Be the Change: HATAS offers mentorship to at-risk teens

"We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give."

--Winston Churchill

Next time you go out for coffee, think about how easy it would be to invite someone else along. You would sit down, talk, listen, sip your cappucino, and maybe even laugh a little, and just that one hour a week can make a huge difference in that person's life--and yours.

Mentorship is an important part of recovery for high-risk teens, said Natasha Pernicka, Program Coordinator with the Homeless and Travelers Aid Society (HATAS).(Located at 138 Central Avenue) Mentors can teens move toward healthy productive lives, just by helping them see past the challenges of their childhood. With this in mind, HATAS has started a new mentorship program, MATAS, "Mentoring Adolescents Transitioning to Adult Services," to provide support and guidance for kids moving into adulthood.

MATAS will deal strictly with high-risk teens and adolescents, Pernicka said. "It's challenging because they're not the cute eight-year old," Pernicka said. "They've had a difficult life and they're in very tenuous situations, and a lot depends on this." But, Pernicka continued, just two hours a week with a mentor can be the lifeline they need.

The program began this month, and there are currently three mentors up an running and 10 youths that still need adults. Mentors will receive full training, and will be matched with teens based on shared interests. Pernicka said. The mentor visits don't have to be elaborate, Pernicka said. They can just be a walk, or a visit to the coffee shop, or a tour of a college campus, anything that exposes the teen to different perspectives. "We want this to be a fun program for them," Pernicka said.

The mentors are not caseworkers, Pernicka stressed. The teens have caseworkers, and they are already receiving counseling and career services. Instead, mentors will be friends to these teens, offering them a "fun and positive adult to be around," Pernicka said.

The program requires mentors to make a one-year commitment because it takes a while to build trust, she said. Mentors can spend 1-2 hours a week with teens or just four hours a month, she said. To learn more about the program, email info@hatas.org or call (518) 463-2124.

Shopping for a good cause: Great Finds provides transition to new life

Everyone knows the right clothes make the man, but do people know that clothes can right the world?

Great Finds thrift store, located at 250 Washington Avenue does just that. The women's clothing store is part of the ClearView Center, a mental health agency serving Albany County, and the store is staffed largely by ClearView clients. Working there teaches the clients new skills, which help them transition smoothly into the community, said Manager Susan Taylor. The Great Finds vocational program is all about "steps toward wellness for them," Taylor said.

The vocational program offers 10 different types of work, and the 16 member staff has opportunities to try each and to cross-train, she said. The big store is a busy place, and it keeps Taylor on her toes. "Hang on just a second, I have some donations coming in," she says.

By partnering with other local service agencies, Great Finds also helps women struggling to rebuild their lives after substance abuse, homelessness, or physical abuse, Taylor said. Taylor works with Equinox, the AIDS Council, America Works, and the Albany School District, offering shopping vouchers to help their clients get their lives back on track. Clients can use these vouchers to buy clothes for job interviews or outfit themselves or their children. Many times, these families have nothing left, and clothes are an important step toward normalcy.

Great Finds also tries to be a place for relaxed conversation, Taylor said, because socialization is an important piece of wellness. The sprawling, sunny store offers many spots to sit and relax, as well as nice music. Once a month, Great Finds participates in the First Friday events, and displays workers' artwork. The community-minded store is a pleasant place to hang out and shop, Taylor said. "We're going back to the old way of doing business," she said.

Great Finds is located at 250 Washington Avenue, on the corner of Washington and Henry Johnson Blvd. Great Finds is part of the ClearView Center at 500 Central Avenue. Great Finds is open 10-5pm Monday through Friday, and until 8pm on the first Friday of every month. Great Finds accepts donations of gently-used women's clothing and accessories.

The Big Grow: Central Avenue Baskets get ready to make their appearance

The Central Business Improvement District has contracted with Verstandig's Greenhouse in Selkirk to assemble the flower baskets that will decorate the Avenue's lightpoles again this year--and now the grow is on!

The flowers have been started already in smaller pots, then they will be transferred to larger pots, and finally to the 16-inch organic fiber pots, said Doug Dalton. They will be hung from the light poles just before Memorial Day, he said.

The baskets will be comprised of cascading geraniums, which grow beautifully, flower often, and do not require dead-heading or the removal of dead blooms. "They blow off in the wind, and more are right behind them," Dalton said.

Verstandig's, which has been a family business in Bethlehem since 1932, takes projects like these on a bid-basis. In the past, the greenhouse and florist has won contracts with the City of Albany, the Downtown BID and also Troy. The wholesale greenhouse supplies smaller greenhouses across the region with bedding plants.

Sukhothai Restaurant welcomes Mayor and public to grand opening

Sukhothai Restaurant, a Lark Street standard for pad thai and other Thai specialties, opened its new restaurant on Central Avenue this month. Mayor Jerry Jennings, and staff from the Central Business Improvement District were at the ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday with owner Saowa Luck.

"These are the kinds of businesses that will bring the avenue back," Jennings said at the ceremony. Jennings, who grew up on Central Avenue, has always taken a great deal of interest in its revival. Jennings said he is glad the couple has decided to expand their business into the neighborhood. "This is Albany," he said, pointing to the street outside the restaurant's windows.

Luck and her husband Maung Yannaung have owned the Lark Street Sukhothai for two years. They bought the building at 62 Central around the same time with the intention of expanding there. "We bought the whole building here and the business over there was doing well so we decided to open another," Luck said. Renovations to the Central Avenue building, which she and her husband did themselves, took much longer than expected, she said, but they completed them earlier this spring and officially opened the first week of April.

The new restaurant is much larger than the old restaurant, and a bigger kitchen has allowed them to expand their offerings. "We keep things simple and the same, but have just a little more," Luck said. The restaurant is open 7 days a week, from 11:30-10:00pm.

Sukhothai Restaurant is located at 62 Central Avenue. 433-7203.