*Members: If you have any announcements that you would like to post on the ROBS web site, please contact Nick Siciliano at
             News2@robsny.org. Announcements will be posted each month on this page. If you miss any previous month's announcements,
             you can view them at the Archives page of this web site. You can also read more news in our Newsletters. In addition, if you have
             your own web site, and would like to share it with other members, let us know and we can include the link on the ROBS site.

IMPORTANT DATES
  IN THE NEWS                                                              NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2010

November 5
General Membership Meeting
See Events

December 3
Holiday Luncheon
Details & Reservations


December 7
12:30 PM
Holiday Wrap Party
Kris Dougherty's house.
E-mail for directions:
Krississu@optonline.net

December 16
Executive Board Meeting

See Meeting Date Schedule

January 7, 2011
New Years Breakfast
Details & Reservations

ROBS PROJECT HOPE
AUTUMN 2010


Peter Vercillo

Project Hope Chairperson


Dear ROBS Member,
      It's time again to ask for support of our ROBS Project Hope.  As you may know, Project Hope is a way for the retirees of the Brentwood school community to show continued concern for the children of the area. Through Suburban Children, Inc., ROBS adopts local families during the traditional holiday season. We provide food for extensive Thanksgiving meals, and many gifts are bought, wrapped, and presented at Christmastime.
     Now well into a second decade, our members have worked to make this endeavor a success. The effort has been very much appreciated, not only by the folks at Suburban, but especially by the children and their parents.
      Through our donations, Project Hope touches the lives of many. It is an opportunity for our group to add to the joy and spirit of the season. Please help continue this fine tradition. Checks should be made payable to ROBS/PROJECT HOPE. So that we may keep proper records, please send checks to:
          Peter Vercillo
          26 Willoughby St.
          Brentwood, NY 11717
     Thank you for your loyalty and support. Best wishes for the special weeks ahead.
                           Sincerely,
                           Peter Vercillo
        PROJECT HOPE CHAIRPERSON


HAVE YOU PAID YOUR ROBS DUES FOR 2010-11?

     If you have not yet paid your dues, please send your check to Marge Kirchner ASAP. Perhaps you just forgot, so please take a look at your check register to see if you have paid or not. Please go to the Membership Page for the application and mailing instructions, and to see how your dues are dispensed.

SAD SHARING
POSTED 12/28

     Pat Gemellaro, a special education teacher, passed away on Dec. 26. She will be waked at Grant's Funeral Home in Brentwood on Friday, Dec. 31, from 3:00 to 7:30, with religious services on Friday evening.


ROBS MEMBERS CONTINUE TO HELP THE COMMUNITY
     Miriam Massucci will be collecting new books for Kindergarten and 1st grade level students which can be brought to the ROBS meetings throughout the year. These small books will be used to fill the baskets that these youngsters will receive during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. This charity is sponsored by F.A.N. (Food and Nutrition), a program of Catholic Charities.


SAD SHARING
POSTED 11/9

     Anna (Lupo) DeRiggi, the mother of Vinnie DeRiggi, passed away on November 6, 2010. The following is the obituary:
DeRIGGI - Anna (nee Lupo) on November 6, 2010 of West Babylon. Beloved wife of Samuel. Devoted mother Genevieve and Vincent. Loving sister of Nancy Lupo. cherished grandmother of Brenda and Eric, great-grandmother of Andrew John. Mass Wednesday 10 am Our Lady of Grace R.C. Church. Reposing Noce Funeral Home 189 Route 109 West Babylon. Entombment St. John's Cemetery, Queens, NY. Visiting Monday and Tuesday 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 pm.


NICK GERACI WRITES NEW NOVEL
POSTED 12/21/10


Click on image to view details
     
      Nick Geraci, writing as A. C. Nicholas is the author of a new novel, Anna and The Tale of the Wolf.  One reader described it as "a novel of dark fantasy, suspenseful and engrossing."  Nick's book is available online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Author House Bookstore.  It will shortly be on shelves in stores.
     Nick is a retiree of the Brentwood School District where he worked as a special education teacher, guidance counselor and Guidance Coordinator.



GOOD NEWS
POSTED 11/8

     Wendy Gelardi's daughter who lives in Virginia just gave Wendy a beautiful granddaughter on Friday 11/5, Avery Rose.


"HAITI NOW" PRESENTED BY PAT LANDRY
POSTED 11/19/10
     At the November 5th ROBS general meeting, Pat Landry gave a slide presentation of her recent trip to Haiti, where she was one of 102 volunteers working with the Leogane Project of the Hands on Disaster Response. The project was formed in response to January's deadly earthquake. The volunteers did everything from building shelves, organizing tools, building benches out of PVC, working on transitional housing and school building to working in the hospital.
     You can click on the link below to view the photos of the meeting, along with selected slides from the presentation.
"Haiti Now"


SUSTRIN SISTERS PUBLISH A THIRD BOOK
POSTED 12/23/10

     In the January issue of NYSUT UNITED on page 30 under "Check it Out", is a review of Shelia and Letty's new book The Teacher Who Would Not Retire Discovers a New Planet.
     This is the third book for these two ladies and they deserve congratulations on the publication of this book.

