Project Description
Dr. Bob Dufour Part 1 (Sullivan County BOCES)
Sullivan 180 Presents…
TAKE FIVE!
April 27, 2020
Continuing with our theme today of childcare, as part of our ‘Sullivan 180 Presents…Take Five!’ video series, we had the opportunity to interview Dr. Bob Dufour of Sullivan County BOCES. This is Part 1 of our interview, where Dr. Dufour talks about the Essential Worker Childcare Program that has been mandated by New York State in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and puts the call out to volunteers who would like to help.
Sullivan 180 Presents…
TAKE FIVE!
April 24, 2020
Continuing with our theme today of childcare, as part of our ‘Sullivan 180 Presents…Take Five!’ video series, we had the opportunity to interview Dr. Bob Dufour of Sullivan County BOCES. This is Part 1 of our interview, where Dr. Dufour talks about the Essential Worker Childcare Program that has been mandated by New York State in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and puts the call out to volunteers who would like to help.
Dr. Bob Dufour Part 1 (Sullivan County BOCES)
Transcript of Interview with Dr. Bob Dufour
April 27, 2020
Samantha Mango:
Hi, I’m Samantha Mango and welcome to “Sullivan 180 Presents… Take Five!”. This online video series aims to highlight our community’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. With me today is Dr.. Robert Dufour, of Sullivan County BOCES. (Board of Cooperatives Educational Services) Hi, Bob. Thanks for being here!
Dr. Bob Dufour:
Hi, Samantha. How are you? Thank you for having me.
Samantha Mango:
I’m doing well. Thanks. Would you mind introducing yourself and giving us a brief introduction about your role in Sullivan County?
Dr. Bob Dufour:
Sure. Uh, my name is Bob Dufour. I’m the district superintendent and the chief executive officer of Sullivan BOCES. I serve in a dual role. I serve as the chief executive of the BOCES and I also serve as the commissioner’s representative and the sole supervisory district of Sullivan County.
Samantha Mango:
Excellent. And I know you wanted to talk a little bit about the ‘essential worker childcare program of Sullivan County’, and how members of the community can help.
Dr. Bob Dufour:
Sure. One of the three things the school districts in New York State were charged with doing, is providing childcare services for first responders and essential workers, and essential workers are basically those individuals that work in our supermarkets, our pharmacies, banks, doctor’s offices, et cetera. When schools were closed on March 18th, it became very apparent that a lot of people in the state were going to have childcare issues. So the Governor, by executive order, required that school districts provide free childcare services to essential workers. What we decided to do in Sullivan County, rather than trying to operate independent childcare facilities, we banded together with our community partners to provide a central childcare facility that is administered by individuals in Sullivan BOSES, and staffed by volunteers from the school districts around the County. Currently our childcare program is located on the campus of Catskill Regional Medical Center, in the rise building. So that’s the standalone building around back behind the hospital. We’re operating Monday through Friday, from eight in the morning to four in the afternoon. We provide childcare. We try to engage the kids. We have games, activities for them to do in the nicer weather. We’re hoping to get them outside to get a little bit of fresh air. We provide breakfast and lunch, for the kids that are dropped off. And the whole purpose is so that the parents have a safe place for their kid to be during the day so they can go about the work that they need to do to keep all of us safe and well,
Samantha Mango:
And how can community members help if they’d like to?
Dr. Bob Dufour:
So what we’re looking for, is we’re trying to keep a pool of volunteers. Our program can grow or contract based on the needs of the individuals in the County, but by keeping a pool of volunteers, we’re able to kind of spread around, how often somebody helps out. We’ve had individuals that have been helping every day for the past four weeks, but we’re trying to be fair to everyone. Since it’s centrally located, there is a certain amount of travel involved in it. So by having a deeper pool of volunteers, we don’t have to keep calling on the same people to come in and help out. So if anyone would like to volunteer, they can go to the Sullivan BOCES website. And there is a link on that website where they can fill out a short survey to indicate their availability. They can call Donna Hemmer, who is my communications coordinator and Sullivan BOSES. And her number is (845) 295-4011. Or they can email Donna at donna.hemmer@SCBOCES. org. Donna will reach out and provide all of the necessary information for anyone who’s interested in volunteering. Whether it be a full day, whether it be a half day, whether it be one day, a week, two days a week, whatever time someone can give us would be greatly appreciated. And these individuals that are currently volunteering for our program come from all over the County and all of the school districts in the County. One of our school districts is providing custodial services. So they come in a couple of days a week and help clean the facility and keep it sanitized. BOCES provides all of the protective equipment, gloves, masks, whatever is needed. And, I’m pleased to say the program has been running very well, but I continually find myself putting out a request to the community at large, for more and more volunteers. So if they have any time, if they would like to help out, and this is helping out by allowing those people who have those essential jobs in our County to do them, please reach out to Sullivan BOCES: let us know your availability and we’ll show you what to do. We’ll provide you all the necessary resources. There is no registration. There is a simple one page form that all of our volunteers are requested to fill out. If you can help, please do!
