Free Summertime Playgroup at WRT
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Westchester Reform Temple Early Childhood Center (WRT ECC) is hosting a free Bagels & Babies program this summer. This informal playgroup is designed for moms, dads, caregivers and grandparents to have a cool place for their babies to play during the hot summer months. The drop-in program will take place 9:30– 10:30 AM on Mondays, July 11, 18, 25 and August 1, and on Wednesdays, July 6, 13, 20, 27, concluding on August 3.
“This special program is just one more way for us to help serve the families in our community,” says ECC Director, Susan Tolchin. “We are excited to have a safe, cool place for babies, parents, grandparents and caregivers to meet-up and play!” The program is sponsored by the Early Childhood Center and The PJ Library® at WRT.
Bagels & Babies is free and open to the public. Registration is not required. All sessions take place at Westchester Reform Temple Early Childhood Center’s Library at 255 Mamaroneck Road, Scarsdale, NY. For more information, please call the Early Childhood Center office at 914-723-7727, visit www.wrtemple.org, or e-mail questions to Anna Stampfli at anna@joshstampfli.com.
Kids Learn Essential Safety Skills
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We all know it is important to teach and protect children from danger. First Responders and other safety professionals heeded the call for community volunteers from the Junior League of Central Westchester last week for the popular Safety Town camp program held for incoming Kindergarteners from this area. Scarsdale Synagogue-Tremont Temple hosted the event promoting early-childhood safety education.
Scarsdale Volunteer Ambulance Corps (SVAC), Scarsdale Fire Department, Scarsdale Police Department, a life guard and bus driver each spent a morning demonstrating basic safety procedures. Kids climbed inside the ambulance to learn about making a sling for a broken arm, using a blood pressure device and heart stethoscope, and sounded the sirens. Scarsdale Fire came with trucks and hoses, and the Smoke Trailer simulated a house fire and escape routes. The police discussed stranger safety and that guns are not toys! “Who do you call in an emergency,” asked the First Responders? The kid’s reply “911”!
This year an additional 18 children from the Family Services of Westchester Head Start program attended Safety Town with the cost 
generously underwritten by local businesses. Lead sponsors, Scarsdale Security Systems, Inc. and State Farm Insurance Vivian Lem, facilitated equipment and countless resources towards the kids. David Raizen, President, Scarsdale Security Systems Inc., commented “Safety and security are our business and it’s great to be part of this teachable moment with the kids.”
The Junior League of Central Westchester is an organization of women from Scarsdale, White Plains, Greenburgh and Eastchester addressing projects to the needs of the community. They provide training, leadership, funding and promote volunteering for life. The Association of Junior Leagues International Inc. reaches out to women of all races, religions and national origins who demonstrate an interest in and commitment to volunteerism.
Information provided by Angela Manson, licensed real estate salesperson with Prudential Centennial, Scarsdale. Manson volunteers with local civic organizations and often writes about the community. She welcomes and assists buyers and sellers in Scarsdale and neighboring communities. She may be reached at 914-420-9878 or amanson@prucentennial.com. Visit their website at: www.scarsdalebesthomes.com
Summer Adventure Trips Offered for Middle School Students
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The Scarsdale Family Counseling Service will run two week-long summer adventure trips for middle school age students, from July 8 -15 and August 12- 19. Campers will leave Scarsdale village each morning and set off for a fun adventure, returning to Scarsdale late in the afternoon. The itinerary includes a water park, a bike trip, hiking, white water rafting and rock climbing.
Kids will have fun, learn new activities, meet goals and gain increased self-esteem through a challenge by choice model. The trips are facilitated by Youth Outreach.
Workers who work to foster positive group dynamics as well as site experts who teach the participants the requisite skills to succeed at the activities. The trip is open to middle school age students including children who are going into fifth grade and going into ninth grade and there are still spots available.
The cost of the trip is $650 per week with a $100 deposit due up front. To sign up, please contact Andrew Weisfeld at andyweisfeld@aol.com , or call 914-721-2632.
Katherine Bescherer Composes Original Song for Heathcote School
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Heathcote Elementary School Music Teacher Katherine Bescherer is a woman of many talents. In addition to teaching, Bescherer is a singer-songwriter who has performed at venues such as The Bitter End and CBGB’s and released a CD of her music, titled Clouds Can Break.
