The Village of Schuylerville is proud to announce the continued availability of housing rehabilitation grant funds through the NYS Office of Homes and Community Renewal.

Income eligible homeowners residing in the Village of Schuylerville can receive grant assistance to address health, safety and energy efficiency issues. In addition, owner-occupied 1 to 4 unit rental properties are
now eligible for grant funds. All village homeowners are encouraged to apply.

Grant funds are typically used to repair or replace heating systems, roofs or electrical wiring, as well as upgrading windows, doors and insulation to make homes more energy efficient.

Applications are available from the Village Office at 35 Spring Street, Schuylerville or online at www.marvinandcompany.com.

For more information please contact Marvin & Company at 518-695-3344 .

Other events this weekend include the Lighting of the Memory Trees on Friday December 2nd at 6pm and the Festival of Trees on Saturday December 3rd from 10am to 4pm at the Saratoga Town Hall.  Besides the lovely trees there will be a story and crafts for the children.  Please see the events calendar for more details

The Dutch tradition of St. Nicolaas is a blend of many legends from different parts of the world.  Wherever he is known there are tales of the kindness and protection he gives especially to children, sailors and the poor.  The Dutch account tells of St. Nicolaas arriving from Spain on a steamboat bringing with him his white horse and his many mischievous helpers who are called Piets.

Youngsters believe that his horse will carry St. Nicolaas over the rooftops to listen at the chimneys.  This is his clever way of finding out who has been naughty and who has been nice.  On the evening of St. Nicolaas children leave their wooden shoes near the fireplace along with carrots ro hay for St. Nicolaas’ horse.  It is the job of the Piets to climb down the chimney, gather up the snacks and fill the little shoes with treats to be discovered the next morning.  The trip through the chimneys cover the Piets with black soot while St. Nicolaas’ red robes stay spotless and brilliant.

Schuylerville Area Food and Emergency Relief, Inc.

12 Spring Street

Schuylerville, NY 12871

November 2011

Dear Christmas Community Fund Donor,

This letter is being sent to introduce you to our organization and to explain briefly our recently established association with the Christmas Community Fund.

S.A.F.E.R., Inc., a nonprofit, is a combination of two of Schuylerville’s longstanding community outreach programs– the food bank, in operation for more than 30 years at the Old Saratoga Reformed Church, and the Greater Schuylerville Community Emergency Fund. In June 2010, S.A.F.E.R. incorporated and relocated to a central location behind the Saratoga Town Hall and next to the Schuylerville  Central School complex on Spring Street. It is governed by a 17-member board, serves residents of the Schuylerville Central School District, and has 501(c)3 status pending. S.A.F.E.R. is affiliated with the Northeast Regional Food Bank.

In the past, the Christmas Community Fund (CCF) has served select Schuylerville  Central School District families with holiday food boxes and toys made possible by monetary, food, and toy donations from local families and businesses. Effective this 2011 holiday season, the food effort of the Fund has been acquired by S.A.F.E.R.  The treasuries of S.A.F.E.R. and the CCF will continue to maintain separate entities, ensuring that all donations made specific to the Christmas Community Fund food drive will serve that specific purpose.

The toy drive has been acquired by the National Honor Society of the Schuylerville Jr.-Sr. High School under their “Caring & Sharing” Program.   If you would like to support this effort, you can send your contribution to:   Schuylerville Central School  District, “Caring and Sharing”, 14 Spring Street, Schuylerville, N.Y.  12871, Attn:  Pam Driscoll.  Checks should be made out to:  “Caring & Sharing”

It will be S.A.F.E.R.’s pleasure to carry on the hard work and good will of the previous Christmas Community Fund volunteers. Donations for the CCF food boxes may be sent to: Christmas Community Fund, 60 Ferry Street, Schuylerville,  NY 12871, Attn: M. Sherman-Czuhanich.  Your check should be made out to:  Christmas Community Fund

Thank you for your attention, your consideration.

Sincerely,

S.A.F.E.R. Board of Directors

S.A.F.E.R. CCF Food Drive Committee Members:

Martha Sherman-Czuhanich, 695-4867, meshermc@nycap.rr.com

Denise Zdobnikow, 695-3582, nzdobnik@nycap.rr.com

Jan Peterson, 695-3054, KJPThree@wildblue.net

Rev. Joyce de Velder 695-3260  joycedv@nycap.rr.com

Orders for Chocolate Letters are now being taken for delivery in the first week of December and throughout the Holiday Season. Chocolate Letters, in Dark, Milk or Sugarless Chocolate, 3 x 4 inches in size, come individually packaged in a festive box.  The cost is $6.00 each and can be ordered by calling Schuyler Sweets at 518-695-4171 or by emailing  rstickle@schuylersweets.com
For more information, call the Schuylerville Area Chamber, Marie Foster, 518-695-5609 or fostermr@verizon.net Please make checks payable to the Schuylerville Area Chamber of Commerce. Good fortune to all who receive the first letter of their first name in Chocolate!   Delicious!   

