwritten bond and become like a second family and can continue to adventure with peers through the #Out Living It project. 

Burick met Danielle on her weeklong First Descents ice climbing adventure in Ouray, Colorado. She knew her as Donut. “It’s a tradition that everyone gets a nickname. It happens sometime from when the staff picks you up at the airport and you arrive at the lodge, says Burick. “From then on you introduce yourself as that nickname. The beauty of it is that it allows you to assume a new identity and be free.” 

Jason “Buck” asked Danielle which of her paintings were her favorite and she said, “A donut”. She had made many paintings, but her favorite was a series of donuts. The name stuck. 

“Donut was kind, radiant, and joyful,” says Burick. “She took part in everything, and it was not without fear.” The program helps participants learn what they are in control of, and what they aren’t, how they can take on the challenge and how not let cancer define them.

“It was important for Donut to be an advocate for herself and others, she became so involved and that was very characteristic of her,” says Burick. Danielle/Donut introduced First Descents to Soul Ryeders, a Rye-based organization that offers resources, programs and community support to those impacted by cancer. The two organizations have since established a partnership. “She didn’t want her experience to just be about her, she wanted it also to be about others, that was who she was to her core,” says Burick. 

Sharing and Caring

It was in that spirit that Danielle returned from New York City to Seven Bridges Middle School. “Danielle was an amazing role model, she was so prepared, had an amazing presence, and connected with the students as if she were a veteran teacher,” says O’Connor. She was candid and age-appropriate in speaking about her treatments and her ice climbing adventure with First Descents. She encouraged the students to be kind, appreciate family and friends and reminded them if they didn’t feel well, they must tell someone. 

Danielle did not know that O’Connor had a surprise planned that day. He had invited Brad Ludden to Skype into the session and they all sang happy birthday to her. “In my 22 years of teaching that was the most memorable moment,” says O’Connor. “The room was filled with good vibes and the kids were so happy to honor her. I will never forget it, and I believe the students will remember it too.”

Danielle’s Dreams

When the pandemic hit, Danielle devoted herself to her artwork, painting daily and instead of going out, embracing what she called an “In Living It” spirit. 

Danielle passed away on August 4, 2021, at 27 after outliving terminal cancer for four years. 

Her legacy continues as Danielle’s Dreams works to “sprinkle joy through art and adventure” for young adults with cancer. Two programs, Danielle’s Dreams Adventure Program, First Descents and Danielle’s Dreams Art Programs, AYA at MSK, allow you to support Danielle’s Dreams through tax-deductible donations. 

And this month you can take part in a Virtual Fitness Fundraiser honoring Danielle on her birthday. On Wednesday, June 15, 2022 at 7 p.m. Lauren Chiarello Mika, a fitness instructor at Memorial Sloan Kettering Center and founder of Chi Chi Life, hosts a 45-minute virtual Pilates Fusion Class, which is appropriate for all ages and abilities. 

Lauren is a two-time Hodgkin’s lymphoma survivor who has been cancer free for 13 years. She also took part in a life-changing First Descents adventure and is now mother to identical twin boys born in 2020. 

Jennifer and Danielle took Lauren’s virtual Pilates Fusion class in 2020-2021. “I called them the Dynamic Duo,” Lauren says. “Here was a mother and daughter moving beside each other, bonding physically and emotionally.” Danielle made a painting of Lauren and her boys, which she sent to her along with a meaningful note. “I will always treasure these,” says Lauren. “It shows the spirit of giving that Danielle embraced.”

On the cover:
Lieutenant’s Island
No. 2, Oil on Canvas, 2019, winner of the “Popular Vote” award for the cover of the 2020 Wellfleet travel guide

First Descents Virtual Fitness Fundraiser

Wednesday, June 15, 2022 at 7 p.m.

Take part in a 45-minute virtual Pilates Fusion Class, hosted by Lauren Chiarello Mika. The low-impact, mindful movement class is appropriate for all ages and abilities and supports the mission of First Descents. It’s a perfect way to honor and celebrate Danielle on her birthday and offer adventure to young adults like Danielle impacted by cancer.

Your $45 registration fee includes the virtual class and a custom-designed “Donut” hat in honor of Danielle.

Register or donate today: https://support.firstdescents.org/event/danielles-birthday-fundraiser/e402259

Resources

The Art of Being Neighborly on my Cul-de-Sac

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It’s a week before the big day and our family has convened to strategize a significant plan of action. This approach must be executed with meticulous detail so that the inevitable impending onslaught will be met with precision. A disciplined chain of command will ensure that whatever blueprint we settle upon will come from the top. Which is most definitely not me. My wife, Laurie, has decided, as The Decider, that the candy should be put into easy to distribute, pre-packed little bags with plump pumpkins on them. While this laborious option will guarantee fairness and efficiency (and trackable statistical data my wise-guy son adds) I tend to lean towards the more chaotic and subjective. Why not greet each kid, assess quality of costume (along with their trick or treat statement) and then distribute loose candy based upon this information? With 200 to 300 trick or treaters expected you can see why I am not The Decider. Welcome to life on my cul-de-sac.

