ROWING FOR ALL; RWANDA; MEAL TRIBUTE
SUNDAY, AUGUST 26TH, 2018
DAILY HAMPSHIRE GAZETTE
After Carol Elderkin was “left for dead” at age 10 by a hit-and-run driver in a pickup truck near the Topsfield Fair, it was unclear whether she would recover, let alone be a competitive athlete.
Now, 44 years later, Elderkin lives in Florence at a home supervised by ServiceNet for people with head injuries. It took six months for Elderkin to come out of a coma after the October 1974 accident, and she remains partially blind and unable to move the left side of her body. She uses a special wheelchair that she can push straight ahead using only her right hand.
Before she was struck, Elderkin hoped to compete in the Olympics. “Second, third and fourth grade, my ultimate dream at that point in my life was to become a gymnast on the uneven parallel bars, the rings and floor.”
After she was injured, Elderkin gave up on competing in anything until three years ago when she found the adaptive rowing program at Holyoke Rows, a nonprofit at the Jones Ferry River Access Center on the Connecticut River in Holyoke. It was founded in 2000 by Stephanie Moore, a former college rowing coach, who wanted to make rowing accessible to everyone.
With the help of ServiceNet, Elderkin gets to the boat launch and into a long shell that she rows with her right hand and foot. The right hand pulls the right oar, and she uses a pulley system to control the left oar by pedaling with her right foot.
Elderkin describes the sensation of being on the water: “There’s so much freedom out there. Freedom, and a sense of competition, I get to compete against myself, with the help of another rower who is the second person in my boat. It really is a thrilling feeling.”
Earlier this month, she competed for the second straight year at the BAYADA Regatta in Pennsylvania, the oldest adaptive rowing competition for athletes with disabilities in the U.S. After earning a bronze medal in 2017, Elderkin finished second in her competition this year.
“I am loving it,” Elderkin says. “I am so thrilled that I can compete again — not only with myself, but with others and against others, and anything that I have to do during that journey to get there.”
We commend ServiceNET for its programs aiding people with disabilities, and Holyoke Rows for giving everyone the chance to enjoy the challenge, and thrill, of rowing. More information about the two organizations is available online at www.servicenet.org/ and holyokerows.org/.
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Northampton High School teacher Kate Todhunter spent 12 days in Rwanda during July to better inform the course on modern genocide she has taught for 15 years. At first it focused almost exclusively on the Holocaust, but increasingly she has added lessons from other genocides.
The 1994 Rwandan genocide is of particular interest to Todhunter, because she was old enough to follow it in the news. “I remember seeing the footage on TV. I remember reading about it as it unfolded … The Rwandan genocide was different because, in a sense, it happened on my watch.”
During 100 days, ethnic Hutu extremists murdered an estimated 800,000 people, mostly members of the Tutsi minority.
Todhunter received a $3,000 grant from the Northampton Education Foundation to finance her trip to Rwanda with other educators. There, she gathered firsthand knowledge of the impact of genocide on a country. “The history I went there to study, a genocide, is a history of hatred,” she says. “And the way that the Rwandan people have been forced to deal with this hatred, I think there’s a lot our society can learn from.”
That will start with the enriched lessons she will teach her students during the coming year.
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Marsha Dube about 15 years ago was instrumental in establishing monthly community meals at the Easthampton Congregational Church. Now, “Marsha’s Meals” are a fitting tribute to her commitment.
About 70 people attended a barbecue at the church Aug. 17 to celebrate Dube’s life, about a year after she died. Her friends and fellow parishioners described her dedicated involvement in the church and larger community.
“She really cared about people,” Sue Hodnicki said. “When you say somebody has a mission, with her it was really true.”
“Marsha’s Meals” now are held every other month, continuing Dube’s goal of providing warm food and friendly company.
