A Few Ways You Can Help the Victims of Hurricane Sandy
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Now that Scarsdale's been restored, think about how you can help others who were not so fortunate. Here are a few notifications we received with appeals for our readers: The Scarsdale Public Library is holding a Children's Book Drive for Hurricane Sandy Relief from Saturday, November 17th to Tuesday, November 20th. Bring your new or gently used children's books to the library lobby until 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 20th.
The library is partnering with Literacy in Motion who will create pop-up libraries in the emergency shelters and food pantries serving Sandy victims. These efforts will go a long way to restoring a sense of normalcy and improving the quality-of-life of those that are shelter-bound for the foreseeable future.
The Scarsdale High School Choirs will be taking donations (money, not items) for disaster relief for the victims of Hurricane Sandy at their Winter Concert on Tuesday, November 27 at Scarsdale High School. The concert begins at 8 PM.
The Red Cross Club of the High School will be accepting donations in the Brewster Road lobby outside the theater prior to, during, and after the concert. All proceeds will go to the American Red Cross to support their relief efforts in the New York Metropolitan area.
Diapers.com: Greenacres mom and SVP at Quidisi Sharon Spielman sent us the following notice about how you can help victims of Hurricane Sandy. Quidsi, Inc., owns and operates Diapers.com and has launched an online donation center to send essential supplies to families affected by Hurricane Sandy. The new feature provides a fast way to help storm-ravaged families in the wake of the damage.
"The Hurricane Sandy disaster is particularly close to our hearts," said cofounders Marc Lore and Vinit Bharara, both New Jersey natives. "Many of our employees live in communities that remain impacted by the storm. We are grateful for their safety, but know there are many others still desperately in need of help."
By clicking on www.diapers.com/sandy, visitors to the site can make an "essentials" donation valued at $10, $25, $50, $100, $250, and $500. Customers can also select whether to send specific essentials like diapers, baby food, formula, and clothing from Diapers.com; pet essentials like food and cat litter from Wag.com; or household essentials like cleaning supplies and batteries from Soap.com and Casa.com.
Diapers.com has already begun to help families in need by providing 60,000 diapers, 8,000 bottles of baby formula, and 3,000 bowls of pet food through nonprofit partners like the American Red Cross and the Jersey City Humane Society.
If you are involved in other relief efforts, please share the details with our readers in the comments section below, or email us at scarsdalecomments@gmail.com
Friends of Luke Moretti Donate $200K To Support Spinal Cord Research
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Over 600 friends and supporters of Scarsdale’s Luke Moretti raised almost $200,000 to support the Luke Moretti Fund to benefit the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation for Spinal Cord Research. The gala event was held on October 24 at LIFE in Ardsley and a wide swath of the community turned out to drink, dine, see Beatlemania and stand behind the Moretti family after their son Luke suffered a spinal cord injury during his freshman year at Vanderbilt.
The well-choreographed event included a silent auction lead by sportscaster Bruce Beck, promotion from Jimmy Fink of 107.1 the Peak, a proclamation from Westchester County Deputy Director Kevin Plunkett, remarks from Luke’s brother Marcus Moretti and thanks form Dr. Debra Morosini, who is Dana Reeve’s sister and represented the foundation.
In addition to donations from the 600 attendees, there were checks from more than 300 non-attendees and the silent auction raised $35,000.
Scarsdale’s Rich and Stacey Baumer produced this ambitious event with help from event committee members, Elyse Abraham, Deedee Cohen, Elyse Flagg, Brendan Marx, Anne Moretti, Jennifer Stone, Lindsay Sturman, and Amy Tuller.
Rich Baumer was thrilled with the results. Commenting on the event, he said, “The event, attendance, and generosity exceeded all our expectations. We had an unbelievable organizing committee, sponsors, people providing goods and services (Godiva, Jimmy Fink, Bruce Beck, Sandy Alexander Printing, etc.), and attendees. The venue itself was ideal, and everybody was there because of the faith, love, courage, and inspiration of Luke and the entire Moretti family. I think it showed the true essence of community and how this town comes together for each other. The Moretti family was awed by the outpouring of love and emotion in the room, and would like to once again, thank everyone who helped organize, attend, donate, work, prepare, donate, etc. Donations can still be made at www.LukeMorettiFund.Eventbrite.com or by mailing a check, made out to the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, to Rich Baumer, at 33 Park Road, Scarsdale, NY 10583.”
Photos by Alison Fial Greene
Sign up for the Third Annual Spelling Bee
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To Bee or not to Bee: that is certainly not the question as the Friends of the Scarsdale Library gear up for the third annual Adult and Teen Spelling Bee, to be held on Friday, February 1, 2013 at 7:30 PM in the Scarsdale High School Auditorium. The Spelling Bee, a Scarsdale institution in the making, is an important fund raising event for the Scarsdale Library. Over the past two years, monies raised through the Spelling Bee have been used to make significant technology upgrades to the Library’s community room and to plan enhancements to the children’s room.
