July 4th at Caramoor

About 20 of us from 8 to almost 80 years young were among 60 invited local ringers at the Caramoor 4th of July concert by the Westchester Symphonic Winds.       We enjoyed listening to the performance of 60 strong wind ensemble, alt saxophone solo and vocalist and at the finale of the concert with now traditional Independence Day music by Tchaikovsky's 1812, we played handbell with the band.       You can guess where we played; at the end where all the fireworks starts.     Due to the unfortunate huge rain in previous day there was no fireworks that night so our handbell added special color to the concert.

Sorry there is no group picture!    We were all busy practicing and playing!

Westchester Symphonic Winds has a home page HERE and there may be a photo album of the performance later on.    Check it out.

2014 Annual Concert on Sunday June 1. 2014

To see and hear the performance at the Annual Concert, click HERE .   

Thank you Paul for videotaping and uploading.

HUDSON VALLEY YOUNG RINGERS FESTIVAL

Benefit Concert at the First Presbyterian Church of Katonah, 31 Bedford Road, Katonah, NY,  March 22 at 4:00 PM Helps Feed Hungry Children on the Weekends.

Beginning handbell ringers will participate in the  5th Hudson Valley Young Ringers Handbell Festival culminating in  a Benefit Concert at 4:00 PM in the church's New Fellowship Hall.  There is no admission, but a freewill offering will be collected to support their benefit recipient, Backpack Snack Attack which feeds the public school children of Warwick Township.  Backpack Snack Attack is an outreach program of the Warwick Reformed Church in Warwick, NY and is a non-profit organization, begun in 2009, that provides food on weekends and in the summer to over 300 hungry children within the Florida, Greenwood Lake, Pine Island and Warwick School Districts. A group of volunteers fill backpacks each week with 13-14 food items (per child).  They deliver this food to the schools, whereupon the bags are sent home with each child. The Backpack Snack Attack program is run entirely by volunteers.  All donations are used to purchase food, backpacks, and supplies needed to maintain the program.  The guest conductor at the concert is Carol Roman, from the Warwick Reformed Church and the organizer is Eileen Laurence, Director of Music at the First Presbyterian Church of Katonah.  For more information, please contact the church at 914-232-4568.

BENEFIT Handbell Concert

Hudson Valley Young Ringers Festival

Guest Director, Carol Roman

Saturday, March 22, 2014 
 4:00 PM

First Presbyterian Church of katonah

31 Bedford Road, Katonah, NY 10536

914-232-4568

Free Will Offering to Support

Backpack Snack Attack

Featuring young handbell choirs from

Athens, Katonah, Pearl River, Pleasantville,

Warwick, NY and Sparta, NJ

Emanuel Ringers in local paper

Just in time for our benefit concert a reporter from our local paper, Examner, came to interview ringers.    The article appeared today and here is the copy in case you missed to read the real paper.

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Benefit Concrt on Dec. 15, 2013

Many friends of ringers both from Emanuel and Katonah  braved remnant of snowstorm the day before and made our Annual Handbell Benefit Concert at Emanuel very successful.       This year:s beneficiary, selected by ringers themselves, was the Schoharie Area Long Term, Inc.(SALT).       Many may remember they have suffered tremendous loss due to unexpected flooding in Aug 2011.         This summer ERI visited them for a week during summer vacation to help clean out the affected churches and homes.       There are still many homes in need of help and the donation of over $1400 collected at this concert will be, according to the representative of SALT, multiplied by factor of 5 to 6 in helping out the needy homes.       Thank you ringers and thank you those who braved snow and made contributions.

Mission Trip Wednesday, July 10, 2013

The whole group returned to Fort Plains to help out with the destroyed houses. We started out at a home next to the creek where we saw various debris along the sides. It was powerful to see the creek and debris firsthand. We split into two groups where one group stayed at the property and mucked out the basement while the other group returned to Renee's house to complete the removal of all her drywall from floor to ceiling. Seeing the house destroyed was very emotional for Renee, and also for the rest of us. We saw that the destruction the flood had caused extended far beyond mud in the basement- not only into the extent of the house from floor to ceiling, but into the hearts of those who lived in Fort Plains. By the time we left for the day we completed taking out all the dry wall and sweeping it onto the curb. We were all sweaty and exhausted by the end of the day's work, but it was extremely worthwhile when we thought about the help we provided.

Many of the homes are condemned in the town - though from the outside they look unaffected, their foundations have all collapsed due to the water which makes the structure unsafe to live in. Those houses needed to be torn down and rebuilt completely. It was awful to see how many families lives were uprooted.

