CCNY, Community Connections of New York

We are celebrating our 2nd anniversary. In some traditions, it is customary for the birthday boy or girl to GIVE gifts to others. In honor of that tradition, we are giving you the gift of access to a free tool, quality supervision at convenient times, candy (if you RSVP), and a list of free resources. To learn more, check out our newsletter at http://www.comconnectionsny.org/docs/CCNY_Newsletter_February_2010.pdf.

We asked those who followed us on Facebook to give us some ideas of free and low-cost resources in Erie County to share in our newsletter. We were overwhelmed with the response. We have more resources than we could fit in this newsletter. So, we made this post to our latest news section. Here you have a list of numerous activities for the month of February and some that recur throughout the year. We have not edited their responses.

In addition to this list, please try:

http://fun4kidsinbuffalo.blogspot.com/2009/09/free.html

http://gocitykids.parentsconnect.com/category/buffalo-ny-usa/places-to-go/indoors

http://gocitykids.parentsconnect.com/category/buffalo-ny-usa/places-to-go/outdoors

ONGOING

Niagara Power Authority – free

Griffis Sculpture Park - donation

Borders on Walden Ave. childrens story telling Saturday mornings at 11am

The test gardens at the marina; the observation deck at city hall; the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society museum; Free Friday's at the Albright Knox art gallery; the Naval Park and museum...

Tops Amherst and West Seneca stores have great cooking classes for kids of all ages - not free but relatively low cost. Need to register in advance but schedule of classes is available online.

A lot of different Wegmans stores also have free kids/family movie nights on Friday nights now also.

 

February 3

Say Cheese!, Elma Public Library, 1860 Bowen Rd., Elma, 6:30-7:30pm. Story time for children grades K-3 features “cheesy” read-alouds, games and craft. Register in person or call 652-2719.

FEBRUARY 5

Chinese New Year, Tops Cooking School, 3980 Maple Rd., Amherst & 355 Orchard Park Rd., West Seneca, 6-8:30pm. Food fest for Aspiring Chefs ages 11-15, includes Spring Rolls, Sweet and Sour Chicken Stir-Fry and more. $20. Call 515-2000 (Amherst), 517-3006 (West Seneca) to register.

FEBRUARY 7

Family Funday at The Gallery: Words of Art, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, 1285 Elmwood Ave., Buffalo, 1:30pm. Art inspired stories, project using words and art, special exhibition Fletcher Benton: The Alphabet. Recommended for ages 12 and under. FREE with gallery admission. Call 882-8700 or visit www.albrightknox.org.

WNED Kid Fest, WNED Studios, 140 Lower Terrace, Buffalo, 12-5pm and 2/7, 2/8 12-4pm. Event features live performances, character meet & greets, games, crafts, activities and more. Admission: $10/adult, $7/child. Call (888) 202-2859 or visit www.wned.org for info.

FEBRUARY 13

Frosty Feathers, Reinstein Woods Nature Preserve, 93 Honorine Dr., Depew, 10:30am. Join in a search for winter resident birds and be part of the Great Backyard Bird Count. FREE, registration required. Call 683-5959.

Be My Valentine, Tops Cooking School, 3980 Maple Rd., Amherst & 355 Orchard Park Rd., West Seneca, 10-11:30am. Little Chefs ages 3-6 with parent will prepare and enjoy Heart Shaped Mini Turkey Burgers, Crispy Carrot Fries, Heart Spun Cocoa and more. $13. Call 515-2000 (Amherst), 517-3006 (West Seneca) to register.

Puppet Making Workshop, Kenan Center, 433 Locust St., Lockport, 1pm. Create a puppet with found materials and imagination, led by master puppeteer, Matthias Kuchta.
$12 adults, $6 children, pre-registration required. Call 433-2617. See calendar box item for Rumpelstilskin performance with Matthias Kuchta this evening.

