• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

  • Home
  • Advertise
    • Advertise in One or All of our Magazines
    • Advertising Payment Form
  • Digital Subscription
    • Subscribe
    • Subscriber Login
  • Print Subscription
  • Contact Us

Scholarships

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

May 4, 2023 by Cynthia Schames

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.

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Not for Profit News Tagged With: community service, Dawn Greenberg, Marlene Canapi, Paul Harris Award, Rotary Club of Chappaqua, Scholarships

Making (Up) a Difference: The Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund

November 9, 2022 by Ronni Diamondstein

The HGSF team inside Horace Greeley High School
Photo by Carolyn Simpson

Every Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund Board meeting begins with the reading aloud of a note of thanks from a scholarship recipient or the parent of one. The notes that are scrubbed of identity are heartfelt: “Without you, the Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund, I don’t know what I would have done. I am GRATEFUL, and words will never tell you how much your contribution is doing for me” and “Please know that I will someday achieve my dreams. I will always look back and be GRATEFUL to the Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund forever.” Board President Peggy Macchetto says, “It’s a way of focusing on the Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund’s mission of neighbors helping neighbors.”

The Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund (HGSF)’s objective is to “make up the difference” between the actual costs of college and all other financial resources available to students and their families. The goal is to make college a reality for all Greeley students. Megan Conroy is one of the recipients who will be eternally grateful to HGSF. The 2017 Greeley grad graduated from Adelphi University’s nursing school program in 2021 and is working as a medical surgical nurse at NYU Langone in Mineola. “I probably wouldn’t have been able to graduate if I didn’t get the money,” says Conroy. “I was touched that every year I got some grant.”

HGSF Scholarship Recipient Megan Conroy

There’s no question that there is a very high cost of a college education these days. Tuitions are rising yearly for both private and public schools. Macchetto is not surprised about the need in the community. “The cost of education and raising kids has grown exponentially. Families are facing things like that and having the disposable income to pay for college has become more of a challenge.”

Applicants may apply all through their college years and the grants are based on need. It is open to any Greeley grad who is pursuing a four-year degree any of those years and they must apply each year as their financial situations may change. “We are looking for kids to get the degree. We want them to get through and to facilitate that as much as we can,” says Macchetto. The process is objective and extremely confidential. Their newly launched updated website makes it very easy to apply with a very high level of security. An outside consultant reviews the financial situation of each applicant and recommends the distribution to the Board’s Grants Committee. The only member of the Board who knows the identity of the recipients is the Board Treasurer who cuts the checks. It’s entirely a need-based system. “Everyone who qualifies gets something. Based on their gap, we look through how much we can cover that is meaningful enough to get to where they need to go,” says Macchetto. “The current cap per applicant is $20,000 per year. The average grant in 2022 was just over $8,000.” In 2021 they were able to grant $403K of $883K that was demonstrated as need.

“Our donor base is helping the same kid who is on the same sports team as your kid or the kid you’re on line next to at Lange’s. Even though it is anonymous, it’s all about the community, we have a lot to be proud of,” says Macchetto. “And it’s another example of our community prioritizing and valuing education,” says Julianne Cohn Metzger, Vice President of the HGSF Board. “We’re assisting our neighbors, our neighbors’ children and friends to continue the education they’ve been lucky to have here in Chappaqua.”

The seeds for the HGSF were planted in 1945 when the senior class of Horace Greeley High School gave $300 to start a fund for students who needed help paying for college. That spirit of students helping students has continued with the Greeley PTA Senior Musical that is a fundraiser for the HGSF as well as the very popular fall Spelling Bee that is run by the Greeley S.H.A.R.E club. “Another great way of students helping students,” says Macchetto. “The Bee is open to a wide variety of the community. While it’s academic, it’s about having a good time.”

The fall annual appeal mailing and the spring event are the two major fundraising vehicles. “The spring benefit is a nice way of getting everyone together and will be in person this year,” says Macchetto. Another fundraising tool is Senior Signs currently priced at $20.23 for the class of 2023. “It’s a fundraiser but it’s also teambuilding and getting our logo out,” says Macchetto. On the horizon is a Pickleball Tournament, and people may also make donations in honor of or in memory of someone.