Sponsored by The Schuylerville Area Chamber of Commerce to benefit the St Nicolaas Festival.

THE DUTCH TRADITION OF CHOCOLATE INITIALS.

Chocolate Initials  -  A Dutch Tradition!      In the 16^th and 17^thcenturies, according to old Germanic traditions, letters made from pastry were
presented to children at birth as a symbol of good fortune and this became a part of the St Nicolaas legend in the 19^th century.  A bread dough letter was used to identify whose gifts were hidden in a shoe or under a sheet.  Then the children had to find their initial
in order to see what else St Nicolaas had left for them.  When the Dutch, famous as traders, brought home cocoa beans along with coffee, tea and spices from exotic lands, their love affair with chocolate began.  They learned to make some of the finest chocolate in the world.  Soon, the St Nicolaas’ letters were made from chocolate and the tradition continues to this day.  The Dutch chocolate makers keep St Nicolaas
supplied with enough chocolate letters for every household in Holland – and even have plenty for us!

The Tradition  Continues!  In Schuylerville,  NY!

The anniversary was celebrated with cookies and punch, a $1 bag sale, and 25% off coupons.  Even if you missed the celebration you can still stop in and find a great deal!  The shop is located at 116 Broad Street in Schuylerville and is open 11am to 4pm Tuesday through Saturday.  Donations of clean household items and clothing are always welcome.  For more information call 695-4640.

“Connecting mind, body and spirit to create the best you.”

Make the connection.

120 Broad St above Home Plate

Follow us on Facebook:  Challenge By Choice Training

Is this type of Private Personal GroupTraining for you? Challenge by Choice training is for the individual who is looking to take what they’ve got and make it the best they can.  To do this takes amazing determination of the mind, maximum effort from the body and a strong spirit.  My personal favorite part about training my body is how strong my mind and spirit become!  Small group training offers the benefits of individualized attention with a more affordable price.  The camaraderie built within the group is a wonderful support as you push each other to stretch past your comfort zone.

Who am I? My name is Jodi Mehan and I have a Bachelor of Science in Fitness and Cardiac Rehabilitation.  I have been certified by the American College of Sports Medicine as an Exercise Specialist and also by AFAA and ACE.  Always a fitness enthusiast and dancer, I began my fitness career in the gym as a Personal Trainer.  Evolving to the medical side of my degree, I became the Director of Wellness at Cape Fear Valley Hospital in NC.  There I ran a physician- referral program for people at high risk for Heart Disease.  Lifestyle behavior change with exercise prescription, nutritional counseling and stress management were the components taught and applied. Becoming a mother along with being a professional, I learned the value of a minute in exercise.   That is why I believe in the HIIT method of training to reach your health and fitness goals.  I want to offer quality training in minimum time to keep your training as a regular part of your lifestyle and not just a phase to “get in shape”.

What is HIIT Training? High Intensity Interval Training is a strategy intended to improve fitness performance with shorter training sessions. Additionally it has been shown that these high intensity workouts from Max Interval training increases your RMR (Resting Metabolic rate) which in terms continues to aid in burning fat longer than just while you are working out.   Hours after finishing your workout you would be burning calories at a higher rate than normal.  It is the High intensity workouts that aid in raising the RMR similar to what having more lean muscle mass does from lifting weights.  By creating leaner muscles you aid in the increase in your RMR.  Overall you will see your athletic performance improve in only a few sessions.  So it has many areas that you will see improved upon.   You’ll see your endurance go up, your ability to recover quicken and your overall energy levels will skyrocket.  YOU ARE STRONGER THAN YOU THINK…….NEVER GIVE UP.

What you look like is a direct result of what you put into your body…..so now what? It can also be that it is a result of what you DON’T put in your body.  Nutrition can be very confusing for anyone who wants to improve their health, lose weight or just increase their energy.  Challenge by Choice includes nutritional guidance based on The Diet Solution by Isabel De Ross Rios.  Each client is required to fill out a Metabolic Typing Questionnaire to help me prescribe a Nutritional Guidance Program that is personalized to them.  We focus on eating whole foods and learn how this can make a huge difference in our results.

WHY is this different than other exercise classes? First, it is not a “class”.  We TRAIN!  Challenge by Choice is a Lifestyle Behavior Change program.  On your days between training, you are assigned an Exercise Challenge to be completed at home with the results of the challenge emailed to me.  CbC teaches you to make time for yourself!  These challenges are short in duration and high in intensity to keep raising that metabolism to stay at a fat burning level!  Emails and articles are emailed to you for continued motivation and education on nutrition/wellness topics.

