Operation Warm (Aired March 29 on AM and March 31, 2013, on FM)
Assistant Governor Skip Rottkamp (Rotary District 7210) from Fishkill Rotary discusses project Operation Warm. Mr. Rottkamp, an educator, observed children get off school buses during winter months in T-shirts and spring jackets because they had nothing else to wear. Realizing the need, Mr. Rottkamp organized 17 clubs in Rotary District 7210 to join the nationwide program Operation Warm. Rotarians work with school nurses in the Hudson Valley to select children in need. Then they distribute new winter coats to those children through elementary schools and other local agencies. Ever since the project began a few years ago, the need has increased. Some of the effective results are improved attendance, which can lead to better grades.
Learn More:
Operation Warm
Rotary Club of Fishkill on Facebook
Recycled Rides: Repairing Lives (Aired on March 22, 2013, on AM and March 24, 2013, on FM)
Nanuet Rotarians Kevin Muir (owner of Nanuet Collision Center whose slogan is “The Collision Physicians”) and Donna Lennane (club President) discuss Recycled Rides, a national program that repairs and donates recycled vehicles to those in need (i.e., disabled veterans). Recipients are identified through a collaboration with local charitable agencies to help people get on with their life. Cars are donated by insurance companies, body shops, or individuals, and after much work by professional volunteers (up to a year, in some cases), they are absolutely good as new. The program is supported by volunteer labor and donations (i.e., paint companies and parts companies) and funding by service organizations such as Nanuet Rotary. President Lennane describes her club’s strong support of Recycled Rides as well as other humanitarian projects that save and repair lives.
Learn More:
Recycled Rides
Nanuet Collision Center: 845 356-5861 / www.nanuetcollision.com
Nanuet Rotary Club
P.O. Box 281, Nanuet, NY 10954 (914-629-2000)
Today’s Habitat for Humanity (Aired on March 15 on AM and March 17, 2013, on FM)
Executive Director for Columbia County Habitat for Humanity, Brenda Adams, discusses Habitat, the international nonprofit organization that provides affordable housing for families while producing income for communities. Ms. Adams describes the extensive selective process for a family to receive a home. A family of four having a maximum income of $40,000 must show over several interviews their ability to assume the challenges of home ownership; their willingness to take various courses such as budgeting; and a donation of 300 hours of work on their home prior to moving in. Ms. Adams also discusses “passive houses” with energy-efficiency elements that don’t rely on air-furnaces or air conditioners to heat and cool a home. Ms. Adams points out that volunteers for Habitat, like Rotarians, enjoy the fellowship and work that so clearly improves lives.
Learn More:
Columbia County Habitat for Humanity
Habitat in Dutchess County
Habitat for Humanity (national organization)
Another way of singing (Aired March 8, 2013, on AM & March 11, 2013, on FM)
Here is an interview with poet and retired opera singer Roger Roloff that will surprise those who “don’t like” poetry. Mr. Roloff, who has just published his fifth book of poetry, thoroughly entertains his audience, showing how poetry, like music, enhances our life. Reciting a few samples from his own poems, which make us laugh at ourselves, he gives some easy advice about how we can better understand poetry, and he encourages people to try writing poems themselves. Roger Roloff, famous baritone on the world’s opera and concert stages for 21 years but always a poet, retired with his wife Barbara in 1996 to the rural life in the Hudson Valley to continue writing poetry full time.
Learn More:
Roger Roloff: www.rogerroloff.com
Hudson Valley Poets
Hudson Valley Writers Guild