Immigrant Center & Festival in Kingston, NY (Aired on May 23, 2021)

Sarah Litvin, Director of the Reher Center for Immigrant Culture and History, and Lucia Cherciu, Poet Laureate of Dutchess County, Zoom in to RadioRotary to tell about the re-opening of the Reher Center after Covid-19 closure, and the 9th annual Kingston Multicultural Festival. The Reher Center is housed in the former Reher Bakery, a Kingston institution run by the Reher family for 80 years, and now in addition to the historic building, there are interpretation panels of Kingston history for viewing. The Reher Center has been the originator of the Kingston Multicultural Festival that this year will include poetry in both English and Romanian by Dutchess County Poet Laureate and Dutchess Community College Professor Lucia Cherciu as well as music and international foods. Listen to the RadioRotary interviews to learn more.

Learn more:
Reher Center: https://www.rehercenter.org/
Kingston Multicultural Festival: https://www.kingstonmulticulturalfestival.org/
Dutchess County Poet Laureate: https://www.dailyfreeman.com/lifestyle/lucia-cherciu-named-dutchess-countys-poet-laureate/article_acbbfc5c-948a-11eb-9e38-cbea3d8214c8.html
Poetry by Lucia Cherciu: https://www.amazon.com/Lucia-Cherciu/e/B07T25PNG3?ref_=dbs_p_pbk_r00_abau_000000
Ulster Immigrant Defense Network: https://ulsterimmigrantdefensenetwork.org/

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May 24, 2021 · Posted in Arts & Letters, Events, Museums  

Literacy Connection Holds Spelling Bee (Aired February 29 and March 1, 2020)

RadioRotary interviews Literacy Connections Coordinator for Southern and Rural Dutchess County Marian Thompson and Book Bodies Coordinator Katherine Stikkers about the annual Spelling Bee. For 29 years the organization has raised money from sponsors of two-person teams who compete for the glory of best spellers. The money is used to help Literacy Connections in its principal effort, which is to teach adults how to read, as well as in its other efforts such as the Book Buddies program—adults reading to elementary-school students. The reading program uses a state approved tutoring program with trained volunteer to help adults gain reading skills and to tutor immigrants who have poor or no English. Although the program works all year long, the highlight of the year comes with the Spelling Bee, which in recent years has been at Marist College. Most teams are sponsored, often by Rotary Clubs, and can consist of high-school students or adults, but any two-person team can enter. The words are chosen from a dictionary and vary in difficulty. After a first round for points, the high-scorers compete until every team but one has been eliminated by misspelling a word (second chances are available). An audience is present just to enjoy the competition.

Learn more
Literary Connections of the Hudson Valley: http://www.literacyconnections.org/
29th Annual Spelling Bee: http://www.literacyconnections.org/spelling-bee/
National Spelling Bee: http://spellingbee.com/
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee: https://www.mtishows.com/the-25th-annual-putnam-county-spelling-bee

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March 17, 2020 · Posted in Arts & Letters, Education, Events, Literacy, Volunteers  

Cari Swanson, Horse Listener (Aired December 28 and 29, 2019)

RadioRotary often discovers remarkable people living in the mid-Hudson region who are not
well known to the general population. Cari Swanson of Wind Rock Farm in Amenia is an
example. When asked if she is a horse whisperer, she replies that she is a horse listener.
Whatever you call it, she is able to train horses to act in movies and on television as well as
teaching rescued horses how to live with and work for humans. Among her horse’s credits are
the white angel horse from the movie Winter’s Tale and the various horses that make a setting
in the year 1900 authentic on Cinemax’s series The Knick. Ms. Swanson’s horse rescue
operation is the focus of the interview. The seven abused horses that she trains at any given
time at the nonprofit Red Horse Rescue will eventually move to their permanent homes when
they have been restored to physical and mental health. There are many ways that horses have
helped humans over the past 6,000 years. Among them, Ms. Swanson and her horses provide
equine-assisted psychotherapy to veterans and autistic children.

Learn more
Cari Swanson enterprises: http://cariswanson.com/
Red Horse Rescue: https://www.redhorserescue.org/
Windrock Farm on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Millbrook-windrock-Farm/1751097151842692
Equine Assisted Psychotherapy–Eagala: https://www.eagala.org/index

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January 5, 2020 · Posted in Animals, Arts & Letters, Mental Health  

Pleasant Valley Library Recovers from Fire (Aired on April 13 and 14, 2019)

On Election Day 2018 fire ravaged the Pleasant Valley Free Library building.
Pleasant Valley Rotarian, Dave Kruger, president of the library board, received
the first notice at 6:45 a.m. but the 150-year-old wooden structure was already in
flames throughout the interior. Although sentimental artifacts were recovered by
brave firefighters, most of the 52,000 books were damaged beyond what repairs
would cost. In this program, Pleasant Valley Library Director Daniela Pulice and
Mr. Kruger tell RadioRotary the story of how, within a few months, the Town’s
residents and the Library Friends working with a dedicated staff brought the
library back into operation in donated quarters. Meanwhile architects have been
working on ways to rebuild the historic library building within the standing exterior
walls. The recovery is a remarkable achievement, and this is a radio program
well worth everyone’s attention.

Learn more:
Pleasant Valley Free Library: http://pleasantvalleylibrary.org/
Pleasant Valley Library on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pleasantvalleylibrary/
Friends of the Pleasant Valley Library on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FriendsofthePVLibrary/
Mid-Hudson Library System: https://midhudson.org/
Pleasant Valley Rotary Club: https://portal.clubrunner.ca/50045/clubinfo/pleasant-valley

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April 18, 2019 · Posted in Arts & Letters, Community Planning, Disaster Relief, Literacy  

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