At Your Service(formerly RadioRotary)

Charles G. Vetter, Jr. managing broker at the Lagrangeville Office of real-estate agency Houlihan Lawrence, tells RadioRotary about some of the many ways that his agency works with the local community on a number of humanitarian projects. Mr. Vetter is very much involved personally and through the agency with the Dutchess SPCA, making sure that dogs and cats are adopted, The agency’s concern for a...

Eliza Bozenski, Director of the Anderson Foundation for Autism, comes to the RadioRotary microphone to discuss the autism spectrum and how the Anderson Foundation’s several ways of outreach are making a difference for families that must cope with autism. Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental disability that ranges from what is commonly called Asperger Syndrome, which may be accompanied by hi...

RadioRotary interviews librarian Amy Shapiro , who supervises the Mahopac Library Learning Lab, a multigenerational learning center focused on technical help for computers, smartphones, or other electronic devices. This lab, which is open five days a week, provides one-on-one individual help along with two classes each week on aid for resume preparation. The library not only has desktop computers...

The sixth annual World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, celebrated on June 16, 2017, is discussed on RadioRotary by Susan Davidson of Friends of Seniors and Dana Pavlock of Evercare. Elder abuse can be psychological, financial, sexual, physical, or simply neglectful. It is more of an issue today than in the past because people are living longer, but families no longer have several generations living in...

Leah Feldman , Director of the Center for Victim Safety and Support at Family Services in Dutchess County, and volunteer Kathleen Paluso discuss the various ways the Center aids victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, and other crimes. Two hot lines connect directly to assistance: (845)485-5550 for domestic violence and (845)452-7272 for victims of rape or other crimes. The Cent...

Once again RadioRotary visits Red Hook Rotary’s club meeting to learn about Apple Blossom Day and other activities of the Red Hook Club. Rotarian Dave Wright is in charge of the 2017 Apple Blossom Day, the street festival that traditionally kicks off the spring-summer season of activity, as it has done for more than 30 years (the last 17 operated by Red Hook Rotary). In addition to several dance a...

Krista Jones returns to RadioRotary with exciting news about developments at Sparrow’s Nest, the charity that provides food to the families of persons who have cancer. Ms. Jones started the charity in 2009 when a good friend was dying of colon cancer, providing meals that Ms. Jones left at the doorstep; soon Ms. Jones learned of four other friends with cancer and began to cook for them as well. Se...

Richard Senato tells RadioRotary the inspiring story of Love Holds Life, a foundation whose mission is to pay all of the otherwise out-of-pocket expenses of a family with a child fighting cancer, a project that is sponsored in part by Patterson Rotary. It began when Mr. Senato became inspired to help an eleven-year-old child in a Patterson family. After covering over $73,000 in out-of-pocket expen...

Service Clubs are all about community, partly because they are one of the glues that hold communities together. This program features two of the clubs that serve the community of Pleasant Valley, NY—The Lions Club, represented by its current president, Mike Kessler , and Rotary, represented by RadioRotary producer and Pleasant Valley Rotarian Kathy Kruger. Both local clubs are also part of interna...

Vanderbilt Gardens volunteers Susanne Gillespie and Anita Whelan come to the RadioRotary studio to discuss the beautiful gardens they help tend at the Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site in Hyde Park, NY. The Vanderbilt Mansion was the impressive summer “cottage” of Frederick and Louise Vanderbilt. Frederick maintained and improved the formal gardens on the site in the early 20th century, bu...

In 2010, Haiti suffered a devastating earthquake. Roberto Bonheur told his wife, Poughkeepsie Nurse Practitioner Rose Bonheur, that they had to do something to help; she had the skills, as a primary care specialist, to provide much needed medical help. Both Bonheurs had been born in Haiti, although they came to the United States as children. Rose was skeptical at first, but eventually organized a...

Representing her Pleasant Valley Rotary Club, RadioRotary Producer Kathy Kruger is interviewed by Sarah O’Connell about the Rotary Club’s annual “Stuff the Bus” food drive. A full-sized School Bus, on loan for the day and decorated for the occasion, is parked at the Acme Supermarket in Pleasant Valley as the members of the Rotary Club encourage shoppers to “Stuff the Bus” with food donations for t...

