Senior farmers market programs will be available starting in mid-July. Check your local newspaper for exact dates and locations for dispersal.
These are for low-to-moderate-income families to use at participating farmers’ markets. As per last year, they are available on a first come, first served basis. No reservations are accepted.
Helderberg Senior Services has requested the “Veggie Mobile” truck to stop at the Berne Community Center once a week. We haven’t been advised of a date nor time or if they are eligible to come up the “Hill”.
Bingo for next month is July 20 after lunch. As usual, the prizes are small but useful and sometimes entertaining.
The Department of the Aging and the county veterans’ affairs are represented here every Tuesday from 12:30 until 2 p.m. No appointment is needed to see them.
Attorney Lisa Bode is available the second Monday of each month by appointment only. Call 518-861-8960 to reserve a time.
Menu
The menu for next week is as follows:
— Monday, June 25: Barbecued chicken or baked fish with California blended vegetables, roast sweet potatoes, dinner roll, mandarin oranges, and oatmeal raisin cookie or chicken salad sandwich on wheat with lettuce and tomato, carrot raisin salad, orange juice, and chocolate pudding;
— Tuesday, June 26: Roasted pork with gravy or baked fish with mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing wheat bread, and applesauce or chef salad with muenster, turkey, and boiled egg;
— Friday, June 29: Lemon garlic baked fish or chicken with mashed sweet potatoes, sauteed summer squash, dinner roll and brownie or egg salad sandwich, pickled beets, and apple juice.
Congregate dining is funded in large part through support from the Albany County Department for Aging, The New York State Office for Aging, and the ADministration on Aging. Additional support for this program comes from donors and community businesses.
There is a $3 suggested contribution toward the cost of the meal. No one will be turned away due to an inability to make a contribution. All meals are served with 1 percent milk. Some items may be subject to last minute substitutions.
Remember to call 24 hours in advance to reserve a meal by dialing 528-937-5963.
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June is a busy month. We celebrate Flag Day; Father’s Day; graducations; and the first locally grown rhubarb, lettuce, spinach, and radishes — to name a few.
Eileen Bosworth from the Department of Aging is here every Tuesday. You do not need to be a senior citizen to see her.
Mike or Dan from the County Veterans are also here every Tuesday for consultation. Veterans and their families are encouraged to see them if they have a question or problem.
Catholic Charities are here the second Tuesday of each month.
Attorney Kim Bode is here the second Monday of each month and is available only by appointment for people 60 years of age and older. Call 518-861-8960 to make appointments.
All hours for the above-mentioned are from 12:30 to 2 p.m.
Applications are available for low- to moderate-income families for the Home Energy Assistance Program, which includes air-cooling devices, and furnace cleanups and tune-ups.
Bingo is planned for June 14, after lunch.
Menu
Menus for next week are:
— Monday, June 11: Baked fish or chicken with mashed sweet potatoes, cauliflower, and chocolate pudding. A third choice is a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich with turkey, three-bean salad, and a dessert of chocolate pudding;
— Tuesday, June 12: Turkey with gravy or baked fish, mashed potato, stuffing, vegetables, and cake. A third choice is a roast-beef sandwich with pickled beets and dessert; and
— Friday, June 15: A chef salad with cheese, boiled egg, peaches, and a cookie.
All meals are served with 1-percent milk. Tea and coffee are available. A donation of $3 is suggested.
Please call 518-937-5963 a day in advance to reserve lunch.
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The Hilltown Seniors met on Saturday, May 12, at the Hilltown Community Senior Center with 60 members present. We celebrated birthdays and anniversaries with joyous voices.
The tables were filled with cute pansies for our moms in celebration of Mother’s Day.
Then we looked over all our choices for trips scheduled. We are so glad to be out and about!
Call me if you haven't signed up for the Anniversary Dinner on June 3.
We are all talking about our submissions we are working on for the Altamont Fair Arts and Crafts Building.
Also, we are going to be in the Berne Memorial Day Parade with our local veterans who will be waving their flags and our King and Queen will be waving to all of you watching!
There were many community events that sponsor a dinner or breakfast. Now that was exciting as we seniors just love to eat! Let’s not forget our Senior Meal Program where you can dine on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays — yum!
