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Published: 08 May 2017

Created: 08 May 2017

Last Updated: 11 May 2017

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Ten years ago, a small but determined band of Scarsdale High School students broke through the first layers of sod and formed a vegetable bed. They visited Yale and explored their garden, and hoped one day to have a pizza oven and picnic tables just like them. Well, they have picnic tables now, a much larger garden...and plenty of good will, sustainability ethics, and devotion to duty.

The main mission of the Scarsdale High School Garden Club, lead by teacher Mrs. Favretti, has remained the same all these years: to provide healthy organic food to local soup kitchens and food pantries (this year, Grace Church and Eastchester Community Action Program). Each year since 2011, they have achieved their goal of at least 1500 pounds of food donated.

At the same time, the garden is an outdoor classroom and gathering place. At least one teacher in each department (and in some departments many more) uses the garden for instruction.

Whether it's observing, measuring, labelling, photographing, harvesting, investigating, testing, working, problem solving- students are the beneficiaries. The gardeners are learning a whole host of skills beyond being able to produce a large quantity of food with nothing but seeds, soil, water and sun, and everyone enjoys the picnic tables and benches on pleasant days.

The club would like to invite the whole community to consider volunteering in the garden in the summer months. They have had volunteers ages 5 to 95, and many in between. The summer months can be tough for the garden, but with volunteer help the club can get through and not waste food that can be donated. They need weeders and harvester/donators!

Everyone is also welcome to enjoy the Annual Volunteer Appreciation Potluck Picnic and Work Day, May 20 from 10-3 at the SHS Garden and room 2N5. Sign up by contacting Maggie Favretti, mfavretti@scarsdaleschools.org, 914-721-2567. If you are a Yale alum, please also register through Yale Day of Service online!

Join as a club volunteer!

Grad Bag is looking for donations!

Grad Bag is a green initiative to re-use dorm supplies. They collect, clean, package and re-distribute dorm room items to soon-to-be college students who don't have the means to buy these things on their own.

Grad Bag is collecting used dorm room items and college graduation is around the corner. Do you know a college senior (or any student) who is moving out of a dorm room? Don't throw those XL bed sheets away!

They collect directly at colleges in addition to local efforts. Grad Bag is currently looking for gently used linens, storage boxes, lamps, etc. They will take used camp bed linens and blankets as well.

For more information please contact: liz@gradbag.org or tara@gradbag.org and check out their website, www.gradbag.org.

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Written by Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 17 May 2017

Created: 17 May 2017

Last Updated: 17 May 2017

Hits: 8997

Community members came out to honor local Scarsdale businesses at the annual Spring fundraiser for Scarsdale Edgemont Family Counseling Services (SFCS) on May 11th. In addition to dinner and dancing, this year's groundbreaking gala entitled, It Takes a Village, featured a fashion show where clothing, shoes and accessories, along with merchandise available at local Scarsdale stores, was modeled by Scarsdale teens and adults, as well as a silent auction.

Janice Starr, Diane Greenwald, Denise Koslowsky and Dara Gruenberg

The gala raised needed funds to support SFCS, a voluntary, not-for-profit family counseling agency that has provided service since 1920 to those who live or work in the greater Scarsdale area. The mission of the Agency is to be a center for family growth and learning, a place where families, couples and individuals can find help with the normal problems of daily living, as well as crises; to enhance the functioning of the family and its individual members through family life education; to stimulate social thinking and action to better social conditions; and to cooperate with other organizations for this purpose. Contributions are still welcome; please call SFCS at (914) 723-3281.