Read NYSUT online article here: Check it out.


NYSUT NEWS

Support VOTE-COPE with your voluntary contribution.
Download the
VOTE-COPE Contribution Card here.


Check out Member Benefits

November 16
10th Annual NYSUT
Retiree Conference

Contact: Dorothy Zuckerman
631-273-8822
dzuckerm@nysutmail.org

RC21 EVENTS ROBS HISTORY PROJECT - John M. Sherin

November 10
AARP Defensive Driving Course
Details and Registration

November 23
General Membership Meeting
WI Library 10:15 am

December 7-9
Christmas in Baltimore

December 21
Holiday Luncheon
WI Library

RC 21 Website: http://ny.aft.org/rc21

Why did we do it?
     What was our purpose in taking on such an open ended “History Project”; for which we evolved a script of questions and got answers from over 150 subjects for two decades?
     We couldn’t answer the question in 1994 when people would ask “What are you going to do with the interviews?” All we could say was that for educational purposes we had to document our record now or lose the chance to preserve so many poignant accounts, funny stories and touching tales told by exemplary educators. We knew these dedicated public servants might shortly, for reasons yet unknown, be leaving Brentwood for good.
     So, we decided to let time sort out the details. We began scheduling appointments. We asked questions and listened saving for generations the essence of what it meant to have been an educator or employed, in this large public school system during the second half of the 20th century. Brentwood remains an exemplar to all others; a diverse microcosm of America reflecting 124 districts on Long Island while simultaneously resembling thousands across the U.S. We’ve accomplished something here to be proud of. Whether we were interviewed or not, ours is a claim of service that few professionals in the State of New York or elsewhere have positioned themselves to share in the way we have.
INITIALLY the practice of sitting with a subject for an hour and giving them a hundred percent focused attention seemed somewhat daunting to a number of friends and colleagues. So much so in fact that many declined our repeated invitations to speak with us as they left careers or retired from full employment. Despite all assurances that we were not about investigative journalism or invading privacy, they deferred. Now, twenty years after we began, some are saying they may be ready. “Better late than never” we say. However, to all among you who were willing to share not only your classroom experiences and personal stories, but precious memories from your lives along with your fondest hopes for the future, we say “Thanks”. Thanks for allowing us to continue the process by paying it forward as we share these interviews with the Brentwood community and countless professionals and researchers near and far. Through an acceptance of ROBS offer of collaboration with Archivist Dr. Geri Solomon and The Long Island Studies Institute at Hofstra University our History Project lives on in academia as well as in the collection of the Brentwood Public Library, thanks to Director, Thomas A. Tarantowicz.
   Enjoy unlimited visits to www.robsny.org where you can watch and listen to segments from featured Interviews in the ROBS History Project Section on our Announcements Page each month. Return here to listen and learn again and again.

     
THIS MONTH'S FEATURED HISTORY PROJECT INTERVIEWS:

Wally Belinsky
      Wally Balinski began teaching in Brentwood in 1968 and after 42 years of service decided to retire. He began teaching music in North East Elementary and alternated between there and West Middle School.



Click on the image above to read Wally Belinsky's biography.

Marcy Fiore 
     Marcy Fiore came to the district in 1980, gave 30 years of dedicated service and retired in 2010. Her last seventeen years have been teaching Kindergarten at the Kindergarten
Center.




Click on the image above to read Marcy Fiore's bio.

MEMBER WEBSITES
Sheila & Letty Sustrin
Children's Books Authors
www.sustrinbooks.com

John M. Sherin
Local /Regional
(Jigsaw Maps)600
Geography Manipulatives

www.mapzzles.org

Complete Team Building Kits
Teaching Cooperation/ Collaboration
Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

www.brokensquares.com

Alida Thorpe
Island Vision Photography, Inc.
www.pbase.com/alidasphotos


Rick Mundy
Watercolor Prints of L.I., Adirondacks, NYC...
www.RickMundy.Com

Gloria Hannemann
Hardwood Flooring and
Home Improvement

www.Servi-all.com


Elmon Kazandjian
NYC Art Gallery
www.woodwardgallery.net

Fred Sheiferstein
Where in the World are Fred and Ken?

Rich Edwards
Travels with Rich Edwards

Rose Marie Brousseau
Brentwood Rotary Club
http://brentwoodrotary.com
Ronda Brooks
Children's Social Skills Groups
www.KidHelp.org
THE TOWN CRIER -  MarilynDePlaza@aol.com

Marilyn DePlaza
"The Town Crier" was set up a number of years ago so that the retirees of the Brentwood School District could have an email center to stay in touch. Since I began to send out all sorts of information, retirees from all over the country have sent me their email addresses. Some have asked, "Do you have any idea where so and so is?" Others have sent proud news of their accomplishments, their family news, photos,etc. and sadly, we often get bad news. Many retirees whom I have never met write me to thank me for keeping this connection going, as everyone remembers the Brentwood years with warm feelings.



 



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