Issue link: http://hvparent.uberflip.com/i/1195443
6 Hudson Valley Parent n January 2020 MY TripPlanner.com family MY TripPlanner.com family Hudson Valley Parent is published monthly by: The Professional Image Marketing & Public Relations Inc. 174 South Street • Newburgh, NY 12550 Phone: 845-562-3606 • Fax: 845-562-3681 hvparent.com This publication is copyrighted by the publisher. Reproduction without written permission of the publisher is prohibited. Hudson Valley Parent welcomes submissions, although we cannot accept responsibility for work submitted nor guarantee publication. Publisher TERRIE GOLDSTEIN tgoldstein@excitingread.com Editor KAREN MASERJIAN SHAN kshan@excitingread.com Dir. of Business Development KATHLEEN MERZ kmerz@excitingread.com Executive Assistant LESLIE CORTES lcortes@excitingread.com Media Advisor MARY ZAK mzak@excitingread.com Media Advisor MICHELE RUSSELL mrussell@excitingread.com Cover Photography MICHAEL BLOOM michaelbloomphoto.com Layout & Design ENGLE PRINTING also publishers of I love of the sense of hope and possibility that comes with the arrival of a new year. I like wondering about what new experiences the coming months will bring. I like thinking about new ways to live more authentically. I like seeing myself doing good things with good people. Hopefully, we've all been on the receiving end of another person's kindness. Even small gestures can make a difference, like the time a person in front of me in the grocery line offered me the chance to move ahead of him, since he had a wag- on-load of food and I carried just a few items. And then there are bigger acts, like when my brother-in-law climbed stacked ladders to shovel a dangerously heavy load of snow off my home's roof. It's exciting to see acts of kindness throughout society, both random and planned. In the Hudson Valley people, organizations and businesses have embraced programs built on kind- ness and the spread of goodwill. The Hudson Valley Center for Kindness & Compassion in Goshen, hvckc.com, for instance, connects those in need with giving partners and provides programs to help peo- ple live more meaningfully, thereby encouraging the spread of kindness and compassion. Saugerties' Catskill Animal Sanc- tuary's Camp Kindness brings kids and teens together with animals through caring acts, teaching them that thoughtful actions make an impact on themselves, others and the planet. And last March, the Pleasant Valley Library hosted a rock painting event, where kids, adults and seniors were invited to paint kind words or pictures on garden rocks. Local students and teachers also have taken steps to encourage kindness, like the 'Be Kind' campaign held at Haviland Middle School the in Hyde Park and the 'Middle School Kindness Challenge' that in- volved staff and students at Crispell Middle School in Pine Bush. This year, HVP is making an extra effort to cultivate kindness, by shar- ing more stories of people demon- strating goodwill, tips on acting with kindness, and ways adults and kids can express their thoughtfulness throughout the region. We've started the year's kindness campaign in this issue with advice to moms and dads of teens through HVP's Real Talk column, where Dr. Paul Schwartz and mom Patrice E. Athanasidy discuss why it's import- ant to cultivate kindness in adoles- cents and how to nurture it. We've also provided ways to volunteer and donate goods in Dutchess County, with other counties to follow. If you have stories about how you've benefited from another's kindness or are supporting others through acts of your own, tell us. We'd love to hear all about them. Here's to a year filled with kindness and goodwill. A new year. Fresh starts. Fortified goals. Renewed energies. KAREN MASERJIAN SHAN Editor's Journal