Yorktown and Cortlandt region

Chabad Lubavitch of Briarcliff- Ossining is hosting a holiday party May 27 to celebrate Shavuot, the day when the Torah was given to the Jewish people.

It will be at 11:30 a.m.  at the Chabad center, 11 Orchard Road, Briarcliff.

The program will commence with the special Torah Reading of the Ten Commandments – “to reenact the Sinai experience,” Rabbi Dovid Labkowski, director of Chabad of Briarcliff-Ossining explained in a press release from Chabad.  “Our festivals do not merely mark events of the past. We are enjoined to relive the historic occasions and making them relevant and meaningful today.”

The feasting and partying will be highlighted by the children taking center stage to hear to Ten Commandments being read.  The children will have the opportunity to create and participate in holiday activities.

The party will feature ice cream and cheesecake.  The custom of eating dairy foods on Shavuot began back when the Torah was presented 3,324 years ago and participants ate dairy food.

It is  is free and open to the public.  Reservations are appreciated but not required. Please call Chabad, 914-923-2522 or info@ChabadBriarcliff.com to reserve.

The Ossining Union Free School District has announced that it will go live Friday on Pinterest, the latest online social networking outlet. Read below for more from the district on it:

Ossining Schools are already on Facebook, Twitter and the Internet. Now, the District is going live Friday on Pinterest, the web-based virtual bulletin board that is one of the fastest growing social network sites.

“Being connected with the Ossining community is a top priority for the administration and Board of Education,” said Deputy Superintendent Ray Sanchez. “We are always looking for new ways to reach our constituents. Pinterest, a virtual bulletin board, is gaining in popularity so we wanted to have a presence there.”

Unlike Facebook or Twitter, Pinterest is primarily visual. Users pin photos, illustrations and even videos to a virtual bulletin board. On the Ossining Pinterest site, you will find four separate boards – one for athletics, arts, academics and a general board. Users can follow all of Ossining’s Pinterest boards or choose just one. Although Pinterest boards are public, users should “follow” boards for the most up-to-date and complete information.

“We’re using Facebook, Twitter, our Web site and our weekly O-Blasts, which are emailed news updates, and now we have Pinterest,” said Assistant Technology Director Jennifer Forsberg. “Different sites appeal to different types of people but the goal of all of these communication efforts is the same. We want people to know about the great things happening in Ossining schools.”

In February, the District launched its own app for mobile devices. The app puts all of the District’s online information in one, easily accessible place. Once you open the app on your phone, you can tap into the parent portal, staff links, quick links and stay connected sections on the district’s web page. Pinterest will be added to the links provided through the mobile app.

To check out Pinterest, go to www.pinterest.com/oufsd

This Saturday, Ossining will honor Dr. Robert Seebacher, proclaiming the day in his honor. Read below for more information from The Gold Standard on the event:

Dr. Robert Seebacher of Ossining, Chairman of the Mid-Hudson Ambulance Service and an orthopedic surgeon at Phelps Memorial Hospital Center, will be honored by the Ossining Volunteer Ambulance Corps (OVAC) on Saturday, May 19, 2012, when “Dr. Robert Seebacher Day” will be proclaimed in the Town and Village of Ossining.

Activities will take place at OVAC Headquarters, 8 Clinton Avenue, from 9 AM to 5 PM and will include a special presentation at 2 PM to Dr. Seebacher who has played an integral role in establishing a multi-community regional EMS model to enhance pre-hospital care, reducing duplication, enhancing patient outcomes and reducing costs.

The Ossining Volunteer Ambulance Corps is inviting the greater Ossining community to attend this annual celebration of Emergency Medical Servi ces Week (EMS). National EMS Week is May 20-23 and is set aside each year to publicize safety, educate the public about their local EMS System and to honor those who provide day-to-day life saving services on medicine’s front line.

The Mid-Hudson Ambulance Service was established by the Towns of Ossining and New Castle and the Village of Ossining. It presently serves those communities and the Village of Croton with state-of-the-art pre-hospital care. It is staffed by the Ossining Volunteer Ambulance Corps volunteers, and supplemented by paid paramedics.

OVAC, established in 1958, is an award winning volunteer ambulance service utilizing the highest level of Advanced Life Saving (ALS) Paramedics. In addition to being offered by the Mid-Hudson Ambulance Service, Advanced Life Saving care is available to the citizens of Ossining and the surrounding communities of Croton-on Hudson and Briarcliff Manor via a Tri-Community Area Fly Car Service.

Phelps Memorial Hospital Cent er sponsored the first A.L.S. course for OVAC members and provides medical oversight of the agency through the services of Dr. Emil Nigro, Director of Phelps Emergency Medical Services. This class graduated the first volunteer A.L.S. Technicians (NYS Emergency Medical Technicians Level III) in Westchester County.

