Recently we received a generous donation with a moving story behind it that we wanted to share with all of you. Joanne Dodds let us know that her children, Sophie and Liam, made the gift to the Cinema Arts Centre in honor of their grandmother, Elisabeth. While Joanne and her family now live in PA, they are from Long Island, where Elisabeth resides in assisted living, and has attended Making Memories programs at the Cinema Arts Centre with her care partner.
Joanne, a graduate of Walt Whitman High School and Fordham University, spoke to us about what it felt like to be so far from her mom and her longtime home on Long Island when the pandemic hit. “My mom moved into assisted living on Friday, March 13th,” Joanne explained, “and we have not seen her since then due to the COVID 19 lockdowns. The kids and I were scared and feeling incredibly helpless and useless all the way in Pennsylvania.” They wanted to do something to help.
Her two youngest children, Sophie (14) and Liam (17), had the idea to raise money by sewing masks. This was a fitting tribute to their grandmother, Elisabeth, who had taught sewing at Countrywood Primary Center in the South Huntington School District.
“Sophie suggested we buy a sewing machine and make masks as soon as the lockdowns began. Most of our family lives on Long Island, so we wanted to do something to help them stay safe. We purchased a beginner sewing machine and some fabric, then watched dozens of tutorials. Liam is in charge of cutting the patterns and Sophie does most of the sewing,” Joanne explained.
To date, Sophie and Liam have raised close to $1,500, selling over 300 masks at their Etsy Store. (
https://www.etsy.com/shop/SewHealthyDesigns
) They made donations to the Cinema Arts Centre in honor of our Making Memories programs, and to the LI Alzheimer’s and Dementia Center. (The eldest daughter, Sarah,19, who just finished her freshman year at Fordham, has been working on her own nonprofit project during quarantine.)
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Joanne told us, “During this time when we have all been encouraged to support local businesses and restaurants, I felt it was equally important to support local nonprofits. We are honored to make this donation and support all that you do for the seniors in our community. I am praying my mom will be able to rejoin you in the near future. Stay safe and well.”
Marcy Rhodes, who designs and facilitates Making Memories programs at the Cinema, remarked, “Making Memories Through the Arts has been part of the fabric of the Cinema Arts Centre for years, providing an opportunity for those living with memory loss and their care partners to engage together while reminiscing through film and music. I miss everyone who has remained safe and healthy at home and so look forward to gathering together again. My heart is warmed by Sophie and Liam’s donation. They are making such a difference in honor of their beautiful grandmother!”
Financial gifts to the Cinema Arts Centre at this time will help us prepare to reopen, and continue to serve our community as a vital local employer, economic driver, and presenter of excellent independent film programs and cultural events.
We are planning our reopening very carefully. We will be undergoing a meticulous cleaning of our facility, including all public areas. We will be installing safety and hygiene enhancements. We are ensuring that we reopen with robust and effective protocols in place in order to protect the health of all of our members, patrons, guests, and staff. All of this will come at an increased expense, while revenue will be negatively impacted by necessary capacity limitations.
Thanks again to Sophie, Liam, and Joanne, and the hundreds of members of our community who have made a membership contribution or a fully unrestricted gift since we temporarily closed our doors in March. Your support does help to ensure our ability to deliver our mission for years to come.
If you are able to make a fully tax-deductible financial gift today, please
click here
. Thank you so much for being part of our Cinema Family.
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CAC Co-Sponsors Juneteenth March
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The Cinema Arts Centre is proud to be among many sponsors of today's Juneteenth Long Island Unity Merch, organized by local high school student, Ariana Levin.
Juneteenth is a time of remembrance in our country as it marks the date when the last African American slaves were freed from the Confederacy.
This event is Black led. All Long Islanders are encouraged to participate. Participants will march from Amityville Memorial High School to Massapequa High School, then to Tackapausha Museum and Preserve and end at Cedar Creek Park.
Ariana recently shared, "We want to encourage that you all bring signs but make sure they are peaceful! We want much positivity in order to celebrate Juneteenth, as well as making a stance for Black lives!"
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Kelly Stays Home: The Science of Coronavirus
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In the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak that has upended so many lives, many of us are suffering from stress, confusion, anxiety, and uncertainty about the future. Some of the most affected have been the children of our community. Our kids have had to leave school, say an extended goodbye to their friends, and look on as their parents and role models worried about the future.
