RadioRotary

The Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum, near the edge of the Hudson in Poughkeepsie, is one of the great destinations for parents and children in the Hudson Valley. Lara Litchfield-Kimber, Executive Director of the museum, and Sara Capozzoli, Director of Public, Media and Corporate Relations, visit RadioRotary to tell about the many hands-on exhibits and programs designed for children from age 0 to 6. Since 1989 the museum has provided a first-class learning-through-play experience. Although there are fees most days, every third Saturday is a free day, so all can enjoy it. Now, as an added attraction, the elevator to the Walkway over the Hudson is just steps away. A new exhibit, “Early Learning Junction,” with a railroad theme, joins the ”WonderDome,” “Imagination Playground,” RiverTown, and other delights.

Rotarians Barbara Blas and Barbara Cohen of the Kingston Sunrise Rotary Club visit RadioRotary to tell about the developing Reher Center for Immigration and Culture in the Roundout section of Kingston, NY. The project began when the Jewish Federation of Ulster County came into possession of the large building that previously housed the Reher Bakery, famous for its rolls, the only intact historical building in the Roundout. With help from state, federal, and local funding, the building has been stabilized and will soon have a permanent display of the history of immigrants in Kingston as well as other rooms for exhibits and lectures. The original bakery kitchen is also intact and will be able to be visited. The two Barbara’s also describe exhibits housed in the Stockade part of Kingston dealing with immigrant history in the city as well as several projects of the Sunrise club.

Co-host Jonah Triebwasser and producer Kathy Kruger interview Michele Polluck-Rich, Executive Director at Grace Smith House, the principal organization in Dutchess County for aid to victims of domestic abuse. Victims of either sex can be helped; the hotline is (845) 471-3033. About 90% of the abused are women, who can be removed from their domestic situation to one of two secretly located residences for stays of 90 days. There are also arrangements for men. The clients are provided with a family advocate to help get through the legal arrangements necessary for orders of protection or for finding permanent housing. Not all abuse is physical—victims of psychological or financial abuse can also get help. Services are free and confidential. Since one in three of adolescents have been affected by partner violence, Grace Smith House supports an important outreach program of teenagers working with other teenagers, The Peace Group. Evening support groups meet weekly as well.

RadioRotary Co-host Jonah Triebwasser interviewed Marietta Allen about her current Outreach program at St. Mary’s Parish in Newburgh. Newburgh suffers from high poverty and crime rates. Each of the four Roman Catholic churches has a program to help alleviate the city’s problems. Among the components of the St. Mary’s Outreach are the provision of emergency food and toiletries for immediate needs; a program that delivers food and other supplies to homebound veterans; a program to provide food and other aid to the elderly in their homes; as well as several similar outreaches. Perhaps the most dramatic aid comes with Giving Day, every 3rd Friday of the month. Those in need can visit a large area filled with tables of food—fresh, meat, and canned; supplies and toys for children; clothing; furniture; and other items not covered by food stamps. Giving Day also features a nurse for minor medical needs, legal services, and representatives of community departments.

Deanna Mancuso tells the story of how her grandfather’s gift to her of an abused horse when she was 12, gradually led her create the Lucky Orphans Horse Rescue farm, which now hosts 43 formerly abused, neglected, or abandoned horses. Today these horses are not only living out the remainder of their lives (which can be as long as about 50 years), but also they are providing significant equine-assisted therapy to humans in need of help—it is people helping horses helping people. Dutchess County currently has a horse population of about 42,500 horses, but abused horses from all over the country are also welcomed to the Lucky Orphan’s farm. Volunteers, some of whom are doing community service, provide all the work on the farm.

Pleasant Valley Weekend Fun (Aired on July 21 and 22, 2018) Mary Albrecht of the Town of Pleasant Valley visits RadioRotary to describe the annual festival known as Pleasant Valley Week end, which has moved from its previous time in September to July. The event features three separate parades through the hamlet—a motorcycle parade on Friday, the big parade […]

RadioRotary interviews Tessa Edick, author of Hudson Valley Food and Farming: Why Didn’t Anyone Ever Tell Me That?, an introduction to the Local foods in the RadioRotary listening area, filled with photographs of local farms. Ms. Edick started the FarmOn! Foundation to promote dining on local foods at home and in restaurants. Among the local products discussed are the dairy products produced by the farm cooperative Hudson Valley Fresh and also raw milk from Ronnybrook Farm. Too many people swap convenience for nutrition. Locavores—people who get 70% of their food from local sources—not only eat healthier, but also support the local farming economy.

The RadioRotary co-hosts interview author and motivational speaker Jesse Saperstein about his new book: Getting a Life with Asperger’s: Lessons Learned on the Bumpy road to Adulthood, a guide to leaving “the road to loserville” written by someone who has experienced the problems of a person with Asperger’s as he made important life transitions. Mr. Saperstein was diagnosed with Asperger’s at age 14, just two years after psychologists formally recognized the condition. Despite bullying by others and failing at the first two professions he tried (described in his first book, Atypical), he learned how to manage his condition and in this book offers his advice. The interview also deals with his hopes for introducing a muppet with Asperger’s into the Sesame Street cast.

