Families are welcome to join the informal Millerton Parents’ Group through WhatsApp which keeps members active and connected through activities such as this DIY Oct. 9 Pizza Night at Eddie Collins Memorial Park. The weekly event included plenty of opportunities for chatting and playing for (left to right) Goldie Whalen-Smith, 3; Shaylyn Decker with daughter Summer Raue, 3; and Madeleine Stern with daughter Marion Greenleaf, 4.
MILLERTON — What began in the warmth of the NorthEast-Millerton Library as a small group of young parents exchanging information and ideas has grown into the internet equivalent of a friendly neighborhood with plenty of room to welcome newcomers.
Founded in conjunction with the now retired Youth Services Director Lynn Buckley, the informally named Millerton Parents Group, uses the messaging program WhatsApp instead of chats over backyard fences as they build community.
Anyone with the common interest of family is welcome to join, de facto leader of the group Kimberly Yarnell said. Through laughs she said that while there is no head, “I’m the bossy Mom in the group ... I try to synthesize group communications, activities and opportunities to team up and meet up.”
She says the group formed “after the height of the Pandemic when we were all kind of crawling out of our holes and sort of having gone through a shared experience, many of us with 3, 4 and 5 year olds. We emerged with a real hunger for connections in a way that wasn’t really being serviced by the area.”
Yarnell, who has “two great kids,” 4 year old son Mathew and 1 year old daughter Margo said, “we can laugh about it now,” but it was difficult, especially for those who gave birth during the Pandemic.
With access to the Library and support in developing programming, the group brought in speakers for topics of general interest such as sleep issues and doulas.
But as children and family sizes grew, crowded schedules evolved. It became difficult to attend meetings, so connections moved to the internet where families now swap information on critical issues such as the best babysitters, pediatricians, dentists and the like.
They also provide support when someone has a sick child and set up play dates, walks on the Rail Trail and share information about interesting events. Each Wednesday from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., interested members gather at Eddie Collins Memorial Park where they take turns bringing pizza and the children romp while the parents find adult companionship.
Recently, members looked “into their closets” to find outgrown clothing for it’s second and hopefully continuing clothing swap. Because of scheduling conflicts at the Library where Buckley had helped to organize the initial event, the Northeast Community Center provided the needed space for some 25 participants.
As can be the case with that sort of event, some items were not chosen, but following the spirit of reaching out, Yarnell said those were donated to Ben and Gracie’s Thrift Shop in Poughkeepsie. The shop determined the value of the merchandise and presented vouchers in that amount to the Grace Smith House in Poughkeepsie which provides shelter and support for those facing domestic violence.
Yarnell says the vouchers, in turn, were given to residents who can gain a sense of “empowerment” as they are able to use them at the shop to make purchases for their own families instead of being handed a bag “of stuff” chosen by someone else.
Anyone interested in joining is welcome to email kimberlyyarnell@gmail.com for an invitation to the group’s WhatsApp.
Sabrina Jaar Marzouka led the Oct. 2 Department of Community and Family Services Forum.
POUGHKEEPSIE — On the evening of Wednesday, Oct. 2, the Dutchess County Department of Community and Family Services (DCFS) held an open forum at the Department of Mental Health to discuss a five-year Child and Family Services (CFS) Plan.
Fiscal and staffing challenges aside, the focus of DCFS remains on refining the five-year plan, meeting its targets and serving the county’s most vulnerable residents, many of whom depend on these supports simply to survive.
The forum, which provided residents with detailed information on county services and programs for the domestic, physical and emotional wellbeing of children and adults in the county, also gave attendees the opportunity to weigh in on the plan, which runs from 2024 through 2029.
Dutchess County is obliged to provide a plan detailing social services offerings to New York State every five years, DCFS Commissioner Sabrina Jaar Marzouka said. The county works in conjunction with the state to identify programs for further development and improvement.
“We do not choose our goals,” Marzouka said. “They are prescribed by the state. So they give us a handful to choose from, based on what we determine to be our needs and from our data.”
The county can adjust goals as needed but must meet state requirements. These goals and their associated strategies are determined by research, data, and stakeholder meetings with companies, agencies, and individuals.
While DCFS team members tackled various components of the proposal’s planning stages, the end-result is expected to be a cohesive plan created by the state, county, and residents following public comment.
While programs such as Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP), fall under the DCFS umbrella, the public session focused on three specific offerings — Child Protective Services, Preventive Services, and Adult Services.
Child Protective Services (CPS) seeks to ensure the safety of vulnerable children from suspected abuse, neglect or trafficking of minors. If confirmed, CPS may remove a child from the home. Its preference is for placement with relatives as opposed to foster care provided by strangers to maintain familial, environmental, and cultural ties.
“You don’t want the child to lose that connection,” Marzouka said. “Because that is their world.”