FEBRUARY 14

National Engineering Week Kick-Off, Buffalo Museum of Science, 1020 Humboldt Pkwy., Buffalo, 1-4pm. Come and learn about robotics, polymers, automotive engineering and more. Activities facilitated by UB’s engineering club members. FREE with paid museum admission. Call 896-5200 or visit www.sciencebuff.org for info.

FEBRUARY 15

Dollar Day, The Buffalo & Erie County Botanical Gardens, 2655 South Park Ave., Buffalo, 10am-5pm. Enjoy the beautiful Gardens for $1 admission, $1 specials in Gift Shop. Visit www.buffalogardens.com for info.

Family Days…Explore the Arts, Explore & More, 300 Gleed Ave., East Aurora, daily through 2/19, 11am-3pm. Try a different paper art each day during winter break. FREE with museum admission. Call 655-5131 or visit www.exploreandmore.org.

FEBRUARY 17

Babes in The Woods, Beaver Meadow Nature Center, 1610 Welch Rd., N.Java, 10-11:30am. Nature discovery program for kids ages 3-5 and their parents. Registration required. $5/child & adult. Call 800-377-1520 or visit www.buffaloaudubon.org.

FEBRUARY 20

Family Day at the Museum, Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society Museum, 25 Nottingham Ct., Buffalo, 12-3pm. Museum tours, scavenger hunts, crafts and hands-on activities. $10/child, parents FREE. Call 873-9644 or visit www.buffalohistory.org.

Greater Buffalo Train and Toy Show, Fairgrounds Agri-Center & Expo Building, 5600 McKinley Pkwy., Hamburg, 10am-5pm and 2/21, 10am-4pm. Exhibition and sale to benefit WNY Railway Historical Society. $6, children under 12 free. Contact Steve at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for info.

FEBRUARY 21

FREE Family Film Series: Shrek, Shea’s Performing Arts Center, 646 Main St., Buffalo, 2pm. Tickets available approx. 10 days prior film date at Wegman’s (Erie & Niagara counties) and Shea’s Box Office on first come, first serve basis. Rated PG.

Native American Festival, Niagara Falls State Park, Prospect St., Niagara Falls, (snow date 2/28), 11am-4pm. Snow snake demonstration, storytelling, snowshoe walks and hands-on activities at the Niagara Gorge Discovery Center area. Call 282-5154 for info.

FEBRUARY 26

Teen Night, Ken-Ton Family YMCA, 535 Belmont Ave., Kenmore, 7-9pm. Great food, music and dancing for 12-18 year olds. $5 advance (by 2/25), $7 at the door. Call 874-5051 for info.

 

A lot of changes have happened this last year. We’re growing – welcome Matt, Amy, Michael and Jennifer. We’ve finally stopped putting everything in our mouths. We’re beginning to play well with others and share our toys. Yet, we still haven’t gotten our first haircut (hint, hint Brian).

To celebrate, we invite you to eat from our infamous candy buffet, beat our CCNY piñata, and bowl in our hallway. Please come to the CCNY offices (605 Niagara Street, Buffalo, NY 14201) on Thursday, February 11, 2010 from 2 – 4 pm. Please bring a toy, article of clothing, or other item appropriate for a 2 year-old.  We will donate all items to an area nonprofit voted on by you (one vote per attendee).

To RSVP or for questions, email Amy Hecht ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) with the number attending.

As reported in the Buffalo News: http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/easternsuburbs/story/920873.html

The Hastings Center Cunnif-Dixon Physician Award, a national award for exceptional work in end-of-life care, was presented January 13th to Dr. Robert A. Milch by the officials of the bioethics research institute. Dr. Milch is one of four doctors to be the first recipients of this national award.

We at CCNY are proud to share this news with our stakeholders and wish to congratulate Dr. Robert Milch for this achievement.