Brewster Rotarian and 2015-16 Rotary District Literacy Chair Jenny Hinsman learned about buildOn from the best-selling book Walk in Their Shoes: Can One Person Change the World? (Jim Ziolkowski with James S. Hirsh) and has started her club working with Ziolkowski’s buildOn organization on its mission of breaking the cycles of poverty, illiteracy, and low expectations through service and education. On this program she and buildOn Chapter Manager for the East Coast and Midwest Jenn Lishansky describe how buildOn works with urban youth in the U.S.A. to build schools throughout the areas of the world where illiteracy and poverty are endemic—Haiti, Mali, Nicaragua, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Malawi, and Nepal. Among other activities, buildOn has built 674 schools in these nations, schools that serve boys and girls equally, often along with their parents and grandparents.

Co-host Jonah Triebwasser and producer Kathy Kruger interview Mike Green and Matt Cruz about Hyde Park Rotary’s Little Free Library in the Stop & Shop Plaza in the Hyde Park Mall, the Rotary Club operates in conjunction with the Hyde Park Free Library. The movement to install Little Free Libraries has been spreading from town to town, and Rotarians are often behind the installation. In a Little Free Library, a small number of books (40 in the case of Hyde Park) are available for anyone to borrow—no library cards or check-out needed. Borrowers may return the book when they desire or replace it with another book—and keep the one they took—or return it to the Hyde Park Library. Books are donated through the Hyde Park Library, which maintains the collection. Hyde Park Rotary maintains the physical library, which was built as a model of the Hyde Park Free Library building. Literacy is one of the main areas of Rotary activity. In addition to the mini-library,

Jonah Triebwasser and RadioRotary Producer Kathy Kruger interview Gabriella Fryer, Executive Director of Stringendo, a nonprofit music education and performance program for youth in the Hudson Valley. Stringendo allows elementary and high-school students to play in six different orchestras, depending on skill level, and four different fiddler groups. The all-violin ensembles are knows as the Strawberry Hill Fiddlers, while the six Stringendo Orchestras have music-associated names ranging from “Prelude” for the beginners to “Vivace” for the most skilled. The “Vivace” orchestra has won many awards, most notably the 2009 Grand Champion of the National String Orchestra Festival. In addition to the orchestras and fiddlers, Stringendo offers Summer Strings, a day camp where children from 3rd through 10th grades learn fiddle tunes by ear as well as participating in traditional camp activities.

RadioRotary interviews Southern Ulster Rotarian B.N. Mikkelsen about available trips by rail or sea to exotic places around the world. Mikkwelsen, a native of Denmark, operated a travel agency for more than a decade before turning to his present occupation of representing companies that take travelers to interesting destinations. Among his favorite trips are rail tours on the Trans-Siberian Railway, the Silk Road, Namibia, Turkey, and Australia. Many of these are by private train compartments, although for some you travel by train but stay in local hotels. He also facilitates cruises along rivers in Asia and is especially excited about a small ship, the Ocean Diamond, that will tour the coasts of Iceland and Greenland.

Michael Weitzman in this RadioRotary interview reveals that he has long suffered from a common form of mental illness—bipolar disorder (once known as manic-depressive state), although he was not diagnosed with the disease until age 40. Today he emphasizes the basic triangle for handling a mental illness—a psychiatrist to diagnose, medicine to alleviate, and therapy to help with coping. The depressive side of bipolar disorder tends to isolate a person in what Weitzman calls the “Cave of Hell,” where the person becomes nonfunctioning, while the manic side makes a person overly active and optimistic. In addition to the basic triangle, it helps to cope by masking a daily list of activities to prevent nonfunctioning and actually doing what is on the list; but mental recovery activities such as journaling and meditation; and by joining a support group for the disorder.

RadioRotary interviews Richard Tracino, President and Chief Executive for Hudson Valley Hospice (HVH) and Hudson Valley Hospice Foundation, and Kim Warner, Director of Psychosocial Services for HVH. Hospice serves people of all ages who have terminal illnesses, although hospice focuses on the entire family, not just the dying individual, helping them deal with medical, emotional, spiritual, and family issues during the last six months of life. HVH at any given time helps from 100 to 130 patients in Dutchess and Ulster Counties, guiding them to palliative care, offering programs such as music therapy, and even continuing to aid families after the death of the patient.

Casey MacDonald, who survived her own bout with cancer nearly 20 years ago only to confront cancers that attacked her husband, father, and best friend, has devoted her life to helping others navigate their way through the medical, financial, and lifestyle challenges of the disease. She founded The Hudson Valley Cancer Resource Center, which—with the help of many volunteers—serves nine counties in the Hudson Valley. They provide a kit of information for those newly diagnosed with the disease, and then offer information on available financial assistance, prescription help, lodging and transportation, and legal and insurance counseling. This RadioRotary interview describes these services and more, as well as telling Ms. MacDonald’s own cancer stories.