About $13,000 was raised at the recent outdoor community Yoga Festival that was held on the Mercy College campus grounds in Dobbs Ferry. The funds will go to the chapter’s 30th anniversary goal of granting the pending wishes of more than 150 local kids with life-threatening medical conditions.
In addition to yoga sessions led by four top instructors from the Hudson Valley, the festival included a picnic lunch provided by JP Doyle’s of Sleepy Holly and meditative and relaxing music to complement the yoga setting including Kirtan with Cat Guthrie and Eileen O’Hare of Blissing. Raffle prizes will also be awarded.
The yoga instructors were:
• Amanda Amadei, from Living Yoga Studios, Cold Spring
• Jocelyn Koenig, from Here and Now Yoga Body, Scarsdale
• Amanda Lopez, from My Peaceful Yogi, New Paltz
• Neva Goldstein from PranaMoon Yoga, Peekskill
Thomas J. Conklin, President and CEO of Make-A-Wish® Hudson Valley, said: “The organizers and supporters of the Yoga Festival truly embody the spirit of community caring and generosity that have made it possible for our chapter to have made dreams come true for more than 2,400 kids in the Hudson Valley over the past 30 years”
Conklin noted that using yoga to help the cause has become a tradition at the chapter, citing past Yoga for Wishes campaigns led by Neva Goldstein, one of the four Yoga Festival instructors. A Wish Granter, Neva and her husband Howard Goldstein, also a Wish Granter and member of the chapter’s Board of Directors, launched the yoga fund raiser five years ago. To date, more than $80,000 has been raised by these popular yoga sessions.
Throughout the 30th anniversary year, the chapter Make a Wish® Hudson Valley is offering a number of opportunities to individuals, companies and organizations to support special events through sponsorships, donations, volunteering and forming teams. For more information, visit www.hudson.wish.org/30.
About Make-A-Wish® Hudson Valley
Make-A-Wish® grants wishes to children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy. Since its inception in 1986, the chapter has granted wishes to over 2,400 children in the communities it serves. The wish experience is a combined community effort involving volunteers, staff, donors and medical professionals to make each wish come true. The Chapter is a proud participant of the Better Business Bureau Charity Seal Program, which indicates that the organization has met the 20 Standards for Charity Accountability. The Chapter serves Delaware, Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester counties.
For more information about the Hudson Valley Chapter visit www.hudson.wish.org.
