PEOPLE IN THE NEWS

Have you heard?

BY KATE BLAIN
ASSISTANT EDITOR

St. Mary's Hospital in Amsterdam recently honored more than 150 volunteers, marking National Volunteer Week, including BEATRICE PASICZNYK, ANN SHERMAN and RITA TRAIDER, who received awards for 20 years of service.

Also at St. Mary's, recent winners of monthly "values in practice" (VIP) awards were nurse CAROL OLMSTEAD and LINDA ORLEANSKI of the Health Information Management Department....

St. Augustine's School in Troy just held its first sock hop. Students and parishioners danced to 1950s music by a band assembled by music teacher JOHN DESSINGUE....

Students from Siena College in Loudonville are making a second trip to Belarus to restore a Jewish cemetery and work on a house while staying with local families. (Read about their first trip by searching for "Belarus" at www.evangelist.org.) Fundraising for the trip is ongoing; to contribute, contact RALPH BLASTING, 783-2320....

St. Agnes Cemetery in Menands just held its second annual migratory bird count, gathering information from bird-watchers. The cemetery will also hold a ceremony June 26 to note its listing on the National Register of Historic Sites....

PHOEBE COLE, a senior at the Academy of the Holy Names in Albany, has won second place at the Greater Capital Region Science and Engineer Fair at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for her research project on cancer cells. She can now compete nationally. She plans to attend the University of Vermont....

Seniors from Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons School in Schenectady recently participated in "Youth Service Day," volunteering for cleanup efforts at historic Vale Cemetery in the city....

Opening day at Belmont Park racetrack this year included the presentation of a check to Catholic Charities of Brooklyn, Queens and Albany and to the Disabled Jockey Fund, representing a donation of 10 cents of every transaction using new Dime Bank ATM machines at the tracks for the next year....

LAUREN LITZ, a parishioner of St. John the Evangelist Church in Schenectady, recently rang the bell at the NASDAQ stock market in New York City -- part of an award for winning a First Niagara Bank essay contest. Students wrote about ideas for businesses that could help others; her essay talked about saving the environment....

St. Mary's/St. Alphonsus School in Glens Falls has reached the $1 million mark in fundraising for its Catholic School Cornerstone project, with the goal of renovating the school. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places....

RAVEN SHORT, a junior at Catholic Central High School in Troy, and physical education teacher KATHY ANGLUM have been nominated for outstanding teacher and student awards from the East Greenbush area and Troy Family YMCA. Raven was also named Rensselaer County student of the year....

The Hearst Foundation has awarded The College of Saint Rose in Albany a $250,000 grant to support its Massry Center for the Arts, currently under construction. A music wing will be named for WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST....

St. Catherine's Center for Children in Albany has received a $2,250 grant from the Holiday Match fund at Stewart's. The money will send children to summer camp and support other recreational activities....

Two seventh-graders from Christ the King School in Westmere, JOAN HARRISON and RACHEL LEE, won first place medals at the New York State History Day competition in Cooperstown recently for a project titled, "DDT, The Killer Cure." They will compete nationally....

St. Mary's Hospital in Amsterdam has received a $17,000 grant from the northeastern New York affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The funds will be used for the Center for Complementary Therapies' Healing Touch Buddies program....

DAVID KACZYNSKI of New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty just visited LaSalle Institute to speak with the junior class about his brother, TED, known as the Unabomber for a campaign of mail bombings from the 1970s to '90s. The NYADP official shared thoughts on the death penalty....

Thirty students at Siena College in Loudonville have been inducted into Delta Epsilon Sigma, the national scholastic honor society for students in Catholic colleges....

From Sunday bulletins

BY KATE BLAIN 
ASSISTANT EDITOR 

PAT BARR is the new parish health minister at Holy Family parish in Albany, an addition to the parish's ministries....

Immaculate Conception parish in Glenville just hosted a program on "taking care of your parents." Guest speakers addressed elder law, community resources for seniors and adapting homes to meet the needs of the elderly....

MEGHAN WEBSTER is being sponsored by her parish, St. Mary's in Clinton Heights, when she participates in the Multiple Sclerosis Walk on May 1 in Albany....

Several Pack 28 Cub Scouts from St. Mary's Church in Oneonta have earned religious scouting medals: ALEX VALENTE, LIAM KELLY, CHRISTOPHER CEROSALETTI, NATE MOON and ANDREW STANTON....

AGNES PHELAN, a parishioner of Holy Trinity in Cohoes who passed away a year ago, has been honored with a plaque on the sidewalk in the front of the church recognizing her half-century as a school crossing guard there....

Children at St. John Francis Regis parish in Grafton have already sent $105 to the needy in Appalachia through a collection of "noisy money" (change); the collection continues....

MR. AND MRS. DUONG UOC and NGUYEN HAO, parishioners of St. Luke's in Schenectady, have donated a monstrance to the parish for monthly eucharistic adoration....

Parishioners of Blessed Sacrament in Springfield Center and St. Thomas the Apostle in Cherry Valley are taking a "field trip" to the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany this month. They will attend Mass and tour the church, then tour St. Agnes Cemetery in Menands....

(05/08/08)