“The Times They Are A- Changin”
“The Times They Are A- Changin” Bob Dylan sang almost 60 years ago, and they are A-Changin still. Because of the pandemic, many of our most cherished non-profits have been forced to cancel crucial fundraisers. At sportingAcause.com some of those charities have devised alternative events to try to recapture some of what they lost to COVID-19.
Here are two very worthy local non-profits who are holding raffle-style fundraisers- Sunday In The Country Food Drive which provides 600 holiday turkey dinners to deserving residents in tri-state towns, and the Salisbury Rotary Club which helps out local food banks, provides COVID assistance and scholarships to Region 1 students.
Here are the details for both:
The Sunday in the Country Food Drive will pull the lucky numbers on November 1st for these great prizes:
$100 gift certificates to Daisy Hill Farm, North East Muffler, Herrington’s, and Silamar Farm Market. And $200 gift certificates to Taylor Oil, 52 Main, and Black Rabbit Bar and Grille. Also up for grabs is a Thanksgiving dinner worth $200 from McEnroe Organic and a handmade Star throw quilt by Krista McGhee.
Tickets cost $10 each or six for $50. You can buy them at Herrington’s, 52 Main and the Black Rabbit Bar and Grille, or call Bill Anstett at 845 206-5938.
The Salisbury Rotary Club offers a winner-take-all $10,000 prize which will be drawn on November 17th. Only 2500 tickets will be sold. You can buy yours for $10 each one of two ways: Either send a check made out to Salisbury Rotary Club Foundation and mail it to Peter Fitting, P.O. Box 646, Salisbury, CT 06068, or go to https://www.salisburyctrotary.org/, click on the “Donate” button UNDER the “$10,000 Cash Raffle” heading. Be sure to click on the “cash raffle” option.
For more information call Rotary President Peter Fitting at 860 672-5709.
Please support these fundraisers if you are able. Their ability to do their good work in our neighborhoods depends on it. As Dylan also sang “If Not For You”…
Ideas for Another Kind of Gift
Tis the giving season, is it not? If you’ve already completed your shopping list for the usual suspects and have a few bucks left over to spread additional cheer, here are some gift ideas of the non- profit kind.
Love animals? The Little Guild in West Cornwall, CT https://www.littleguild.org/ rescues homeless dogs and cats and finds loving homes for them. A donation of $25 will buy a one-day supply of food for all of their animals; $50 vaccinates one animal for a year or helps pay the cost to spay a cat ($150) or neuter a dog ($300). Or maybe adopt a pet…
Who isn’t moved by the notion of a child at risk? Berkshire County Kids Place https://www.kidsplaceonline.org/ in Pittsfield, MA picks up the pieces of children damaged by sexual and domestic violence and makes them whole. When a child comes in for a therapy session they get a snack first. $10 buys all of the kids snacks for a week. $50 covers most of a private therapy session for a child. Usually it takes 12 – 24 sessions per child.
Continuing the focus on children, Brooker Memorial https://www.brookermemorial.org/ in Torrington, CT provides early learning, child care, pediatric dental care and child therapy for youngsters in need. $25 will buy a week’s supply of healthy snacks for 10 kids or dental screening for one child. $50 will provide one month of art supplies for two classrooms or a dental cleaning for one child.
Adopt-a-Family in Millerton, NY cares about the young ones too. Headquartered at Moore & More Printing ( 518 789-4508), Stacey Moore and her large band of helpers provide clothing and toys (non-electronic) to some 300 kids up to age 13. Each child gets a winter coat, boots and three toys. A $50 or $100 donation will put a big dent in that per child cost.
Hunger may be our greatest scourge. Gratefully, there are many non- profits dedicated to feeding our residents-in-need. One of them is the Sunday In The Country Food Drive http://sundayinthecountryfooddrive.com/. They are based in Millerton, NY, but they serve 18 towns throughout the Tri-State area. They provide Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners to over 300 families. A $25 gift will provide a family of six with a complete holiday dinner including a 14-16 pound turkey.
Special Olympics is one of the most beloved of international charities. It allows children and adults with intellectual challenges to participate in and succeed in 26 different sports throughout the year. And the “United Sports” program partners challenged athletes with non-challenged high schoolers to compete together. Everyone wins. a $30 donation buys a basketball. If you care to give on the installment plan, $15 a month funds year round sports activities for three athletes. Each state manages its own programs. Connecticut https://www.soct.org/; Massachusetts https://www.specialolympicsma.org/ and New York https://www.specialolympics-ny.org/ . A $65 donation will earn you a Special Olympics tree ornament.