Besides raising money, the event provides a great evening of entertainment to the community during the winter doldrums. Trivia games, music, a silent auction, and emcee Ed Coleman, the radio voice of the New York Mets, will keep audience members regaled between rounds of the Spelling Bee. Of course, coming to the Bee and supporting friends and neighbors on the spelling teams will get the audience’s competitive blood racing.
Participants in the Spelling Bee compete as teams of up to three people. Anyone of high-school age and above may participate, and the entrance fee is $150 per team. Two rounds, the first written, and the second oral, winnow the field of teams down to the finalists and ultimate champions. As Library trustee, Florie Wachtenheim, notes of her debuting team (Terri Simon and Jonathan Flaxer), “With great anticipation (Does anyone know a good spelling tutor?), we’re putting ourselves on the spelling line for a very good cause!”
Besides participating on a spelling team, sponsorship opportunities are available to businesses and individuals. Contact Spelling Bee co-chair Sara Werder at 472-6264 or sarawerder@gmail.com to discuss sponsorship levels.
The deadline to enter as a team is December 31, 2012. Only 20 teams will be accepted, so get your application in soon in order to avoid being shut out of this fun event. Application forms are available at the Library or online. For more information, contact Sara Werder or her co-chair Renu Lalwani at 917-584-8834 or renublalwani@gmail.com.
Vote by Mail for the Citizen's Nominating Committee
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This year, for the first time, voters in local elections for the Citizens Nominating Committee can vote in person on November 14 or vote by mail before then. Ballots are available at Village Hall and the Scarsdale Library, were mailed to residents, and can be downloaded from www.scarsdaleprocedurecommittee.org.
Here are instructions on how to vote by mail:
Visit the Procedure Committee website where you can download the ballot.
1. Print the ballot; make as many copies as there are in your family who are eligible to vote and haven't voted yet and don't plan to vote in person;
2. Vote for up to two candidates from your elementary school district; ONLY TWO!
3. Vote on all three ballot amendments
4. DO NOT SIGN THE BALLOT
5. Put only one ballot in an envelope and seal it.
6. SIGN THE SEAL AND PUT YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS AS THE RETURN ADDRESS (this helps prevent ballot box stuffing).
7. Mail the stamped envelope before 5 pm on November 13 to:
Scarsdale Procedure Committee
P.O. Box 284
Scarsdale NY 10583
According to David Brodsky, chair of the Procedure Committee, almost fifty mail-in ballots have been received already, but about 10% are not complying with the requirements to put their name and home address on the envelope and to sign the seal of the envelope. "It is critical to comply with these requirements," Mr. Brodsky said, "or the ballots inside will not be counted. People who have not done so can revote and their original ballot will be discarded."
Hopes are high that the new voting procedure will boost the total voting to well over the previous high of 664 in 2009. Most years have averaged in the low 500's, Mr. Brodsky noted.
Helping Others Through Music
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The 6th annual concert bringing together different religious and musical groups to benefit at-risk children from the Edward Williams School in Mount Vernon will be held on Saturday, November 17th at 7:00pm at St. James the Less Church in Scarsdale in collaboration with Westchester Jewish Community Services and Westchester Reform Temple. The musical theme for the event is Celebrating Kings of the Old Testament/Torah.
This unique concert is a joint effort of the Episcopal and Jewish communities in Scarsdale. Their five previous concerts have raised over $215,000 and have sent over 300 disadvantaged children to the Wagon Road Camp in Chappaqua for 7 weeks each summer.
The Children’s Choir of the Edward Williams School along with children from Scarsdale will join forces (40 children) to sing a song of inspiration with orchestra to celebrate the 6th Anniversary of this Benefit. Internationally acclaimed Canadian violinist Marc Benzekri will be the guest artist performing Saint-Saens’ Introduction and Rondo Capriccio.
Orchestra musicians from the greater New York City area donate their time and talent for this special performance of classical music. The concert will include Mozart’s Overture from The Magic Flute, 2 world premieres for choir and orchestra by Maestro Bischof, a spiritual for choirs and orchestra and Brahms’ legendary Symphony No. 4. For most of the children, this event is the first time they will experience classical music. On the day of the concert, the children attend the dress rehearsal and get to meet the professional musicians and ask them questions about music and their lives as performers.
“Our first five years have been both exciting and inspiring,” said Dorothy Yewer, Co-Founder and Benefit Chair. “The community has been incredibly supportive of our work and the crucial need that exists so close to home. The children are empowered by participating in the Benefit and we are looking forward to growing our audience and helping even more children as we begin our next five years.”
The beneficiaries all attend the WJCS Amazing Afternoons Program in Mount Vernon during the school year. The program gives 125 at-risk elementary school aged children a safe place to learn and grow after school during the critical 3-6pm time frame when their parents or guardians are usually at work. During the summer there is a void in these children’s lives and many desperately need a safe, productive environment that their families cannot provide for them.
To purchase tickets please call 914.723.6100 extension 203 . Tickets are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.