The

Handclasp _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Volume LXXXV Number 6 Founded in 1927 April 2012

The Newsletter of Schenectady Business & Professional Women

An organization supporting women helping women

Susan Daly has been chosen to receive the Susan Rosenthal Woman in Business Award for 2012. This award is given by the YWCA at the Women of Achievement event. Some might not know that Susan Rosenthal was a member of our club, she passed away suddenly about four years ago. Susan made a difference in so many lives - especially women- here in Schenectady and the community, through her many careers, photog-raphy interests and volunteer activities. She owned and worked in a variety of businesses, served an committees to develop businesses in the area and was at one time on the YWCA Board of Directors. The YWCA was honored to create this award in her name.

It is so fitting that Susan Daly is a recipient of this award this year. Susan has been a role model for so many women in this community. Her career and volunteer activities has touched the lives of many. In so many ways, that most know nothing about, she has supported our women coming into the domestic violence shelter and residents. I am sure Susan Rosenthal would be so proud to know that Susan will be honored with this award. Hopefully, many of you will be able to join me, her family and friends as she is honored at the event on April 19th at the Glen Sanders.

Congratulations Susan!

Message from Joanne Rafalik,

President of Soroptomist

Apr 3 6:00pm Board Meeting

First Reformed Church

All members welcome

Apr 24 Monthly Meeting at The Stockade Inn 5:30pm Networking; 6:00pm Dinner

Identity Theft—Christina Meier

May 1 6:00pm Board Meeting

First Reformed Church All members welcome

May 11 5:30 pm 85th Anniversary Celebration

Riverstone Manor

May 22 Monthly Meeting at The Stockade Inn 5:30pm Networking; 6:00pm Dinner

Officer and New Member Inductions

June t 6:00pm Board Meeting

First Reformed Church All members welcome

June 25 Monthly Meeting at The Stockade Inn

5:30pm Networking; 6:00pm Dinner

Scholarship Award Presentation

Schenectady BPW does not meet during the months of July

and August. Have a great Summer !! See you in September.

Calendar

Happy Passover

Happy Easter

Happy

Spring!!

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Greetings APRIL 2012

I hope you all had a great Easter and Passover. I love this time of year, especially this year, because of the nice weather we had a few weeks ago. We had flowers and trees blooming for Easter. As usual my husband has the front of our house decorated like Easter Bunny Land. If you have a chance stop by and see it. It's adorable.

April is going to be another busy month. Elena has begun her modules for the Career Development Program. All of the information is on the website if you are interested attending. Elena and her committee have worked very hard to make this program a success, so lets' support her if we can, and attend any of the presentations. Please visit www.schenectadybpw.org for more information.

We will hold our elections this month at the April 24, 2012 Business Meeting at the Stockade Inn. Thank you to Irene Wickham and her Committee for a job well done with the Nominating Committee. Also Bonnie Keller will be inducting the new members at the April Meeting. She will be notifying the members that she plans on inducting, so please let her know if you will be attending the meeting. It will be a very nice ceremony.

Another big event creeping up on us is our 85th Anniversary Celebration at the Riverstone Manor on May 11, 2012. I hope each and every one of you will attend the celebration. We have a wonderful evening planned, and by now you all should have received your invitations, and be sure to bring your spouse or a guest of your choice. We need all of your help getting ads, basket donations, etc. All of this information is also on the website www.schenectadybpw.org.

Last but not least the first meeting for the Fashion Show Committee will be held in the next few weeks. Cyndie will be sending out the information to all of you very soon. Again this is a club effort and we need all of your help in making this another huge success. Thanks to all of the committee chairs for all of these events for taking the time out of your busy lives to help our club. I appreciate everything you do.

I hope to see you all at the meeting this month and I am looking forward to the rest of my term of office. My term is up in June and I want to thank each and every one of you for making me proud to be President of such a wonderful caring membership. You are all awesome and we could not have had the success that we have experienced this year without all of your help.

Just a little information on Sister Stella. So many of you have been asking how she is and have sent cards to her and she wants you all to know how much she appreciates it. She is almost healed and is going to physical therapy. She should be coming home soon, and she misses all of you and our meetings... I miss her very much, she has lived upstairs form me for 8 years and it is kind of strange not having her here.

My sincere condolences to Kim Bellizzi on the loss of her Dad, and also to her family through this difficult time. Also Get Well Soon to Dixie Aniolek. Dixie broke her hip and I hope she is healing at home. Also a get well to Barbara Tremante who is in the hospital and hope she is feeling better.