Community Connections of New York is proud to unveil a web-based resource map of Erie County. We call it L.I.N.K.S. (Local Information and Neighborhood Knowledge Source). http://links-ccny.org This resource map is for youth, families, and service providers who live or work in Erie County. It currently contains almost 600 individual resource locations, but is still growing. We have provided it to help you find existing programs and assist you in your community. The site will allow you to search for resources by keyword, center the map on a location, get car and bus directions, and add or modify the information on the site based on the changes in your neighborhood. You may also view a video tutorial on the many features available to you.

So please do a few things for us:

1. go to the site and use it today;
2. add one or more resources to the map that you feel are useful for families, youth, and service providers;
3. make corrections or updates to the resources that are currently there;
4. and finally, tell your friends by sharing this via email, Facebook, Twitter, or whatever other service you use by clicking on the share button in the bottom left of the page.

It's the time of year where we are asked to take a moment to give thanks through feasting. It's an ancient ritual that has been passed down to us, but is there something to this other than eating turkey and passing out in front of the T.V., is this simply a leftover ritual that has no value to us? Rather than describe our opinion on the importance of gratefulness, we want to look at research and data (you knew this had to come into it soon) that could compel us to be grateful through our own self-interest. In other words, what changes do we see in individuals who are thankful? How does gratitude benefit us?

Research over the last three years spanning several disciplines have indicated that there can be positive affects on our ability to cope with stress, to have enduring, restful sleep, to overcome trauma, and to assist donor recipients recovering from surgery. Using the Big Five Factor Model of psychology, a researcher in the U.K. found that gratitude has "medium to large correlations with environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relationships, purpose in life, and self-acceptance." He concluded that gratitude is, "...uniquely important to psychological well-being, beyond the effect of the Big Five facets." The same researcher found correlative evidence to suggest that individuals sleep duration and quality are positively affected by feeling gratitude during one's presleep cycle. Also, the field of organ donation may be reevaluating the living donor-recipient relationship based on the recipient's stronger recovery after being able to show gratitude to their donor. Other research has shown that simply saying or writing, "Thank you" can motivate other behaviors such as giving bigger tips, or increasing purchases. To sum up, if you take time in your life to be gracious, you could be fortifying your personality to withstand negative effects, and support positive behaviors in ourselves and others.

With this new understanding, we are grateful for the following: all those organizations and individuals who have supported CCNY's growth during its young history; the vendor organizations and workers who serve to support families in our community; and to the individual and organizations who have partnered with us to develop quality training, evaluation, and Q.I. products. We hope that all of you take the opportunity to give thanks, if for no other reason than having your after-turkey sleep will be more restful. ;-)

Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone.

References

Carey, J. R., Clicque, S. H., Leighton, B. A., & Milton, F. (1976). A test of positive reinforcement of customers. Journal of Marketing, 40, 98-100.

Kashdan, T., Uswatte, G., & Julian, T. (2006). Gratitude and hedonic and eudaimonic well-being in Vietnam war veterans. Behaviour Research & Therapy, 44(2), 177-199. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2005.01.005.

Papachristou, C., Walter, M., Schmid, G., Frommer, J., & Klapp, B. (2009). Living donor liver transplantation and its effect on the donor–recipient relationship – a qualitative interview study with donors. Clinical Transplantation, 23(3), 382-391. doi:10.1111/j.1399-0012.2008.00948.x.

Rind, B., & Bordia, P. (1995). Effect of server's "Thank you" and personalization on restaurant tipping. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 25, 745-751

Vernon, L., Dillon, J., & Steiner, A. (2009). Proactive coping, gratitude, and posttraumatic stress disorder in college women. Anxiety, Stress & Coping, 22(1), 117-127. doi:10.1080/10615800802203751.

Wood, A., Joseph, S., Lloyd, J., & Atkins, S. (2009). Gratitude influences sleep through the mechanism of pre-sleep cognitions. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 66(1), 43-48. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2008.09.002.

Wood, A., Joseph, S., & Maltby, J. (2009). Gratitude predicts psychological well-being above the Big Five facets. Personality & Individual Differences, 46(4), 443-447. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2008.11.012.