We all enjoy Ophelia’s Place in its incarnation as Café at 407. It’s easy to dig the scene — couches and recliners complement the usual table-and-chairs — and the menu features gourmet coffees and baked goods, healthy soups, salads and sandwiches spiced by live music three evenings a week.
But let’s not lose sight of the original purpose of Ophelia’s Place.
Established about a decade ago, the non-profit organization aims to empower individuals and families to redefine beauty and health.
Ophelia’s Place Director Jodie Wilson-Dougherty keeps the effort focused on increasing self-esteem, improving body image and introducing alternatives to what she calls “dangerous desires for perfection.”
‘Breaking Free!’
To that end, Ophelia’s Place will host two new programs, one for teens and one for parents.
Teenagers affected by disordered eating and related issues can talk with others in the same situation at 7 p.m. Monday, March 18. The meeting has a hopeful title: “Breaking Free!”
A licensed clinical social worker, Wilson-Dougherty will co-facilitate “Breaking Free” along with Tyler Sliker, program director of the Q Center, a division of Aids Community Resources.
“The adolescent group is a new group that hopefully will reach young people who we’ve not reached in the past,” said Wilson-Dougherty. “Teenagers may be struggling with body image, but they don’t necessarily identify with having an eating disorder. Body dissatisfaction is a risk factor for developing an eating disorder.” For info, call Sliker at 475-2430.
On April 10, the new Parent Partner program will help family, friends and caregivers to understand eating disorders. “Many families don’t receive comprehensive information on the medical, nutritional and mental health challenges their loved one is experiencing,” said Wilson-Dougherty. “We hope to help families better grasp the complexity of this disease in order to help them support their loved ones more effectively.”
For info, call 451-5544, visit opheliasplace.org; you can also see the feature story on page 3.
Sad passings
Two of the village’s most revered father-figures recently passed on.
Dave Henes, who lived his entire 91 years in Liverpool, died Feb. 27. Dave served in the U.S. Army during WWII, was a life member of both the Liverpool Fire Department and American Legion Post 188 and the Veterans of Foreign Wars and was retired from New York Telephone. He attended Liverpool First United Methodist Church and was a member of the Historical Association of Greater Liverpool.
In earlier years, when his son George was still alive, Dave became a Boy Scouts leader, and taught countless village kids how to cast a good fly fishing line.
Don Condon died March 4. A U.S. Navy veteran of WWII, Don was a talented carpenter. He was a former village trustee and village building inspector. For decades, Don remained active at St. Joseph the Worker and at the American Legion Post 188.
He and his wife, the lovely Jean Ellen White, raised seven children who have gone on to have 21 children of their own. At his wake at Maurer Funeral Home on Route 31 last week, his family displayed his cherished chromatic harmonica above his folded hands in his casket. Don’s friends, Pete and Brenda Brown remember him singing at their wedding. “There was a vacancy in the choir upstairs for a great tenor,” the couple wrote in the funeral guest book.
Both Don and Dave were buried at Liverpool Cemetery right here in their beloved village.
Weekend-long hooley
The big parade drew thousands down city last Saturday, but you can celebrate St. Patrick’s Day again this weekend, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. March 16 and 17, at the White Water Pub at 110 S. Willow St.
Chef Larry Pavese is cooking up potato and leek soup, boxty (potato pancakes), colcannon, soda bread, shepherd’s pie, corned beef with carrots and cabbage and Irish cupcakes care of Li’ Jo’s Cupcake on First Street., all for $7.50. For the same price, you can wash the grub down with a pitcher of green beer!
On Sunday — the real St. Patrick’s Day! — White Water owner MaryKay Manns expects some 250 Irish Road Bowlers after they finish competing that day down at Onondaga Lake Park. Bagpipers will welcome the bowlers to the bar with some rousing Celtic tunes.
For pub info, call 314-7398, or visit whitewaterpubliverpool.com.
