900 Middle Schoolers Feast on International Food
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Over 900 students enjoyed the annual Scarsdale Middle School Multicultural Lunch on Friday, June 7th. Here is a note from Jane Wang, co-chair of the Multicultural Committee along with Cindy Yau:
One of the most anticipated events for the Scarsdale Middle school kids, SMS Multicultural Lunch took place on Friday, June 7 at the great hall. It is one of those most fun and educational events. 18 countries participated this year. More than 900 students savored the beautiful food from across the globe and the smiles brought to their faces were simply amazing. It was a perfect day and the students had a great time lunch with their friends on the courtyard in the sunshine.
It was also incredible because over 900 people were served and not even one full bag of trash was generated!!!
For this we thank you for the zero waste team coordinated with the parents who cooked and served the food. Everything went seamlessly and there was absolutely no single use disposable plastic at the event.
This is an event run with mostly parents volunteers coordinated with the SMS PTA, Mr. Rambone and Student Organization. So many parents worked tirelessly from budget to food, to design, to decorations, with every single detail. The culture display was brilliant together with the most delicious food selected from the cultures represented from regions and continents across the world. Most importantly, the kids had a great fun luncheon gathering, tasting all different cultures. After all, they will experience all the beauty of the cultures when they enter into the real world.
Thank you for more than a hundred parents who volunteered to prepare and serve the food, to make the event so enjoyable and delectable; thank you for the SMS PTA and Vanessa Stoffels for the endless support; thank you for Mr. Rambone, who has served SMS decades and is retiring, for making this last event of his so memorable and full of energy; thank you for Michelle Sterling and the committee for making this zero waste and feel good event; thank you for Ms. Troy’s unwavering support; thank you for the custodians for your patience and work.
Jenna Bush Hager Inspires Volunteerism at White Plains Hospital Luncheon
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Susan Fox, Jenna Bush, Kathy Winterroll, Susan YubasYou only need to drive a few feet north of Scarsdale on the Post Road to see that big changes are afoot at White Plains Hospital. As part of their transformation from a community hospital to a major medical destination, the hospital recently broke ground on a new 252,000 square foot center for advanced medicine and surgery.
Though it’s all in virtual reality for now, this new center will include equipment and staff to perform many procedures that previously sent patients farther afield. Some of these services include advanced imaging, ambulatory surgery, endoscopy, high risk maternal-fetal medicine, orthopedics and spine care, heart and vascular medicine, surgical services, and hyperbaric wound care.
Anna Cappucci, Wendy Berk, Kathy Winterroll, Susan Fox, Carrie Bank, Eileen Meyers, Kathy SherbalSome of this new construction has been underwritten by generous donors who were celebrated at the Friends of White Plains Hospital Spring Luncheon on Tuesday, June 4 at Willow Ridge Country Club. In addition to seeing friends and learning more about plans for the hospital, the audience was treated to an appearance by Jenna Bush Hager, who is now a co-host of the Today Show.
Lisa Singer, Dara Gruenberg, Jenna Bush, Stacey Philips, Lisa GansHospital President and CEO Susan Fox opened the event and welcomed Board Members Kathy Winterroll and Wendy Berk, who head the Friends of White Plains Hospital. On behalf of the Friends, they presented a check for $1.6 million, their largest ever donation to the hospital. They also granted scholarships to four graduating high school students who spent hundreds of hours volunteering at the hospital. Anne Edwards was grant the first annual ripple award for her decades of service.
Jenna Bush, who is well into the pregnancy of her third child came to the podium and declined a chair – though it must have been tough to stand. She was poised, charming and engaging, and spoke to the sold out room of over 300 women as if they were all her best friends.
Pam Jahmarkt, Sharon Seibold, Ali Gordon, Amy Hirshhorn, Jenna Bush, Patricia Dweck, Vanessa Mandel, Dayna NovensteinShe shared stories about the lives of her two grandmothers, who both passed away recently, just after the publication of Jenna and Barbara’s book, “Sisters First.” She called her grandmother Barbara Bush, “the enforcer,” and said that her “Ganny” passed away with courage and grace and even had the chance to listen to her own eulogy before she died.
Bush said that both of her grandmothers passed down the legacy of service and giving back from generation to generation. Jenna inherited the desire to help others and spent several years teaching in inner city schools and travelled to Latin America to help HIV infected mothers and children.
She laughed when she said, I could never imagine that I would end up working in the media, after they reported to the world that I had “gained the freshman 15.” (pounds that is.)
It was a delightful event for a good cause and the good feelings generated in the room will undoubtedly create ripples in the years to come.
Greenacres Girl Scouts Donate Supplies to Steve’s Camp at Horizon Farms
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On Friday, May 17th, the second grade Greenacres Girl Scout troop presented Steve and Cheryl Kessner, Scarsdale residents and grandparents to two of the troops members, with an array of gardening equipment to benefit their not-for-profit organization, Steve’s Camp. Every summer, the camp provides life changing experiences to about 200 underprivileged young teens through programming that helps them realize their true potential outside the confines of their inner city communities.
Following months of hard work selling cookies online, door-to-door and at Cookie Booths, the troop was able to raise over $12,000. The girls gathered, discussed and voted on the most worthwhile causes to donate a portion of their proceeds to and choosing a local organization with ties to their school community felt like the right way to go.
At their last girl scout meeting of the year, the girls presented Steve and Cheryl Kessner with items such as shovels, trowels, loppers and hoes to help maintain the camp’s garden which helps teach the campers about harvesting food and healthy eating. Steve thanked the troop for their hard work and generosity, letting them know how much their donation would help the campers. Then cookies were enjoyed by all!
