Since January 2004, the Windham Chapter has proudly supported a wide variety of programs in the arts, education and recreation in Windham. Our grant recipients are listed and described below. Grant recipients are also featured in our Photo Gallery.
ARTS
The Windham Chamber Music Festival has recieved $10,000 per year for its concert seasons since 2004. The festival brings some of the world's finest musicians to Windham and helps to give the area a national profile through broadcasts of selections of its concerts on National Public Radio's "Performance Today".
The Windham Civic Centre, Civic Centre lighting: A grant enabled the Centre to have additional lighting installed in order to benefit the various musical, educational, theatrical, and community meeting groups who use the premises.
The Greene County Council on the Arts was awarded with $5,000 in funding to support the Mountain Top Gallery, the Sprouts program for youth, and its many other programs in the Windham area.
The Windham Arts Alliance for its Program Season. The Arts Alliance is dedicated to developing the Windham area as a cultural center and destination by producing and promoting events in the visual, performing and literary arts. This year the Windham Chapter gave $1,500 for the annual Sandcastle Competition at CD Lane Park.
The Patchworkers for their annual quilt exhibition, which took place in Windham for the first time in 2004, after having been held in East Jewett for many years. Quilts produced by the Patchworkers are raffled for local charities, including the Windham Public Library and Victims of Domestic Violence in Greene County.
EDUCATION
Windham-Ashland-Jewett Renovation Project: The Windham Chapter donated $1 million to WAJ toward the substantial renovations started in June 2007, including a complete makeover to the front of the school, removal of temporary classroom trailers, and many other structural improvements.
Windham-Ashland-Jewett Enrichment Program:Develops students academic performance outside of a traditional classroom setting.
Windham-Ashland-Jewett Trout in Classroom Project: Teaches students how to preserve our local ecosystem
Windham-Ashland-Jewett PTSA Movie Program: Free movie events open to students in grades K-5 from the WAJ & HTC school districts.
Windham Ashland Jewett School Mentoring Programfor teachers. The Mentoring Program is designed to assist new district teachers by making available to them the knowledge, skill and experience of some of the district's many talented veteran teachers.
In 2005, the Windham Chapter sponsored two WAJ students between the ages of 10 and 15 to participate in summer enrichment camp at Keuka Lake, NY. "Mindstretchers" offers younger students a taste of college life, where campers spend time living in a college dorm, and provides motivated students with a challenging, hands-on learning experience that extends beyond the traditional classroom setting offering courses like Marine Sciences, Poetry for the Mind, Math Moguls, Pottery and Water Sports.
The WAJ Outstanding Student Scholarship Committee voted Kersten Laveroni as the recipient of the 2010 Outstanding Student Scholarship based on the criteria of academic excellence, extracurricular activities, and community involvement. The student recieves a total of $12,000 towards their college expenses if they maintain a 3.0 GPA or above.
Jonathan Lindine 2009 recipient
Karl Goettsche 2008 recipient
Matthew Iacono 2007 recipient
Emily Blanden 2006 recipient
Cassandra Starr 2005 recipient
Genevieve Valenti 2004 recipient
The Windham Public Library has been awarded $1,500 - $2,500 annually since 2004, in support of the Summer Reading Program. The program encourages recreational reading throughout the summer months by local youth and their parents, with meetings occurring every Wednesday and prizes given for every ten books read. The Windham Chapter is pleased to assist the Library with the Summer Reading Program, and with "Teen Read Week" later in the fall.
Sugar Maples Arts Scholarships. The Sugar Maples Center for Arts & Education in Maplecrest offers classes in ceramics, fiber arts, painting, drawing, and sculpture. During Summers 2005 - 2009, the Windham Chapter supported scholarships to almost 100 classes each summer that were awarded to Mountain Top residents.
RECREATION
Civil War Encampment: Starting in 2005, the Windham Chapter has given $5,000 annually in support of the Annual Civil War Heritage Music Gathering & Encampment at the Centre Church in Windham. Attendees experience various history speaker presentations, traditional music performances, Civil War living history portrayals and encampment activities/demonstrations, preservation demonstrations, memorabilia and Historic Art exhibits, a book fair, book signings, and historical reenactments.
The Windham Fireworks Commitee: the Windham Chapter helped fund the 2005 annual 4th of July fireworks celebration.
Since 2005, the Windham Chapter has aided the Girls Vacation Fund, an organization that sponsors recreational trips and activities for young women, in the purchasing of new kitchen equipment, and continued support of $2,500 in 2009 for atheletic equipment, and other supplies for summer camp.
Mountain Top Youth Soccer has been awarded $4,500 for the fourth year running in funding for new team uniforms. Mountain Top Youth Soccer is a Windham-based organization that organizes a summer soccer program, an annual Soccer Festival at Windham Town Park, and an Indoor Soccer Season at Hunter-Tannersville High School for 220 players.
Windham Mountain Cycling has been supported since 2005 with $4,500 annually in funding for uniforms and travel accommodations to regional competitions. WMC teaches competitive cycling strategies, healthy diet and stewardship of the forest to members of the local community, with an emphasis on local youth. Several young cyclists have gone on to pursue professional cycling careers that started with Windham Mountain Cycling.
Windham World Cup Mountain Bike Festival was awarded $250,000 to help bring the 2010 UCI World Cup Mountain Bike Series finals to Windham. The world cup is a highly prestigious, world-class race series attracting hundreds of top professional cyclists, and thousands ot enthusiatic fans from over 30 countries worldwide.
Movie Matinee Program at the Catskill Mountain Foundation Theater presents a free movie for K-5 students at Windham-Ashland-Jewett and Hunter-Tannersville Schools.
The Windham Chapter is a proud sponsor of the Windham Festival ($19,500) which took place for the first time at Windham Mountain and at the Sugar Maples Campus. The weekend's activities include art demonstrations, BBQ, hay rides, sky rides, folk music, chamber mmusic, puppet theater, live theater, and history lectures.
OTHER
Windham Family Medical: In 2005 the Windham Chapter made a general donation to the Columbia Memorial Fund in support of bringing a full-time MD to the town of Windham. With the MD in place in 2006, the Windham Chapter provided $19,000 in funding for eyes, nose & throat equipment, a vascular diagnostics system, the development of on-site lab capabilities, and the Outreach Program for Kids and Families. The Windham Chapter continued that support in 2007 and 2008 with an additional $10,000 per year toward additonal needed equipment.
The Windham Hose Company was awarded funding for new fire radios. The new radios will help ensure critical communication between interior and exterior firefighters at emergency sites and allow firefighters to communicate with incident command.
The Hensonville Hose Company was awarded funding for new rescue equipment and for its hosting the Greene County Volunteer Firemen's Convention in September 2004, marking the company's 100th anniversary.
The Mountaintop Historical Society (MTHS):Digital Equipment for portable displays, lectures, and newsletters to aid in MTHS's mission to educate the mountaintop's residents and visitors on the rich cultural history of our area.
The Sugar Maples Center for Arts & Education was awarded with funding for bluestone sidewalks and period streetlights along Big Hollow Road in Maplecrest.
