- Editor's Note: What follows is user-generated news. If you would like to post your news to Patch, click here for detailed instructions. The following was posted by Westchester Jewish Community Services, and includes information from a Westchester County press release.
From WJCS:
Westchester Jewish Community Services (WJCS) volunteer extraordinaire Steve Siegel of White Plains was among those inducted into the Westchester Senior Hall of Fame at the recent awards luncheon at the Westchester Marriott Hotel.
Since 2003 Mr. Siegel, a Mt. Vernon native, has been a volunteer for Amazing Afternoons, an after-school program sponsored by WJCS that serves 125 students at Edward Williams Elementary School in Mt. Vernon. Mr. Siegel started a co-ed Chess Club for children age 8-11 and a Basketball Clinic for boys age 8 –11, enrichments far beyond the traditional activities offered by most after-school programs.
Through these programs he teaches skills and strategy, helping the youngsters improve and expand their abilities to focus, concentrate and strategize.
“To call Steve a ‘volunteer’ is an understatement. He is a mentor who models consistency and dedication,” says Bernie Kimberg, WJCS Chief Operating Officer. “Steve sets expectations and re-enforces the importance of teamwork, good sportsmanship, fitness of mind and body, respect, time-management and loyalty, all while having fun.”
An altered press release from Westchester County:
Dr. Olivia J. Hooker of White Plains a civil rights and women’s rights advocate for most of her 96 years, will received the top honors at the 29th Annual Westchester Senior Hall of Fame Awards Luncheon on Dec. 2 at the Westchester Marriott in Tarrytown.
Hooker is one of the 43 Westchester residents from the “Class of 2011” who were inducted into the Senior Hall of Fame.
Hooker is an extraordinary example of those honorees. The Tulsa, Okla. native was 6 years old when she survived the Tulsa Race Riots in 1921, where many African-Americans were killed and their community was burned to the ground. That horrific memory has helped to shape her entire life. As an adult, Dr. Hooker was founder of the Tulsa Race Riot Commission, an advocacy group seeking restitution for Tulsa Race
Riot survivors. She also testified about the riots before Congress, and continues to speak about the riots and civil rights issues before many organizations and houses of worship.
Long retired, Dr. Hooker received her Ph.D. from the University of Rochester and worked as a psychologist in Yonkers schools and was a professor at Fordham University.
She also has served as a board member and adviser to the NAACP Education Committee, and was a member of the board of VNSWP from 1988 to 1994. She was a pioneer in other ways as well, being the first African-American woman to enlist and go on active duty in the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II.
Today, Dr. Hooker likes taking part in senior programs at the Theodore D. Young Community Center in Greenburgh, reading and attending concerts at Carnegie Hall.
Honoree Carol Greenberg of White Plains has more than 30 years of experience in nursing home administration, community based programs and proprietary home care agencies – years, which have earned her an excellent reputation in the home health area.
Since 1995, she has been president and chief executive of Concept: Care Inc., a home health-care agency in White Plains. Long active in the community, Greenberg has served as president of the New York State Association of Health Care Providers and is a former chair of the Westchester Public/Private Partnership for Aging Service. The partnership honored Greenberg with its prestigious Golden Harvest Leadership Award in 2004 for her work with seniors.
Stephen J. Siegel of White Plains worked in the information technology industry for 40 years, and was founder and president of two national computer-consulting companies.
More recently, the Mount Vernon native has been a volunteer with Westchester Jewish Community Services’ “Amazing Afternoon” program. Here, he volunteers every week at Mount Vernon elementary school where many of the children qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, come from single-parent homes and may live in homeless shelters.
Recently when state funding threatened to discontinue the afternoon programs, Siegel reached out to his fellow congregants at the Westchester Reform Temple and they raised almost $160,000 to sustain the program for the 2011-2012 season.
Members of the community nominate seniors to the Hall of Fame and the winners are selected by a screening committee composed of Hall of Fame members and the DSPS staff. The names of Hall of Fame winners are engraved on plaques that are permanently displayed at the DSPS office in Mount Vernon
Other White Plains honorees include: Michael Chiarvalle, John W. Harrington, and Mercedes Leis.
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