Sincerely

Regards,

Jane Osterhout

Jane Osterhout President

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Birthdays April May 16 Dixie Aniolek 2 Judy Schultz 22 Christine Frith 4 Christina Meier 26 Elena Alvarez 27 Bertha Berman 28 Janet Calise

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Schenectady Business and Professional

Women's Club, Inc.

Invites you to join us at our next business meeting

Where: The Stockade Inn

When: Tuesday, April 24th, 2012

5:30 – Networking

6:00 – Dinner Meeting – Reservations required

Guest Speaker: Christina Meier

Identity Theft

Cost: $28 for guests; $25 for members

To attend as a guest please R.S.V.P.

By: Friday, April 20th 2012

to Susan Daly at 428-8830

or

Carolyn Sabol at 887-5851 or

Email Carolyn at cwsabol@hotmail.com.

Please remember that if you are a member, your reser-

vation is automatically made for you. If you are unable

to attend, you must contact Susan Daly or Carolyn

Sabol at the phone numbers or Email above, so that

the club will not be charged for your

dinner. Thank you for your consideration.

Jane is working on putting together a

Spring Basket

for raffle at our 85th Anniversary Celebration.

Please bring items to the April Meeting to help

Jane to fill the basket. (anything to do with spring

or gardening etc.) Tickets will be available soon.

Scholarship Applications are on the Website. If

you know of a deserving student, encourage them

to download the application and get it in by the

deadline of May 6th, 2012.

Nomination forms are on the website for our

Woman of the Year Award. If you know of an

incredible woman, consider nominating them by

August 1st, 2012.

Tips and Tidbits

We ourselves feel that what we are doing is

just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing

drop." …..Mother Theresa

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Programs, Bonnie Keller, Chair Program Listing for 2012

Apr 24, 2012 Identity Theft (Christina Meier) May 23,2012 Officer & New Member Inductions Jun 27, 2012 Scholarship Awards Banquet

Membership, Bonnie Keller & Aldona Vaitulis

The new member induction ceremony is scheduled for Tuesday, April 24th. Further details will be communicat-

ed to the inductees.

As a reminder....your reservations are made automatical-ly for each meeting. If you cannot attend the meeting,

you must notify Susan Daly at 518-428-8830 or Carolyn

Sabol at cwsabol@hotmail.com no later than the Friday before the scheduled meeting. Otherwise you will be

billed.

Membership Dues Your membership dues will be billed by our treasurer,

Tammy Krisher. You will receive an invoice by either email or regular mail. Some of our members have been

receiving renewal notices from NYS Women Inc. Last

June, our club voted to discontinue our relationship with NYS Women Inc.

It is not necessary to pay these dues, unless you wish to remain a member

of NYS Women Inc. Please note, that our dues are completely separate, and

if you wish to be part of both groups, you would be

paying dues to both organizations.

From the Board

Member Spotlight

Carolyn Sabol

Member since: 2001 Owner of CWS Bookkeeping Service

Co-owner of Country Wine & Spirits Currently, she is serving as a Director on the

Board, Hospitality Committee co-chair, Basket of Cheer chair,

Finance chair and the Fashion Show reservation pro.

Over the years, she has been the treasurer and served on many other

committees. In 2007, she was honored as the BPW Woman of the

Year, an honor she truly cherishes.

Carolyn was in retail management for 20 years when a co-worker

mentioned that she take a course in accounting. After studying at

Adirondack Community College and Hudson Valley Community

College, she landed a job as Accounting Manager for a property

management company in 1990. She began developing clients in her

spare time. In March of 1994, Carolyn struck out on her own and

the rest is history. Her client base includes not-for-profits, a church,

2 general contractors, 2 attorneys, a food broker, food wholesaler

and of course, a liquor store.

Country Wine & Spirits just celebrated its 5th year anniversary.

John, Carolyn’s husband of 40 years, decided to change careers.

Country Wine & Spirits was the result. With Carolyn’s bookkeep-

ing knowledge and John’s enthusiasm to learn about the wine

business, the store is a success. Wine lovers come from all over the

region to learn, taste and talk about good wine.

Three years ago, Carolyn felt like something was missing in her

life. She flew an airplane which was not quite what she was looking

for. A friend mentioned she should take the motorcycle class at

Hudson Valley. She did, passed the course and got her license. Last

year, she graduated from a Honda Rebel 250cc to a Yamaha V-Star

650cc. If you see a red and silver bike with hard saddlebags and a

rider with matching red and white shoes, wave.. that’s Carolyn out

for a spin.

