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PAGE 4 Thursday, March 31, 2011 CITY THE POST-STANDARD / NEIGHBORS

Fundraiser If you go . . . METRO VOICES

planned Thornden Park Seeks

What: Bringing the World
Together in Syracuse, a
fundraiser for West Side
Learning Center and MANOS

‘Project 50’ Funding

FUNDRAISER, FROM PAGE 3
parents also to learn English
led to the creation of the West
Side Learning Center in 1992.
The programs no longer
cater to the Latino community
alone. About 60 percent of stu-
Dual Language Early
Education Program. It will
include performances by
Latin-American musical
groups, food and a silent
auction.
Where: The Palace Theater, By Maureen Nolan ‘‘We’re snow from Onondaga Lake.
2384 James St. Staff writer
When: 7 to 11 p.m. April 8 organizing a Probably its most ambitious
project is construction of a

dents at both programs are
Hispanic, with the other 40
percent coming from the Mid-
dle East, Eastern Europe and
Africa. Currently, MANOS
can accommodate 56 children,
while the Learning Center has
eight instructors teaching 250
adults every day.
Like many other not-for-
profit groups, the organization
is going through some hard
times.
Much of the organization’s
funding comes from the Syra-
cuse City School District and
public grants. The English-as-
a-Second-Language teachers
are school district employees.
Program administrators
have been able to work
through tough times by focus-
ing on cutting supplies instead
of people, Pagano said.
‘‘We need people here,’’
she said. ‘‘The supplies, we
can get those donated.’’
Despite their best efforts
though, significant budget cuts
in August 2010 forced the or-
ganization to cut four staffers
and temporarily discontinue its
night adult courses. The organ-
ization’s 2009 budget was
$850,000. Currently, its oper-
ating on a budget closer to
$250,000, Pagano said.
Luckily, Pagano said, some
teachers stepped up and decid-
ed to work split shifts allowing
for two night classes a week.
Teachers also took on the
job of caseworkers and have
helped immigrants find hous-
ing and jobs.
‘‘I really applaud the teach-
ers for doing that,’’ she said.
The last time money was
this tight was at the height of
the recession in 2009, Pagano
said. Just as it did then, the or-
ganization will hold a fund-
raiser this year to help bridge
the gap.
The Bringing the World To-
gether in Syracuse fundraiser
Cost: $25
Tickets: Contact the West
Side Learning Center at
435-4013. Tickets also will be
available at the door.
will be 7 to 11 p.m. April 8 at
The Palace Theater, 2348
James St. It will include per-
formances by Latin-American
musical groups, food and a si-
lent auction.
The items being auctioned
range from gift baskets filled
with Syracuse University mer-
chandise to a private plane ride
over Lake Ontario. Paintings
done by some of the MANOS
children will also be available
for $10.
The organization raised
$8,000 two years ago at a sim-
ilar event. Without that money,
the class for 3-year-olds would
have shut down, Pagano said.
She hopes to triple the fund-
raising number this year, she
said.
Fundraisers are necessary
not just to keep the programs
afloat, but also to maintain
their quality, Pagano said.
The event further helps
show the community the im-
migrants are hard-working in-
dividuals interested in being
successful members of this
community, she said.
‘‘We want to celebrate who
we are,’’ she said.
As for Liliia Bahriy, she
hopes her improved English
skills can lead to a better job in
the future.
‘‘It will help me go to col-
lege,’’ she said.
Bahriy wants to enroll in the
nursing program at Onondaga
Community College, she said.
‘‘This is a job, but it’s much
more than a job,’’ Pagano said.
‘‘It’s a vocation.’’
Contact Lorenzo Arguello at
470-2259 or at
larguello@syracuse.com.
T
he neighborhood
northeast of Thornden
Park is brainstorming
for a way to save the rain.
The idea is to come up with
a way to capture storm water
to prevent sewage overflow.
The project falls under the
broad umbrella of Onondaga
County’s Save the Rain cam-
paign, the mission of which is
to prevent sewage overflowing
into Onondaga Lake.
‘‘We’re organizing a com-
munity design process to de-
velop a neighborhood green
infrastructure project,’’ said
Meredith Perreault, project
manager with the Onondaga
Environmental Institute.
The project could be, for ex-
ample, a rain garden, she said.
It depends on what the neigh-
borhood wants to do.
Once the design is com-
pleted, the project may be one
of 50 that Onondaga County
Executive Joanie Mahoney
wants to fund this year. She
created ‘‘Project 50’’ as part of
her budget proposal this year.
All kinds of agencies and
institutions are involved in
Save the Rain.
The Environmental Institute
and the Center for Community
Design are working with the
Thornden Park neighborhood.
The center is part of the State
University of New York Col-
lege of Environmental Science
and Forestry. They are involv-
ed through the Save the Rain
Public Education and Outreach
program for the county’s Save
the Rain campaign. Syracuse
University’s Environmental
Finance Center is in charge of
the outreach and public educa-
tion.
The institute and center will
hold two more Thornden Park
neighborhood meetings in
community
design process to
develop a
neighborhood
green
infrastructure
project.’’
— Meredith Perreault,
project manager
Onondaga Environmental
Institute
April. The goal is to have de-
sign studies completed by the
end of the month, Perreault
said.
Then the designs go to
Onondaga County as part its
many Save the Rain projects,
she said.
It will be in the running for nace Brook — will again be
county funding, said Matthew
Millea, deputy county execu-
tive for physical services.
There are about 70 projects on
the current list.
Onondaga County is in the
midst of ‘‘Project 50,’’ which
is to build 50 green infrastruc- age 52.
ture projects this budget year
to divert rain water and melted mnolan@syracuse.com
OUT FOR A STROLL:
walks elephants Karina (left), and Romani at the Rosamond
Gifford Zoo at Burnet Park.
60,000-square-foot green roof
on top of the Onondaga Coun-
ty Convention Center.
If the Thornden Park project
doesn’t get funded this year, it
likely would be on the list for
the following year, Millea
said.
More metro news
Here’s a save the date alert
for the lovers of stories with
happy endings.
The Ted Grace Reading
Grove at Corcoran High
School was completed a cou-
ple of weeks ago when the last
brick was placed in the floor of
the amphitheater, said Mau-
reen Foran-Mocete, who has
been a part of the school and
community effort to create the
grove over the last few years.
The grove — alongside Fur-
the site of StoryFest IV at 6:30
p.m. May 19. Writer Bruce
Coville will be the headliner,
Foran-Mocete said.
Ted Grace was an educator,
storyteller and Corcoran High
graduate who died in 2004 at
Contact Maureen Nolan 470-2185 or
Gary Walts / The Post-Standard
Elephant handler Seth
Groesbeck, of Cicero,