Tompkins Library to host presentation on Mandela
The Tompkins County Public Library, in partnership with Cornell University’s Africana Studies and Research Center, the John H. Clarke Africana Library and The History Center in Tompkins County, will present “Lessons From the Life of Nelson Mandela: A Community Conversation,” at 2 p.m. Feb. 22 in the library’s Borg Warner Community Room.
This program will feature a timely discussion on Mandela’s life, with Professors N’Dri Assie-Lumumba and Locksley Edmondson exploring the lessons learned and legacy left by South Africa’s first democratically elected president. The conversation will be facilitated by Eric Kofi Acree, director of Cornell’s Africana Library.
The author and editor of several books, Assie-Lumumba is a professor of African and African Diaspora education, comparative and international education, social institutions, African social history and the study of gender. She has carried out numerous national and international board and committee assignments, including several related to the social, educational and economic advancement of African nations.
Edmondson is a political scientist with specializations on Africa, the Caribbean and international race relations. He has traveled and lectured throughout Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, North America and the Caribbean, and has delivered several lectures during his three invited visits to South Africa since 1994.
For more information, contact Carrie Wheeler-Carmenatty at 607–272–4557 ex. 248 or email [email protected].
Dining Services donates to Food Bank program
Ithaca Dining Services at Ithaca College donated $5,138.92 to the Food Bank of the Southern Tier, which included a $1,000 grant from a Sodexo Foundation grant. These funds will be used to support the Food Bank’s BackPack Program in Tompkins County.
Ithaca Dining Services raised money for the Sodexo Foundation’s STOP Hunger Campaign through two projects: the Helping Hands Register Campaign and the Food Frenzy: For Your Community event.
Additionally, Ithaca Dining Services by Sodexo staff volunteered to assemble 550 bags of food for the Food Bank’s BackPack Program in the Ithaca City School District.
The Food Bank’s BackPack Program provides healthy, child-friendly and easy-to-prepare foods to children at risk of hunger during weekends and holiday breaks when children do not have access to free or reduced-price school meal programs. During the 2013–14 school year, the program will provide for more than 2,200 children in all 41 school districts across the Southern Tier.
In 2013, the food bank distributed about 9.7 million pounds of food to neighbors in need across the six Southern Tier counties of Broome, Chemung, Schuyler, Steuben, Tioga and Tompkins.
Geriatric expert to speak on health and elder care
The Ithaca College Gerontology Institute Distinguished Speaker Series will receive Lucia McBee at 7 p.m. Feb. 24 in Emerson Suites for a presentation titled “Mindfulness-Based Elder Care: A Model for Health Care Workers and Caregivers.”
McBee is a licensed clinical geriatric social worker who has worked with elders and their caregivers for 30 years. She received her masters in social work and masters in public health from Columbia University and her yoga certification from the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health. For the past 15 years, she has integrated mindfulness, gentle movement, aromatherapy, hand massage and other complementary therapies into her practice with frail elders in nursing homes, with homebound elders and with their caregivers. McBee’s work has been published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at national and international conferences.
“Mindfulness-Based Elder Care,” her book for healthcare workers, was published in 2008 and will be available for sale.
Followed by a book signing, the event is free and open to the public. It is presented in partnership with the Finger Lakes Geriatric Education Center and Ithaca College’s departments of health promotion and physical education, occupational therapy, physical therapy and recreation and leisure studies.
For more information, contact the Gerontology Institute at 607–274–1607 or send an email to [email protected].
City apologizes to citizens for late notice of tag fees
The City of Ithaca has issued an apology to its residents regarding the lack of notification regarding an increase in trash tag fees. In response, Mayor Svante Myrick has extended the city’s trash tag program changes. Residents may use their current supply of purple trash tags through Feb. 15. Effective Feb. 17, residents will be expected to use the new orange tags. The price of trash tags is now $3.75 per tag and can be purchased in a sheet of six for $23.00. Tags are valid for trash cans and bags weighing up to 35 pounds.
Unused tags can be turned in at the city chamberlain’s office for credit against the new tags or for a refund. Those who are not able to visit the chamberlain’s office during office hours may mail their tags to 108 E. Green St., and a refund check will be returned.
The Tompkins County Division of Solid Waste has curbside pick-up recycling options and has recently added a free food scrap and compostable disposables program at the drop-off area at its center, which is located at 122 Commercial Ave.
Questions about trash tags may be forwarded to the city chamberlain’s office at 607–274–6580. Questions about the recycling program should be forwarded to the Tompkins County Division of Solid Waste at 607–273–6632.
Business School to award $10,000 in competition
The School of Business has announced the start of the Third Annual Sustainability Case Competition with an entry deadline of Feb. 14.
This year’s case will focus on researching and developing a marketing plan for the Greater Ithaca Activities Center for a food establishment, possibly a franchise, on the north side of Ithaca, where the individuals served by GIAC could be trained to manage. Student teams will conduct market research, develop feasibility studies, talk to GIAC personnel and those served by GIAC and develop a plan.
Open to current Ithaca College students, teams compete for a total of $10,000 in prize money — $5,000 for first place, $3,500 for second
and $1,500 for third. The overall goal is for students to learn about how sustainability issues impact the real world, locally and globally.
The first information session will be held at noon Feb. 6 in the business school, room 111.
