Join us! Become a "fan" of EssentialMom.com on Facebook and get in the know -- all of our up to date events, news, exclusive sales, happenings, and more delivered straight to your facebook account. Click here! Boys & Girls Club of Northern Westchester Launches Saturday Indoor Farmers Market. County residents can shop for farm-fresh local produce through May 22nd. The bitter winter weather doesn’t mean the end of fresh, farm grown produce for Westchester residents. On January 9th, the Boys & Girls Club of Northern Westchester opened its doors to Community Markets’ newest indoor farmers market. The market will bring the unique personality, character, and flavors of the region to local residents every Saturday from 9am-1pm through May 22nd. A variety of local produce and homemade treats will be available at the indoor farmers market offering everything from organic breads, assortments of cheeses and pastries, to grass fed beef, smoked chicken, and hand-crafted pasta. Depending on the day, shoppers will enjoy free live music, a lecture, a cooking demo, or a cooking contest while they browse through an array of vegetables, specialty goods, meats, and other treats. The goal of the market is to bring the community together by offering a warm place to relax, shop, be entertained, and support local farmers. For more information on the indoor farmers market, please contact Miriam Haas at (914) 923-4837. The Boys & Girls Club of Northern Westchester is located at 351 Main Street, Mt. Kisco, NY and can be reached at (914) 666-8069 or by visiting www.bgcnw.com.
Car Seat Law Changes. Don’t give away that booster seat just yet. If your child is under seven right now, you will need it for another year till your child turns eight under a new law that will take effect this November. A New York State bill signed on Aug. 26 requires all children under the age of eight to be in an appropriate child restraint system starting this November. The law, which takes effect 90 days after it was signed, previously covered children under the age of seven. The 4 Steps for Kids which stresses that as children grow, the way they are secured in a car, truck or SUV should change. For maximum child passenger safety, parents and caregivers simply need to remember and follow The 4 Steps for Kids guidelines for determining which restraint system is best suited to protect children based on age and size:
-- For the best possible protection keep infants in the back seat, in rear-facing child safety seats, as long as possible up to the height or weight limit of the particular seat. At a minimum, keep infants rear-facing until at least age 1 and at least 20 pounds.
-- When children outgrow their rear-facing seats, they should ride in forward-facing child safety seats, in the back seat, until they reach the upper weight or height limit of the particular seat (usually around age 4 and 40 pounds).
-- Once children outgrow their forward-facing seats, they should ride in booster seats, in the back seat, until the vehicle seat belts fit properly. Seat belts fit properly when the lap belt lays across the upper thighs and the shoulder belt fits across the chest (until age 8 or when they are 4’9” tall).
-- When children outgrow their booster seats, they can use the adult seat belts in the back seat, if they fit properly. Recent information provided by NHTSA stresses that all children under the age of 13 should ride in the back seat (was previously age 12).
Low-income families unable to purchase booster seats may call Westchester Safe Kids at (914) 592-7555 for assistance. For more child safety seat check events in Westchester, visit www.safeny.com. For further information on child passenger safety, contact the Westchester County Department of Public Works’ Traffic Safety office at (914) 995-2555. Food donations needed! As the result of the economic downturn, the Community Center of Northern Westchester is providing supplemental food to unprecedented numbers of Northern Westchester families. More families than ever are coming to the Center for help for the first time, including people who never dreamed they would need this help. In addition, families are visiting us more often. Please consider donating food, or organize a food drive and enlist your neighbors and friends. Here is a list of the food we need most: Dried black and pinto beans, Hot and cold cereal, Tuna, Spaghetti sauce and pasta, Canned soups, fruits and vegetables, Peanut butter and jelly, Macaroni and cheese, Fruit juice. We gratefully accept your donations Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Community Center of Northern Westchester needs everyone`s help in order to help our neighbors in need. Add a bag of much needed food to your grocery shopping this week and drop it off directly at the Community Center, 84 Bedford Road in Katonah.
Friends of John Jay Homestead Respond to Possible Closing of John Jay Homestead State Historic Site by New York State. Last week, Friends of John Jay Homestead learned that the John Jay Homestead is on the Gover-nor’s list of New York State parks and historic sites that are scheduled to be closed unless funding is appropriated from the Environmental Protection Fund. For 30 years, Friends of John Jay Homestead has partnered with New York State Office of Parks Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP) to preserve and restore the 62-acre farm of one of America’s most illustrious founding fathers. We are calling upon our New York State legislators and the Governor to enact a budget that keeps John Jay Homestead and other historic sites and parks open. We have offered to sit down with the OPRHP to work out a way to keep the site open. We are encouraging our friends to contact their elected representatives and to ask them to vote for the funding to keep John Jay Homestead and other parks and sites open through this budget crisis. We want to continue with our active schedule of education programming, special events and restoration projects that affect the lives of many thousands of New Yorkers. With short-term stability, the Friends will be able to continue the job we have been doing so well for 30 years – supporting the long-term growth of this important site while contributing to the cultural and economic life of our community. PLEASE COME TO A PRESS CONFERENCE, State Assemblyman, Robert Castelli has called a press conference for this Friday, March 5th at 11:00 a.m., to take place at John Jay Homestead. He will be addressing the current budget crisis that calls for closing many State parks and historic sites. Please plan to attend if you possibly can, and please invite others. We need to rally the forces to show the legislators how important the John Jay Homestead is to our community. For more information contact Friends of John Jay Homestead by email: friends@johnjayhomestead.org or by phone at 914.232.8119. Act now to keep our State parks and historic sites open! Click here to email your local representatives. ACT NOW TO KEEP STATE PARKS AND SITES OPEN.
