NRCCS Annual Breakfast April 21st Will Honor Community Volunteers

The New Rochelle Council of Community Services (NRCCS) will hold its annual Breakfast on Friday, April 21st at the Davenport Mansion (400 Davenport Avenue, New Rochelle). Each year, the Council uses this celebration as an opportunity to honor outstanding community leaders for their work, and this year’s honorees are:

• Barbara Davis: Community Volunteer
• Angela Belsole: Community Builder
• Mark McLean: Community Champion
• NRCCS Scholarship Recipient (TBA)

Tickets to the Annual Breakfast cost $40 and are available from https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/5754343

Supporters can also purchase ads in the event’s Journal to support the work of the NRCCS. A full page ad costs $150, a half page costs $80 and a quarter page costs $40; the inside front or back cover is available for $200 and the back outside cover is priced at $500. To purchase Journal ads go to https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/5754343

Journal ad copy should be emailed to: nrcommunityservices@gmail.com. To pay by check, please mail to: Millicent Lee, CSDNR, 515 North Avenue, New Rochelle, NY 10801.

The New Rochelle Council of Community Services (NRCCS) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to bring together community leaders to assess and meet the vital needs of the community by identifying and working towards solutions through mobilization, advocacy, and networking. NRCCS is the umbrella organization for the health and human service agencies, religious institutions and educational facilities of the City of New Rochelle. The Council’s Board of Directors consists of representatives of many of these agencies as well as local residents.

About the Honorees

Barbara Davis

Barbara Davis is the Co-Director of the Westchester County Historical Society, where she is responsible for the programming, publicity, and other operations of WCHS. It is the one of the oldest county historical societies in America and is the only organization that collects and promotes the countywide history of Westchester.

Barbara held the position of Community Relations Coordinator for the New Rochelle Public Library from 2004 through 2019, where she was responsible for implementing and promoting a wide array of library services and programs for all ages of a diverse population; fostering collaborative endeavors with community organizations; and overseeing the exhibitions in the library’s Lumen Winter Gallery.

Since 2001, Barbara has served as New Rochelle’s City Historian, accepting the official title in 2008. In this capacity, she promotes the community’s great history by conducting presentations and tours for schools and organizations and responding to over hundreds of history inquiries each year. She was the Executive Director of the city’s yearlong Tricentennial celebration in 1988, and served on the 325th Anniversary Committee in 2013. Barbara operated “Waterfront Tours” on Long Island Sound, and was the author of a weekly column on New Rochelle’s history that appeared in the Sound Shore Gannett newspapers from 1994 to 1997. More recently she developed the “History Hop” mobile device walking tour for downtown New Rochelle and continues to be the co-coordinator of the New Rochelle Walk of Fame.

Barbara has been a member of numerous boards and committees in New Rochelle and Westchester County. She is past president of the New Rochelle Council of Community Services, and served on the boards of the NRHS Museum of Arts and Culture and the Castle Gallery. Barbara is also a past president of the Westchester County Historical Society and she has served on the Westchester County’s Historic Preservation Advisory Committee since the early 1990s. Barbara currently sits on the Board of the New Rochelle Council on the Arts.

A graduate of Fox Lane High School and Goddard College, Barbara’s varied career has included full-time positions as a professional EMT, director of the county’s sleep-away camp at Mountain Lakes, Project Librarian for the Reader’s Digest Foundation Tall Tree Initiative and Curator of Public Programs at the Hudson River Museum

Barbara and her husband, Steven W. Pappas, MD, are 40-year residents of New Rochelle and the proud parents of their daughter, Morgan Pappas.

Angela Belsole

Angela has a rich and varied background, both personally and professionally. She grew up on Long Island, and as an adult moved to Germany where she lived for ten years. She then settled in Westchester, which has been her home for the last 32 years. Angela has undergraduate and graduate degrees from Fordham University, and a certificate in fundraising from New York University. Angela enjoyed a rewarding career at Fordham University managing grants, contracts, and special projects for Fordham’s Graduate School of Social Service; she worked collaboratively with the Dean and faculty to increase support for external funding within the School. She retired in 2018.

