Hitchcock Church Begins a Year of Centennial Celebration
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Hitchcock Presbyterian Church began their centennial year on Sunday, January 6, with "Celebrate 100!", a program for its Centennial Year. The "symbol" of the Celebrate 100! program was rendered as a banner (see picture) and presented at the Chancel as the Choristers and Clergy processed.
Holding the banner was a Co-Chair of the Celebrate 100! program, assisted by Pastor John Miller. During announcements, the basic outline of the year's special program was listed. Though no fundraising will be done and no regular programming will be replaced, many additional activities will be developed as celebrations during the year. In addition to the customary banners, name tags, photos, videos and visual celebrations, there will be a trip to Israel in February, major new works of music, the return of former senior pastors of the Church and the generation of new books to capture high points of the Church's history and a treasury of testimonials of appreciation by former and current members of the Church.
The high point of the year will be a Celebrate 100! Weekend, beginning on Friday, October 4. After two days of activities that will engage former members and current members, a grand banquet on October 5 will be followed by a Celebratory Sunday Service on October 6.
Hitchcock Memorial Presbyterian Church was organized in 1913 and remains the only religious institution in the Greenacres neighborhood of Scarsdale. The Greenacres Association had been formed the previous year in 1912, and the Church became a neighborhood house for a wide range of activities by residents of Greenacres, Hartsdale and Edgemont as the population in those areas grew over the next fifty years.
Religious backgrounds of all kinds have been welcomed from the Church's founding and members represent many religious and ethnic groups. Today, the only other institutions in the Greenacres neighborhood are the school and the public safety building. Members and visitors to the Church today come from Scarsdale, Hartsdale, Edgemont, White Plans, Elmsford, Pleasantville, Dobbs Ferry, Ardsley, Bronxville, Eastchester, New Rochelle, Yonkers and beyond and the congregation includes Caucasians, Asians and African Americans. A Japanese language congregation also worships at the Church.
At the Church's founding, the congregation and Pastor George Smyth believed outstanding music was required. Over the intervening century outstanding musicians have been drawn to the Church. It is considered in historic character to give special emphasis to music for the Church's several choirs in the Centennial Year, to Celebrate 100! under the direction of Dr. John King.
Merrell and Lynne Clark are Co-Chairs of the Celebrate 100! program, joined by a steering committee of long term and relatively new members and clergy. Members of the steering committee are John Clapp, Marla Dierking, Bill Doescher, Dr. John King, David Kroenlein, Dr. John Miller, Gensina Olson, Kea Park and Beverly Thornhill.
The first sermon of the Celebrate 100! Year was preached by Rev. Elizabeth Smith-Bartlett, the Church's Minister of Christian Formation and Nurture. People who are interested in religion may enjoy the sermon as it illustrates a line of Christian thought associated with Epiphany Sunday (12th Day of Christmas) and encompasses the "interruptions" implied in the Epiphany and in "Celebrate 100!" themes. Read it here.
Hitchcock Presbyterian Church
6 Greeancres Avenue
Scarsdale NY 10583
914-723-3311
http://www.hitchcockpresby.org/
This article was contributed by Merrell Clark
Photo of Elizabeth Smith-Bartlett, credit Lawrence Tsuyuki
Perform An Act of Kindness Each Day in February
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This letter was submitted by Linda Hillman Chayes, Chair of the Scarsdale Community Support Council: Like communities around the country and the world, the Scarsdale community was deeply saddened by the tragic events that took place in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14. To find a constructive response for such a horrific event, the Scarsdale Community Support Council is proposing that our community respond to this tragedy by finding ways to strengthen our connections to each other. Many of you have heard about Ann Curry's 26 Acts of Kindness campaign to the Newtown tragedy (http://www.facebook.com/26acts) which has gone viral on the Internet. We would like to take Ann's concept and transform it into a community project for Scarsdale. To that end, we would like to encourage every Scarsdalian to perform an act of kindness for each day in February.
We believe that the right start is for all of us as a community to make suggestions about the kind acts we engage in. We invite you to write to Scarsdale10583 or mail@scarsdalechamber.org with your suggestions for acts of kindness. Also, visit https://www.facebook.com/ScarsdaleKindness to share your ideas and see more acts of kindness:
Here are a few ideas:
1. Smile at someone
2. Hold a door open
3. Tell someone they did a good job!
4. Yield a parking space to someone
5. Donate to a food pantry
6. Check in with a neighbor
7. Be a good role model
8. Go above and beyond for someone
There are, of course, many responses to this recent tragedy. Many groups and individuals are hard at work on legislative, policy and advocacy issues. Religious and mental health organizations are working to help with the overwhelming sense of loss and hopelessness that comes from such a traumatic event. Our Council felt that a community-wide action would be most helpful to the healing process as well as a way to honor the memory of those lost on December 14.
The Scarsdale Community Support Council is comprised of representatives from local clergy, police, Scarsdale Edgemont Family Counseling Service, Scarsdale schools (mental health professionals, the administration, and the PTA), Village Board, Chamber of Commerce, the senior community, the Scarsdale Forum and other civic organizations. The Council, which came together in order to coordinate responses to emergencies in the community has another mission as well which is to promote the social and emotional well-being of our community.
Please help us make February an acts-of-kindness month.
