Yorktown and Cortlandt region

Last Veterans Day, the VA New York/New Jersey Healthcare Network launched Family of Heroes, an interactive online training simulation where families of the region’s 800,000 veterans learn critical skills to manage challenges faced by families adjusting to post-deployment life – including how to identify PTSD and suicidal intent and how to motivate the veteran to seek help at the VA.

The Family of Heroes 1-hour training is freely available to veterans’ families in the greater metropolitan New York area and New Jersey and is accessed from any internet-connected computer at www.familyofheroes.com. VA Hudson Valley Health Care System is excited to be partnering with over 30 veteran organizations in the region to reach out to families of veterans and inform them about the training and how to access it.

“The Family of Heroes training utilizes an innovative web-based educational gaming technology to reach and engage families on a large scale and provide them with tools to identify when their veteran needs help and how to connect them with the VA health care,” at VA Hudson Valley.

By engaging in three practice conversations with three emotionally responsive veteran avatars, including a husband with PTSD and TBI, a wife with depression and a son experiencing thoughts of suicide, family members learn to de-escalate arguments, resolve disputes and, if necessary, direct their veteran to seek help at the VA.

The training is a result of collaboration between the area VA Healthcare Network and Kognito Interactive, an award-winning developer of online role-playing simulations. Family of Heroes was developed utilizing feedback from over 100 veterans’ families around the country and VA psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and other VA clinicians and experts in PTSD and mental health issues associated with post-combat adjustment).

To view a short demonstration of the training and learn more about this project, go to: https://visn3.kognito.com/ptsd/ A one-year VA study is under way to further evaluate the training simulation.

For Veterans seeking information about VA Care:
VA Hudson Valley Health Care System offers Veterans primary and specialty care, women’s health, long term care, mental health/residential care to include PTSD, substance abuse and  treatment for homeless veterans.  VA Hudson Valley services are available at the two main campuses in Montrose and Castle Point and the six Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) in Carmel, Goshen, Monticello, New City, Pine Plains, Port Jervis and Poughkeepsie.

Any Veteran seeking eligibility information about VA care, please call 914-737-4400, Ext. 2306 or 845-831-2000, Ext. 5100 for more information.

YORKTOWN — Jenna Ritornato says her cousin Thomas didn’t lose his battle to cancer “because to lose, you need to quit and he never quit.”

In an essay about the painful experience of watching her cousin and best friend die from brain cancer, Ritornato wrote that Thomas not only endured the suffering of a terminal disease, but he did it gracefully and bravely.

Ritornato, a cosmetology student at Putnam and Northern Westchester BOCES, recalled in her essay how Thomas fought the side effects of chemotherapy and the mocking of schoolmates who picked on him for being bald and frail.

She wrote he “always turned the other cheek, concentrated on school and soccer, and his friends.”

Ritornato’s essay won third place in a competition sponsored by Gilda’s Club of Westchester, a support group for families affected by cancer formed in the memory comedian Gilda Radner.

A senior at Hendrick Hudson High School who plans to attend Dutchess Community College in the Fall, Ritornato will be honored with other essay winners at Gilda’s Club in White Plains on May 7.

“Although Thomas’s time here with us was much too short, he taught me unconditional love, strength, hope and so much more,” she wrote in her essay.

 

A reader from Cortlandt Manor was a passenger in a car headed north on the Sprain Brook Parkway in Greenburgh Feb. 7 when he spotted a driver in another car who appeared to be reading from a notebook held up in front of the steering wheel.

So he reached for his cell phone camera.

“She was in the right lane, traveling about 60 mph,” he recounts via email. “We honked the horn, she didn’t even acknowledge the horn, then I snapped picture #1, with her looking down at the “notebook”.

“In my opinion, this picture should be on the front page of the paper as an example of what NOT to do,” he said, also adding, “If only I was a Police Officer!

The reader, who asked not to be identified, said he posted the photos he took to his Facebook page where they garnered numerous comments.

Click through to see the pics he says he snapped that day.

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Four students from Lakeland’s Van Cortlandtville Elementary School have been selected to participate in the annual Westchester County School Music Association’s (WCSMA) All-County Chorus Festival, to be held at SUNY Purchase, March 10.

The students are: Nicole Artese, Ratu Bolenaivalu, Liliana Guglich, and Flora van Hagen.

The WCSMA is a unit of the New York State School Music Association, and represents over 450 music educators from 55 school districts, including private and parochial schools.