To prevent family ties from being cut, even temporarily, Preventive Services strives to strengthen affected families through domestic monitoring, motivational interviews, parental training/retraining, and family team meetings — strategies designed to expedite foster care discharge or circumvent foster care altogether.
Adult Services supports people in need of supervision (PINS) with a goal of preserving adult dignity. Currently, there are 30 adult guardian cases overseen by DCFS, a number which continues to climb.
Obstacles to the continuity of certain services remain.
Funding is a constant challenge. For example, childcare programs, the eligibility for which now includes working- and middle-class families, may run dry by 2025 unless the state provides relief.
Caseworker shortages present yet another challenge. To this end, the state has eased civil service requirements for positions such as social workers and case managers via NY HELPS, a program which may or may not be temporary.
According to Dutchess County’s Human Resources Commissioner Steven Rector, while specific data on caseworker shortages hasn’t been made available to his department yet, he concurs with Marzouka, who conveyed staff retention concerns.
“[These] titles are considered challenging to recruit for [and] with higher than average turnover,” Rector said.
On a cloudy Wednesday at the start of October, my girlfriend, Taylor, and I decided to enjoy the autumn afternoon by getting off our laptops and into the woods for some much needed movement. Having just moved to Norfolk as a new reporter for the Lakeville Journal, I was on the hunt for panoramic views of the landscape I now call home, accessible with the hour and a half of daylight left to us. Haystack Tower it was.
I’m not entirely unfamiliar with the landscapes of the Northwest Corner: I visited family and friends in the region as a child and would drive up on high school joyrides from my home in Westchester County. But calling somewhere home brings new meaning to a place, and I was eager to see a familiar view with a new sense of belonging.
To extend the walk a bit, we chose the yellow trail loop, starting from the bottom of the road leading up the hill off North Street. Our journey began on a neatly mowed path through a gently sloping meadow, with stands of purple-white New England asters poking out from a mosaic of green and red leaves and grasses on either side of the trail.
Our trail took us into a forest sporting half-autumn colors: some maple stands blazed gold and orange while others remained dark green. The occasional fiery swamp maple glowed bright red below the overstory, catching the glints of sunlight that managed to penetrate the cloud layer and canopy.
As we trudged up the forested hillside, my field of vision was so washed in texture — a chaos of rocks, roots, bark, and leaves of every shade — that my eyes almost started to ache.
The trail plateaued after a short climb into a new type of forest: three-story oaks underscored with hickory saplings. With a new composition, the forest assumed a browner and yellower hue than that of the maple-dominated lower hillside.
We eventually reached the imposing stone tower at Haystack Mountain’s summit, and we quickly climbed the winding stairs to find what we came for: 360-degree views of forested hills folding over one another as they spread into the distance, interspersed by patches of valley farmland. A copse of orange maples framed Route 44 as it passed through Norfolk below. This was the beautiful patchwork landscape I am lucky to now call home.
A relaxed jaunt down a wide carriage road took us around the mountain’s northeastern flank as eastern hemlocks leaned overhead and clung to the steep slope below. Reaching the car with daylight to spare, we decided to prolong the outing with an evening pint.
At Norbrook Farm Brewery, we were asked if we wanted to join a game of jukebox bingo. It looked like fun, but we couldn’t get enough of the October evening air, so we headed outside instead to sit fireside on the patio. Settling into an Adirondack chair, I sipped the brewery’s brown ale (the “Beckley Furnace Ale”). It was malty and crisp, and certainly one of the better in the style I’ve had recently. Taylor is partial to seasonal beers and opted for their pumpkin ale, joyously titled the “Gourdo.” I’m usually not a fan of pumpkin-flavored anything, but I agreed that this was a nicely balanced beer and enjoyed the few sips I took.
As the light faded on the hills, we noted that the foliage across the fields looked to be nearly peaking in the soft glow of the evening. A chill settled in and I huddled closer to the fire, eager to lean into the swiftly changing season in my new home.
Chilly rain sprinkles did not keep area art lovers away from the opening of the Kent Art Association’s Fall Juried Art Show on Sunday, Oct. 13. Judges for the event were association members Liz Maynard and Conrad Levenson. The show will continue until Saturday, Nov. 2, during the association's open hours.
Kent artist and long-term resident Carolyn Millstein (above) paused for a photo next to her piece, “Near Oakdale."
“SHELTER,” an art exhibit supporting The Gathering Place opened on Suday, Oct. 12, at the Royal Arcanum Building in Norfolk, Conn. Featuring works by fourteen area artists, proceeds from sales will benefit The Gathering Place based in Torrington, Conn., which provides essential services to the homeless across 26 towns in Litchfield County. Open weekdays, this vital resource offers everything from hot showers and laundry facilities to housing assistance. The exhibit runs through Nov. 24.