The activities on May 19 will include the showing of apparatus from the Ossining Fire and Police Departments, as well as the New York State Police. Children may tour the equipment and learn about safety issues. Free CPR classes will be offered twice during the day from 10 AM to noon and at 1 PM to 3 PM. Pre-registration for the CPR classes is required at ovactraining@gmail.com. Entertainment will be presented throughout the day as well.

A Dine-A-Round benefit for the Ossining’s Children Center is scheduled for June 2 with cocktails at 6 p.m. and dinner at 8 p.m. Read below for more information from the co-chairs on the event:

Cocktail party will be at a private estate in Ossining, on rolling hills, dotted with majestic one-of-a-kind sculptures, and a view of the Hudson River. Dinners are at one of fourteen homes in Briarcliff Manor or Ossining. (part house tour, part gala cocktail party, 100% fun! Dine with friends or meet someone new)

Ticket price $125.00 for Cocktail Reception and Auction $150.00 for Cocktail Reception/Auction and Dinner

Co-chairs Joan McGinty and Carol Welsh

Contact number: Shawn Cribari, Director of Development 914 941 0230 X 13

Website www.ossiningchildrenscenter.org

To Benefit

The Ossining Children’s Center, a beacon of early childhood education since its founding in 1895 to its current position as a leader in early childhood education, is an invaluable community resource and advocate for families. The OCC creates a foundation for children’s life-long intellectual, social, emotional and physical growth. Originally founded to provide care and education to children of immigrants whose fathers worked on the railroad or Croton Aqueduct, the Center is a much-needed resource for working parents throughout the community, especially during these economic times.

The heart of the Center’s mission is its generous tuition assistance policy, which is supported by gifts from the community and some government assistance.

Maryknoll Sisters has signed an agreement with the Westchester Land Trust to keep 43 acres of their Ossining property ”forever wild.” Read below for more information from Maryknoll on the land preservation effort: 

Maryknoll Sisters took a giant step forward in land preservation on April 23, 2012, when they signed a legal document with Westchester Land Trust setting aside 43 acres of their 60-plus acred property at their Center in Ossining to be forever wild.

In keeping with the congregation’s pledge, expressed through its Land Ethics Statement, to protect the environment, and its desire, especially during its Centennial, as Maryknoll Sisters Environmental Office Co-Director Sister Doreen Longres said, to “live out (our) charism and the spirit of (our) congregation in the very place where (we) were founded”, the easement, which contains both native woodlands and wetlands, will be safeguarded by the WLT, who will annually visit the Sisters and inspect the grounds to insure it is protected.

For Maryknoll Sisters, the agreement is “more than a legal agreement,” said Sister Janice McLaughlin, president of the congregation. “It is a sacred trust. As our Land Ethics statement says, ‘We believe that creation is a primary source of revelation of the Divine Presence. Earth is sacred, and the extinction of life forms and ecosystems through overuse and irresponsible exploitation is a destruction of manifestations of the Divine Presence.’ So this (act) is a living out of our document.”

WLT Executive Director Candace Schafer praised the Sisters for the action they were taking. “Conservation is an act of faith,” she told the approximately 200 Sisters gathered in their dining room for the signing. “How pleased we are to be with you and to memorialize forever the love and respect you have for the land that supports your community. In signing this conservation easement, you create the certainty that the surrounding 43 acres on your property will remain open space. As a land trust, WLT commits to monitoring this easement forever and to ensuring that your good intentions are carried out. We are honored to have your trust and will work to carry out your wishes.”

A celebration of the new agreement protecting more than 2/3 of the Maryknoll Sisters’ grounds from development will be held on Sunday, June 3, at 2:30 p.m. at the Center.

Ossining Town Supervisor Sue Donnelly sent out information about their “Town Hall” meeting tomorrow night with the villages of Ossining and Briarcliff Manor. On the agenda is the topic of assessments. Read below for more information from Donnelly on the meeting:

I want to thank so many of you for attending our first “Town Hall Meeting” last month- it was a wonderful opportunity for the Town Board to get the temperature of the community, and get a clearer sense of the issues with which our residents are struggling. We plan to hold one of these meetings every 6 weeks in lieu of a Town Board Work Session, and many will focus on a specific topic that has been seen as a trending interest among our residents.

For the May meeting, we would like to bring you some information about one of the most complex issues facing taxpayers and municipalities in Westchester County and New York State property taxes. “Assessment” covers a wide range of topics of interest to constituents, including but not limited to: determining property values, SCARS (Small Claims Assessment Reviews), activism towards a county-wide re-assessment, and the ever-nebulous concept of “equalization rates”.

