Our first guest this week, thanks to speaker host Susan Simon, was Doug Strawinski of Historic Red Hook who led off the meeting with a description of the wonderful changes that have taken place between the Elmendorf Inn and the “new” Cherry Street property. A shed to the CVS side of the property has been removed. Parking has been shifted to the east side of the property and a wonderful new green is installed to the east side of the Inn. Hardscrabble initiated the use of this green with apple bobbing, games and lots of apple pies. The board asked Doug to look into the purchase of small, portable stage that can be broken down and used inside and out for various activities. A suitable stage has been identified: composed of three 4’ by 8’ sections, it expands to 16 by 8 and is constructed of steel with a poly surface that can sustain getting wet. It clips together for stability and comes with a 10-year warranty. Historic Red Hook hopes that Rotary will consider funding a portion of the $1,866 cost as a gift to the community.
We then greeted our additional guests, Chris and Claudine Klose and Susan Goodman Goldstein and Manny Carel. Claudine spoke about how the new “green” at Elmendorf would be used and how the adjacent Cherry St property is being developed as a “story studio”. 120 fourth graders have been through it this fall and had their lunch on the green! Historic Red Hook’s neighbor, KZE is also excited about the new outdoor space. On a question from a Rotarian, Claudine updated us on the progress of the HRH capital campaign. In consequence of a generous offer from the prior owner of the Cherry Street property, HRH now owns the property and has a much reduced mortgage which they anticipate that the capital campaign will enable them to extinguish. So far in the three year capital campaign $100,000 of the needed $160,000 has been pledged.
Susan and Manny were visiting from California where Susan is a Rotarian. She was a member of our club for several years.
(photos by Rev. Fred Cartier)