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Community Corner

Connections Program at Wainwright House Makes a Comeback

The 40-year old program was discontinued earlier this month, but its organizers say it will now continue in a different format.

Connections has re-connected with Rye. 

After 40 years of talking about a variety of subjects, always on Tuesdays at Rye’s Wainwright House, the long-running program called Connections had seemingly finally run out of things to say. Or so its brain trusts thought.

“We have had several meetings to discuss the spring semester of Connections,” Pamela Fernandes, one of the Connections leaders, told Patch early in February. “I'm sorry that after 40 years at Wainwright House, we will not be moving forward in 2011. We had several key members move from the area last fall.” 

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But its longtime members have had second thoughts.

So after a brief hiatus, Connections has resurrected itself, albeit on a reduced schedule and with a changed format. 

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Connections is definitely moving forward. The program's organizer's will hold a membership drive to revitalize the core group members.

The long-running discussion program will begin its comeback March 1 from 10:30 a.m. to noon.

But rather than presenting set programs, members will now be informally discussing current issues, including world news, new developments in science and technology, and a wide range of topics of interest to participants.

The discussions will take place in the Wainwright House library. Connections members can also enjoy lunch and conversation in Wainwright's music room and on its grounds.

The group leaders hope there will be a surge of renewed interest in Connections with its new beginning.

The adult self-study program has been a staple for local adult enrichment for those of a certain age for what seems like ages. However, around this time last month, its mainstays were having doubts about the wisdom of continuing the program.

“We knew going in we were at a crossroads,” said Barb Kuhn, a former schoolteacher who goes back to the founding days when the program was called SCOPE. 

“We kept hoping word of mouth would get around, and there would be a last minute surge of interest, but it wasn’t materializing,” said Fernandes, who started out with a New Rochelle program called LIRIC (as in Learning in Retirement at Iona College), but gravitated towards Connections because sessions were more informal and the curriculum was more flexible.

In the past, members designed and created their own programming on a wide-range of subjects, including history, literature, art, music, technology, science and various current topics.

“We called it conversation with like-minded individuals,” Fernandes said. “We divided the year into ‘semesters’ where adults were encouraged to stretch their minds to new limits in a friendly supportive atmosphere.”

But, for now at least, Connections leaders have simplified the format to an informed discussion of current events led by Kuhn and Fernandes, a retired business executive.

Instead of meeting weekly, they will try meeting twice a month while hoping that the membership will increase enough to consider returning to the old schedule and format.

Connections will meet every Tuesday. Upcoming meetings are scheduled for March 22, April 5 and 26, May 3 and 24 at Wainwright House from 10:30 a.m. – noon.

“To borrow a Mark Twain quote ‘The reports of the death of Connections have been greatly exaggerated,’” Fernandes said in announcement about the program's resurrection. 

“Who knows, if word gets around, our membership will grow and we’ll come all the way back better than ever,” she told Patch.

For more information: Wainwright House, 260 Stuyvesant Ave.; phone: 914- 967-6080; www.wainwright.org.

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