News from the Noteworthy Celebrate Safely, Responsibly This Holiday Season The celebration season has begun! It is time for festivities, holy days, gatherings, traditions, family, parties, events and maybe a little football. With that, I wish a great big happy holidays to all who are reading this. I also hope for each of you a safe and joyful season. If you follow LEAF at all on Facebook (please do!), you will see that our theme for the month is, “Celebrate…
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Great Otsego Light Trail Switches On By TED MEBUST OTSEGO COUNTY – With end-of-year holidays around the corner and Santa Claus making appearances countywide, locals are warming to the season’s festivities. To add to the list of anticipated events this December, Otsego County welcomes back The Great Otsego Light Trail. Started in November 2019 by LEAF, an area nonprofit health and safety organization, The Great Otsego Light Trail maps a county-wide outline of the best light shows on display this…
Organization Changes Name, Prepares for Holiday Events ONEONTA – First Night Oneonta has announced a name change to Hill City Celebrations and a new collaboration with the Otsego County Chamber of Commerce. This expansion and re-branding better reflects the year-round events and activities First Night organizes for the community. The mission of First Night has always been to provide healthy, alcohol-free activities and events for families, the announcement reads. Community partners include LEAF Council on Alcoholism and Addictions, Five Star…
News from the Noteworthy Asking for, Offering Support are Skillsets We Can Re-learn In my last “News from the Noteworthy” column, I wrote about the wellbeing struggles that are keenly felt across the workforce. I shared the results of a recent survey where business leaders, managers, and supervisors told us they are spending an average of 39 percent of their time on issues such as employee burnout, fatigue, stress, anxiety, mental health, and substance misuse issues. That number went up…
News from the Noteworthy Workforce Wellbeing Impacts Business Bottom Line The cost of doing business and staying in business is rising these days. It’s not just inflation, supply chain, COVID fallout and keeping the lights on. For most business owners and managers, that would be more than enough to contend with. We also know that it’s about the workforce and the overall wellbeing of the people we work with and work for. We are emerging from a dual pandemic (COVID…
News from the Noteworthy September Is National Recovery Month It is an opportunity to celebrate with those who, through one path or another, have survived the disease of addiction. One well-known path is a 12-step program, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, or Al-Anon, where groups of peers support each other through meetings, fellowship, and “working the steps.” Regardless of their path, many in recovery use the arts, writing, poetry, and photography as expressions of healing. I know I did!…
News from the Noteworthy: Consider the option: Dry January Let’s be honest: 2021 was not a year that most of us will look back on with a wistful sigh of nostalgia. I’ve heard words like stressful, overwhelming, awful, endless, depressing, and devastating. And, if the Facebook newsfeed is any indicator, many of us have turned to an extra glass of wine or bottle of beer to calm our frayed nerves. “Dry January” offers an option to hit the reset button…
Oneonta ‘Festival’ and county ‘trail’ light up the holiday season By Kevin Limiti The Christmas season is officially here, which means holiday music, gathering with family, opening gifts, and waiting for Santa Claus. But there is nothing that screams holiday spirit more than what the Leatherstocking Education on Alcoholism/Addictions Foundation (LEAF) is doing to draw attention to the great light displays local residents proudly show off in Otsego County. And it’s all for a good cause: LEAF created the ‘Great…
News from the Noteworthy: Prepare against holiday disappointment Deck the halls! Light the candles! Hang the lights! Prepare the feast! And then wait with excited anticipation of family and friends coming over to share the celebrations of the season. Whether you observe Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, or a blend of traditions, the hopes for joy and peace are high in the hearts of most. Then, for some of us, there are the thoughts of “that” guest or “that” situation everyone knows…
Opinion by Julie Dostal: Substance use keeps dropping among our youth In a world that seems full of bad news, scary headlines, and social media battles, who couldn’t use a little uplift? I know I certainly could and was delighted when I was given some good news I could share! And just where did the information come from? Our youth told us. At the end of the last school year, 948 students nationwide responded to the 2021 Youth Risk Behavior…