Robin Hood Radio’s http://www.robinhoodradio.com/ home is in Sharon, CT, and it serves the Tri-State region. It is an NPR station providing local and national news and entertainment as well as providing public service announcements about non-profit activities throughout the year. Robin Hood Radio is a non-profit that needs our support. A $25 or $50 donation would help pay for stringers who report local news or help support an emergency fund take care of equipment failures, among many other expenses.
The Jane Lloyd Fund https://www.thejanelloydfund.org/ provides financial help for cancer patients in the Northwest Corner by paying their living expenses while they concentrate on healing. A $50 donation could cover a tank of gas to drive to treatments, or pay for part of an electric bill or a piece of a mortgage payment. No donation is too small.
Housatonic Youth Service Bureau (HYSB) https://hysb.org/ . Counselors at HYSB offer free counseling to youngsters in Region 1 in Connecticut addressing a broad array of emotional needs from depression and anxiety to avoiding school, and support children and families coping with personal or economic crises, emotional or physical neglect, trauma, substance abuse and more. A $50 donation to HYSB will pay for one counseling session.
The Salisbury Winter Sports Association (SWSA) http://www.jumpfest.org/ in Salisbury Connecticut has been teaching youngsters to ski – cross country, downhill and jumping for 94 years. They provide skiing scholarships for four area grade school downhill programs and maintain 20, 30 and 70 meter jumps at their Satre Hill facilities as well as host the annual Eastern Ski Jumping Championships. A $50 donation to SWSA will fund two hours of landing hill snow grooming or travel expenses for a SWSA jumper to compete at other eastern hills.
These are just 10 of the 300 or so charities found on the pages of sportingAcause.com, all of which are doing heroic work to improve lives in our part of the world. Please remember them when gift-giving this holiday season.
NASCAR Dave has left the building
NASCAR Dave has left the building.
The final broadcast of NASCAR Dave MacMillan’s Hometown Sunday Morning Show on WHDD Radio this past week ended a career that spanned 25 years.
But what he managed to accomplish over that distance is the real story here.
If you follow the arc of Dave’s life, you’ll find a blueprint of what the average working man can achieve in his lifetime.
Starting 25 years ago with a 15 minute radio show to talk about NASCAR racing, Dave, along with his wife Chris and a couple radio cohorts, scraped together two Thanksgiving dinners for local families in need. Dave understood hunger- he’d experienced it himself as a young man.
” When you go to sleep hungry, you wake up hungry,” Dave said, ‘I never forgot that”.
Over time the show grew to three hours at Robinhood Radio and the Sunday in the Country Food Drive grew as well- this year 500 turkey dinners will find their way into deserving Tri-State homes this Thanksgiving. To date, the organization has raised over $300,000 and still counting.
But Dave’s service to community didn’t end with the Food Drive. He used his show to promote uncountable fundraisers throughout his listening area- firemen’s breakfasts, Veteran’s causes, Walks for Alzheimer’s , sports-related fundraisers and much more. No charity was too small for Dave to shed light upon. He made each cause important. During his last broadcast Sunday, as well- wishers were calling in a steady stream, Dave reminded listeners that there was still time to catch the local pancake breakfast.
By week’s end, Dave and Chris will be at their new home in Florida. The Sunday morning show will continue under a different format, and Dave has left the Sunday in the Country Food Drive in capable hands. In these parts, life will certainly continue without Dave and Chris, just not quite as well.
Besides leaving an unmatchable legacy of community service, Dave leaves behind some lessons and inspiration for those who have been paying attention: Always remember where you came from. Understand the importance of giving back. Always acknowledge those who have helped you along the way. And, maybe most significantly, see how much one “average” man can accomplish in a lifetime.
Corn Hole Tournament
A Corn Hole Tournament will be held Sunday, July 22, 2018 at Eddie Collins Field, 5989 N. Elm Ave. (Route 22), Millerton, NY 12546. The corn hole tournament is part of the Hudson Valley Trail Ride festivities.
The entry fee for the single-elimination tournament is $10, payable at the event. There is no pre- registration. Arrive early to sign up, keeping in mind that traffic will be heavy in down town Millerton due to the Trail Ride. The corn hole tournament is open to everyone, not just Trail cyclists.
The event begins at 1:00 pm.
Winner will receive entry to next year’s Trail Ride valued at $85.
Proceeds will benefit the Sunday in the Country Food Drive.
For more information call Bill Anstett at (845) 206-5938.
