Support the Give Act to Support Volunteering

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Take Action Now!

From Ruth Wahtera:

The vitality of our community rests in large part on our volunteers. Many community volunteers are retirees on fixed incomes. They really feel the impact of rising prices. The Give Act, if passed, will ease the financial burden on all volunteers.

CCSNYS, an association of nonprofits, forwarded this request.

Why the GIVE Act Matters: This is an issue affecting REAL NONPROFITS including CCSNYS Members. Read more (including 2 of our members' stories) here.

What's At Stake:
The GIVE Act of 2008, introduced August 6, by U.S. Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY)John Ensign (R-NV), addresses the adverse impacts on volunteers of high gas prices and discriminatory tax policy towards nonprofits by eliminating the disincentives that prevent charitable volunteers from doing what they really want to do, which is to help the needy in their communities. We are pleased to report that Senator Schumer is working dilligently to make sure this bill is passed.

The GIVE Act, as introduced, would and

1. raise the charitable mileage deduction from 14 cents to almost 41 cents;
2. eliminate the need for nonprofits to seek new legislation every year by setting the charitable volunteer rate at 70% of the standard business mileage rate as adjusted by the IRS; and
3. exclude from any income tax consequence actual mileage reimbursements made to volunteers.

These features not only address economic pain being felt in America's communities, but also recognize the vital role the nonprofit sector plays in coordinating volunteer efforts to meet human needs.

It's Easy to Support the GIVE Act: Click here to take action

Governor Planning to Cut Libraries

From Doris Goldberg:
Attention library lovers: read the following from the director of the New York Library Association:

The state legislature is being recalled to Albany on Tuesday by Governor Paterson for a Special Session to consider $1 billion in additional cuts to the 2008-09 State Budget to address the state's fiscal situation. Included in the proposed additional cuts is a 6% reduction in Library Aid (on top of the 2% that was imposed back in the Spring). The library community has already done its fair share in shouldering the burden of the state's fiscal situation and now it is time for others to do their part.

If you have not already done so, please contact your state legislators to urge them to reject further cuts in Library Aid. Visit <www.nyla.org> and click on Contact your Elected Officials button to send a letter today.

Thanks for your cooperation.

NAACP Urges Kids to Stay in School

From Ruth Wahtera:

How much does it cost to purchase a new backpack, notebooks, pens and pencils, and a ruler? The money adds up these days -- gas prices aren't the only ones escalating. Kids need to return to school with their supplies in-hand, ready to learn.

Cynthia Graham, President of the Kingston NAACP, asked me to help get the word out that on August 27th they will be providing school supplies for Kingston kids. The event in the Rondout Gardens basketball court will also offer snacks and kid-friendly activities focused on the importance of staying in school.

If you know families that could use some help with school supplies or students who need some encouragement about staying in school, pass the word along.

The NAACP is collaborating with the Hudson Health Plan on this event.

AAUW 2008 Fall and Winter Bus Trips

Thursday, October 16th: New York City

Chinatown, the Chinatown Museum,
and the Pearl River Mart

Leaving at 9:00 AM and returning around 5:30 PM
Cost (for bus and driver tip) $40

* * * * * * * * * *

Friday, November 7th: New York City

The Chocolate Show
featuring CHOCOLATES, cooking lessons,
and a fashion show

Leaving at 9:00 AM and returning around 5:30 PM
Cost (for bus, driver tip and the show) $65

* * * * * * * * * *

Thursday, December 18th:

New York City and The Metropolitan Museum of Art

for the special exhibits:

Landscapes Clear and Radiant: The Art of Wang Hui

The Montebello Years: Three Decades of Acquisitions

New York, N. Why?: Photographs by Rudy Burckhardt

Art and Love in Renaissance Italy

Calder Jewelry

Christmas Tree and Neapolitan Baroque Crèche

Leaving at 8 AM and returning around 6 PM
Cost (includes bus, driver tip and museum) Seniors $55; Adults $59
(Add $4 to reserve an audio guide). NYC alone $40

