Director’s Message

Hello, Dear RSVP Members!

I can’t stop smiling! Why?

We are witnessing a Rebirth (a renaissance or revival). While our stations continue to increase and promote their volunteer opportunities, we are seeing an uptick in interest from new senior friends looking to volunteer in our County. Happily, our current RSVP members, too, are finding their way back to their old volunteer haunts and can’t wait to get started again. RSVP of Westchester’s impact is returning to its pre-pandemic ways!

All rights reserved ©2023

Publisher: Volunteer New York!

220 White Plains Road

Tarrytown, NY 10591 c/o Alex Acaro vol@volunteernewyork.org

Volunteer New York! is an AmeriCorps Seniors grantee that has been host of the RSVP program in Westchester for over 50 years. Thank you to the tens of thousands of RSVP of Westchester members who have served since 1972.

Additional support for RSVP of Westchester is funded in part by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, New York State Office for the Aging, and the Westchester County Department of Senior Programs and Services.

To learn more or to join RSVP visit volunteernewyork.org/adults

As with spring promising its arrival in a few weeks (isn’t that what Punxsutawney Phil indicated on February 2nd?), the pages of this issue will highlight superb examples of this time of renewal. Wartburg’s volunteer program has really blossomed, as evidenced by their strong need for volunteers to support events and celebrations, participate in recreational activities and friendly visits with residents, and more! We see the same sort of “popping” in opportunities at Yonkers Partners in Education (YPIE), DOROT, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and Mount Vernon Youth Bureau, as you’ll read in one of the articles. Our efforts to address lost learning through the American Rescue Plan grant, have truly kicked into gear as well. Can’t you just sense the positivity that abounds in our community?

A couple of RSVP members have taken time to share their personal volunteer stories with us in this issue, too. I so enjoy getting to know you RSVP members – through your writing and through your work.

Speaking of new beginnings, by the time you will have received this newsletter, I will have started a new position. In my new role, I will have the good fortune of continuing to work with volunteers while improving our local community, just as I have been with you. Our collaboration has been one of my greatest joys. I can’t thank you enough for your deep caring and dedication to our neighbors.

With warmth,

Wendy Armstrong Director, RSVP of Westchester Volunteer New York!

wendy@volunteernewyork.org

914-227-9318

THANK YOU, YAI VOLUNTEERS!

In December, we visited the YAI volunteers, who create handmade birthday cards for you, to thank them in person. The joy they feel in creating these cards is so evident in how many times they thanked us for the opportunity!

First RSVP Station Meeting in Three Years!

The last time RSVP stations gathered together was in March 2020 on Zoom (just prior to the Covid shutdown, when we didn’t even know what Zoom was or how it worked! And now it’s a verb!) We finally got together in person on Wednesday morning, February 8th, 2023 in the Westchester Library System’s conference room. Gosh, we enjoyed seeing all of you! Everyone shared in noshing and networking prior to the business portion. Elena Falcone and Krishna Brodigan of WLS took us through an interactive session teaching us about the Harwood Institute methodology. THANK YOU, WLS, FOR BEING SUCH A WORTHY PARTNER! Please enjoy the photos from the event!

Editor’s Corner

Dear RSVP Members,

With Covid on the wane, volunteering opportunities have been opening up at a more rapid pace in early 2023. We see this in the increasing number of requests and listings from our stations. And we see it in the stories told in this issue of You’re Invited: RSVP. Wendy Armstrong, RSVP Director, summarizes some of these stories in her Director’s Letter in this issue.

Our stable of writers, too, is gradually increasing, as this semi-annual newsletter has become required reading for members who want to keep up with developments in our RSVP of Westchester community. For instance, Ruby Whitman writes in this issue about her “rebirth” in becoming an RSVP volunteer. Haruko Stanton, our volunteer chair yoga instructor, is also a first-time writer for us, with her story of how she became a fitness instructor and immigrated to the U.S. from Japan.

This is an organization of volunteers, and we look forward to hearing from you about your individual stories of volunteerism in our community. You can contact me at lewkof@hotmail.com, or Wendy Armstrong at wendy@volunteernewyork.org

So read this issue in the spirit of volunteering which we all share.

Lew Koflowitz

Ruby Whitman: A Quintessential New Yorker And RSVP Volunteer

By Sha Fagan

Ruby Whitman, who joined RSVP during the pandemic, brings with her a wealth of experience working with people from all walks of life. She was born in the Bronx and grew up in Queens, attended local schools and received her master’s degree in Sociology from Hunter College.

Now 75, Ruby retired as a school social worker in Ossining at age 68, when she began volunteering with Open Door Family Medical Center’s “Reach Out and Read” program. She managed the book cart in the waiting room of the clinic and would read to the children as they or their parents were waiting for their consultation. She would encourage the parents to read to their children, and she took Spanish lessons at the Ossining Public Library, so that she could communicate better with the children. She remembers the joy and pleasure the children expressed on their faces. Unfortunately, the program was disbanded during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, a neighbor told Ruby about Volunteer New York!, and Ruby began mentoring two students remotely during Covid. (She admits that her first experience with remote learning was overwhelming, but true to form, she underwent tech bootcamp with her daughter and is now a pro!)

Now, let’s hear from Ruby in her own words about her volunteer experience . . .