Who What When Where: RiverdaleY Newsletter June 2007

Some of you may remember when Bill Abramson was the Y's Director of Health & Fitness. The children

Today, our "Mr. Bill" is vice president of our Board of Trustees and a successful real estate businessman, after many years as an executive at Chelsea Piers.

A former Riverdalian, Bill now lives on the Upper West Side with his wife, Susan, and two youngdaughters, Jade and Mia.

Celebrate with us at a "green" dinner, serving organic kosher food (locally grown where possible) and honoring the Y's healthy programming -- healthy body, healthy mind, healthy spirit, healthy planet!

The Dinner Committee is co-chaired by the Y's Board Chair, January Akselrad and by Bill's wife, Susan Buchbinder Abramson. Honorary co-chairs are June Eisland and Gerald Goldsmith. The committee members are Jade Abramson, Mia Abramson, Jeffrey Golland, Judy Kaufthal, and Lori Buchbinder McDaniel.

at $100 for a 1/8 page. You may place an ad, or purchase tickets, by visiting our website, www.RiverdaleY.org, or calling Marilyn Raider at (718) 548-8200, ext. 203.

The Y's on-line AUCTION is coming soon! Y supporters can participate in our on-line auction by logging on to http://riverdaleyauction.cmarket.com. The website is now live! Take a look and see the exciting items up for bid. Check often as new items will be posted for viewing as they become available. Bidding begins on June 3^rd at 8:00 AM and closes the 17^th at midnight.

A silent and live auction will complement the Annual Dinner on June 19 (see page 8).

Do you have an item that you can donate to the auction-its full value becomes a tax deduction for you!

Contact Roberta Robinson at rrobinson@riverdaley.org or (718) 548-8200 ext. 261 for information and to donate.

We're going to show four films outdoors this summer, this time on Thursday and Sunday nights (so we can begin earlier, and start with cartoons!)

We'll set up mats for the kids (who are invited to come in their PJs or favorite themed costumes) and parents should bring lawn chairs.

After receiving rave reviews at the San Diego Repertory, this award-winning show will now inspire the Riverdale community. On Tuesday evening June 24, at 7 pm, the Riverdale Y will present the stage adaptation of Sherri Mandell's book "THE BLESSING OF A BROKEN HEART". This one-night performance promises to be an inspirational evening of love, loss and the strength to carry on.

On May 8, 2001, Sherri and her husband Seth Mandell's 13 year old son Koby, was killed by terrorists while hiking through caves with a friend near their home in Israel.

THE BLESSING OF A BROKEN HEART is the story of a mother's struggling to find a way to carry on, as she embarks on a journey of discovery and growing faith endeavoring to understand her pain in the context of three thousand years of Jewish history and tradition.

The book and performance is a life-affirming account of her journey that is full of pain, beauty and courage. Mandell's ability to find meaning in the depths of darkness and her determination to look for grace and love rather than succumb to hate and despair are inspiring and humbling. She is broken-hearted, but not broken.

The family took the cruelty of Koby's murder and transformed it into kindness. They wanted to help people like themselves, struck by terror, be able to return to life, with strength, hope, and healing.

100% of our performances proceeds on June 24th will go directly to the Koby Mandell Foundation; a non-profit organizaton that was founded by Seth and Sherri Mandell in memory of their son that serves to initiate work to bridge the isolation that bereaved children and adults are struck with after the loss of a loved one. In this way, the Mandells respond to pain and suffering with a Jewish response - to build, to grow, to make meaning out of suffering, to choose life and to help others in this mission.

Rabbi Seth Mandell will join us for the performance and be available for discussion and a question and answer session following the show.

Tickets are $25($20 for seniors) and can be purchased, with no service charge, at www.RiverdaleY.org.

The Riverdale Repertory Company presents:

Directed by: Laurie Walton

On Sunday, June 1 at 11:00 am, Tania Grossinger will give a talk about her evocative memoir of a fondly remembered time and place in Growing Up at Grossinger's (being reissued this month in a handsome new paperback edition by Skyhorse Publishing). She will also discuss efforts to preserve the history of Jewish life in the Catskills.

There is no charge for the event, which is being sponsored by Riverdale's book store, PaperBacks Plus.

Growing Up at Grossinger's is both a wonderful coming-of-age story and a sentimental reading of a chapter of the Jewish experience in America that has now closed.

Tania Grossinger, a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors, is a freelance writer and public relations consultant. She has also co-authored a novel, "Weekend" (St. Martin's Press, Dell Paperback) and written "The Book of Gadgets" and "The Great Gadget Catalogue". She is currently working on a new memoir, "Letters to the Child I Never Had" due for completion in 2008.

She is a well known travel writer, having published over 200 travel articles in newspapers and magazines throughout the country, and is now travel/lifestyle correspondent-at-large for Sally Jessy Raphael's TalkNet. She is a frequent guest on talk shows, a public speaker, and consultant.

Visit her website at www.taniagrossinger.com. Read an interview with Ms. Grossinger gave to The Catskills Institute, an organization promoting research and education on the significance of the Catskill Mountains for American Jewish life at http://catskills.brown.edu/interviews/grossinger.html

Vacation Day Programs at the Y in June

Spend your � Days at the Y!

On June 2 and 12 the NYC public schools will be closed for half days. As always, our KidsSpace After School Program will available to pick up your kids at P.S. 81 and P.S. 24 upon their dismissal time. For a small fee of $20 your child will be transported by bus, from their school to the Riverdale Y. We will serve a kosher pizza lunch and our After School Staff will provide a day of activities in our facilities. If your child is not registered for After School on this day, but you would like to add their participation, there is an additional $15 fee for a total of $35.