Samantha Mango:
Thanks so much. And we’ll definitely put the word out to the community to see if we can get anyone to help.
Dr. Bob Dufour:
I would certainly appreciate that, and we’re looking forward to having more and more volunteers available, to help out those people in the County that really need it!
Transcript of Interview with Dr. Bob Dufour
April 27, 2020
Samantha Mango:
Hi, I’m Samantha Mango and welcome to “Sullivan 180 Presents… Take Five!”. This online video series aims to highlight our community’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. With me today is Dr.. Robert Dufour, of Sullivan County BOCES. (Board of Cooperatives Educational Services) Hi, Bob. Thanks for being here!
Dr. Bob Dufour:
Hi, Samantha. How are you? Thank you for having me.
Samantha Mango:
I’m doing well. Thanks. Would you mind introducing yourself and giving us a brief introduction about your role in Sullivan County?
Dr. Bob Dufour:
Sure. Uh, my name is Bob Dufour. I’m the district superintendent and the chief executive officer of Sullivan BOCES. I serve in a dual role. I serve as the chief executive of the BOCES and I also serve as the commissioner’s representative and the sole supervisory district of Sullivan County.
Samantha Mango:
Excellent. And I know you wanted to talk a little bit about the ‘essential worker childcare program of Sullivan County’, and how members of the community can help.
Dr. Bob Dufour:
Sure. One of the three things the school districts in New York State were charged with doing, is providing childcare services for first responders and essential workers, and essential workers are basically those individuals that work in our supermarkets, our pharmacies, banks, doctor’s offices, et cetera. When schools were closed on March 18th, it became very apparent that a lot of people in the state were going to have childcare issues. So the Governor, by executive order, required that school districts provide free childcare services to essential workers. What we decided to do in Sullivan County, rather than trying to operate independent childcare facilities, we banded together with our community partners to provide a central childcare facility that is administered by individuals in Sullivan BOSES, and staffed by volunteers from the school districts around the County. Currently our childcare program is located on the campus of Catskill Regional Medical Center, in the rise building. So that’s the standalone building around back behind the hospital. We’re operating Monday through Friday, from eight in the morning to four in the afternoon. We provide childcare. We try to engage the kids. We have games, activities for them to do in the nicer weather. We’re hoping to get them outside to get a little bit of fresh air. We provide breakfast and lunch, for the kids that are dropped off. And the whole purpose is so that the parents have a safe place for their kid to be during the day so they can go about the work that they need to do to keep all of us safe and well,
Samantha Mango:
And how can community members help if they’d like to?
Dr. Bob Dufour:
So what we’re looking for, is we’re trying to keep a pool of volunteers. Our program can grow or contract based on the needs of the individuals in the County, but by keeping a pool of volunteers, we’re able to kind of spread around, how often somebody helps out. We’ve had individuals that have been helping every day for the past four weeks, but we’re trying to be fair to everyone. Since it’s centrally located, there is a certain amount of travel involved in it. So by having a deeper pool of volunteers, we don’t have to keep calling on the same people to come in and help out. So if anyone would like to volunteer, they can go to the Sullivan BOCES website. And there is a link on that website where they can fill out a short survey to indicate their availability. They can call Donna Hemmer, who is my communications coordinator and Sullivan BOSES. And her number is (845) 295-4011. Or they can email Donna at donna.hemmer@SCBOCES. org. Donna will reach out and provide all of the necessary information for anyone who’s interested in volunteering. Whether it be a full day, whether it be a half day, whether it be one day, a week, two days a week, whatever time someone can give us would be greatly appreciated. And these individuals that are currently volunteering for our program come from all over the County and all of the school districts in the County. One of our school districts is providing custodial services. So they come in a couple of days a week and help clean the facility and keep it sanitized. BOCES provides all of the protective equipment, gloves, masks, whatever is needed. And, I’m pleased to say the program has been running very well, but I continually find myself putting out a request to the community at large, for more and more volunteers. So if they have any time, if they would like to help out, and this is helping out by allowing those people who have those essential jobs in our County to do them, please reach out to Sullivan BOCES: let us know your availability and we’ll show you what to do. We’ll provide you all the necessary resources. There is no registration. There is a simple one page form that all of our volunteers are requested to fill out. If you can help, please do!
Samantha Mango:
Thanks so much. And we’ll definitely put the word out to the community to see if we can get anyone to help.
Dr. Bob Dufour:
I would certainly appreciate that, and we’re looking forward to having more and more volunteers available, to help out those people in the County that really need it!
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