Each year two members of the Chappaqua Central School District Community are honored at the benefit. This past spring Rita Santelia received the Taylor Family Award of Distinction for student and community support that goes above and beyond. Santelia, the mother of five, has been a parent volunteer over many years including PTA Chair of both Bell School and Horace Greeley High School. “I was so humbled to receive this award,” says Santelia. “I wondered how this could just be for me since I wasn’t doing each volunteer experience alone.” She was very involved with the Senior Musical, and it means a lot to her to know that her work on the Senior Musicals would be another way to help seniors and the HGSF. “All proceeds from the show are donated. In years prior to Covid, Senior Musical has been a huge benefactor to the Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund through the help of the community that comes out to watch the shows,” says Santelia. “We look forward to many more to come, as they will be great benefactors of the Horace Greeley Scholarship again and again.”

Joe Kearns, recipient of the Ed Habermann Award, and Rita Santelia, recipient of the Taylor Award of Distinction.
Photo courtesy of HGSF

Joe Kearns, a Chappaqua physical education teacher and the varsity football coach who was the winner of the Ed Habermann Award last spring, grew up in Millwood and was a recipient of HGSF scholarships. Bridging the financial gap with scholarships from the HGSF made a difference for the 1996 Greeley grad and his three younger sisters who also received grants for their four years of school. Kearns attended New England College in New Hampshire and studied Kinesiology. The award made Kearns appreciate where he came from and how willing people were to help. “It was really cool that a place that’s known for its wealth would have a scholarship set up for people in its own town that don’t have much money,” says Kearns. “It gives you a sense of pride and appreciation to the point where I wanted to come back. When you teach and coach here and you know that it’s a community where the only reason you got to go to college and got to be a teacher was because of the generosity of the people here.”

Winning the Habermann Award that honors a member of the community for their dedication to students was very meaningful for Kearns. “It’s the biggest honor you could get. You’re being recognized for the whole reason you got into education,” says Kearns.

Kearns has thoughts on why it’s important to support the HGSF. “They say charity starts at home. There’s an assumption that nobody needs it. We have a community that’s overall wealthy, but we have people in need, I think it’s important to support them.”

Cohn Metzger sums up the importance of supporting the HGSF. “For many families in our community it makes a difference between enrolling and not enrolling, and for their child to pursue their dreams. Your contributions enable them to do so.”

For more information about the Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund, or to apply or donate, go to their new and improved site hgsf.org

Filed Under: Cover Stories Tagged With: Chappaqua Schools, College Tuition, Habermann Award, HGSF, Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund, Scholarships

Gullotta House Presents ‘Escape from Sing Sing Plunge 2020’

January 17, 2020 by Inside Press

Saturday, February 15, 12 p.m. – 12:10 p.m at Louis Engel Park Beach in Ossining

A Benefit to Help Westchester Residents Facing Hardships

Much Needed Funds Will be Raised for Scholarships Supporting Local High School Seniors

By Grace Bennett

Get ready, get set… everyone is invited to join the fun and take the Escape from Sing Sing plunge at beautiful Louis Engel Park Beach in Ossining! You’ll be helping to benefit Westchester residents facing hardships and raise some much needed dollars for local high school scholarships too, thanks to the efforts of the Gullotta House, an an all volunteer organization and all its sponsors supporting this now third annual event. Matthew Gullotta asks that each participant commit to raising at least $100. The event will take place on February 15th, 12 p.m.-12:10 p.m.. 

There’s a happy pay off too for each courageous plunger: “When you raise $125 it gets you a long sleeved event shirt!” says Gullotta.

In fact, there are a whole range of benefits to becoming a sponsor, too, at the $50, $250 and $500 and up levels (which includes a three minute talk about your business at the event!). Find out more by emailing your team or businesses name, or your individual or family interest to gullottahouse@gmail.com. To sponsor this event or a person, visit www.gullottahouse.org

Please note: Everyone must wear sneakers or water shoes and sign waivers. Costumes are allowed. Most important: HAVE FUN!     