When we moved to our Northern Westchester digs everything seemed new and a bit odd but exciting too. In the city we’d walk the kids to school every morning and it was a sweet ritual. Leaving that and other distinct urban scenarios behind made me hesitant to embrace the move to this beautiful bucolic suburb. However, almost immediately, it was clear that the more rural versions of our established routines were equally wonderful. In this case, we’d lose the family time spent walking to school as, now, the bus-stop is literally in front of our house. This simple fact of geography led to very fast friendships for the kids, as well as parents, who would all gather on a near daily basis. It would be impossible not to notice that we’d absolutely landed in a neighborhood.

Some of the bus-stop relationships evolved into friendships that still remain. Others were fleeting and on occasion a little contentious but that’s just the way life is with people interacting daily, sometimes before coffee. What became intriguing to me over time was the evolution of the bus stop. You’d see your kids eventually age out along with their peers followed by new kids which were often younger siblings you might know. At one point a whole new crop of kids populates the space by the house and, not being connected to it other than seeing it from the window, you realize that that particular aspect of living in the cul-de-sac always continues. Just as sweet as ever but no longer a direct part of our lives.

It may be a personal flaw but I’m very quick to base opinions upon my initial impression of people. Fair or not, neighbors show themselves one way or another and, unwittingly, I reach a conclusion about who they are which will never change unless they prove otherwise. I know this is absurd and not particularly neighborly but here we are. Shortly after we landed in our house a neighbor said hello and within 10 seconds told me I needed a new roof on my house. Probably a wonderful person but, for me, he’ll always be that guy who was critical of our new abode when I was at the height of emotional vulnerability homeowner-wise.

Along those lines, when the kids were young, there was a mother at the bus stop with a child the same age as my son. She wasn’t particularly friendly, even a bit abrupt, and I rashly concluded she was just kind of a hard case. Our kids became friends and I got to know her a little better and, of course, she turned out to be a very kind person. It turned out this single mom had serious health issues and I always felt terrible about my initial shallow rush to judgement. One December she came by to ask me to tune an electric guitar she’d bought for her daughter. I happily did so and she gave me a warm and spontaneous hug. I watched her walk away, guitar in hand, in light December snow headed up towards her house at the end of the cul-de-sac. The neighborhood is quite simply a community of folks living in close proximity and all that that entails.

Sharing the Sweetness of the Holidays

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Having moved to Chappaqua just a few years earlier, I wanted to find a different way to throw a holiday party. So, I came up with the idea of throwing a Cookie Exchange. I looked at every magazine to research how to throw a Cookie Exchange party, and then devised my rules, which included, at that time, each person having to bake six dozen cookies, and sent out invites to 20 friends.

That first year, the ice gods of the Northeast decided to visit us during the party and my long, uphill driveway became a hazardous, sliding terror. My husband walked everyone down to their cars, holding the traded cookies in addition to our guests arms, to make sure there were no accidents–with cookies or appendages.

That first Cookie Exchange took place 18 years ago and it has grown into a party of between 60-70 guests. My dining room table has every leaf in it and the cookies barely fit, especially when bakers, like Cindy Greenstein, make an amazing yet giant cookie quilt. Prizes are awarded to the best tasting, most creative looking, best presentation and Michele’s choice, usually given to a newbie. Lisa Avramovitz and Georgia Frasch have won the most times, as both their decorative cookies and presentation astound everyone.

We have had our excitement over the years. There was the year that someone said their butter looked weird when they were baking and the cookies they brought were green, when no food coloring was used. Another year, one of the guests somehow took someone else’s white minivan home and, after an hour of phone calls, she embarrassingly brought back the car and took her own white minivan home. And, yet another year, my son and his teenage friends ate so many cookies as judges, that we had to banish them to our basement so that there would actually be enough cookies to be exchanged.

And what about my friends who are just horrible bakers? They attend but are encouraged not to bake because it is in the best interest of attendees not to eat anything they would attempt to make. So, they bring wine.

This year’s bakers will only make four dozen cookies. Still, there will be no slice and bake cookies, no cookies from a mix or ones that have been purchased. My son will be home from college to do the judging along with several others. And, many families in town will enjoy a cornucopia of cookies, at least for the weekend.

A Tale of Two Friends

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Bookmark Buddies Helps Honor the Memory of Chappaqua Resident and Empowers Kids to Make a Difference

PHOTO BY CAROLYN SIMPSON, DOUBLEVISION PHOTOGRAPHERS

Regardless of our age, we have the power to make a difference. Six-year-old Lanie Feig proves just that. A kind little girl with a gentle disposition, Lanie began a charity called Bookmark Buddies with the help of her family and members of our community. The premise of Bookmark Buddies is simple: blank bookmarks are provided for children to decorate and then sold for charity. Although Lanie loves to read, her inspiration for starting this organization was not merely her love for books–it was her love for a friend.