* * * * * * * * * *

Saturday, January 17th

Hudson, NY

for the Metropolitan Opera on Large Screen:
Puccini’s “La Rondine”

Leaving at 9:30 AM and returning around 5 PM
Cost (includes bus, driver tip and show) $58

********

All trips leave from the rear of the former Ames in the Kingston Plaza

For reservations, call Pat Whelan between noon and 9 PM at 845-657-6807

or write PWHL8@aol.com then
send your check, made out to AAUW–Kingston Branch,

to Pat Whelan, 1321 County Rt. 2, Olivebridge NY 12461.

(Ask about our member discounts and cancellation policies.)

Open to all, AAUW trips are part of our mission to offer community enrichment and to raise funds for scholarships and grants to local, national and international programs, especially in support of women.

Membership in Kingston Branch of American Association of University Women is open to all people.

Palestinian-Israeli Water Rights Model Agreement

Received this request for holding the participants in your thoughts for an amicable meeting near Annapolis this week: FYI

Dear friends,

Between August 17 and 22, the Annapolis Friends Peace and Justice Center is sponsoring a Geneva Initiative Water Rights Dialogue in which Palestinian and Israeli negotiators will join US facilitators and neutral experts near Annapolis with the hope of crafting a model agreement on water rights. Ensuring the right of all people in the region to basic needs such as water is a key component to lasting peace.

As part of the process, we are forming a prayer team and invite you to participate in distance prayer and good thoughts for the purpose of protecting and holding the sacred space for negotiators and facilitators. The intention is for a ‘retreat’ environment of sacred silence, free from distractions (press, fanfare, etc.) so that the greatest good for the greatest number realized.

Kingston Library Hosts Blood Drive August 19

Image via Wikipedia From Margie Menard:

Our region is currently experiencing an emergency blood shortage. Our summer blood supply is now at a dangerously low level.

If you are eligible to donate, please consider donating at Kingston Library on Tuesday August 19th from 3:30-7:30 pm

Kingston Library and S.C.O.R.E. (Strand Community Organization to Rehabilitate the Environment) are teaming up to host a Mid-Town Community Blood Drive on Tuesday August 19th from 3:30-7:30 pm at Kingston Library. The Blood Mobile will be conducted by the New York Blood Center.

If you are eligible to donate on that date and would like to make an appointment, please call Kingston Library's circulation desk at 845-331-0507 X5.

You are also welcome to stop by at your convenience during the Blood Drive and donate without an appointment.

Please spread the word! Bring a friend!

--
Margie Menard
Director and KAAUW member
Kingston Library
845-331-0507

Ulster Literacy needs volunteer tutors

Sign Up Now for Fall Tutor Training Workshops

Can you imagine what life is like if you can't read? Ulster Literacy has a waiting list of adults who want to learn to read. If you can give an hour or two each week, sign up for the training now.

This workshop is to train adult volunteers to work in a one-to-one tutoring situation with adults who want to improve their reading and writing skills. To be a tutor one needs to be a high school graduate or hold a GED. The workshop will include methods and materials, cultural considerations, and discussions concerning the typical needs of persons seeking literacy assistance.

Sept. 2008 Tutor Training
Tuesday 9, 16, 23
Thursday 11, 18, 25
6:30-9:30 on all dates

Oct. 2008 Tutor Training
Saturdays 4, 18, 25
8:30-3:30 on all dates

Please contact Ulster Literacy Association, 331-6837 or email info@ulsterliteracy.org for more information

Rosendale Garden Open Sunday August 17

Image via Wikipedia From Garnette Arledge:

Hella Beale's marvelous garden will be open free on Sunday, August 17, 9 to 5.
62 Lower James Street
Rosendale, NY
sign on fence says: Rondout Manor Farm

Directions: Turn east off Route 32 immediately south of the bridge over Rondout Creek in Rosendale. (That is the bridge that is under going renovation.)