 

Grace Bennett is founder, publisher and editor in chief of the Inside Press since 2003.

Inside Press is a proud media sponsor of ‘Escape from Sing Sing Plunge 2020’ 

AERIAL PHOTO BY JIM DROHAN

Filed Under: Not for Profit News Tagged With: benefit, fundraiser, Gullotta House, High School Scholarships, Ossining, Scholarships, Sing Sing Plunge, Sponsors, Volunteers

Best Reasons to Support Chappaqua’s Rotary Club

December 2, 2019 by The Inside Press

Courtesy of the Rotary of Chappaqua

1. Community Day

2. Pancake Breakfast

3. Blood Drives

4. “Ringing in the New Year” Celebration

5. High School Scholarships

6. Community Service Award

7. Members of all ages and backgrounds who believe in “Service Above Self”

8. Host to over 30 informative guest speakers a year from within the community and beyond

9. Contributions to charities and community members including SHARE, Fuller Center for Housing, Larson Brain Tumor Foundation, SPCA, Support Connection, Guiding Eyes for the Blind, Wagon Road Camp, Evan’s Team, GraceNotes, Alex’s Team, and many more

10. Part of Rotary International, a global network of over 1.2 million people of action including neighbors, friends, leaders and problem solvers working to better our world

Please visit ‘Chappaqua Rotary Club’ on Facebook

Filed Under: Health and Wellness with our Sponsors Tagged With: Blood Drives, community day, community service, Guest Speakers, Rotary Club, Rotary International, Rotary of Chappaqua, Scholarships

Primary Sidebar

Please Visit

William Raveis – Armonk
William Raveis – Chappaqua
White Plains Hospital
Houlihan Lawrence – Armonk
Houlihan Lawrence – Briarcliff
Houlihan Lawrence – Chappaqua
NYOMIS – Dr. Andrew Horowitz
Raveis: Lisa Koh and Allison Coviello
Purple Plains
Compass: Miller-Goldenberg Team
Korth & Shannahan
Douglas Elliman: Chappaqua
Roamfurther Athletics
Armonk Tennis Club
Houlihan Lawrence: Harriet Libov
World Cup Gymnastics
Dr. Briones Medical Weight Loss Center
New Castle Physical Therapy
Pinksky Studio
David Visconti Painting & Contracting

Follow our Social Media

The Inside Press

Our Latest Issues

For a full reading of our current edition, or to obtain a copy or subscription, please contact us.

Inside Armonk Inside Chappaqua and Millwood Inside Pleasantville and Briarcliff Manor

Join Our Mailing List


Search Inside Press

Links

  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Digital Subscription
  • Print Subscription

Publisher’s Note Regarding Our Valued Sponsors

Inside Press is not responsible for and does not necessarily endorse or not endorse any advertisers, products or resources referenced in either sponsor-driven stories or in advertisements appearing in this publication. The Inside Press shall not be liable to any party as a result of any information, services or resources made available through this publication.The Inside Press is published in good faith and cannot be held responsible for any inaccuracies in advertising or sponsor driven stories that appear in this publication. The views of advertisers and contributors are not necessarily those of the publisher’s.

Opinions and information presented in all Inside Press articles, such as in the arena of health and medicine, strictly reflect the experiences, expertise and/or views of those interviewed, and are not necessarily recommended or endorsed by the Inside Press. Please consult your own doctor for diagnosis and/or treatment.

Footer

Support The Inside Press

Advertising

Print Subscription

Digital Subscription

Categories

Archives

Subscribe

Did you know you can subscribe anytime to our print editions?

Voluntary subscriptions are most welcome, if you've moved outside the area, or a subscription is a great present idea for an elderly parent, for a neighbor who is moving or for your graduating high school student or any college student who may enjoy keeping up with hometown stories.

Subscribe Today

Copyright © 2025 The Inside Press, Inc. · Log in