At Your Service(formerly RadioRotary)

Nanuet Rotarians Kevin Muir (owner of Nanuet Collision Center whose slogan is “The Collision Physicians”) and Donna Lennane (club President) discuss Recycled Rides, a national program that repairs and donates recycled vehicles to those in need (i.e., disabled veterans). Recipients are identified through a collaboration with local charitable agencies to help people get on with their life. Cars are...

Executive Director for Columbia County Habitat for Humanity, Brenda Adams, discusses Habitat, the international nonprofit organization that provides affordable housing for families while producing income for communities. Ms. Adams describes the extensive selective process for a family to receive a home. A family of four having a maximum income of $40,000 must show over several interviews their abi...

Here is an interview with poet and retired opera singer Roger Roloff that will surprise those who “don’t like” poetry. Mr. Roloff, who has just published his fifth book of poetry, thoroughly entertains his audience, showing how poetry, like music, enhances our life. Reciting a few samples from his own poems, which make us laugh at ourselves, he gives some easy advice about how we can better unders...

Journalist and author Anthony Musso discusses his fourth published book, which is filled with detailed research that will motivate people to seek more information about local structures that they pass every day without realizing their historical significance. Featuring 55 sites, and not necessarily buildings, the book details not only the history but the stories, many of them personal to past owne...

Dr. Felicia LeClere, a Principal Research Scientist with the National Opinion Research Center (NORC), describes her work. NORC is a nonprofit research organization that collects data and does analysis of America’s attitudes toward social and health issues; it does not do political polling. The survey results are distributed to the parts of the federal government, such as Congress or the Centers fo...

Carl Rotans, Senior Instructor of Puppies behind Bars, teaches inmates to train service dogs. These unique dogs greatly assist the disabled, especially veterans, in a multitude of ways: taking dishes from the table, dialing 911 if necessary, turning lights on or off. The dogs are trained to respond to more than 90 commands. In this heavily monitored program, inmates are prescreened, go through a l...

Mario Johnson, Program Coordinator for Poughkeepsie’s Nubian Directions II YouthBuild/AmeriCorps, describes how dedicated young adults collected nearly 2,000 new and slightly used shoes, sneakers, and boots in one month for victims of Hurricane Sandy, with shipments going to Long Island and New Jersey. Organized in partnership with LaGrange Sunrise Rotary and the Freedom Plains Presbyterian Church...

Gail Piazza, a professional food consultant, and her daughter Laura, who suffers from chronic Lyme disease, discuss their award-winning book, Recipes for Repair: A Lyme Disease Cookbook. The book, which applies to everyone, not only those with Lyme, was a 2012 USA Best Books selection. People often have inflammation in their body without realizing it, and some foods make the inflammation worse. Th...

This interview tells a complex story of romance, success against great odds, and unexpected disaster. The children of two Hyde Park Rotarians met as young adults at a function, fell in love, married, and together joined the Peace Corps in Madagascar. The Rotarian in-laws, Sue Osterhoudt, Pompey Delafield, and spouses, visited the Madagascar village and asked what was most needed. The simple answer...

In this interview about her experiences with hospice patients, Ms. Suzanne O’Brien, R.N, shares her holistic model to end of life care. Hospice is a program to relieve the suffering of those in the last few months on life. In her frank discussion, Ms. O’Brien, a Registered Nurse, provides important practical advice to patients and their families to make the end of life peaceful and beautiful. Her...

Larry Palant (Suffern Rotary), Disaster Response Chair for Rotary District 7210, discusses the District’s immediate and generous response to helping victims of Hurricane Sandy. Previously the Rotary District in 2005 provided quick relief to victims of Hurricane Katrina, and Mr. Palant learned from that experience. This time, with generous donations from District 7210 and neighboring Rotary distric...

Stephanie Fitzpatrick, a Red Hook Rotarian and Executive Director of the nonprofit Hidden Hollow Farm Riding Center, discusses how riding and grooming the farm’s docile horses encourage growth in those with a broad range of disabilities. In addition to horseback riding, the farm supports “petting as healing,” using miniature horses, goats, and pigs also living on the Farm. The animals also help re...