This stunning garden has been open on the Garden Conservancy Open Days Program and is well worth visiting. Sunday, this special garden is open to the public free of charge.
Perennials, annuals, water features, horses, vegetable garden, scenic views and much more.

PLEASE COME AND ENJOY THE BEAUTY!!

Please, pass this message on to your friends.

The Battle for Pay Equity Continues

Image via Wikipedia AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund Plaintiff Settles Suit with Columbia

The AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund has a long history of supporting plaintiffs in pay equity battles. This case recently came to a positive conclusion. If you care about ensuring pay equity for women and minorities, join us in our efforts.

The case is Chichilnisky’s second suit against the university for pay discrimination. She has been a tenured, full professor at Columbia since 1979. She studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at the University of California, Berkeley and has two doctoral degrees, one in mathematics and one in economics.

In 1991, she alleged that the university had violated the Equal Pay Act and Title VII, after she found out that her salary was roughly 30 percent lower than the median salary of her male colleagues in her department. She won a $500,000 settlement in 1995.

In 2000, Chichilnisky went back to court, contending that the university retaliated against her and reneged on the settlement terms. [Read more here...]

How to avoid pregnancy by sleeping

Image via WikipediaFrom Ruth Wahtera:

Abstinence-only has never made any sense to me, but here's a real-world example of how ridiculous it is. Sarah Audelo, the new Youth Activist Network Manager at Advocates for Youth, shared the story of how she decided to return to Washington after two years in Teach for America in their e-newsletter. Here's a bit of it.

In Texas, an abstinence-only state that issued textbooks with no mention of contraception, and suggested getting enough sleep so one could make good decisions as a method of teen pregnancy prevention, I felt powerless to help youth protect themselves. This is why I felt the need to return to Advocates for Youth. As a teacher, I had the amazing opportunity to work one-on-one with my students to foster leadership and good decision-making. But I quickly realized it was the larger policies that needed to be tackled, and so I came back to Washington, DC.

Get good enough sleep to prevent pregnancy! Ha! One of the reasons I support Advocates for Youth and AAUW is their leadership in dealing with issues like this. I hope we'll see a change in the Federal policy of abstinence-only funding soon.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Study: Abstinence-Only Programs Don't Work
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Tour Woodstock's Artist Cemetary Aug. 24

From artist Renee Englander to AAUW, please invite AAUW members and friends to:

Framed by the Hills
A Celebration of the Residents
in the Artists Cemetery

Sunday August 24, 2008 2 pm
Fletcher Gallery 40 Mill Hill Road


—a benefit to pay for a memorial stone at the Artists Cemetery for John Ernst,
his wife the poet Pearl Bond, and their daughter Della—

Poems and Musical Celebrations
by Ed Sanders, Mikhail Horowitz, Gilles Malkine and others
(including Brian Hollander performing a salute to John Herald)

There will be readings, performances and music at the Fletcher Gallery,
followed by a
Walking Tour through the Artists Cemetery
to pause and pay tribute to a number of its artists, poets, philosophs, musicians and other residents

$12 suggested donation

You may send a donation
to the Ernst/Bond Stone Fund to
Box 729 Woodstock, NY 12498
Make checks out to
The Committee for Woodstock’s Future

Bridge and Game Luncheon September 13

Image via Wikipedia Dear AAUW bridge and game players and friends,

Please do join us for lunch and games -- cards or checkers or Scrabble (your choice) -- on Saturday, September 13th at 12 noon.

This event is sponsored by Daughters of the American Revolution at the DAR house on the convergence of Green and Crown Street.

The donation we are requesting is $10 and please bring whatever you need to play the game of your choice.

Please call Louise Flood at 338-7002 for further information and reservation by September 5.

In advance, we thank you for your participation.
Louise Flood, Chair