For lunch, we walked a few doors down to New York Pizza. As soon as we went to lunch it began to rain, and by the time lunch was over it had ended. Some would say good timing - others would say a God Sighting.

At this point a small group of us went to Barbara's friend, Linda's home where she owns horses and taught us how to ride. Thanks to Barbara and Sonja who helped Linda get all 5 horses ready for us to ride! We ended our time there with root beer floats. God's spirit was present in the hospitality and joy of our time there.

The rest of the group returned to the hotel, to relax and do laundry.

In the evening we ordered our own food but ate together in a conference room provided but the hotel. The community time with the whole congregation was great.

The evening ended with several games of bowling (alley conveniently located in the hotel). We had a blast! A game of monopoly was also played that evening!

Kate and Sonja

Mission Trip Tuesday July 9, 2013

The group headed on a 40 minute ride out to Fort Plain with SALT. The town was hit with severe flooding from the Otsquago Creek. Due to heavy rains the creek rose very quickly not giving many people enough time to get out. The Main Street had 3.5 ft of water and left 3 inches of mud left behind. FEMA was only staying until Wednesday to haul away debris so there was a time crunch as after that deadline, the homeowners would have to pay for removal of the debris.

We were split up into two groups. Four people went to go help a photography studio and the rest of us went to a house that was hit hard. When we stepped inside the house we immediately couldn't believe the devastation throughout the house.  The house was barely recognizable as a place that people lived in.  In the back of the house there was a bunch of valuables that the owner had to go through to decide what was/wasn't  trash Our jobs consisted of sweeping, taking down walls, carrying damaged items to the curb, and taking out bathtubs. At the end of the day, it definitely made us appreciate what we have and made us be thankful for what we didn't lose during our storms.

It was a fun but tiring day. It feels really rewarding knowing we helped a family out. When we took a break we stood on the sidewalk and this old man was walking towards us. He started cracking jokes and it really made us realize that these people can smile after all the things they've been through.

When it was time for lunch, the SALT coordinators encouraged us to head to the Methodist church where members were providing free lunches for volunteer workers. They said there was often things like fried chicken - yum!  But when we arrived it was a little late and all they had left were PB & J sandwiches and watermelon.  It was hard to be disappointed when we saw their welcoming smiles.  They were so apologetic and after a bathroom break and watermelon appetizer they sent us to the Senior Center where we heard there was Macaroni & Cheese!  Now the kids (and truth be told, some adults) were really happy to hear that!  Except when we got there - you guessed it - they had just finished up the last of the Mac & cheese!!  But they filled our plates with extra stewed tomatoes and sautéed apples and were so happy that they could be doing something for us!  The hospitality and gratitude shown to us by the people in Fort Plain was really heartwarming.

As we drove home, Sandy and Peter took the group out for ice cream because it was their anniversary. 

Driving through the area, we noticed the places that appeared obviously destructed by the storm. The river was filled with debris, roofs were on the ground and structures were collapsed. One thing that surprised us the most is when Bridget pointed out a family that had a nice house that seemed to be okay after the storm, but truthfully had experienced a lot of troubles. She explained the entire bottom floor of their house was demolished and had trouble getting the insurance to help refurbish the important, now useless rooms like the kitchen, bathrooms, etc.

The story truly shows that there is more to a person or place besides their/its appearance.

The group returned home tired and in need of showers!

While the group was in Fort Plains - 
Eiko and Erica held a bell workshop for 5 new ringers. In the two hour time, these new ringers learned about bells, how to ring them and by the end were prepared to ring for our Thursday evening service. The 3 octave set of bells we used were the ones that were covered in mud and muck, and now were ready to ring. The refurbishment of the bells were thanks to donations by other bell choirs from benefit concerts held, like the Hudson Valley Handbell Festival held in Nyack, that our ringers attend every year. Not only were they refurbished but the new cases were bought since the old cases were water logged.

Once everyone returned tired and exhausted, it was our evening to cook dinner together at the church.  Eiko took the ringers to rehearse for Thursday's service while the rest were left to prepare dinner. Sara and her husband Todd and their daughter returned to join us for dinner. Cake was bought from the local farm to celebrate the wedding anniversary.

Fellowship followed with chess and monopoly by some. Marianne, Patrick and Luke made the local news that night about the clean up that was happening in Fort Plains.


Kristin, Jessica, Barbara and Ginger