Linda Hillman Chayes
Chair, Scarsdale Community Support Council
Greenacres Students Donate Gifts to PS1 and Visit the Hebrew Home
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Greenacres students learned the pleasure of giving this week when fifth graders from the school delivered 820 gifts to their sister school, PS1 in the Bronx. The entire Greenacres community collected over 700 age and gender specific gifts and Hitchcock Church donated 87 more for kids attending the Pre-K program. On Wednesday December 12 the gifts were loaded onto a school bus and taken to the Bronx by representatives from the Greenacres fifth grade and Principal Gerry Young.
Pictures below by Sarah Schuman
Visit to the Hebrew Home
On December 7th, sixty-five third graders from the Greenacres School experienced a different kind of learning...outside of the classroom and at the Hebrew Home at Riverdale as they interviewed residents about growing up, their school and life experiences as a child. Although no textbooks were involved, there was a lot of knowledge being shared.
Greenacres students asked over a dozen questions about growing up – from "What types of games did you play?" to "What did you want to be when you grew up?" The students learned first-hand about life in the 1920's and 1930's. Though the school curriculum has changed and kids spend their free time differently than the residents of the Hebrew Home there were also many connections and similar interests. One resident told a student about her love for gadgets, remembering her first recording device. His response? "That's cool!"
"The Hebrew Home at Riverdale's inter-generational programs have been an important part of our community outreach since 1997," said Connee Kaufman, Director of Volunteer Services and Cultural Enrichment. "We have seen these quality interactions between the generations have a lasting impact on both."
Following the students' interviews, they toured the Hebrew Home at Riverdale, had lunch and asked Daniel Reingold, 
President and CEO of the Hebrew Home, a Scarsdale resident and Greenacres alum, many questions about the facility, working with older people, and volunteering. He shared details about the Hebrew Home's response to Hurricane Sandy and intake of over 300 displaced and evacuated older adults. Mr. Reingold told the students that he is hoping some of them will consider a career in caring for older people. The connections formed at this program are a great way to bring the two generations together.
Greenacres Remembers Ellen Frantz
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Ellen Frantz, a longtime kindergarten teacher at the Greenacres Elementary School, passed away on December 20, 2012 at age 70. Frantz and her husband Steven were both educators in Scarsdale, where he served as the Principal of Fox Meadow Elementary School until his retirement in 2006. Steve and Ellen met when they were both teaching at Edgewood Elementary School and their daughter Amber is also in the family business, currently teaching third grade at the Heathcote Elementary School.
Ellen taught kindergarten in the district for 41 years, most of those at Greenacres where she was a favorite among teachers, parents and students. She had an extra large classroom with a fireplace where kids gathered round to hear stories and share.
We spoke to a few of her colleagues at Greenacres about Ellen and here is what they said:
Teacher-in-Charge Cindy Sansone, a long-term staffer at the school said, "Ellen was a devoted kindergarten teacher who constantly worked on revamping and improving the kindergarten curriculum. Ellen was always current. She affectionately called her students gooseberries."
Deb Krisanda a colleague of Frantz who has taught at Greenacres for many years said, "Ellen was always about the children - she loved their company and learned from them as she endeavored to open their hearts and minds to LIFE ... through stories, art, nature and mathematical problems to be pondered and solved throughout the day! She cared about all of their selves ... who and how they were intellectually, emotionally, and socially! To me, Ellen was a mentor and friend who truly inspired me to be the best teacher I could possibly be!"
Helene Quirk, a kindergarten teacher at the school sent us the following, "Ellen Frantz was a dedicated and wonderful kindergarten teacher who I worked alongside with for about nine years prior to her retirement. Ellen was the kind of teacher who was extremely passionate about her work and I learned a great deal about teaching kindergarten from her. She had an amazing ability to reach her students and meet their individual needs. Ellen believed in engaging her students in projects that were creative and meaningful as well as challenging and fun. She adored her students and they adored and looked up to her. Ellen was so good at what she did that she made it look easy. To this day, some of my favorite projects are the ones Ellen had shared with me during the years we worked together. I am grateful for having had the opportunity to work and learn from Ellen. She was a master of her craft."
Nancy Closter, Greenacre's art teacher added, "I was sorry to hear of Ellen's passing. She was a wonderful, loving, kind teacher. I remember children always sitting on her lap or by her side. They felt so secure with her. She was a wonderful listener and had the best advice about life, a true treasure to the Greenacres faculty."
A memorial/celebration is scheduled for January 25 at 5:00 p.m. at the Fox Meadow Tennis Club 14 Wayside Lane, Scarsdale. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be sent to Best Friends Animal Society, 5001 Angel Canyon Road, Kanab, UT.
Share your recollections of Ellen Frantz below:
Assemblywoman Amy Paulin Advocates Mandatory Full-Day Kindergarten in NYS
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Assemblywoman Amy Paulin and Westchester United held a press conference at St. Gabriel's Church on Monday, December 3rd at 11:00 to discuss mandatory kindergarten in New York State.
New York is one of only eight states in the country that does not require school districts to offer kindergarten. Paulin plans to introduce legislation in the upcoming legislative session to mandate kindergarten for all 5-year-olds in the state and to require that kindergarten be full-day.
"I am honored to work with Westchester United on this critical issue, and to bring their agenda to Albany," Paulin said. "Kindergarten is a crucial time for children's development and those who attend kindergarten have much brighter futures. It is imperative that all children in New York State have access to kindergarten, regardless of which school district they happen to live in."
Westchester United is a network of synagogues, churches, mosques and other community organizations in Westchester County.
For more information, contact: Stephanie Amann, Office of Assemblywoman Amy Paulin (914) 723-1115 / (518) 455-5585