“The biggest obstacle that stands between you and your dreams is yourself.   Take this Challenge by Choice!  Choose your dreams!”

As a trainer I know your potential has no limits…..anything is within reach.  Choose to challenge yourself and see what you can become………..remember what matters most is what is happening NOW to reach that potential.

*10AM The Festival of Trees sponsored by the Schuylerville Community Theater. Beautifully decorated Christmas Trees, Wreaths, Kissing Balls, Entertainment and Crafts for your shopping pleasure!

*3PM Story Time with Librarian Julie Martin reading, “THE MITTEN” by Jan Brett followed by a craft activity for children.

*4:15PM Children may pick up lanterns to accompany St. Nicolaas in his parade.

*4:45PM St Nicolaas Arrives !! The Parade Begins!

*5:30PM St Nicolaas ceremony and Tree lighting at Schuylerville’s Village Park.

Most businesses will be open for the celebration, displaying their holiday wares and decorations, and many will be offering refreshments. Schuyler Sweets will be selling Chocolate, St Nicolaas Chocolate Letters and serving goodies; Dwell will be open for your holiday shopping, as will Olde Saratoga Bike & Boards. Gallery on the Hudson will be open for gallery viewing and refreshments, as will Riverfront Studios and The Gallery Down Under. The Canal Street Arts Center will be offering finely crafted items in the holiday shop; Old Saratoge Books and Dana Clark Accounting will be open and serving treats. The Canal Crossing Mosaic Workshop and Badger’s Cigar Den will be open for visitors, and Second Hand Rose will offer 10% off everything in the shop all day. Turning Point Rotary will provide coffee, tea, and hot chocolate to warm you as you stroll, Eli’s will have goodies to go with it, and and if you’d rather drink than eat, Old Saratoga Wine and Spirits will be serving “Gluvein”, warm wine punch. Byron’s Market will top off the evening with their delicious pea soup.

So put on your warmest woolies and join the fun as we continue our Dutch Christmas tradition. SEE YOU THERE!

After four years living at large, Sweet Pea, the gray “ghost dog” of Victory Mills is home. She was captured Monday evening on the porch of the St. Stephens parish hall by Douglas Durning and Nancy Knapik, who had seen her taking refuge in their sand barrel, especially during storms. A Katrina rescue who had lived in a succession of shelters for most of the year afterward, Sweet Pea dug her way out of our fenced yard the day after we brought her home in June, 2006. She has been literally running scared ever since.

For several weeks, she came to our back porch during the night to eat the food we left out for her, though no amount of coaxing or chasing could snare her. Neighbors tried to catch her too, and kept us up to date on her whereabouts. I did a daily “Sweet Pea Sweep” to make sure she had not been hit by a car. When duck hunting season started, however, with shots heard all around us, Sweet Pea high-tailed it into town. Flyers posted throughout the area yielded many phone calls but no dog. House to house canvassing revealed that many Victory Mills residents were finding their cat food left on the back porch was disappearing rapidly, and many people had seen her walking down the street, “just as if she was going somewhere”, one person said. She was seen by the post office, in the cemetery, at the mill, everywhere, it seemed, but could not be caught.

As days went by, and then weeks, we worried about the coming winter. We hoped her fluffy chow coat would protect her. Bob Donisthorpe and Lorraine Petralia reported that Sweet Pea seemed to be taking shelter in a leaning piece of scrap metal behind their house, down by Fish Creek, so they started putting out food for her. That was almost four years ago, and they put out the last bowl of food on Monday before they learned that she had been caught.

Many, many times through the years we discovered people who had been feeding Sweet Pea. Claudia Nevins would put out leftovers for her when her husband Bill spotted the dog approaching. “My friend Cathy up on the hill said she’s been feeding her too,” said Claudia, “and she said the dog drinks a lot of water”. Gail Sullivan reported the dog’s habitual path through her back yard, and Mayor Jim Sullivan saw Sweet Pea most evenings as he took his evening walk. “She looked in really bad shape recently,” he said. So Dr. Patti Jolie provided worming medicine, which Bob and Claudia planted in the food they put out.

Ed Cross, our local animal control officer, had been trying to trap Sweet Pea, without success, for a long time. He redoubled his efforts as her health deteriorated. When he called to tell me the news, he sounded incredulous. “Those people will be the heroes of the town!” he said. And indeed they are. Doug took the dog to the nearby vet, Dr. Sarah Schug, who stayed after hours to treat her many ailments and inoculate her. With the help of our daughter, Linda Cook, and our grandchildren, Austin, Hannah, and Graham, we brought Sweet Pea home to recuperate.

We didn’t know that Nancy and Douglas were keeping track of Sweet Pea, just as we never knew who all the people were who called about her, watched out for her, and fed her. What we do know is that there are a lot of very, very nice people in Victory Mills, and to them we, and Sweet Pea, are forever grateful.