About Steve's Camp:
Steve’s Camp at Horizon Farms revolves around the idea that an intense residential experience can provide the spark that ignites a lifetime of change for youth from chronically underserved communities in NYC.
Participants first spend two weeks on our 100 acre campus deep in the Catskill Mountains where they begin the cycle of change by exploring the interconnected concepts of healthy body, healthy heart, healthy mind. The camp experience can be life changing, but like with tinder where fire catches easily, this spark can go out quickly.
The spark grows into a tiny flame through the school year Afire programs. Campers are encouraged to participate in all three 6-week workshops which cover topics of interest - like Health + Wellness, Arts + Discovery, and Critical Issues - and build on concepts introduced over the summer.
That small fire is fanned into a blaze of enthusiasm, with Evolutionary Leadership. Campers have the opportunity to pursue mentorship programs, job training for roles with increasing responsibilities, and college readiness guidance that grow confidence and develop life skills.
For more information, click here to visit their website.
Scarsdale Teams Excel at Youth Soccer Tournament
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Scarsdale hosted the annual Scarsdale Memorial Day Tournament on Saturday, May 25th and Sunday, May 26th. The tournament was held on the Quaker Ridge and Scarsdale Middle School fields and is a full-day event with food trucks and vendors. It draws regional club teams from the area, including Manhattan, Connecticut, and Westchester County, and approximately 130 teams participated this year across the U8 to U15 age groups. Scarsdale Youth Soccer Club had 11 boys and girls teams participate with great success, as six teams placed first in their division and two teams placed second.
Registration for SYSC's U8 travel program is open June 1 - June 30th! Click here to register.
Pictured above- U12 Boys team Monoco, winner of their division.
U9 Division Winners - Chelsea Team
U9 girls team Porto, winner of their division.
Scarsdale U11 girls Championship Team
LWVS Luncheon Speaker Outlines Effort to Fight Hate Crimes
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Cindy Dunne, Cynthia Deitle and Linda Doucette-AshmanAn illustrious crowd of mayors, trustees, legislators, representatives from Village organizations and current and former League members were in attendance at the League of Women Voters Annual Luncheon on Friday May 10 at Scarsdale Golf Club.
This year, as in the past, the guest speaker focused on an issue of importance to all; hate crimes and victims rights. Former head of the FBI Civil Rights Unit and current Programs and Operations Director of the Matthew Shepard Foundation Cynthia Deitle shared stories and pivotal learnings from a lifetime of defending victims of bias.
Deitle was introduced by league member Cynthia Dunne who met Deitle twenty years ago when Dunne was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York. She called Deitle “professional and inspirational.”
Deitle reviewed some of the pivotal cases that cemented her commitment to protecting victims and becoming a crusader in the fight against hate crimes.
She discussed Kent State where the Ohio National Guard fired on unarmed students protesting the bombing of Cambodia, killing four innocent victims. Deitle was very young at the time, the slaughter impacted her for the rest of her life.
She recounted the story of Abner Louima who got into a fight after leaving a nightclub in Brooklyn in 1997. He was picked up by police who beat him and sexually assaulted him in a horrific display of police brutality. Deitle visited Louima every month for two years and hoped to get him to be an advocate against police brutality. However she later concluded, “It was selfish of me and conceited of me to want to use him after what happened.” Louima wanted to rebuild his life, rather than spend the rest of it reliving that night.
Sometimes Deitle was called in after the death of a victim. This was the case of Zoron Teodorovich who was arrested for trespassing after he grilled a steak on a neighbor’s barbeque. While in prison, he got into a disagreement with prison guard Paul Cote who pounded Teodorovich's head into the cember floor multiple times with his boot. As a result, Teodorovic went into a coma and died. It took Deitle more than a year to find the victims family overseas and bring his sister here to get justice for the death of her brother.
League Presidents Janice Starr and Linda Doucette-Ashman
Finally she discussed the murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, who was beaten and tortured –possibly due to his sexual orientation in 1976. His case shown national attention on hate crimes and ultimately spurred the passage of new legislation to address hate crimes, “The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.”
From these and other cases that she reviewed, Deitle shared what she learned:
-First impressions are often wrong
-Not all victims will be advocates
-Some victims just want to be heard and understood – the role of law enforcement is also to listen.
-Sometimes the victims are the bad guys, but they need to be protected too.
-Even if the victim has already died, the law should “do justice by people you may never meet.”
-Referring to the parents of Matthew Shepard, Deitle said, “Some advocates change the world.”
Former Scarsdale Mayor Dan Hochvert with Scarsdale Mayor Marc SamwickIn her present role, Deitle is collaborating with Matthew Shepard’s parents Dennis and Judy Shepard, the Department of Justice, the Anti-Defamation League, NAACP and other non-governmental agency stakeholders to enforce the Hate Crime Prevention Act of 2009. She trains state, local, and federal law enforcement officials to recognize hate crimes and enforce the law.
Barbara Jaffe and NYS Assemblywoman Amy PaulinHow can we make the world a better place? Deitle encouraged the audience to ““Be the change you want to see,” saying “You are all advocates and allies and forces for good.” She challenged the people in the room with these words: “What is your cause? What makes your heart beat? What gets you up in the morning? Whatever that thing is, get out there and try to push the needle forward. Do something. Anything.”
Photo Credit: League of Women Voters of Scarsdale
Library Director Elizabeth Bermel with Former Scarsdale Inquirer Editor Linda Leavitt
Barbara Chesler, Diane Baylor, Kit Rosenthal and Renee Baylor