A Mutual Love of Books

Last year, when Lanie was in Kindergarten, she met a 3rd grader in school named Scarlett. Feeling an instant connection with Scarlett, Lanie asked her teacher if they could be reading buddies for the year and was granted her request. Their friendship grew over books, and a deep bond quickly formed between the girls. However, Lanie didn’t know that Scarlett was battling cancer. Even as Scarlett’s condition worsened, she continued reading to Lanie, with both girls treasuring their time together. “The most remarkable thing about all of it–besides Lanie’s love for Scarlett–is that Lanie never knew Scarlett was different or sick. To know that Scarlett was looked at as special, but not different, was incredible, and it just shows the power of kindness and inclusion that should be an example for all,” said Robin Chwatko, Scarlett’s mom.

Heartbreakingly this Marc, Scarlett passed away. In an effort to help Lanie cope with this devastating loss, her mother, Heather went to Scattered Books to find a book that could help Lanie through this emotional time. While there, Heather came up with the concept for Bookmark Buddies, thinking that Lanie could make and sell bookmarks with her friends and use charity work as a means of processing Scarlett’s passing.

PHOTO BY HEATHER FEIG

A Charity is Born

“Lanie was saying to me, ‘Mommy, I’m just so sad. Have you ever seen me so sad? I don’t understand how something like this can happen’” said Heather. “And she just asked tons of questions about how a child could die, so I decided I wasn’t waiting to bring up the bookmark idea.” The next day, with the help of Laura from Scattered Books, Bookmark Buddies had its inaugural event, with members of the community coming together to decorate bookmarks, raising $300 in the process. But the event was deemed to be a success for more reasons than just the money it raised, as it also provided Scarlett’s friends and members of the community with an opportunity to channel their energy into something positive in honor of Scarlett.

Although Lanie is only six-years-old, she has a profound sense of empathy, a deep passion for helping others, and a maturity beyond her years. “The goal of Bookmark Buddies is to empower children,” stated Lanie. “We want kids to know that they can make a difference in the world. Kids think that they can’t do some things that adults do, but anybody can do this, even little kids like me. All you have to do is color a bookmark and it helps others.” After that first event, Bookmark Buddies started getting more and more requests, hosting events at Scarlett’s Bunny Garden, Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester’s Mitzvah Day, and the Sleepy Hollow Literature Fair, among many others. Although the money raised by Bookmark Buddies is going to three different charities (Make-A-Wish, the Ronald McDonald House, and the SPCA in honor of Scarlett’s charity, Draw for Paws – see story on page 30), Lanie has a particular goal in mind. After hearing about how Scarlett’s wish to swim with the dolphins at Disney was granted, Lanie hopes to raise $10,000 for Make-A-Wish so that she can grant a wish for another child and give them hope.

Robin Chwatko is blown away by Lanie’s dedication to Bookmark Buddies. “The fact that she is honoring Scarlett’s memory over something they bonded so closely over– it leaves me speechless,” stated Robin.

Photo by Heather Feig

A Growing Non-Profit

But what started as a singular event is growing rapidly into a national organization. Lanie has even been selected to send in the inaugural video to Wonderama’s new online series, Helping Hands, which aims to inspire kids to volunteer in their own communities. ”With Bookmark Buddies we hope to raise awareness and spread kindness,” said Heather. “This whole thing happened so organically– the response we have gotten from people has made me feel like I want to do more to inspire others to do good on their own, at any age.”

PHOTO BY CAROLYN SIMPSON, DOUBLEVISION PHOTOGRAPHERS

Seeing how powerful Bookmark Buddies has been in helping Lanie process Scarlett’s passing and put her emotions toward positivity, Heather has decided that the organization can help kids anywhere. “Any kid who wants to raise money for a cause they are passionate about can now become a Bookmark Buddy. There is a list of things they can do to become a Bookmark Buddy, and then they can use our concept to raise money for their own charity and be featured on our website.” For anyone who wants more to make a donation or learn more about Bookmark Buddies, visit bookmarkbuddies.org.

When I first began chatting with Lanie, she spoke of her love for reading. But she qualified that she only likes happy stories, commenting: “Why are there even sad stories? Every story should have a happy ending.” And through Bookmark Buddies, Lanie is taking a sad story and making it a bit happier; indeed, in Lanie’s eyes, anyone who buys, or makes and donates, a bookmark is spreading happiness. “We are turning sadness into happiness, and happiness is contagious,” said Lanie. By creating and growing Bookmark Buddies, Lanie is proving that spreading happiness and kindness, that making a difference, is something that we are all capable of. And best of all, she is doing it all in honor of a friend.