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We have all be searching for ways to manage this crisis, and for things to say to put our loved ones at ease. Whether you’re tuning in to the news, doing research, or speaking to professionals, everyone affected has been looking for a way to understand this crisis. That was the goal when two fellow Long Islanders, Lauren and Adam Block, set out to create a children’s book,
Kelly Stays Home: The Science of Coronavirus
.
In addition to being members of our Long Island community, and parents of young children themselves, Lauren and Adam are both doctors. Dr. Lauren Block is an associate professor at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell in Hempstead, and her husband, Adam Block PHD, is an assistant professor of public health at New York Medical College in Valhalla, New York. In
Kelly Stays Home
, Lauren and Adam put their medical knowledge together with their parental super-powers, to create a book that can help children, and families, better understand the time we are living in.
Lauren, Adam, and their daughter Elise were kind enough to record an
abridged reading of their book
for us to share with our audience. Please take a few minutes to watch it, and share it with anyone who you think might benefit. You can also download a free PDF of
Kelly Stays Home: The Science of Coronavirus or support their work by purchasing the book from their website:
https://www.kellystayshome.com/
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Keep the Cinema Going by Supporting Our Spring Membership Sale
Discounts and Upgrade Specials End June 20th!
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Our
Spring Membership Sale
is happening now. There are discounts on basic levels of membership and a special offer for newly upgrading members.
Becoming a member, or renewing or
upgrading
during our sale is a great way to support the Cinema during our shut-down, which contributes to our local quality of living in so many ways.
When we reopen, we will add one day for every day we were closed to the expiration dates of all current members after we reopen.
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CAC Youth Advisory Board Members Team Up with League of Women Voters to Encourage Young People to Vote!
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Cinema Arts Centre Youth Advisory Board Members Kyra Perles and Scarlett McCann, and their friend Kate Cleary produced
this video
in collaboration with the League of Women Voters of Huntington, NY, a non partisan group dedicated to promoting voting and defending democracy.
All of us at the Cinema Arts Centre were so proud to see these young leaders at the center of this important project.
Click
HERE to learn about registering to vote.
Click
HERE for important deadlines.
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“Kyra & I really appreciated working together on such an important topic. Like we said in the video, people in our generations have so many ideas and voices that need to be heard. One of the easiest ways to do that is through voting registration and going out to vote in the primaries and the general election. Our generation will lead our country to the future, but we sometimes need to be reminded that democracy is not a spectator sport.” - Scarlett McCann, CAC Youth Advisory Board
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You May Soon Notice Some Changes...
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The Cinema Arts Centre has had the extraordinary opportunity to work with
Maiarelli Studio on updating our branding and our look. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been adjustments to our roll-out of this rebranding work. In the coming weeks, you will begin to see some changes in our digital presence, such as our email correspondence, website, and social media. After we reopen, it may be some time before we update our logo and brand appearance in our facility. Our priority will be to invest in the safety of our facility, and re-branding projects will be deferred. We are excited to begin the first phase of our roll-out in the digital world, where we are currently presenting our programs. So if you see a new logo, or if our online environments look different in the coming weeks, it's still us, evolving as we always have since our founding as the New Community Cinema in 1973.
Thank you.
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In order to help support our community during these critical times, we are hosting the following resource lists. These are living documents that will evolve as we continue to learn, grow, and communicate with each other. We invite suggestions and feedback:
info@cinemaartscentre.org
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The Cinema Arts Centre is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization. The mission of the Cinema Arts Centre is to bring the best in cinematic artistry to Long Island, and use the power of film to expand the awareness and consciousness of our community.
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Special Thanks to Our Community Newsletter Sponsor:
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Thanks to Our June Program Sponsors:
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Thanks to Stuart and Ginger Polisner for their ongoing support of our Real-to-Reel and Creativity Series.
Thanks to Lynn & Jonah Kaufman for their ongoing support of our Making Memories Programs.
When you visit a business that supports the cinema, please let them know how much it means to you.
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Please click "Update Profile" at the bottom of any of our emails and select only the types of email you want to receive. Thank you.
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