Displaying items by tag: Flag

SARATOGA SPRINGS — FLAG Saratoga announced in just one week they have raised more than $22,000 to help feed the front line workers during the Covid-19 pandemic while also keeping Saratoga-area restaurants in business. 

To kick off their efforts, staff members at Saratoga Hospital were treated to a delicious Easter Dinner on Sunday from Panzas Restaurant. To date, there have been more than 500 "FLAG" meals arranged and delivered to the front line workers at Saratoga Hospital, Wilton Medical Arts and Malta Medical Care. 

FLAG Saratoga was organized by four Saratoga residents: Nadine Burke, Becky Kern, Andrea Macy and Lisa Munter. It was inspired by an organization that had started in New Jersey and has grown into a national movement with local chapters in 21 states and growing. 

Working along with the Saratoga Hospital Foundation as well as the Saratoga Chamber of Commerce. So far, more than a dozen restaurants and eateries have signed up including: Panzas, Putnam Market, Saratoga Broadway Deli, the Palette Café and more.

The Saratoga Hospital Foundation will work directly with the restaurants in ordering, delivering and distributing meals based on the needs of the staff. There will also be break-room snacks and grab-and-go boxes also provided.

“We are overwhelmed by the outpouring of support that we have received from the entire community,” said co-founder, Nadine Burke. “I knew that Saratoga would be the perfect place to organize a local Flag group. Our area is filled with so many generous and resilient people who are always willing to give back and help each other.” 

Published in News

SARATOGA SRPINGS — What started with four women wanting to feel helpful in their community amid COVID-19 turned into the group called Front Line Appreciation Group (FLAG) Saratoga. 

FLAG Saratoga is a group dedicated towards raising donations for the Saratoga Hospital, who in returns purchases meals from local restaurants and eateries. All food purchases will provide shift meals for those working on the front lines of COVID-19. Co-founders Lisa Munter, Becky Kern, Nadine Burke and Andrea Macy developed the idea together after hearing about a similar group in New Jersey. 

Burke noticed her friend in New Jersey create a FLAG in her area, and felt the Saratoga community needed a similar idea. 

“I know there are so many giving generous people who want to help the workers at Saratoga Hospital,” Burke said. “We also have amazing restaurants and eateries who I know are hurting right now with the closures and restrictions. That’s really how it started.”

Burke was inspired even more after learning the amount of stress front line workers at the hospital and clinic were going through. After passing the idea through a couple of friends who jumped on board, the group was born. Kern said the four women previously knew each other as friends, mothers and involved citizens. FLAG Saratoga was launched on April 4 and within 48 hours raised $6,500 for meals. 

“What we’re asking people to do right now is just to help us raise money. The way it works is that we are linking directly to the Saratoga Hospital foundation page so everything is already set up for them to take donations directly,” Kern said. 

When Macy joined FLAG, said she took the initiative to reach out to the hospital to ask if they were willing to participate and if saw FLAG as something that could help their organization. Macy said they openly embraced the idea and felt appreciative. At the time, the hospital was receiving calls from individuals and families asking if they could provide a meal and donate it to different worker shifts.

“I think they appreciated having a centralized function to be able to mobilize this operation and give it some structure…I think that’s the best thing about this,” Macy said. “You feel so helpless but you want to be helpful, so this give people a mechanisms in which to do that and participate.”

Macy said once a donation is made to the hospital, they would reach out to participating restaurants and eateries to set up meals by shift count. Constantly re-organizing on a daily basis, hospital workers understand what their needs are from a shift and personnel standpoint and can base orders on such. The restaurant then directly delivers the meals. 

“I feel helpful. It’s really gratifying to be able to give back and to give a mechanism to help people do that as well,” Macy said. 

While Macy spoke with the hospital, Munter reached out to Todd Shimkus, president of the Saratoga Chamber of Commerce to discover what restaurants were still offering take-out and would be able to participate. 

“Part of what I do is to be helpful to others…I feel like my mantra through this is to be a light and to show up for others,” Munter said. “I always think about being a light and I’m so inspired by our community and the people in it. It was a dark night last night and we could see the moon. I thought if I was like an airplane looking down at Saratoga County tonight, we would be like a Fourth a July display as there are so many lights in this dark time that come together.”

Burke said the initial $6,500 donations could potentially provide 1,000 meals depending on how much is doled out and what size meals. She and the FLAG women hope to continue collecting donations for the foreseeable future. Focused on the funding, Burke said in the next few weeks they would ask if the hospital needs other materials and see if FLAG Saratoga can help support those needs as well. 

“We really don’t know yet how long our hospitals and community is going to be in this situation,” Burke said. 

Donations can be made on their Facebook group or directly on the hospitals page. 

“I think my favorite part is that it’s connecting me so directly to these three other really powerful, smart women and it’s taking us sort of out of our own stuff and daily routine with kids home and cooking. All the stuff that we still have and everybody has but it’s given us a collective purpose and doing good for the community is awesome,” Kern said.

Published in News
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Lake Avenue Elementary School’s fifth grader Elena Evans is this year’s winner of the Saratoga Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution Flag Essay Contest. 
The DAR, which was founded in 1890 is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving American History, promoting patriotism and influencing the education of children throughout the United States. Members of this organization are women with proven lineage connected to a patriot of the American Revolution. 
Each year, to expand education to young students, the DAR has an annual American History essay contest open to students in grades five through eight. A topic is selected, and each chapter will award a student from each grade and submit the essays to be judged. Evans read her essay at the April meeting of the Saratoga Chapter DAR. 
Elena will receive her award certificate at Lake Avenue Moving Up Ceremony in June. Below, you can read Evan’s winning essay, “What the Flag Means to Me.”
"What the Flag Means to Me"
By: Elana Evans 
The flag of the United States of America means to me freedom, independence and loyalty and also courage, from the first day of landing on this land to fighting for our own country. On June 14, 1777, the second Continental Congress authorized the use of a new flag to symbolize the newly formed United States of America, it means to me that we are independent from other countries. 
The red in our flag represents courage - the courage of our forefathers who fought for their independence, the courage of our patriots who died for their country, and the courage of all the brave men and woman who helped to build our nation, this means to me to be strong and brave.
The white stands for the liberty - the spirit of America, the freedom we all have, the choices we can make independently, this all means to me to treat everyone the same wherever we are.
Blue, true blue, is the color that stands for loyalty for all Americans to their country and their Constitution, to their fellow citizens and to their family and friends, this means to me to be loyal to all the truths in this country or anywhere else.
Raising our Flag is a symbol of our country and our freedom. The flag has been raised in battle, at events symbolizing our accomplishments, and lowered during times of great sadness. It reminds us of the sacrifices and achievements many people had made for our country, for example, United States Marines raised the flag at Iwo Jima(eewojeema), a famous battle during World War 2 in 1945, on the other hand, Apollo 14 commander Alan Shepard placed the United States flag on the moon in February 1971, also, flags are flown half-staff to honor someone who has died, such as a president. Raising our flag is a symbol of our country and our freedom.
The flag of the United States of America means to me freedom, independence, loyalty, and courage.
Published in Education

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