The NRCCS is honoring Angela for her deep commitment and many years of service as an active volunteer for Songcatchers, a non-profit organization incorporated in the mid-1990’s in New Rochelle that provides high-quality, affordable access to music lessons, concert choirs, performance opportunities, summer enrichment programs, and a week-long sleep-away choir camp. Songcatchers’ impact has been felt in the City of New Rochelle and beyond, not only for its music programs but for its innovative approach to developing dedicated, talented and well-trained volunteers from local high schools and colleges, who are mentored by professional musicians.

First introduced to Songcatchers when her son, Christopher, participated in its choir, Angela went on to join the Songcatchers Board of Directors in 2007 and served as the Board’s president from 2013 to 2021. When Songcatchers’ founding Executive Director, Sr. Beth Dowd, OSU, had to step down due to illness, Angela graciously offered to voluntarily serve as the Interim Director, managing the onsite operations, staff and programming, all while maintaining her Board responsibilities.

Angela spent four years of her “retirement” from 2018 through 2022 leading and managing the organization through many challenges, including the passing of Sr. Beth and the COVID pandemic. Songcatchers teamed up with HOPE Community Services and other organizations to provide for the basic needs of the families they serve on the west end of New Rochelle, for whom the impact of the pandemic was especially acute. Under Angela’s management during this critical time, Songcatchers received many major grants, a new strategic plan was published and launched, new members were recruited for the Board of Directors, a training program for the Board was implemented and a successful search resulted in the hiring of a new Executive Director.

With Jennifer Lanser taking the helm in December 2022, Angela was able to retire once more! She will still be involved with Songcatchers, but from her new home in Connecticut where she enjoys spending time with her family and playing with her five grandchildren.

Mark McLean

Minister Mark McLean is a lifelong resident of New Rochelle. Minister McLean graduated from New Rochelle High school in 1981, where he excelled in football and music. He went on to attend City College of New York in Harlem NY studying music and the history and cultures of African people throughout the diaspora.

Minister McLean served the City of New Rochelle as a Fire Fighter and retired at the rank of Lieutenant after more than 33 years. Minister Mark McLean’s community involvement spans close to 20 years serving on the Westchester County Human Rights Commission for 5 years, and leading the Political Action Committee, of both the NAACP New Rochelle Branch and the Uniform Fire Fighter Association Local 273, for several years. Minister McLean is the past President of the Gathering of Men of New Rochelle Inc. and through his consulting firm, Urban Tusk Community Strategies, has partnered with Westchester County of NY to assist Minority, Women Business Enterprises to achieve success. He serves on the board of Interfaith Dwellings Corporation, a company that consists of houses of worship seeking to impact the shortage of affordable housing. Minister McLean is presently the President of the NAACP New Rochelle Branch, the Inter Religious Coalition of New Rochelle, and CEO of Kingdom Community Consultants.

Minister Mark McLean serves as an Elder and community liaison for Bishop Reford Mott and Generations Church of New Rochelle. He has been married to his lovely wife Denise for over 35 years and they have a daughter Kadiedra; 2 sons, Imhotep and Kemet; a grandson Kaiden and a granddaughter Zhuri.

About the NRCCS

The New Rochelle Council of Community Services is rooted in the New Rochelle chapter of the Community Chest, founded in 1936, in the wake of the Great Depression. The Council of Social Agencies was incorporated “to be the planning and fact-finding unit of the Chest, promoting efficiency and high standards of social service and an enlightened public attitude toward community welfare needs.”

Among the first members were the Boys Clubs of New Rochelle and the New Rochelle Day Nursery, as well as the United Home for Aged Hebrews. These charter members are still members of NRCCS in its modern form today. Throughout the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s, additional members were added. While the Community Chest was gradually absorbed into the United Fund (now the United Way), the Council continued, but with a new name reflecting different times. Now known as the New Rochelle Council of Community Services, NRCCS welcomes new community resources and seeks to build collaborations to strengthen our community and serve its ever-changing needs.