Then there is the Berne Bus which takes us shopping every other Wednesday. Call 518-437-5161 the Monday before. The next shopping day is May 23.
Food is the ingredient that binds us together.
Once again, we had a busy week. Tom Dolan from Cornell Cooperative Extension Home Energy Assistance Program, known as HEAP, spoke about cooling devices, cleaning, and furnace tune-ups for low- and moderate-income families in Albany County.
Rebecca Buzon from Albany County Rural Housing Alliance Inc. discussed home-repair grants for low- to moderate-income families in rural Albany County.
If you missed these informative speakers, come see Eileen Bosworth, Albany County Director of Health and Human Services at the Community Seniors Access office at 1360 Helderberg Trail in Berne, every Tuesday from noon to 2 p.m. Her office phone number is 518-447-4996. Applications are available at the meal site.
Mike Good and Dan Adir from Veterans’ Service Bureau are available Tuesdays at the Access office. Veterans and their families may talk with them.
We welcomed our Florida friends who are home for the great northeastern season.
Bingo will follow lunch on Friday, May 18. Please bring your lucky bingo charm and join us for lunch.
Remember to call 518-937-5963 a day in advance to order a meal.
The Helderberg Seniors had a pleasant surprise for Tuesday’s luncheon last week. County Executive Dan McCoy and his policy analyst, Bakary Janneh; Department of Aging Commissioner Lisa Ferrehi; Albany County Dietician Denise Kolankowski; and Executive Director Monica Boeckmann from Senior Services came to visit.
They each asked if they could help us (and Hilltown residents) and we replied that affordable senior apartments and more public transportation would be a huge asset. Mr. McCoy says he has a task force working on housing and will check into transportation.
Both Ms. Kolankowski and Ms. Boeckmann asked about the meals and the opportunity to choose a lunch.
Mr. Janneh told some of us some easy avocado recipes. He will be checking to see if area supermarkets can come to speak about preparing and eating jicama, papaya, and starfruit along with samples and recipes.
Remember every Tuesday, Eileen Bosworth, the Albany director of Health and Human Services, is here along with the Veterans Service Bureau representatives, Mike Good and Jim Cider.
On the second Tuesday of each month, Francine Mead, with Care Navigator and Care Giver Services from Catholic Charities is here.
These people are open to all Hilltown residents. Attorney Kim Bode who will be coming in June is for senior citizens only and by appointment only.
Remember to call 518-937-5963 a day in advance to order a meal. Menus are available at the meal site from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday.
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Hello everyone from the Hilltown Seniors!
I want to touch base with everyone to remind all of our next meeting on May 12th, at the Senior Community Center in Berne.
We are looking for seven more people to go on our trip in September to Niagara Falls and Toronto. A few people dropped out at the last minute, so that leaves some openings.
We will spend five days and four nights, which is a Monday through Friday. The trip includes guided tours of Niagara Falls and Toronto; a visit to Niagara-on-Lake and Queen Victoria Park; a visit to Casa Loma, Canada’s most magnificent castle; four nights’ lodging with four breakfasts and four dinners and gaming at Fallsview Casino.
Contact Shirley Slingerland for details and reservations at 518-797-3467.
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The Hilltown Seniors met for their monthly meeting on Saturday, April 14, at the Senior/Community Center with over 50 in attendance. We were so fortunate to have “Two’s Company” with Bill Dibble singing and playing guitars for our enjoyment. Thanks for the great music!
Many thanks to Helderberg Ambulance volunteers who took our blood pressure readings. We are blessed!
We had a guest speaker from the Office Of The Aging, Sandy Martin, who did a presentation on Medicare. Next month, we will learn more about scams that we encounter every day — stay tuned!
Karen Stark gave us some information on the meal site program, which we so enjoy on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays. Come and enjoy a warm meal or a cold meal, your choice. Just call Karen for your reservation at 518-937-5963.
We celebrated Ed Wood’s 90th birthday and all April birthdays and anniversaries with joyous voices.
Those going with us on the Saratoga tour with lunch at the casino, will leave at 8:30 a.m. from Westerlo and at 9 a.m. from the Berne Senior Community Center.
We always welcome new members, so just stop by on any second Saturday of the month.
