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Here’s a video tour of one of the Hudson Valley’s most intriguing spots, Bannerman Castle on Pollepel Island in the Hudson River between Cold Spring and Beacon. For those of you who have had only a quick glimpse from Metro North or a sneak peak between the trees while on Route 9D, this video tour will get you a good deal closer. The Governor has proposed in the 2010-2011 Executive Budget a $2.4 million cut in Library Aid. This will be the fifth cut in two years and will bring Library Aid down from $102 million in 2007 to $84.5 million in 2010. These cuts combined total an $18 million or 18% reduction in funding for library services. We can stop the cuts. Click here to take action. Our Hudson Valley libraries are much more than just book repositories. They are wondrous places of learning, havens for those seeking the quiet solace of a reading room. They are gathering places for our Hudson Valley folks, both young and old. They are community spirited institutions whose only purpose is to serve the community. They are neutral ground in our inner cities and focal points in our rural areas. The Hudson River Valley’s libraries are history themselves. Many of them serving our communities from the beginnings of our cities, towns, and villages, with origins in one room farmhouses to estate houses. For me our local library is a very special place. Three generations of my family utilized and learned from the same library. My wife who is an avid library goer. Our kids, who I can remember taking to the local library on a regular basis for school projects and chronically tapping the knowledge of the amazingly patient librarians. Then sitting with the kids at home afterwards with the stack of books and helping them with lessons, essays, projects. Now my little pre-school grandson who goes to socialize with other little people, explore, and bring home picture books full of bright trucks and talking animals that make his eyes wide and fill him full of wonder. There are some things that should not be beat on. High on that list are the elements of our Hudson River Valley society that act as cohesive matter and bind both people and community together. These places serve a special purpose beyond their stated mission. They are our magnetic places. Places where everyone can come together on equal terms for a shared purpose. No regard for rich or poor, no distinguishing between ethnicitities or gender, age or ability. Yes, libraries are like a magnet with hundreds or thousands of small metal balls attached to it. What happens when the magnet is no longer there? The metal balls scatter in all directions. Unity and cohesiveness is lost. It’s no longer a community. How many community magnets are we willing to loose? How many can we afford to loose? Help our wondrous libraries continue to serve our Hudson River Valley communities. Take action to prevent the hurtful funding cuts. We can stop the cuts. Click here to take action. The Sojourner Brookside would like to invite area kids to a Victorian Tea Party during the Winter School Recess on Wednesday, February 17, 2010. Sue McLane, the Victorian Lady, will guide the kids through a celebration of Victorian culture, learning about clothing, manners, and pastimes. The children will also plan, prepare, and enjoy a tea party. Games and craft activities will also be included. Two sessions will be held on February 17; 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 to 3 p.m. Fee for the tea party is $7.50 per child and is designed for children ages 5-12. Pre-registration is required and limited to 15 children in each session so register ASAP. Call Brookside at 885.4000 or email Linda at lgorham@brooksidemuseum.org. 6 Charlton Street, Ballston Spa, NY 12020 Wintergreens, a Community Supported Agriculture program in Beacon, NY keeps local produce coming even in winter. Wintergreens offers its members fresh, frozen, dried, and preserved vegetables, herbs, fungi, fruit, sprouts, wildfoods, grains, and more. All produce comes from local sources using eco and health conscious farming, preparation, and storage methods. Here’s how they do it:
Check them out at: http://wintergreenscsa.blogspot.com/ The State of New York, with support from New York City agencies, opened the New York Haitian Earthquake Family Resource Center today, February 1, 2010. The center is located in the New York National Guard Armory at 1579 Bedford Avenue, between Union and President Streets in Brooklyn. The Center will provide a number of services to the Haitian community, including: § Creole-speaking interpretation services; The Center will be open from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturdays. Information available at the Center will soon be made available through a combination of telephone and web-based systems. The Center will not take donations of cash or goods, but staff will direct those interested in donating to established Haitian relief organizations. Upon arrival at the armory, visitors will meet with Resource Center staff who will assess their needs and provide language interpretation services if necessary. Visitors will then be guided to the appropriate services by the interpreter or volunteers from New York City’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program. Before leaving the Resource Center, visitors will be asked to provide feedback about the services they received to gauge the effectiveness of the services being offered and identify any additional needs. The Family Resource Center will be staffed by a wide range of State and City agencies with access to vital, reliable information, as well as with partners from the Federal government. Local community groups will be invited to offer services on site, and community information sessions will be held for the public at the Center. State, City, and local agencies that will be providing support services at the resource center, include: § U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Aaron Belisle and Cynthia Barton are the members of the team that are currently ‘on call’. Please reach out to them or any member of the Human Services team if you have questions – everyone’s contact information is below. Best regards, Dina Maniotis Aaron Belisle Cynthia Barton Robert Van Pelt Rick Fernandez Michael Schultz It’s thoroughly depressing to read on a daily basis about services and programs across the Hudson Valley being reduced or cut out completely. Especially painful are those that touch lives directly. It has become common place to read about local government cutting back or cutting out. It is no less rare to hear of funding being cut to our local Hudson Valley non-profit programs, many of which have already been hammered by recent downswings in donations. Hard choices for hard times indeed, but not nearly as good an investment in our present or future as we might assume. Think of the cost to us when a YMCA in Dutchess County closes and the kids who found a safe haven from the inner city find themselves back on the mean streets. What will some of these kids who go astray cost us, now, and in the future? When county run or sponsored home services to the aged and people with disabilities are axed out of existence in counties like Greene, is there a real savings to anyone? Aside from the massive suffering caused to program clients, there is an overwhelming possibility that many of the clients will wind up in nursing homes, experience extended and repeated hospital stays, and require more outpatient clinic and doctor visits. Those aren’t free, and while the government or agency pocket that pays these costs may change, the cost to the common hard working Hudson Valley tax payer will not. There is a very bottom line concept in all of this- A society can not marginalize or compromise any part of the whole, for any reason. To do so marginalizes the society itself. It destroys the best part of us. The part that allows us to step out into our community and know that all of its diverse elements are working as one and functioning for the good of all, not just for the good of some, and especially not just in the good times. Community and society by its name and by its natural structure works best when it works for everyone. It gives us the ability, the tools, to help our community partners, and makes our Hudson Valley community a decent place for all who reside here. I do believe it is time for the good folks of the Hudson Valley to speak up and sound off. Get out to the meetings, stay in touch with our elected and appointed officials, and get our ideas and opinions on how to weather this economic storm in front of them. It’s time to get creative and it’s time we realized that our elected and appointed officials don’t have all of the answers. They may have been smart enough to get elected but rest assured that they are not smart enough to master this mess on their own. Kick in and help the Hudson Valley. Voice your opinions, your concerns, and especially your ideas. The Sojourner |
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