Carolyn lives in Pattersonville with her husband and 2 kitties,

Snickers and Morgan. Her 93 year old father has been keeping her

very busy handling his

financial affairs. And

she always seems to

find the time for mak-

ing jewelry, knitting,

crocheting, reading and

golfing.

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85th Anniversary Celebration

Fashion Show Cyndie Powell—Chair

The first meeting of the Fashion Show Committee will be held on April 26th at 5:30 pm at Jane’s House. .

We are in the process of planning the next Fashion Show. It is scheduled for Sunday, November 18th,

2012 at The Glen Sanders Mansion Please be sure to mark this date on your calendars. (this is the Sunday before Thanksgiv-

ing) It is very important that we have all of our members participating. The show seems to get bigger each year, and all hands are needed and

appreciated to stay organized and keep our guests happy and wanting

to attend year after year. If you would like to serve on this year’s Fash-ion Show Committee please let Cyndie know. You can email her at

cynde@nycap.rr.com or call her at (518)370-7249.

Status of Women—Jean Weed (formerly Women in Need)

Congratulations on a great response to our collection of women’s hygiene products for the women soldiers in Afghanistan. You definitely

came through again and we were able to forward three boxes (1 huge

box and 2 smaller ones) to the women. Thank you all for your generosity.

Our last collection for this year (I believe, but no promises) will be chil-

dren’s books for the Schenectady Inner City Ministry Summer Program. They informed me that this is still what they need. I would ask for

books for youth ages 5 through 18. However, most of the children who attend the program are in elementary school. Please bring new or

“gently used” books to the May and June meetings of BPW. If you

have any questions, please call Jean Weed at 882-1840 or email at Hubbs45@nycap.rr.com. SICM has many wonderful programs in need

of volunteers which you can learn about on their website at www.sicm.us.

Save the Date:

Fashion Show

Sunday ,

Nov 18th, 2012 at

The Glen Sanders

Mansion

Plans are under way for the 85th Anniversary Gala. Our key note speaker is Barbara Henton, who is the BPW Foundation Chair. We are currently working on a special pin for all members.

If anyone is interested in attending the next meeting, it's scheduled for Tuesday, April 17th at The Glen Eddy Retirement Community at 5:30 PM. More information and driving/parking directions are posted on the website calendar.

The event is planned for May 11th, 2012. at Riverstone Manor. Invitations have been mailed out, don’t forget to RSVP. Hope to see you all there.

201l– 2012 Schenectady BPW

Board Members and Directors

Board President -- Jane Osterhout 1st Vice President -- Bonnie Keller Co-2nd Vice President – Aldona Vaitulis

Treasurer -- Tammy Krisher Secretary -- Cyndie Powell

Directors: Carolyn Sabol Susan Daly

Sister Stella Dillon Val Iacovangelo

Immediate Past President: Elena Alvarez, PhD.

The women of this country ought be enlightened in regard

to the laws under which they live, that they may no longer

publish their degradation by declaring themselves satisfied

with their present position, nor their ignorance, by assert-

ing that they have all the rights they want."

Elizabeth Cady Stanton Social reformer and woman suffrage leader

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Youth Leadership, Kim Bellizzi & Miriam Cajuste/Co Chairs

The program “taught me to appreciate my mother and how much

things cost.”

“I didn’t realize how many things people have to consider.” These are some of the comments from the students that partici-

pated in the Life Unplugged program, sponsored by Schenectady Business and Professional Women, on March 24th at Schenectady

County Community College. The event was aimed at teaching youth ages 14 to19 financial planning skills, goal setting and ca-

reer planning. Students participated in exercises to determine

their most important values, identified their ideal careers, living within a monthly budget and work through critical life choices.

Volunteers manned each station simulating a month in the life of

the students who were each transformed into a “25 year old” for

the program. All choices and decisions had to accommodate their family, career and lifestyle as they “spent” their monthly

paycheck. For the first hour and a half students made visits to the bank deposited their paychecks and started making decisions

about their monthly expenses. Students quickly realized that their

earnings could not support the lifestyles they anticipated. Stu-dents’ comment included “I didn’t know it cost so much”.

During the luncheon students heard from Supreme Court Justice

Ann Crowell. She spoke about her choices that lead her through many different careers and ultimately running for public office

and she became the first female Supreme Court Justice in New

York State. . Students heard also from Dr. Bullock, President of SCCC. The President welcomed them and encouraged them to

seek careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). These careers have low unemployment rates, and the

fact that ALL of the NANO Tech students left his college with

job commitments. Jane Osterhout, our Schenec-tady BPW President, spoke about our club and its level

of professionalism and commitment to our community and its youths, not only through scholarships but programs like Life-

Unplugged.

