On Wednesday, some of the AFF Directors had the opportunity to meet with members of CultureConnect leadership!
We gave a check presentation ceremony for their CommunityConnect program that we had recently approved for the 2021-2022 school year in Red Hook.
From left to right: Deidre Burns, Laura Selicaro, Rosie Rosenthal, Fran Thompson, Ali Fraenkel, and Michele Eldon.
It’s time to meet another one of our 2021 recipients for the Ascienzo Family Foundation’s annual scholarship: Angel Selenis! Angel graduated from Red Hook High School in June 2021. At the beginning of his senior year he started to look for scholarships opportunities.hen he heard about the AFF’s scholarship, which values past and continuing volunteerism and community engagement, he felt immediately connected with this scholarship opportunity.
Angel has made volunteering a part of his life for a long time, and most recently has been volunteering with Red Hook Responds and national honor society For Red Hook Responds, Angel worked on meal assembly: creating meals which were then delivered to people who were having trouble getting the meals they needed during quarantine.
At Red Hook High School, Angel was involved with several clubs. He also ran the Interact Club, under the Rotary International for two years. The club’s main goal was to raise funds for a disaster box for countries that were experiencing hardships. Interact is open to college students as well!
Angel is now at Suny ESF studying landscape architecture. hoping to learn more about the environment and how to make the community around him more sustainable. Angel is excited to get involved in any Red Hook Responds-like volunteering that may be happening in the SUNY ESF community!
Jen, Fran, and Nick visited Madeline Henriquez, the Executive Director of the Poughkeepsie Farm Project on Monday August 30 and were impressed with the size -15 acres, 12 of which are farmed - and outreach - 70,000 people - of their programs.
We were treated to a guided tour of the grounds from their education garden following an anti-racist pathway into their meditation area, as well as through their growing fields, picking fields (check out today’s menu!), bins for the CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) they support, greenhouses, and washing and packing station. Madeline orchestrates the integration of the Poughkeepsie Farm Project with local agencies and schools - a demanding responsibility - all with only seven full-time gardeners. We’re proud of AFF’s partnership with the Poughkeepsie Farm Project in their efforts to reduce food insecurity in the Poughkeepsie region.
Earlier in August, the AFF Board was lucky to take a mini field trip around the Hudson Valley, meeting up with each other and two grantee organizations. After months of virtual board meetings, it was a joy to see each other in person. Some of us had never met in person before this outing! It was wonderful to get a chance to meet up face-to-face,connect, and meet with the folks who make the Summer Academy at Red Hook Schools, and the YMCA Kingston Farm Project, possible.
We started off the day by with Janet Warden, the superintendent of the Red Hook Central School District. We had a great discussion with her, and presented the $10,000 check for Summer Academy!
From there, we crossed the river to visit the YMCA Kingston Farm Project. Kaycee and Philip were kind enough to give us a tour of the farm, and gift us some free cookbooks the kids worked on all last year. It was incredible to see how many activities are packed into the farm, and how hard-working the volunteers and staff are.
The AFF Board finished up the day with a walk along the river in the Roundout, and a delicious lunch at Savonas. We are all hoping these in-person meetups can start becoming more frequent again!
Please meet one of our three 2021 recipients for the Ascienzo Family Foundation’s annual scholarship- Hudson Bucci! Hudson graduated from Red Hook High School the day after this interview, and is heading to Dutchess Community College in the fall. He was one of three 2021 recipients for the Ascienzo Family Foundation’s annual scholarship! Looking back on his senior year, Hudson says: “Senior year was pretty difficult because most of it was remote. I took about four classes [remotely] and two in-person. There were some easier parts to it - like it was way easier to keep track of assignments - but not being able to hang out with friends during lunch periods or having study halls to use the school’s resources was a disadvantage.”
In high school, Hudson was a fan of art, track, and cross-country -- but his perhaps most notable achievement was his recent Eagle Scout pledge. A Boy Scout since first grade, Hudson’s final Eagle Scout project consisted of building six benches at the three schools in the district. Donors provided financing and tools, and others volunteered their labor. “It was fantastic, the experiences that I got from going through the program,” says Hudson. “Really, it just stimulated a lot of growth for me as a person.”
Hudson’s plans to keep his major and career options, and is to start withtake general studies courses at Dutchess toand figure out from there what career is right for him from there.
Congratulations, Hudson - and good luck on all future endeavors!