For something so complicated, we decided to call in the experts.

Along with our new Town Assessor Fernando Gonzalez, who is in his own right an expert in local assessment issues, we will also be speaking with Regional Manager John Wolham from the Newburgh Office of Real Property Tax Services (ORPTS), a division of the New York State Department of Tax and Finance. Together, they will present a more user-friendly version of the wide world of how assessments come to be, what actually happens when a resident grieves their taxes, and how you can get more directly involved with changing these practices and policies going forward on the State level.

7:30 -8:00 PM: Resident Questions and Comments

8:00- 9:30 PM: Discussion of Assessment Concepts: Town of Ossining Assessor Fernando Gonzalez; Guest Speaker John Wolham, Regional Manager, Newburgh Office of Real Property Tax Services

• Assessments Vs. Taxes: What’s the Difference?

• Understanding the Equalization Rate

• Fair Assessments

• Pros and Cons of Grieving your Taxes With Assessment Reduction Firms

• Assessment Office’s “Open Door” Policy

9:30- 10:00PM- Closing Statements

Bridges to Community, an Ossining-based organization that sends volunteers to Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic for various projects, will hold its annual Spring Gala on May 5. This year’s honorees include Rabbi Jason Nevarez, Brad Zicholtz and Temple Shaaray Tefila, the Rev. Dr. Paul D. Alcorn and Bedford Presbyterian Church.

“For almost a decade, these two Westchester based houses of worship have brought hundreds of teens from all over the Westchester area to Nicaragua for interfaith missions to build homes for impoverished families,” said Bridges’ public relations spokeswoman Mary Jane Fales.

Read below for more information from Bridges on the event:

Bridges to Community, the Westchester-based international community development organization, will hold its Annual Spring Gala and Auction on Saturday, May 5, at the Hampshire Country Club in Mamaroneck, NY from 7:00-11:00 P.M. Approximately 250 guests are expected to attend the event honoring The Rev. Dr. Paul D. Alcorn and Bedford Presbyterian Church and Rabbi Jason Nevarez, Brad Zicholtz and Temple Shaaray Tefila as they accept the nonprofit’s 2012 Outstanding Vision and Commitment to Action Award.

For almost a decade, the three men and the two Westchester houses of worship have been conducting interfaith missions to Nicaragua with Bridges to Community. They have taken hundreds of teens and adults to Nicaragua to improve the lives of impoverished children and families. Additionally, they have added a new dimension to service learning by teaching their congregants and local Nicaraguan communities about their faith traditions and social justice.

Bridges’ Annual Spring Gala provides not only an opportunity to honor the commitment of volunteers, but offers a chance for a reunion of hundreds who have shared experiences in Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic while living and working in impoverished communities for a week or more. The guests come from all over North America representing high schools, universities, medical schools, faith-based institutions and business groups who have traveled, frequently more than once, to help out in these impoverished countries.

The event raises much needed funding for building homes, schools, sanitation projects as well as providing health care, economic assistance and education in Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. The Gala will include a cocktail hour with passed hors d’oeuvres and chef attended stations followed by a seated dessert with a silent and live auction. Tickets for the event are $175.

Bridges to Community is an international nonprofit organization that takes volunteers to rural communities in Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic to work with impoverished communities on development projects. These service trips are focused on creating a global community where basic needs, such as shelter, education and healthcare are treated as fundamental human rights. For additional information: www.bridgestocommunity.org. or phone: 914-923-2200.

Professors from Fordham University will lead a discussion on “Help My Unbelief! Exploring Deconversion in Catholicism” through the Maryknoll Speakers Series. Read below for more information from Maryknoll on the event:

Fordham University professors Tom Beaudoin and Patrick Hornbeck will present Help My Unbelief! Exploring Deconversion in Catholicism as part of the Maryknoll Speakers Series at the Maryknoll Mission Center, 55 Ryder Road, Ossining, on Sunday, May 6, at 2:30 p.m.

The presentation is free and open to the public. Reservations are requested and can be made by contacting Colleen Brathwaite at cbrathwaite@maryknoll.org or 914-941-7636, extension 2445. Additional information and directions can be found at http://www.maryknollsociety.org .

Many Catholics are redefining their relationship with the Catholic Church and some are leaving it. Why are Catholics facing this dilemma about their faith? Fordham’s professors will explore this issue and related questions as they lead a discussion on “deconversion,” or change in religious affiliation in American Catholicism.

The professors will provide insight about who is making this change, what is involved in the process and how a person can re-imagine his or her relationship with Catholicism. They also will address the implications for the Church, for theology and for society.