Our entire team of volunteers did a fantastic job. The students

were very appreciative of the reception they received from every-one especially their adult guides. The program was a complete

success and BPW has once again presented to the community an effective and relevant program.

Thank you to our sponsors, the students that participated, the parents, the schools and most of all our volunteers.

Miriam and Kim

Helpful Tips for Articles and Items to be printed or posted

to the website

Now that we are getting busier with our various events, I

thought I would take a moment to share some helpful printing

and publishing tips. These guidelines are not exclusive to our

club, but can be used for anything that needs to be reproduced.

Be sure that your article or item is in a word or pdf docu-

ment so that it can be read by most printers and web-

site administrators.

Be sure that all revisions have been made before you

send the item to the printer or publisher. It is much

easier to change something on an original document,

than to wait until it gets put up on the website or sent

to the printer for production. (if you would like a

second set of eyes to go over your document, please

put that in the email so that the person receiving it

knows that it isn’t the finished product.

Use a font that is easily recognized by most computer

programs. .

Be sure to get your item to the printer or publisher in a

timely manner so that the person does not have to

rush through your job.

Please keep in mind that these are suggested guidelines. Your

cooperation will be greatly appreciated.

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Among our Members Please keep the following members and their families in your thought and prayers:

Sister Stella- Sister is continuing to improve and hopes to come home soon. We can’t

wait to have her back attending our meetings and livening up our events. Sister Stella Dillon, 921 Wright St. Schenectady, NY 12309

Kim Bellizzi—Sadly, Kim’s dad lost his battle with lung cancer. Kim is currently in New

Jersey with her family and hopes to see us all again soon. Kim Bellizzi, PO Box 492. Galway, NY 12074

Barbara Tremante—Barbara has been recently hospitalized and is feeling under the weather. Barbara Tremante. 9 North Jay St. Schenectady, NY 12305

If you would like to send a card or note, I have included the addresses above.

******************************** Elena asked for this information to be passed on to our membership:

Shawn Carter Scholarship Foundation APPLICATION DEADLINE is May 15th, 2012. Eligibility Requirements Qualified applicants must be a high school senior, college student, and/or between the ages of 18-25, pursuing studies at a vocational or trade school. All applicants must have a minimum GPA of 2.5, be a US Citizen and complete the on-line application no later than the published deadline date, which is May 15, 2012. The Shawn Carter Scholarship Foundation is unique in that it offers scholarships to single mothers, children who attend alternative schools, students who have earned a GED, students with grade point averages of 2.0 and students who have previously been incarcerated, etc. but desire a higher educational opportunity. This group is generally not the recipients of college scholarships, and is typically ignored by the Board of Education. The Shawn Carter Foundation offers scholarship opportunities to any under-served student across the United States who desires a higher education. One of the key questions asked by the Foundation when students apply for a scholarship is: What are your plans to give back to the community?”. CUT AND PASTE LINK TO APPLY ONLINE - http://www.shawncartersf.com/apply/

If there is anything that you would like to see on the Website, please let

Cyndie know.

If you have any items that you would like included in the Handclasp, please get your Information to Cyndie by the 1st Wednesday of each month.

Cyndie can be reached on 518-370-7249

or by email at cyndie@nycap.com

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MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION

Name ________________________________________________________

Street Address ________________________________________________________

City ______________________ State ________ Zip Code ______ Birthday _______

Telephone No. ____________________ Cell Phone: _________________________

Employer __________________________ Job Title ____________________

Work Number ___________________ Email Address: ________________________

What would you like to gain by joining the Schenectady BPW ________________________

How did you learn about us? _________________________________________________

People would be surprised to learn that I ________________________________________

If I had to do it all over again, I would ___________________________________________

This year, I am going to learn _________________________________________________

**********************************************************

Which committee(s) would you like to serve on:

__ Foundation __ Membership __ Status of Women __ Fashion Show

__ Program __ Public Relations __ Youth Leadership __ Scholarship

__ Fundraising __ Career Development

********************************************************** For more information, please contact our membership chairs:

Aldona Vaitulis at (518) 355-4923 or Bonnie Keller at (518) 381-4512 or bkeller@nbtbank.com Dues - $72 per year

Please make your check payable to Schenectady BPW Club, Inc. and mail to: Tammy Krisher, Treasurer - PO Box 2311 - Scotia, NY 12302

www.schenectadybpw.org

Schenectady

Business & Professional

Women’s Club, Inc.