They will perform in the elementary grades (4-6) category

Students from schools/districts all across Westchester County get together at the festival to rehearse and perform a concert of challenging music with a guest conductor selected by the Westchester County School Music Association (WCSMA), said their Music Teacher Cynthia Ramirez. “The kids are very excited and realize what an honor it is to represent their school and Lakeland at this festival,” she added.

Photo: Students sing at the recent Lakeland Board of Education meeting. Courtesy Lakeland Schools

More than 150 guests attended the Hudson Valley Gateway Chamber of Commerce 31st Annual Awards Dinner held at The Mansion at Colonial Terrace in Cortlandt Manor, NY this past weekend.

The chamber honored D. Bertoline & Sons Inc. as Business of the Year; Mike Dardano, Buzz Potential, as Volunteer of the Year; The KutterGroup LLC with the Chairman’s Award and Croton Summerfest with the Quality of Life Award. Awardees were featured in a video produced by Powers Public Relations and then presented with their awards. The video and photos of the dinner can be seen on the Chamber’s website, www.hvgatewaychamber.com.

D. Bertoline & Sons Inc. was honored as Business of the Year for its nearly 80 year history of success, its ability to change with the times and for being the last remaining beer distributor in Westchester County. The fourth-generation family-owned business points to its customer service as the reason for its successful history and its recent expansion into the distribution of other products.

Mike Dardano of Buzz Potential was honored as the Maureen Erickson Volunteer of the Year for his continuing volunteer efforts at Support Connection (a Yorktown-based breast and ovarian cancer support group), Peekskill Celebration, Peekskill’s Downtown Marketing Group and the Business Council of Westchester. Dardano uses his marketing skills to help each organization to present themselves in their best light.

Jim and Aisha Kutter of The KutterGroup received the Chairman’s Award for their efforts to redesign and re-launch the chamber’s website. The Chairman’s Award is presented to the person or business who has made a significant positive impact on the chamber. The KutterGroup is a Dutchess County-based web design and maintenance firm.

Croton Summerfest received the Quality of Life Award. It is the first time Summerfest has received such major public recognition for its nearly 25 years of presenting the much anticipated and beloved community event. Summerfest, held the first Sunday in June, serves to reconnect residents and businesses.

The Chairman’s Award: The KutterGroup LLC was presented with the Quality of Life Award at the 31st Annual Hudson Valley Gateway Chamber of Commerce Awards Dinner on Saturday, January 28, 2012 at Colonial Terrace. Pictured left to right are: Jim Kutter of The KutterGroup, Bill Powers, Chairman of the Board and President of Powers Public Relations, Deborah Milone, Executive Director, Aisha Kutter of the KutterGroup and Cathy Montaldo, Dinner Chairperson.

Business of the Year: D. Bertoline & Sons, Inc. were honored as the Business of the Year at the 31st Annual Hudson Valley Gateway Chamber of Commerce Awards Dinner on Saturday, January 28, 2012 at Colonial Terrace. Pictured left to right are: Bill Powers, Chairman of the Board and President of Powers Public Relations, Deborah Milone, Executive Director, Dominick Bertoline, President of D. Bertoline & Sons, and Cathy Montaldo, Dinner Chairperson.

Volunteer of the Year: Mike Dardano, Buzz Potential, was honored as the Maureen Erickson Volunteer of the Year at the 31st Annual Hudson Valley Gateway Chamber of Commerce Awards Dinner on Saturday, January 28, 2012 at Colonial Terrace Pictured left to right are: Bill Powers, Chairman of the Board and President of Powers Public Relations, Deborah Milone, Executive Director, Mike Dardano, Buzz Potential, and Cathy Montaldo, Dinner Chairperson.

Quality of Life Award: Croton Summerfest was presented with the Quality of Life Award at the 31st Annual Hudson Valley Gateway Chamber of Commerce Awards Dinner on Saturday, January 28, 2012 at Colonial Terrace. Pictured left to right are: Bill Powers, Chairman of the Board and President of Powers Public Relations, Deborah Milone, Executive Director, Dr. Gregory Schmidt, Croton Village Trustee and Summerfest Organizer, and Cathy Montaldo, Dinner Chairperson.

