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Great Grant: Addressing Hunger as a Priority |
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Since 1988, The Food Bank for Westchester has responded to the needs of hungry Westchester residents by supplying approximately 200 frontline hunger relief member agencies. With a grant of $70,000 to the Food Bank, WCF targeted the must fundamental need: hunger.
Children and seniors, our most vulnerable residents, were the focus of this grant. In the first six months of 2009, seniors received 8,558 meals, 2,727 bags of produce, and 8 distributions sites were launched. Children, who depend on school breakfast and lunch programs, are most vulnerable on weekends. The Backpack Program provides weekend food. In the first six months of 2009 150 additional children received backpacks and 1037 pounds of food was brought home. |
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Great Grants - Grimm's Fairy Tales |
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What is in a fairy tale? Americans know fairy tales such as Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty through freely adapted and watered down versions of animated movies and children’s books. In truth, the stories collected by the German ethnologists Wilhelm and Friedrich Grimm in the early 19th century represent an oral tradition that is layered with meaning for children and adults alike.
If you have been lucky enough to be at your local library when the Singing Harp troupe is presenting their version of the Grimms Brothers’ The Frog Prince or The Golden Bird, you might be surprised at the range and complexity of human experience presented in these classic stories. The three-person ensemble uses original harp music as well as theater devices as masks, costumes, and a few well-chosen props, to enchant children and adults alike.
Our grant to the Westchester Library System Grant funded presentions of Grimm’s Fairy Tales to enchanted audiences at ten county libraries. The Brothers Grimm are revered figures in German culture for their pioneering work in folklore and language, making the grant to present Singing Harp to Westchester audiences a perfect match for the Rudyard and Emanuella Reimss Fund in the Westchester Community Foundation. Mr. and Mrs. Reimss generously established a fund for the promotion of Germanic culture in Westchester. This fund has supported classical music performances and film series at the Jacob Burns Film Center.
“When the Westchester Library System and Singing Harp came to us with this idea, I was really excited,” said Betsy Bush, Program Officer. “This is the first grant we’ve made through the Reimss Fund to support folklore, an important aspect of German culture. “ The librarians and patrons have been excited, too. Wrote one librarian after a performance, “Our audience ranged from age 3 to grandparents and all of them were held spell bound by the magic created by the talented cast and the original performance. With our limited program budget this was indeed a gift which touched many lives.” |
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Great Grants - Westchester Residential Opportunities |
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As one of the county’s largest housing services provider, Westchester Residential Opportunities was caught in the cross-hairs of the economic recession at the start of 2009, when scores of homeowners facing foreclosure and renters in danger of eviction were contacting the agency for help.
As the need for its services increased, WRO was “making do” with an outdated technology infrastructure – a patchwork of software programs, antiquated computer equipment, and an outdated Web site. The agency needed secure, reliable IT networks, a centralized database, and a user-friendly Web site – and it needed it fast.
With our grant of $25,000 in April, 2009, WRO entered the digital 21st century. Its redesigned Web site has made it much easier for people with housing needs find and access information about the agency’s services.
WRO also replaced its collection of individual computers with a central Windows Terminal Services server. The old hodgepodge of personal computers is gone, replaced by gleaming new Wyse Thin Terminals for every staff person. The main and satellite offices are connected via a Virtual Private Network. The new system has eliminated the need to replace PCs, and reduced virus infections, saving on repair and maintenance costs.
Last, the grant underwrote a new customized central database that serves all of the agency’s housing programs. The database helps WRO ensure compliance with local, state, and federal regulations, greatly streamlining its internal processes. WRO’s tracking of its outcomes is enhanced - thereby strengthening both delivery of services and fundraising capacity.
The technology transformation came at a critical time in WRO’s growth, when more people were relying on its services to help them remain in their homes and communities. By meeting WRO’s current and future needs, our grant is helping the agency maintain a high level of service delivery for Westchester residents.
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Crossing the Digital Divide: Infusing Technology in the Everyday Life of Older Adults |
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The United Hebrew Geriatric Center in New Rochelle has a new computer lab designed, installed, and maintained by students at Westchester Community College. Here older adults, each with his or her own instructor, learn how to use the computer with the help of college students enrolled in Pace University’s Intergenerational Computing course.
With patience and understanding of seniors’ unique sensory challenges, the Pace students teach their elderly charges how to send and receive emails, use Google searches, and research topics of interest in the vast landscape of the internet. The Pace students gain first-hand knowledge of the challenges of growing older, as well as an introduction to the emerging field of gerontechnology.
But the computer classes serve another purpose: While the seniors learn practical computer usage, they also experience brain exercises designed to help researchers understand how technology can improve cognitive functioning in the elderly. Current research is supported through a grant from the Westchester Community Foundation to The Westchester Alliance of Academic Institutes for Aging Related Studies and Workforce Development, a program of the Westchester Public/Private Partnership for Aging Services. http://westches2.ipower.com/index.html.
On December 1, 2008, the program learned it had received the American Society on Aging’s MetLife MindAlert Award for the General Mental Fitness category. The MindAlert Award program recognizes innovation in mental fitness programming for older adults. http://www.asaging.org/asav2/mindalert/
The Westchester Community Foundation congratulates all of the senior learners, the Westchester Community College, and Pace University students, who are participants in the program, as well as Professor Jean Coppola of Pace University, Professor Barbara Thomas of Westchester Community College, Linda Forman of United Hebrew Geriatric Center, and Colette Phipps, Research Analyst with the Public/Private Partnership for Aging Services. |
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