Jay LePage, who has been Clinton County Social Services commissioner since 1995, was recently inducted as president of the New York Public Welfare Association.
The New York Public Welfare Association represents 58 local departments of social services. Its mission is to improve the quality and effectiveness of social welfare policy so that it is accountable to taxpayers and protective of vulnerable people.
Speaking at the ceremony, Clinton County Administrator Michael Zurlo called LePage "an outstanding commissioner" and said LePage "has a full understanding of the public welfare system in New York state. He clearly has a grasp of the issues affecting local social service districts and the impact those have on county budgets and ultimately the taxpayer. Jay is also completely dedicated to the ideal of helping others and takes great pride in improving the quality of life of all those with whom he comes in contact. Often faced with a situation that others may deem a lost cause or unsolvable, Jay goes the extra mile to find a solution."
In accepting the presidency, LePage mentioned his years on the association's Executive Committee, which worked on such issues as welfare reform, employment initiatives, children's health care and funding for services to prevent child abuse.
LePage cited the staff in Clinton County, saying: "I could not ask for a more loyal, competent and dedicated group of individuals. They are committed to working together for one purpose: to serve the individuals and families in Clinton County at the highest level of competency."
He said "the best exercise of the human heart is reaching down and picking someone else up."
Author Glenn Stout recently visited Beekmantown Middle School to share his experience about how reading changed his life and took him from the construction trade to being a full-time non-fiction writer.
"The best way to learn how to write is to read," he told sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders.
The students had read several of his titles on their own and through the school's Literacy Lunch program, which was coordinated by Reading Rocks Book Club adviser Rebecca Hamilton. The goals of this author visit were to motivate middle-level students, especially boys, to read and write and to let them know that with hard work anything is possible.
Stout has written, edited and ghostwritten more than 70 books titles for both juvenile and adult audiences. He is one of only a handful of juvenile authors who writes about sports and reaches many students who are otherwise unmotivated to read, particularly among pre-teens, according to a release from the school.
His books include "Young Woman and the Sea: How Trudy Ederle Conquered the English Channel and Inspired the World," "The Cubs: The Complete Story of Chicago Cubs Baseball," "The Dodgers: 120 Years of Dodgers Baseball," "Nine Months at Ground Zero," "Yankees Century" and "Red Sox Century."