 

 

The Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) recently named Cortlandt Soccer Club’s U13 Boys Coach Jonathan Weinstein “Boys Soccer Coach of the Year.” The award was presented at the organization’s Annual Holiday Party in Mineola, Long Island on December 17, 2011. The honor caps off a successful year for Weinstein who was also named “Boys Travel Coach of the Year” by the East Hudson Youth Soccer League (EHYSL) in November.

A gifted coach and role model, Weinstein has been affiliated with the Cortlandt Soccer Club (CSC), one of the area’s top-ranked youth travel soccer clubs, for the past 10 years. Seven of those years were spent coaching the Cortlandt Sidewinders, the team his son Max played on until college, while the last few years have been as head coach of the Cortlandt Cobras, the Boys Under 13 team. Guided by Weinstein, the team recently won the Michael Oremus Tournament at The Hudson Valley Sports Dome in Milton, NY in November and placed second at the Columbus Day White Water Classic in Wilkes-Barre, PA. Besides his coaching responsibilities, Weinstein also serves as the club’s secretary and is a certified U.S. Soccer referee. Prior to his affiliation with CSC, Weinstein coached numerous Croton AYSO teams and served on the Croton AYSO Board as the Regional Coach Administrator as well as the Extra Teams Coordinator.

“Being awarded Coach of the Year at the state level is a great honor for me,” said Weinstein who comes from a family of educators. “Teaching is in my blood and coaching is a great way to give back because the game of soccer truly teaches life lessons to children and young adults.”

With two coaching awards now under his belt, one at the league level and one at the state level, Weinstein will now wait and see if the accolades continue at the regional and national levels to be announced later this year.

For more information on the Cortlandt Soccer Club and/or Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association, please visit www.cortlandtsoccerclub.org and www.enysoccer.com, respectively.

Photo Caption: Boys Soccer Coach of the Year Jonathan Weinstein (right) being congratulated by ENYYSA Vice President Ken Gulmi. Photo Credit: ENYYSA

 

Students from Lakeland-Copper Beech Middle School will stage “The Sound of Music” at in the Van Cortlandtville Elementary School auditorium at 7:30 tonight (Wednesday, Jan. 18) and Saturday, Jan. 21, at 1:30 and 7:30 p.m.

The school is on Route 6 in Mohegan Lake, opposite the Cortlandt Town Center. Tickets cost $6 in advance and $8 at the door. For advanced tickets call 914-245-1885.

The Sound of Music features music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the memoir of Maria von Trapp, “The Story of the Trapp Family Singers.” Many songs from the musical have become standards, including the title song “The Sound of Music”, “Edelweiss”, “My Favorite Things”, “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” and “Do-Re-Mi”.

The cast, in order of appearance, are:

Maria ………………………………………………………………….Rachel Nadell

Mother Abbess …………………………………………..Charlotte Athanasidy

Sister Berthe …………….Harriet Lengel-Enright/Bridgette Olumhense

Sister Margaretta ……………………………………………….Alison Merchan

Sister Bernice …………………………………………….Bridgette Olumhense

Sister Catherine ……………………………………………..Sabrina Gencarelli

Sister Agatha ………………………………………………….. Lauren Salvatore

Sister Veronica ………………………………………………….Sarah Creighton

Sister Sophia ………………………………………………….. Rowena Sullivan

Captain …………………………………………………………………Jude Briones

Franz, the Butler …………………………………………….Matthew Connolly

Frau Schmidt, the Housekeeper ……………………………… Maggie Ryan

Liesl ………………………………………………………………. Madison Beames

Friedrich …………………………………………………………… Luke Ascencao

Louisa ……………………………………………………………….. Rachel Vangor

Kurt ………………………………………………………………………Ryan Moore

Brigitta ………………………………………………………………Natasha Uszak

Marta …………………………………………………………………. Katelyn Bloss

Gretl …………………………………………………………………… Rachel Mack

Fraulien Schmidt ………………………………………………….. Maggie Ryan

Rolfe ………………………………………………………………….. Trevor Straub

Baroness ……………………………………………………….Sabrina Gencarelli

Max …………………………………………………………………Joshua Feinberg

Servants ……………………………………………….. Patrick May, Colin May

Franz, the Butler …………………………………………….Matthew Connelly

Baroness Ebberfeld …………………………………………. Rowena Sullivan

Baron Ebberfeld ………………………………………………….Davi Bendavid

Zeller ………………………………………………………………. Dylan Coleman

Sister Anne ……………………………………………………………… Lily Braun

 

 

Firefighters don’t normally wear pink, but they will when it’s for a good cause, namely raising money for breast cancer.