Tom Beaudoin is associate professor of theology in the Graduate School of Religion at Fordham University, teaching courses in practice-based theologies for graduate students and undergraduates. He also has taught at Boston College (2001-2004) and Santa Clara University (2004-2008).

Mr. Beaudoin’s research and teaching circulate around the coordinates of theology, culture and practice, focusing on the constitution of spiritual and religious experience, identity, and practice in the contemporary world. He has written Witness to Dispossession: The Vocation of a Postmodern Theologian (Orbis Books, 2008), Consuming Faith: Integrating Who We Are With What We Buy (Sheed and Ward/Rowman and Littlefield, 2003) and Virtual Faith: The Irreverent Spiritual Quest of Generation X (Jossey-Bass/Simon and Schuster, 1998).

J. Patrick Hornbeck II is assistant professor and associate chair for undergraduate studies in the theology department at Fordham University. His work focuses on the history of medieval and early modern Christianity along with contemporary American Roman Catholicism.

Mr. Hornbeck holds a doctorate in theology from Oxford University. He is the author of What Is a Lollard? Dissent and Belief in Late Medieval England (Oxford University Press, 2010) and co-editor of Wycliffite Controversies (Turnhout Brepols Publishers, 2011).

State Assemblywoman Sandy Galef will show footage of her February visit to Towanda and Granville Center, Pa., to learn about hydrofracking. The screening, popcorn included, will take place from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., Friday, at the Ossining Public Library, Budarz Theater, 53 Croton Ave.

Read below for more information from her office on the event:

Assemblywoman Sandy Galef has set up another opportunity for the public to screen footage of her trip to Towanda and Granville Center, in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, where she traveled in February 2012 to learn more about gas drilling and its potential for New York State.

Galef met with a representative from the Penn State Extension office in Towanda, as well as a Bradford County Commissioner, a local land use advocate, a community liaison, and a realtor to discuss the impact gas drilling has had on this quiet rural town in the Marcellus Shale region of Pennsylvania.

Following her meeting at the Extension office, she met with a resident of Granville Center, also in Bradford County, who believes she suffered negative health consequences as a result of gas drilling behind her home. She took the assemblywoman on a tour of some well pads near her home, as well as other areas affected by the drilling operations.

“This was an incredible experience. My firsthand viewing of the impacts of gas drilling in Pennsylvania are worth sharing with the public. At the screening in Garrison last week, I was joined by a full house at Desmond-Fish Library. The film was well received and led to about an hour and a half of follow up conversation from people who supported these efforts, as well as those who oppose them,” said Galef. “I hope to get a similar response in Ossining, and look forward to additional feedback,” Galef concluded.

An Ossining High School student has won the American Museum of Natural History’s Young Naturalist competition. Read below for more information from the Ossining school district on this honor:

Ossining High School’s Rebecca Policello has been named a winner in the American Museum of Natural History’s Young Naturalist competition for her study of salamanders.

A student in the Science Research program at OHS, Rebecca has been studying the Eastern Redback salamander population in the hope that it will reveal new information about the amphibian decline that is sweeping across the world. She has been working with Dr. Jim Lewis of Fordham University and Jessica Arcate of the New York Botanical Garden to determine if environmental changes are making salamanders more vulnerable to a potentially lethal fungus.

“What I really want to know is why the fungus causes amphibians to die in some areas of the world but not others,” said Rebecca. “It leads me to believe that there are environmental factors that influence whether or not the amphibian can prevent the onset of the disease.”

The Young Naturalist Competition selects 12 winners, two from each grade seven through 12, from hundreds of entries nationwide. Students research questions about biology, Earth Science, astronomy and ecology and then recount their investigations and findings in an essay, which is judged by a museum panel.

Rebecca chose to study the Eastern Redback salamanders because they are not limited to living near bodies of water and can thrive in urban environments including the New York Botanical Garden. She sampled salamanders from the NY Botanical Garden, Rockefeller State Park, Clarence Fahnestock State Park and the White Memorial Conservation Center, and conducted lab work at Fordham University’s Calder Center in Armonk.

Salamanders depend on bacteria that live on their skin to protect them from the fungus that has been associated with amphibian decline. Rebecca set out to determine if changes in the salamander’s environment could affect this defense system.

“So far, it appears that the more disturbed an area is the better chance the salamander has to defend itself against the fungus,” Rebecca said, adding that more research is needed to ensure that is isn’t an isolated occurence.

Rebecca will receive a $2,500 award and an all-expense paid overnight trip to the American Museum of Natural History, where she will be honored at a celebratory luncheon under the dinosaurs with museum scientists.