Important Organ Donor Information. Have you signed the back of your driver’s license to become an organ donor? Incredibly, in its infinite wisdom, NY State now no longer recognizes signed driver’s licenses as sufficient for organ donation. Unless you renewed your license in the last 2 years and "Organ Donor" is pre-printed on the front, you are NOT yet registered to be an organ donor. 18 people die every day waiting for a transplant that never comes, and thousands of us who think we are registered to be organ donors are not. Take one minute, download, fill out and mail this attached form to NY State. http://www.health.state.ny.us/professionals/patients/donation/organ/docs/enrollment_form.pdf For more info on what`s going on with driver`s licenses and donor registration, see this page: http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/orgdonr.htm. On behalf of the many thousands of people in desperate need of transplants – thank you.
In Focus: Bedford Central School District. What do you think about our school district? JOIN THE CONVERSATION: MARCH 6TH AND 8TH. “IN FOCUS” is a public outreach effort by the Bedford Central School District. Its goal is to engage district residents in conversations about educational priorities and the future direction of our schools. All community residents are invited to join us for any of three town hall forums on March 6th and 8th. What will these public forums be like? After informational presentations by school district leadership, attendees will participate in activities designed to gather opinions and foster further discussion. All residents, including young adults, are encouraged to attend. Feedback gathered from these sessions will be used to help set both short-term priorities and long-term goals. MUST I HAVE A CHILD IN BEDFORD CENTRAL SCHOOLS? Absolutely not. We hope to gather district residents from all sectors of our community, not just public school parents. WHAT IF I CANNOT ATTEND? There will be other opportunities to provide your input. We value your opinions and hope you will make every effort to participate in any way you can. RSVP is requested but not required. For more information, please visit www.bcsdny.org or email clacolla1777@bcsdny.org, Saturday, March 6th, 9:00am-12:30pm, Fox Lane High School, Monday, March 8th, 9:30-11:30am, Historical Hall, Bedford, Monday, March 8th, 7:00-9:30pm, Fox Lane High School. Click here to view flier.
Second Annual Entrée to Hope Kicks off at X2O. Non-profit and area restaurant partnership to run through March 15. The Food Bank for Westchester, Grace Church Community Center and Literacy Volunteers of Westchester recently kicked off their partnership to help raise funds to provide food, shelter and education for the County’s neediest residents. Entrée to Hope began on February 15 and will run through March 15, 2010. This year marks the second annual Entrée to Hope. Entrée to Hope encourages Westchester diners to donate $1 for each entrée they eat at any of the 33 participating restaurants throughout the county. For a complete list of participating restaurants, or to make an online donation, visit www.entreetohope.org. The cost of living in Westchester County is 76% higher than the U.S. average, which makes it difficult for low-income individuals to find and keep housing or make ends meet. Each of the three partner agencies has a mission to provide basic services to the most vulnerable residents of the county. Each specializes in providing one or more of the cornerstones of the Entrée to Hope promotion. Their combined vision is to share resources to reach a common goal of serving the needy by providing food, shelter and education in order to foster self sufficiency. The Food Bank for Westchester solicits and administers donations from both the public and private sector, distributing more than five million pounds of food through approximately 200 hunger relief member agencies annually. Its core activity is the collection and distribution of donated, government and purchased food. Grace Church Center assists more than 3,500 of Westchester County’s neediest men, women and children through its nine programs. Services include three shelters, a soup kitchen, eviction prevention services and an after-school mentoring program and summer camp for homeless and disadvantaged children. Literacy Volunteers of Westchester County, Inc. is dedicated to “reaching the hardest to reach and teaching the hardest to teach” through adult literacy programs. To find out more, visit www.entreetohope.org.
White Plains Hospital Center Announces Change to Visitor Policy. Precautions in Place to Help Protect Patients from H1N1 Flu. In order to protect patients from exposure to H1N1 influenza, White Plains Hospital Center has announced changes to its visitation policy, effective December 1, 2009. These changes will be in effect until April 1, 2010 and include: No visitors under the age of 18 will be permitted in inpatient or outpatient areas. Visitors with flu-like symptoms (cough, fever, nasal congestion) must stay home and will not be issued a visitor pass. Teenagers driving adults to outpatient appointments inside the Hospital will be able to stay in a waiting room but will not be allowed inside treatment areas. “Our new visitor policy is based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the New York State Department of Health,” says Michael J. Palulmbo, MD, executive vice president/medical director at the Hospital. “We know that the H1N1 virus is in active circulation in our community and that children and young adults are among the groups most affected. Given the serious nature of this flu, it’s important that we do what we can to protect our patients from potential exposure to the virus.” The Hospital is also reminding visitors and staff of the importance of best practices to prevent transmission of influenza and other viruses. This includes washing hands or using alcohol-based hand sanitizer both before and after visiting a hospital patient. For more information on the H1N1 virus, visit www.wphospital.org and click on “Flu Updates.”
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