June 5^th Vacation Day Program

On Thursday, June 5, public schools will be closed for a Conference Day. We welcome all kids ages 5 and older to join us on a trip to the Green Meadows Farm in Floral Park, New York. Green Meadows Farm provides a fun and education country setting with over 300 farm animals for your children to touch and see. Please send your child with a brown bag kosher (non-meat, non-shellfish) lunch.

Fee: $60 for Y members/$75 for non-members. The program will run from 9:00 am -5:00 pm. Early and Late Stay is available 8:00 am- 6:00 pm is available for an additional $7 for Y members, $10 for non-members. Children who are not enrolled in the early/late stay coverageoption will be expected to pay the fee upon arrival. Deadline for registration is Thursday, May 31^st. Registration after this date will incur a $10 late fee per day, if space is available.

Need more information? Call Barbara at (718) 548-8200, ext. 206 or Charlie at ext. 229.

End of Summer Camps

Multi-Sports Camp at Henry Kaufman
August 18-22, 9am-5pm

Experience more than 15 different sports in one week with the US Sports Institute. The multi-sport program is the only summer camp program dedicated to the truly sports-minded youngster.

The USSI Multi Sports camp gives our participants the opportunity to experience over 15 sports in a week. Campers will receive technical instruction in each sport and will then experience the sport in a realistic game situation. After lunch all campers will participate in the USSI Olympic Games and World Cup. This is the true sports camp experience with so much to do in so little time! Over 15 Sports From Around the World. All campers will enjoy two swims daily!

Soccer Camp
August 25-29, 9am-3pm or 9am-5pm

�A World of Fun at Your Feet', this soccer camp at the Y pushes the fun factor for children aged 5 - 12. Each day players will enjoy learning soccer skills from around the world while putting them to the test in fun challenges and games. Countries will face off against each other in daily soccer matches where the emphasis is on the excitement of playing.

Arts Camp

There will also be an arts option during the last two weeks of August - one week of visual arts (a variety of instructors and media) and one week of performing arts. Check our website for details.

Internship for Teens

Do you know a teenager looking for an exciting opportunity to learn about and work with people with disabilities?

The Riverdale Y is currently seeking teens between the ages of fourteen and eighteen to take part in a new program called the Special Needs Training Institute (SNTI). In partnership with Mercy College, Ramapo for Children, JCC of Mid-Westchester, and the JCC on the Hudson, the Riverdale Y will recruit five high school students to participate in a college level program which provides training and hands-on experiences in working with individuals with disabilities.

Students are required to commit 75 hours of internship work throughout the school year at the Riverdale Y or another nearby program for people with disabilities. In addition, each student will participate in at least five intensive training sessions to be held on Sundays at Mercy College, for a total of 15 hours.

Students are supervised and offered opportunities to share experiences with other students attending the SNTI through the JCC of Mid-Westchester and JCC on the Hudson. Successful completion of the internship and course work will yield one college credit from Mercy College.

SNTI is limited in Riverdale to five students. The program provides an excellent opportunity for resume building for college as well as high school community service requirements. For an interview please contact Sandy Mislow at 718-548-8200, ext. 230 or smislow@riverdaley.org.

This project was made possible through a generous grant from the J.E. & Z.B. Butler Foundation.

Chocolate cake is an odd jumping off point for a relationship between two physical fitness devotees but that and a power failure sparked a bond between Stan and Ethel Scher which has lasted for over 40 years. The couple met in school as teachers. Ethel, a licensed social studies teacher, wound up as a junior high gym instructor due to an abundance of teachers in her subject area. "Of course, the school had no gym," said Ethel. "So, the instruction was conducted in the basement/lunchroom! Many of the students were taller than me," she said with a laugh. During a train strike and the Con Ed blackout Stan and Ethel carpooled to work. Ethel brought chocolate cake for the long morning ride and that started things going.

When the couple saw an ad in the paper asking for volunteers willing to be trained as fitness instructors to work at the Simon Senior Center, they eagerly signed up. Now in their second year as Stay Well fitness instructors, this relationship also seems to be lasting. The Schers teach the Wednesday morning Stay Well class - usually alternating weeks.

"My background is in exercise," said Stan, a retired NYC Department of Education Special Education Supervisor, who is also an American Council on Exercise- (ACE) certified personal trainer and group fitness instructor. "I thought that taking the DFTA training would be a good way of extending my exercise background to the senior population; especially since I was becoming a senior myself," he said.

Trained as a aquatics fitness instructor, Ethel has been a water devotee as long as she can remember. Usually in the pool by 6 am each day, she swims a mile every morning and peppers that routine with water fitness exercises. She's given rather tough water aerobics classes for women in their 60s and 70s at various Sullivan County sites, using her vacation home as her base in the area. Working with the seniors at the Y is a natural extension.

Ethel and Stan review their routines at home and are each other's best audience and critic.

Stan now also works for the Arthritis Foundation as an exercise instructor at various facilities in the Bronx. Both take their commitment to exercise seriously and enjoy the comradeship and bond they have developed with the Y seniors.

Implementing the routines is as important as thinking about and planning the workouts. "Planning and doing exercise is the ultimate mind/body experience," said Stan. "We think exercise, we do exercise."

Who What When Where

Vacation Day Program
Red, Blue, and a Bit of Glue, too:

Senior Center Calendar:

Who What When Where

Vacation Day Program Red, Blue, and a Bit of Glue, too:

Senior Center Calendar:

Vacation Day Program
Red, Blue, and a Bit of Glue, too: