Tuesday April 16, 2024 
Run Once
Tracey Rex Reports to the People of Schodack
I believe staying in touch with constituents is an important part of serving in elective office. This monthly report is an example of my commitment to keeping residents informed of the activities of the Schodack Town Board. All meetings of the Town Board, Planning Board and Zoning Board can be viewed live or at a later date at https://townhallstreams.com/towns/schodack.
During November, the Town Board approved the 2020 town budget that stays below the state property tax cap and maintains essential services such as public safety, emergency medical services, water and sewer, street maintenance, libraries, and parks and recreation.
The Town Board adopted a resolution for Girl Scout Troop 1493 to place a Little Library at the Schodack Town Park. Troop 1493 has agreed to provide the books and maintain the library for visitors of the park. We applaud Troop 1493 and their initiative to encourage reading and community engagement.
I had an enjoyable time on Small Business Saturday purchasing a tree and wreath at Maple Hill Trees, warming up with coffee and pastries at The Crisp Cannoli, shopping at The Dirty Bird antique store, and dining at The Hill restaurant. Small businesses are the cornerstone of our local economy and it is important that we support our local businesses not just during the holiday season but all year round.
Rensselaer County elected officials will be holding forums during December to address New York’s criminal justice reforms that take effect in January. One of the forums will be held at Schodack Town Hall on Wednesday, December 18 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
On Election Day, I was honored to be re-elected to a second term on the Town Board. I am grateful to the people of Schodack for placing their trust in me and I look forward to working with my colleagues in government to make Schodack the best it can be.
At this special time of year, I wish everyone a wonderful holiday season and Happy New Year!
– Tracey Rex, Member of Schodack Town Board
11/28/2019 – 12/19/2019
Banners for Veterans in the Town of Nassau
The Nassau Town Clerk, Sandy Rings, is pleased to announce that the Town of Nassau, Villages of Nassau and East Nassau and the Chandler-Young Veterans Association are undertaking a new project to honor our military veterans. We will be facilitating the sale, production and installation of individual veterans’ banners to honor their service to our community and our country. The banners will be installed on power poles in several locations throughout the Town. Applications are available on the Town website at townofnassau.org, the Town Clerk’s Office at 29 Church Street and at the Chandler-Young Veterans Association at 7 Lyons Lake Road. We are hoping to be able to install banners whose applications are received prior to March 31, 2020 in time for Memorial Day, 2020. If you have any questions or need more details please feel free to call the Nassau Town Clerk’s Office at 518-766-2343, extension 1 or email sandra.rings@nulltownofnassau.org.
Sandra L. Rings, RMC
Nassau Town Clerk
Run Once
Scout Troop 525 Helps Troy Boys and Girls Club
BSA Scout Troop 525 out of West Sand Lake completed a service project to help local youth. Scouts filled 15 stockings with toys, gloves, school supplies, and fun items to give to the kids at the Troy Boys and Girls Club. The Boys and Girls Club has a Christmas party every year for the kids featuring toys from Toys-for-Tots, local food donations, and a stocking for each of the children, delivered by Santa! Troop 525 is proud to be able to help 15 of the kids have a great Christmas!
Run Once
Community Service Awards from the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution
Congratulations to Kelly Grimaldi, Director of Education and Program Development for Albany Diocesan Cemeteries on recently receiving a Community Service Award from the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), General Peter Gansevoort Chapter. The award, approved by the State and National DAR societies, recognizes Kelly for her dedication and hard work in reminding us of our obligation to respect and honor the memory of enslaved persons, veterans, little known people as well as successful people of our past. Kelly is a dedicated researcher, bringing to life the stories and history of our community.
Also recognized at the awards ceremony was Mark Quandt, Executive Director with the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York.
12/19/2019 – 01/02/2020
Stephentown Food Pantry serves the community
The Stephentown Food Pantry relies entirely on community donations of money and food items to keep operating. The pantry’s team of hard-working volunteers sorts, shops, shelves, and shows up every Saturday to help our neighbors who need food assistance. If you, your business, church, club or organization can pitch in with a contribution, it would help a lot.
The Stephentown Food Pantry has been serving the community since 1983. If you would like to donate money to the pantry, you may send checks to the Stephentown Food Pantry treasurer at P. O. Box 387, Stephentown, NY 12168. There also is a collection basket for nonperishable food donations (no glass containers, please) at the Stephentown Memorial Library.
The Stephentown Food Pantry offers assistance to residents of Stephentown, New York, and Hancock, Massachusetts. The pantry is open every Saturday morning, weather permitting, from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. at the Stephentown Federated Church, 1513 Garfield Road (County Route 26). Each January all clients must bring identification (such as a current utility bill, not a drivers license) showing their current street address in Stephentown or Hancock. New clients must bring identification showing that they live in Stephentown or Hancock before being served. Appointments are not needed. As always, requests for help are confidential. The pantry is an equal opportunity provider. For information, call 518-487-8606.
01/02/2020 – 01/09/2020
Sharing Nature with Children, with Lisa Hoyt
Thursday, January, 9 7 pm. Sand Lake Town Hall—Rensselaer Plateau Alliance’s Plateau People at Work Lecture Series: “Sharing Nature with Young People,” presented by Lisa Hoyt of Dyken Pond Environmental Education Center. Dyken Pond provides high quality environmental education, outdoor recreation and youth development opportunities in a variety of programs. Dyken Pond is a Proud Partner in Rensselaer Youth Outdoors (RYO), bringing expanded environmental education opportunities to Rensselaer County youth and families. Lisa will talk about Dyken Pond activities and Rensselaer Youth Outdoors. She will share her love of the outdoors and her passion for connecting children and others to nature.$5 suggested donation goes directly to support conservation on the Rensselaer Plateau.
01/16/2020 – 01/23/2020
What is the Nassau Sunshine Fund Emergency Loan Program?
Are you a resident of the Town or Villages of Nassau? Has your household budget taken a hit? Got a car repair with nothing to spare? Or, are you having to choose between heat or eat? We know it happens, we’re here, we can help.
Norman Young, a well-known Nassau resident and antique dealer, had a birds eye view of the Great Recession of 2008. As his business involved buying household items from individuals needing to sell such items, he was struck by how hard hit many in the town were by the financial crisis. Norman came across an old cookbook that had been used as a fundraiser by a local organization called Open Porch Sunshine Society, which was around the early 1990s. While that organization had long faded away, he loved its neighbor-helping-neighbor philosophy. He conceived of a new Nassau Sunshine organization in which local residents would provide emergency financial assistance to other town residents dealing with a personal financial crisis.Norman and two friends agreed to reach out to others as well as religious and locally based organizations.
At its first meeting the attendees approved of a simple plan – create a non-profit that would offer interest-free loans to residents of the Town and Villages of Nassau facing a financial crisis that exceeded their resources and for which local agencies, public and private, were unable to offer assistance. As our first chairman, Sam Whaley said, “We decided on no-interest loans instead of just giving money away because it provides dignity, not a handout.
Entering our eleventh year, the Nassau Sunshine Fund has made 54 loans totaling over $21,000. Please contact us to ask about a loan or to make a donation. Nassau Sunshine Fund, PO Box 10, Nassau, NY 12123 (518) 256-2878; Please leave a message. www.nassausunshinefund.org;
info@nullnassausunshinefund.org
We remain faithful to our motto: Neighbors – Helping – Neighbors!
01/02/2020 – 01/23/2020
Brown’s Walloomsac Taproom and Brewery Tour– A Benefit Event for Rensselaer Land Trust
On Saturday, January 25, come tour the beautifully renovated mill complex that houses Brown’s Brewing’s Walloomsac taproom, brewery, and canning facility in North Hoosick, NY, on the banks of the Walloomsac River. The intimate tour – conducted by brewers – will feature the energy saving practices, waste water processing, and other green innovations at the facility. The tour includes one beer, tastings, and snacks! Tickets: 1 for $65 or 2 for $120, include tour, beer tasting, and delicious, fresh food much of which is made using local ingredients and cooked on a custom wood fire grill. Limited to 20 people per tour time. Tours start at 12:30pm, 1:30pm, and 2:30pm. Money from ticket sales go toward supporting Rensselaer Land Trust’s mission to protect and conserve the open spaces, fresh drinking water, and natural habitats of Rensselaer County. Snow date is February 9, 2020.
Photo credit: @Fronhofer Design
12/05/2019 – 01/30/2020
NAMI Connections Recovery Support Group
NAMI Capital Region, NY the local organization of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, offers its NAMI Connection Recovery Support Group the Second Wednesday of each month from 5p.m.-6:30p.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,420 New Scotland Ave., Albany, NY 12208. NAMI Connection is a recovery support group program that offers respect, understanding, encouragement and hope. NAMI Connection groups are:
• Free and confidential
• Held weekly for 90 minutes
• Designed to connect, encourage, and support participants using a structured support group model
• Led by trained facilitators living in recovery themselves
About NAMI
NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness. NAMI Capital Region, NY is an affiliate of NAMI New York State. NAMI Capital Region, NY and dedicated volunteer members and leaders work tirelessly to raise awareness and provide essential education, advocacy and support group programs for people in our community living with mental illness and their loved ones.
11/14/2019 – 02/27/2020
Six Center Redemption is partnering with Alzheimer’s Association.
Return your bottles and cans and help The Northeastern New York Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association.
Through an arrangement with:Six-Center Redemption
Two Locations – 461 Main Ave Wynantskill (Corner of Sharpe and Main Ave) & 550 South Street Rensselaer.
The Alzheimer’s Association will receive six cents for every container you donate to the cause. Simply drop off your containers and say
“These are for the Alzheimer’s Association.”
No need to count the cans or bottles, no waiting or standing in lines to feed your cans or bottles in to a machine. The mission of the Alzheimer’s Association is to eliminate Alzheimer’s disease through the advancement of research; to provide and enhance care and support for all affected; and to reduce the risk of dementia through the promotion of brain health.
The first survivor of Alzheimer’s is out there, but we won’t get there without you.
Join the fight with your bottles & cans!
01/02/2020 – 02/06/2020
Repair Cafe
What do you do with a broken lamp? Or a sweater with a hole? Toss it? No way! The next Repair Café in the Village of Castleton-on-Hudson will be Friday, February 7, 2020 from 4:30-7:30 PM during the Castleton-on-Hudson Farmers and Artisans Market February Fest at the Castleton Fire Department, 11 Green Avenue. Please note: This is a date and location change from previous notices! People visiting the Repair Café bring along their broken but beloved items. Volunteers try their best to make repairs, and it’s free of charge! Do you like to fix things and want to volunteer? Contact us via email at gina.giuliano@nullgmail.com or stop by Repair Café. For more information about global Repair Café, visit Repaircafe.org.
12/05/2019 – 02/27/2020
Center Brunswick United Methodist Church Announces Financial Scholarship for 2020
The Finance Committee of the Center Brunswick United Methodist Church has announced that it will award $500 to a student to be selected from the Tamarac High School Class of 2020. The money may be used for any type of expenses related to further education. Students do not have to belong to this Church, any other church or religion to be eligible for this award.
Interested students must apply for this award no later than March 1, 2020. The application can be obtained from the school’s guidance department or from our website at (www.CenterBrunswickUMC.company).
This award is given in memory of Harold and Mabel Keyes through a trust funded by their last will and testament. Mabel taught in the Brunswick schools and continued teaching Sunday School at Center Brunswick UMC for many years after she retired. Through this award, her love of helping young people learn and grow will continue to reach the youth of our community.
The Center Brunswick Methodist Church is located at the intersection of Routes 7 and 142 in Troy.
10/17/2019 – 12/17/2020
Support Local Charities with Your Cans and Bottles
The St Jude the Apostle Knights of Columbus has teamed up with 6 Center Redemption Center located at 461 Main Street in Wynantskill to accept qualifying bottle and can donations to support local charities and those in need.
Simply bring your clean, qualifying empties to 6 Center Redemption in Wynantskill and say they are to support the St Jude Knights of Columbus. They’ll do the rest! That’s it! Thanks for your support.