Wendy Maragh Taylor, a social worker, became an instrument of change by helping an impoverished Liberian community build a church that also doubles as a school. Working with her husband, a civil engineer and architect who was born in Liberia and attended college in America, the two used their own savings and fundraised at their bike riding club, their church in the United States, and their workpla...

Not to be missed, this highly informative on-site interview with pediatrician and child psychologist, Rotarian Dr. Abraham Nussbaum, covers vital information about vaccinations against communicable diseases, especially for children. Dr. Nussbaum discusses the progress toward polio eradication worldwide, information about the influenza and shingles vaccinations, and our successes in childhood vacci...

The program features on-site interviews during Rotary’s United Nations Day on November 3, 2012, with Rotary International President Sakuji Tanaka (2012-13) and other humanitarian leaders from around the world who discuss how their service projects save lives and create goodwill. Rotary and the United Nations have a long history of working together and sharing similar visions for a more peaceful wo...

Jeri Miller, a high school guidance counselor who suffers from Type I diabetes, has been on insulin for 15 years, injecting herself four or five times a day. She discusses how children and adults in her situation can benefit from a Diabetes Alert Dog such as her Morgan. A half hour before her meter tells her that she must take her medication Morgan alerts her to the need, working every hour of eve...

Union Vale’s Dog Control Officer Valerie Cote describes her role as Dog Warden, mainly finding stray dogs running loose and enforcing licensing regulations. She explains the dangers of dogs on the loose, the best way to help ensure their safe return, and what happens to unclaimed dogs. Providing helpful information about what owners should do when their pets go missing, she corrects misinformation...

Margaret Bryngelson (Kingston Rotarian) describes her experience as a non-medical volunteer in a recent mission to Venezuela where she assisted a medical team of doctors and nurses operating on children with cleft lip and palate disfigurations. Rotaplast (“Rotary” + “plastic surgery”), heavily supported by Rotary districts and clubs around the world, was started by doctors in the Rotary Club of Sa...

What is the current condition of the Hudson River and how will it affect you? Dr. David Strayer, Freshwater Ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, New York and author of The Hudson River Primer – The Ecology of an Iconic River, discusses the positive effects of the federal Clean Water Act and other government regulations. Together these make Hudson much cleaner today th...

Dana Gavin, Director for the Center of Prevention of Child Abuse in Dutchess County, shares the latest information and statistics about child abuse that are at times surprising. Ms. Gavin began her career with the Center as a volunteer several years ago. Today, involved heavily in Public Relations, she speaks to organizations about the Center’s many programs that teach children and adults importan...

Past Rotary International President (2000-2001) Frank Devlyn, author and humanitarian, discusses how our world becomes a better place to live in through Rotary, giving specific examples. He also describes his personal humanitarian work through his family business, Devlyn Optical Group of Mexico. His extraordinary initiatives include pairing patients with free used-but-restored eyeglasses. He creat...

Rachel Swanson, Director of Volunteer and Community Partnerships for the U.S. Fund for UNICEF and Ananda Grant, Deputy Director of Office of Strategic Partnerships for UNICEF, discuss the work that this extraordinary global humanitarian relief organization does in over 150 countries. UNICEF’s projects include children’s health care and immunizations, clean water, nutrition and food security, educa...

Dr. Barbara Chatr-aryamontri, Medical Director of the Sleep Center at Northern Dutchess Hospital, but known to her patients as Dr. Chatr, discusses the nature and treatment of sleep disorders. She focuses especially on the common condition of sleep apnea, which people may not even know they have. Co-host Jonah Triebwasser has suffered from this problem, and he describes how treatment improved his...

Interact clubs are service organizations for teenagers (and sometimes younger students) sponsored by local Rotary clubs. The Interact Club of Pawling is sponsored by Pawling Rotary Club and the Pawling Recreation Department. Teens in the club enjoy volunteering to work on community and humanitarian projects, from fundraising to implementation. So say the two Pawling Interact Club members who were...

Catherine Forbes, Dutchess County SPCA Director of Development, discusses the no-kill Hyde Park shelter with a 141-year history of providing shelter and services for unwanted, abused, abandoned, or neglected animals. SPCA Adoption Counselors are trained to match families with pets, now called “companion animals.” Using a rescued puppy as an example, Ms. Forbes describes the medical attention veter...