Local businesses that lent for the fashion show or donated for the silent auction, included: A Better Wash on Wheels, Ah!Dorned by Tracey Lane Novick, Athleta, Beginnings Boutique, Barry's Bootcamp, Center for Movement, Cheryl's Closet, Chinese International Martial Arts Center of Scarsdale, Club Pilates Scarsdale, CSJ Consultants, 808 Social, Electrolysis by Caroline DelJuidice, Inc., Ellen Cohen – Pampered Chef, Eye Gallery of Scarsdale, Flywheel Sports, Great Stuff, Giannoni's Deli, Go Dash Dot, Holsten Jewelers, Inner Peace Yoga, Jacqueline D. Cutler Interiors, Jay Cohen Photography, Jill Harris Interiors, Landsberg Jewelers, Leah's Salon, Leys, Christie & Co, Inc., Kim Burnham Cakes, LF, Mark Cohen & Company Career Strategy, Marcia Helbling, Mary McCormick, Mixology, Neil's of Scarsdale, Oggi & Adam and Eve Salon & Day Spa, Pamela Robbins, Pamela Pipper Arnel, Pat Waldeck, Robert Allen Multimedia, Rothmans, Sackowitz Jewelers, Sam Lehr Design Jewelry, Skin Westchester, Smallcakes Cupcakery, Static Hair Salon, Standing Room Only, The CBD Center, The Dark Horse, The 808 Bistro, The Chintz Giraffe, The Westchester Hypnosis Center, Three Gems Unlimited, 3 Sisters, Total Form Fitness, Tracy & Michael Nathanson, Value Electronics and Wilson & Sons Jewelers.

Community members who modeled merchandize in the fashion show, included: Carrie Bank, Rosalyn Binday, Margo Boxer, Mia Bezos, Lydia Doherty, Sophie Fried, Julia Goldenberg, Susan Goldenberg, Sophie Gross, Lisa Hasson, Sophia Higdon, Julia Kusknick, Michaela Lenkis-Kristian, Tracy Nathanson, Hadley Schwall, Rashid Silvera, Matt Starr and Rachel Worth.

 

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Written by Jon Mark

Published: 30 April 2017

Created: 30 April 2017

Last Updated: 01 May 2017

Hits: 4488

April 29, 2017 – Harwood Park wetland, Scarsdale – It's a project that brings out residents across generations. On a warm spring day Scarsdale families, Village officials and staff came to the Harwood Park wetland adjacent to Brewster Road near the High School to take part in the third annual community planting day. Over the course of the day, more than 100 volunteers planted over 300 young native trees and shrubs donated to the Village by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (NYDEC) as part of its "Trees for Tribs" program. The contributed inventory of native plants included White Oak, Beach Plum, Cranberry shrubs, Silver Maple and Sandbar Willow.

The "trib" that is the focal point of this planting effort is South Fox Meadow Brook which is a tributary of the Bronx River. The brook runs through the Harwood Park wetland. Prior to initiating the reclamation program three years ago, the Harwood wetlands area had been used as a site for piling snow cleared from Village roads during the winter and was otherwise generally notable for the benign neglect with which grass, shrubs and trees on the site grew, decayed and fell. Harwood Park is neglected no longer. Three years ago, using the South Fox Meadow Brook as a focal point, an initial effort was made to reclaim the banks of the brook and the surrounding wetland by planting hundreds of trees and shrubs donated by NYDEC.

Mayor Dan Hochvert and Luckner Metellus from the Scarsdale Parks Department.

The results of that first effort are clearly visible in the growth of the plantings from 2014. NYDEC has been enthusiastic about Scarsdale's planting effort and according to Madelaine Eppenstein of Friends of Scarsdale Parks, NYDEC contacted the FOSP this year to see if Scarsdale was interested in doing additional plantings. The answer was an equally enthusiastic "yes" and organizing today's event was undertaken by Brian Gray, Superintendent of the Scarsdale Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation.

Mayor Dan Hochvert, long a FOSP supporter, and Trustees Finger, Pekarek, Ross, Samwick and Veron participated in the planting at various times during the day joining the more than 100 resident volunteers and Village staff who toiled in the balmy April air for the benefit of the Village.

Article and photos by former Scarsdale Mayor Jon Mark