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December is an especially fun and busy time for many, and that holds true for Kids’ Club too. We know how significant the holidays can be for children and their families, and so we are proud to add some extra support and love this month by:

Fun and games, tacos and the movie “Happy Feet” were on the menu this past Friday at SHADE’s (Sleepy Hollow Academy for Disability Education) Friday Night Social at The Neighborhood House in Tarrytown. There, special needs high school students from ages 13-21 gathered with professional staff and peer interns/mentors for laughs, friendship and camaraderie. Kids’ Club is proud to provide financial support to this unique program, which provides positive social interaction and life skills development and an enriching experience for all.

In November, students from Washington Irving School delighted in the opportunity to perform “The Wizard of Oz” on stage at the famed and beautiful Tarrytown Music Hall. Thanks in part to a grant from Kids’ Club, The Music Hall Academy Theater Residency at WI was able to offer the program to any interested student free of charge, with daily rehearsals after school for almost three weeks. Nearly 60 fourth and fifth graders participated in the show, with an additional five Sleepy Hollow High School students aiding with lights, sound, props, costumes and more.

Because the majority of the cast had never seen the show or movie before, The Music Hall offered the students another delight by holding a private movie viewing at the theater one afternoon just for them. Also, given the number of Spanish speaking children in the program, the Music Hall Academy re-wrote the musical finale to translate the song “Over the Rainbow” into Spanish. It was a “magical” moment for audience members and students alike. Congratulations to all involved in this wonderful and inclusive program.

For older kids, the return of the Village of Sleepy Hollow’s Teen Travel Camp was more than welcome this summer. Pictured here are the teens at a Yankees baseball game and also taking a guided bicycle ride across the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge. Trips to Dave & Buster’s, Lake Compounce, Rye Playland, SplashDown, Shamrock Charter Boat, and the Tarrytown pool are some of the other fun adventures offered by this Kids’ Club supported program.

The Kids’ Club supported Tarrytown Arts Camp inspired so much fun, creativity and joy again this summer! This year it returned to Kingsland Point Park in Sleepy Hollow, where the camp instructors used the riverfront setting to inspire the young artists in their dancing, singing, drawing, puppeteering and playing. We are proud to provide scholarships to this program so that even more of our community’s youth can enjoy the arts, the outdoors, time with friends and more.

Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow will now benefit from a new community website:  www.community10591.org. This website houses both an events calendar for local non-profits and the villages of Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown as well as a Volunteer Directory.  

The website, calendar and directory were created and are supported by the Community Coalition of Tarrytown & Sleepy Hollow (C2), founded b Kids’ Club as a monthly open forum for non-profits in both villages to connect, coordinate resources, and leverage efforts.

We are excited about how the calendar and Volunteer Directory will support the work of our villages and local non-profits while bringing our community even closer together. And they are a great way to welcome new people moving to our villages. 

If you have an event that meets our guidelines for inclusion that you would like to add to the calendar, or if you would like to add information about your local non-profit to the next edition of the Volunteer Directory, please contact Char Weigel at vicepresident@kidsclubtarrytown.org.

One Saturday each month between October and June, thirteen fifth graders from the RSHM LIFE Center are enriched by field trips throughout Westchester and surrounding areas. Each trip has a specific theme (e.g., “Smarty Sealife,” “Smarty Setback” and “Smarty Soaring”) and the destination site is selected to enable the students to participate in a theme specific activity. This school year, students participated in these fun trips, and more:

•The Train Show at the NY Botanical Garden

•The Light Show at the NY Botanical Garden

•Hands on craft program: Students learned how to make, and made, their own paper

•Museum Village: Students learned about iron working, broom making and other colonial activities.

• Bird Sanctuary: Students saw, learned about and interacted with eagles, hawks and other wild birds.

•Norwalk Ferry and Light House: Students learned about the commercial sailing life on the rivers surrounding our area.

In addition to what the students learned during the individual trips was the opportunity to share their reactions with their classmates and others by incorporating their thoughts in pieces written during the writing program conducted by the Hudson Valley Writers’ Center at the LIFE Center. Kids’ Club is proud to be a “Smarty Supporter” of this joy-filled and world-broadening program.

2•Bird Sanctuary: Students saw, learned about and interacted with eagles, hawksand other wild birds. •Norwalk Ferry and Light House: Students learned about the commercial sailing life on the rivers surrounding our area.•Lunch at a Diner: When a program ran short, the children all went to a local diner for lunch. Most of the children had never been to a diner. The children liked going to the diner and loved the food.In additiontowhat the students learned during the individual trips, wasthe opportunity to share their reactions with their classmates and others by incorporating their thoughts in pieces written during the writing program conducted by the Hudson Valley Writers’ Center at the Life Cen

Kids’ Club was delighted to be on hand earlier this month to see Cumbia for Kids’ Inside OUT spring workshop perform at the TaSH Farmer’s Market.

The students, under the guidance of Co-Directors Anna Povich de Mayor, Pablo de Mayor and Daniel Fetecua, sang, drummed, danced and clapped to the sounds and rhythms of Colombia, all the while celebrating diversity – – in nature and among our beautiful children. Kids’ Club is pleased to have been able to provide scholarships to this program so that financial need would not be a barrier to participation.