If we’re not supposed to have midnight snacks, why is there a light in the fridge?
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Volunteer Voices. Helderberg News
The month of March came in like a lion and left like a lion. The weather, illness and travelers made it difficult to answer the calls for the month. There were 35 calls and unfortunately the squad turned over 16 calls. There were 9 transports. Eight of the transports were medical and one was a motor vehicle incident. We had 8 calls cancelled. There were 23 calls in Berne, 11 calls in Knox, and 1 in Westerlo.
The month of April is starting out much better, although the weather is still not spring like.
Upcoming events for the squad will be a drill with the fire company on May 7. This will be to familiarize the firemen with our equipment. The firemen lend helping hands to the squad and we really appreciate all their hard work and dedication to the community.
On April 21, from 12 – 5 there will be a Spring Vendor Festival at the BKW High School. This is a fundraiser for the BKW softball team and the ambulance squad has been invited to participate as a vendor. We will have the ambulance at the school and you can stop by and tour the ambulance. We will also be available to take blood pressures. Stop by and visit with us.
On June 29 – July 1, the Town of Knox will be holding their Puckerstreet Fair. Once again the ambulance squad has been invited to participate. Stop by and visit with us and tour the ambulance.
Our monthly drill is the first Thursday at 7:00, and the meeting is the second Thursday at 7:00. Stop by and check us out. You can also visit us on Facebook.
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The Hilltown Seniors met for their monthly meeting on Saturday, April 14, at the Senior/Community Center with over 50 in attendance. We were so fortunate to have “Two’s Company” with Bill Dibble singing and playing guitars for our enjoyment. Thanks for the great music!
Many thanks to Helderberg Ambulance volunteers who took our blood pressure readings. We are blessed!
We had a guest speaker from the Office Of The Aging, Sandy Martin, who did a presentation on Medicare. Next month, we will learn more about scams that we encounter every day — stay tuned!
Karen Stark gave us some information on the meal site program, which we so enjoy on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays. Come and enjoy a warm meal or a cold meal, your choice. Just call Karen for your reservation at 518-937-5963.
We celebrated Ed Wood’s 90th birthday and all April birthdays and anniversaries with joyous voices.
Those going with us on the Saratoga tour with lunch at the casino, will leave at 8:30 a.m. from Westerlo and at 9 a.m. from the Berne Senior Community Center.
We always welcome new members, so just stop by on any second Saturday of the month.
If we’re not supposed to have midnight snacks, why is there a light in the fridge?
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Now that we have entered spring (we hope), we are all anxious to get out and about! So, with that being said, we have three trips open to our members and also to non-members. I know I have posted two of these before, but have added a third.
The first trip is on April 18 and we are going to take a tour of Saratoga National Park, which is about a 10-mile tour. Then we’ll finish the afternoon off with lunch at the Casino (buffet or food court) and we’ll have time for some slot-machine fun! The trip costs $15 for members and $30 for non-members.
Then we’ll have a trip to Lancaster Pennsylvania in May from the 23rd to the 25th where we will be visiting Longwood Gardens, seeing a new production at the Sight and Sound Theatre, “Jesus,” and seeing another show, “Grease,” at the Dutch Apple Theatre. We’ll have two nights of accommodations, shopping at Kitchen Kettle Village, visit the Bird In Hand Farmers’ Market and man other attractions. The cost for the trip is $400 for members and $420 for non-members.
Then in September, we will be traveling from Sept 17 to the 21st to Niagara Falls and Toronto with a guided tour of Niagara Falls and Toronto. Journey to the Falls on the HOrnblower Niagara Cruise, gaming at Fallsview Casino. We’ll visit Niagara-On-The-Lake and Queen Victoria Park then visit Casa Loma, Canada’s most magnificent castle. The trip costs $450 for members and $475 for non-members.
Just give Shirley Slingerland your reservation along with a deposit and join us for some fun-filled trips! You can reach her at 518-797-3467.
OK, folks — we are getting ready for some other day trips, so be watching for those. Also, our submissions to the Altamont Fair will have a safari theme so try thinking of something unique to enter at the craft building. Mine are already done.
Let’s all pray and send bear hugs to our president, Linda Carman, as she recovers from surgery. How we miss her!