The Hudson Valley is known throughout the United State as the home of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR). In this program the author and Rotarian (Greater Anderson Club, SC) Kathryn Smith tells about FDR’s longtime personal secretary, Missy LeHand, the subject of Ms. Smith’s new book The Gatekeeper: Missy LeHand, FDR, and the Untold Story of the Partnership that Defined a Presidency . 24-year-old Ms....

RadioRotary presents several interviews from the 2016 Rotary United Nations Day, this time centering on the activities of Rotary District 7210, the home of RadioRotary. Lou Turpin (Rhinebeck Rotary), the 2016-17 District Governor, starts the program off, emphasizing his view that the essence of Rotary can be summed up as “Do Good. Have Fun.” His interview is followed by chats with students from Re...

RadioRotary interview Lieutenants Brett White and Thomas Frost of the Citizens Preparedness Corp of the New York State National Guard. Their task is to present programs encouraging people to become prepared for encountering a disaster, whether it is natural (such as floods, storms, or fires), criminal (such as a terrorist attack), or technological (such as a power blackout). Although the disasters...

ShelterBox is a major initiative for disaster relief that is affiliated with Rotary International. Simply put, a ShelterBox is a tent and necessary supplies for up to ten people, all packed into a waterproof one-meter plastic cube. That is a good thing, but what makes ShelterBox effective in disaster relief are trained teams that can bring the ShelterBox cubes to the site of a disaster and teach l...

Once again, RadioRotary takes its microphone to Rotary Day at the United Nations for a series of interviews with persons from organizations “doing good in the world.” Lakeway/Lake Travis (TX) Rotarian Barker Keith discusses the Rotary 3D Limbs project, which is using 3D printing to produce prosthetics, especially new legs, for amputees, especially in Africa. Dr. Linda J. Stillman , who teaches at...

Millbrook Rotary 2016-17 President Rona Boyer worked around the world before settling in Millbrook, where she started using her sales and publishing and cooking experience to shore up The Millbrook Independent during its brief run as a weekly. Today she is at the helm of two different “micropublishing” monthly magazines— Living Millbrook and Living Rhinebeck . Micropublishing is a concept promoted...

The annual Rotary Day at the United Nations each year brings together some 1,500 Rotarians along with various youth groups and representatives of humanitarian organizations who work with Rotarians. For this program, RadioRotary interviewed Mitch Kahn from ShelterBox; Rotarian Steve Goldsmith (Hawthorne LAX Lennox Rotary) and Prabha Sankaranarayan from Mediators Beyond Borders; and Rotarian-wannabe...

Ambassadorial Scholarships are the oldest program of the Rotary Foundation, having provided the opportunity for graduate study to over 42,000 students who have studied international relations in over 60 nations. Rotarian Susan Davis (Rotary District 7210 E-Club), who grew up in the swamps outside of New Orleans became one of the recipients and attended Oxford University in the UK in 1980-81, leadi...

RadioRotary interviews Laurie Swartz and Rev. Lynda Carré about the Death Cafés they help run as part of Circle of Friends for the Dying in Ulster and Dutchess Counties. A Death Café is a gathering of a few people in a home, a church, a restaurant, or other venue where the conversation over tea or coffee and cake is all about dying. Our population is growing older every year and death will come to...

Rotarian Joyce Heaton (Millbrook Rotary), who has chaired the annual event New Year’s Eve Millbrook for 13 years, describes the family-friendly way that the Millbrook community and visitors celebrate the last day of each year—with music, puppets, circus and magic acts, and other entertainments. Many local foundations, businesses, and individuals fund the free event, but it is run almost entirely b...

Heather Iannucci and her family recognized in 1993 that their collection of animals was of interest to children and many adults as well, so they formed the Two by Two Zoo to be a traveling petting experience. Soon they began to acquire other animals, often pets that their owners could no longer care for, but also animals rescued by agencies such as the United State Department of Agriculture (USDA)...

New York State Senator Sue Serino, chair of the Aging Committee, spoke to RadioRotary about telephone and Internet scams aimed at seniors, and how to avoid them. One of the most common recently in her district has been a phone call pretending to be from the IRS. The caller says that the person receiving the call is delinquent on back taxes and must pay immediately or will be sent to jail. Such a c...

RadioRotary interviews Holly Gaiman, Development Coordinator at InFlight, Inc., which supplies residential facilities, including group homes and apartments, for people with developmental disabilities. Its mission is to ensure the people it supports reach their highest level of independence and inclusion into the community while living in a home setting. InFlight operates throughout much of the mid...