The Peekskill Professional Firefighters IAFF Local 2343 presented Hudson Valley Hospital with a check for $4,500 on Dec. 29 to help support new the Cheryl R. Lindenbaum Comprehensive Cancer Center at HVHC, which opened its doors on November 17, 2011.

Throughout the month of October, the Peekskill Professional Firefighters raised funds during Breast Cancer Awareness month by selling pink t-shirts for $20. They also hosted a Halloween Party along with the owners and employees of The Quiet Man Public House on North Division Street in Peekskill. A raffle was held during the Halloween Party in an effort to raise additional funds.

“Their gift was greatly appreciated, and not only will it help the hospital, but it raised awareness about cancer prevention and the importance of screening,’’  said John Federspiel, president at HVHC. “It’s enough that this very special group of dedicated professionals are on the job everyday protecting us, but for them to find the time and energy to do this type of public service is a true testament to their commitment to community.’’

HVHC is currently working to raise $5 million to offset the $12 million cost of the new Cheryl R. Lindenbaum Cancer Center.  The funds raised by the firefighters will go towards the Ashikari Breast Center at HVHC, which is part of the new Cancer Center.

The Ashikari Breast Center and Institute for Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery offer world-renowned physicians in breast surgery and reconstruction and leading technology in women’s imaging. Additional services include radiation and infusion therapy. The center’s design, with adjoining conference and office space, encourages communication and clinical consultations between physicians.

For more information on purchasing a pink t-shirt, or to support HVHC, please call the Foundation office at 914-734-3526 or visit www.hvhc.org.

Photo: Wearing the pink t-shirts they used to raise money for breast cancer, members of the Peekskill Professional Firefighters IAFF Local 2343 present hospital President John Federspiel and Vice President of Patient Services Kathy Webster, center, with a $4,500 check for the new Cheryl R. Lindenbaum Comprehensive Cancer Center. Courtesy HVHC

The Walter Panas High School National Honor Society completed a very successful blood drive on Wednesday, November 22nd. The blood drive, held in the lobby of the Performing Arts Center, resulted in 80 pints of blood being donated to the New York Blood Center. Donations came from a variety of people including students, staff, and community members.

Matthew Repetto, a 17 year old senior at Walter Panas High School in Cortlandt Manor, NY and Garrison resident, completed his Boy Scout Eagle Project at the Reform Temple of Putnam Valley (RTPV), where he constructed a Meditative Garden consisting of elaborate shrubs, trees, perennials, and stone steps leading to a handcrafted stone bench. Prior to Matt’s project, this was an unused piece of property sitting on the Temple grounds measuring 60 feet by 16 feet which was covered in weeds and poison Ivy. Matt proposed his Eagle Scout project to Troop 174 (located in Yorktown Heights, NY) and to the RTPV last spring, and over the summer he worked with many local businesses and Rotary Clubs to gain financial support to finance his project. With the assistance of friends, family, and his Scout Troop 174, he completed his project this fall and passed his Eagle Scout Board of Review on October 24, 2011. This garden has had a tremendous impact on the Temple Community, as it provides a spiritual and peaceful place for all it’s members. Matt would like to thank the local businesses and towns for all their donations. A special thanks goes out to Garrison Tree and Garrison Elements, Home Mason Supply in Peekskill, Sun Valley Nursery in Ossining, ASA Stone and Mason Supply, Manzer Landscaping, Baldwin Place Farm, Blossom Nursery, Zino Nursery, Curt at Homestead Nursery, Whispering Pine Nursery, Oregon Hardware, Cortlandt Farm Nursery, Home Depot in Cortlandt Town Center, Peekskill, Cortlandt, and Putnam Valley Rotary Clubs, Dr. Ben Dancygier and Dr. Jennifer Blair from Valley Pediatric Dentistry in Jefferson Valley, Dr. Sean Rooney, Orthodontist in Mahopac, NY, and Dr. Evan Wetzler, Periodontist in Yorktown Heights, for all their generous donations.

Matt is a member of Troop 174 in Yorktown Heights, under the leadership of Scoutmaster Josh Davies. This is a high adventure troop that draws boys from all of the surrounding towns to participate in intense activities such as Ice climbing in Lake Placid and 80 mile Treks climbing as high as 12,000 feet in Philmont, New Mexico.