She has just written a new school song and introduced it to the Heathcote students who love it. The song titled, "We Are The Future of the World," will be sung at the school's Moving Up Ceremony on Tuesday, June 21 at 9 am and you can listen to it here. Note that on this self-recorded track she is playing the guitar and singing all the vocals.
We asked her what inspired her to write an original song for her students and here is what she said:
"Drawing on my experience as a teacher and a songwriter, I was inspired to write a school song as a tribute to the school and the amazing work that is being done here.
Traditionally, the school gathers in the fall for an opening assembly and we all sing together. It is amazing to hear some 400 voices join together in song. The songs vary from year to year but they always have a message of giving and helping one another. It occurred to me if we had our own school song, which carried the same kind of message that this song could be passed on year after year. The students and staff have responded so positively to the song. It was performed on June 7th at our 4th and 5th grade chorus concert to rave reviews from the parents, and it will also be sung as part of the 5th graders Moving Up Ceremony on June 21st."
Learn more about Bescherer and listen to her recordings here.
Here are the lyrics to the new song so you can sing along:
We Are The Future of The World
Words and Music by Katherine Bescherer © 2011
Verse 1
This is where we start.
This is where we learn to think.
This is where we learn to feel.
This is where we start.
This is where we learn to dream.
This is where we start our journey.
Chorus
We are the future of the world. (We are the future of the world.)
We are the future of the world. (We are the future of the world.)
We are the future of the world. (We are the future of the world.)
The miracle of every boy and girl.
Bridge
Like one friend to another,
Heathcote gives us hope.
From this road to another
No matter where we roam,
Heathcote you will always feel like home.
Verse 2
This is where we grow.
This is where we build what matters.
This is where we build a bright tomorrow.
This is where we grow.
This is where we build ambition.
This is where we grow to be stronger.
Chorus
We are the future of the world. (We are the future of the world.)
We are the future of the world. (We are the future of the world.)
We are the future of the world. (We are the future of the world.)
The miracle of every boy and girl.
The miracle of every boy and girl.
Service of Hope for Lauren Spierer Held at Scarsdale Synagogue
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Elizabeth, Natalee, Chandra, and now, sadly, Lauren. We all know their awful stories: Stolen from her bed in the middle of the night; a tragic turn over spring break; an internship full of promise then suspicion.
Now it’s a beautiful young woman, a ‘fashionista’ as her friends call her, who went out for a night of fun in a college town only to disappear just before dawn. Lauren Spierer is from Edgemont. She’s one of ours. And no one can find her. And it’s awful.
On Tuesday night, Scarsdale Synagogue held a Service of Hope in honor of Lauren and her family. Rabbis Klein and Gordon and Cantor Becker led the hundreds of friends and neighbors and former classmates in prayer and a chance for the community to join together in this difficult time.
It was a quiet, somber service. There were plenty tears, but no overwhelming displays of grief. That would 
suggest there is no hope. There still has to be hope for Lauren. “We just want no stone left unturned,” said one of her friends choking up.
“Lauren, we’ll see you at home,” said one woman. What else could be said? That’s what we all want: to wake up from this nightmare and have Lauren at home and happy, enjoying her summer.
The media was also there. The parking lot was filled with satellite trucks and the back wall of the sanctuary was lined with TV cameras from every local network. Once the service concluded the TV reporters gingerly tried to coax some of Lauren’s friends to go on camera to share their feelings. You can’t blame them. It’s their job. It’s the story. And the more it stays in the news the better the chances of someone remembering something, saying something, anything, to bring Lauren back.
Whether we know them personally or not, our hearts ache for the Spierers. It’s our worst fear happening to a neighbor. It’s been frequently reported that Lauren and her mother spoke on the phone every day until the day she went missing. Her mother, Charlene reportedly called out Lauren’s name as she searched for her daughter in the woods near Bloomington, Indiana where she was last seen.
Elizabeth Smart made it home. Let us hope and pray that Lauren Spierer does too.
Read more about the search for Lauren Spierer here.
