Letters to the Editor - The Millerton News - 8-25-22

Moviehouse elevator like a gift from above

Just a note of sincere thanks to the community, the owners, and all of the people who funded the elevator now in operation at the Millerton Moviehouse theater!!! I had no idea that this wonderment had been completed, and this device literally saved the evening for my party!

I had one person who literally had a panic attack just looking at the stairs and was ready to just sit in the movie on the first floor to avoid trouble. Another person with mobility issues was game to try, but I was worried at first about how it all might end. But, lo and behold, the skies opened and the angels sang out — “we have an elevator!”

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

All of us have seen movies at this theater for decades, but now we are an elder group with mobility issues, so, it really meant a lot to my friends and family to be able to take that elevator and enjoy a night out.

We don’t get out much, so please know that this really made a big difference to some folks!

Monique Avakian

Yonkers

Local efforts continue to aid Ukraine with new *spotfund drive

Dear friends and community members,

I hope you are all having a good, albeit a bit hot and dry summer!

I have just returned from a trip to Poland and Western Ukraine to deliver some rescue and medical equipment, and look at certain schools, pre-schools and educational centers in need of support. We are working with the Wayair Foundation and over the next few days I would love to share with you photos from a music school in Mosciska, Ukraine with over 300 students from 6 to 18 years old; a kindergarten for 500 kids in Lviv operating with two small washers (no dryers); and other places where we are active in helping displaced Ukrainian orphans, children and their mothers who are seeking refuge in Poland.

Although some of the Ukrainians have returned to the safer parts of their homeland, the estimate is that approximately 3 million of them are still in Poland and more than 7 million are displaced internally.

Thanks to our communal fundraising efforts, the Wayair Foundation is running Safe Houses for women with children; paid for summer camps for refugees; and paid for training costs for mothers, so they can find better work opportunities in Poland.

In April, together with the Wayair Foundation, we hired two child psychologists with trauma experience, as the kids started to show first signs of PTSD. If trauma is not treated within the first two to three months it can turn into PTSD for life.

Our own Millerton community fundraising efforts allowed us to pay for these psychologists until the end of the year. We are continuously running workshops on children’s trauma for teachers, care-givers, mothers and whomever wants to take them.

In addition to helping children and refugees, we do whatever we can to support brave Ukrainian people fighting for their freedom. As the grim artillery war grinds on with the Russians firing indiscriminately against both civilians and military, there is an incredible need for CAT Tourniquets, which save lives and are no longer available in Europe (one tourniquet can save one life!).

Please see how our latest delivery got to the front lines near Donetsk and look at the reactions, it is heartwarming.   Please help us to make more people feel safer!

I just created a fundraiser for United with Ukraine to collect CAT Tourniquets on *spotfund, called *UnitedUkraineCATTourniquets. Please consider supporting our fundraiser by going to https://spot.fund/zqVBHM

Thank you in advance!

Andre Wlodar

Millerton