Jim Witt’s voice may be heard on radio stations in the Hudson Valley and Maine several times each week providing weather forecasts, but the Cold Spring resident’s claim to fame is the Hope for Youth Foundation, a non-profit that produces and sells long-range calendars to raise funds for children’s charities throughout the region.
Witt, a spry 87, recalled how he used to provide listeners with long range forecasts over the air back in the 1980’s. “My bosses requested that I compile a winter forecast. It was posted on an eight by 10 sheet of paper and listeners would send a stamped self-addressed envelope to the station and the data would be mailed back. Thousands of requests were made. We decided to change the format a bit by placing the data on a larger sheet of paper that contained advertisements allowing us to send the information without requesting postage. The numbers grew and it was decided to expand the service even further by creating the Hudson Valley Long Range Weather Calendar. That first year 1,000 copies were printed. They cost us $4 apiece and we sold them for $5. The $1,000 profit was turned over to Friends of Karen.”
Today, Witt prints 18,000 calendars. Calendars sell for $16 by mail and $10 if purchased at a designated store. The Hope for Youth Foundation has donated more than $7 million to non-for-profits over the years.
Thirty-nine organizations benefit from the calendars’ sales including Blue Bath Service Dogs, Hillside Food Outreach, Philipstown Little League, San Miguel Academy—all in Putnam—as well as 18 scholarships provided to worthy students attending the Haldane and Putnam Valley School Districts.
Friends of Karen held its annual gala in New York City attended by some 300 guests and raised a large amount of money for sick and dying children and their families.
As guest of honor, Witt received the Sheila Peterson Award. Peterson, who resided in North Salem, founded Friends of Karen in 1978.
That year, 16-year-old Karen MacInnes was terminally ill with Lafora disease, a rare genetic disorder. She had been in a New York City hospital for almost a year, and her parents were traveling 110 miles daily between their Purdys home and the hospital to be with her. Karen wanted to spend her remaining time at home surrounded by those she loved. Despite the overwhelming challenges they faced for her care, her parents brought Karen home.
Petersen, a family friend, appealed to the community about the plight of Karen and her family. Friends and neighbors gave generously to help pay the mounting bills for the ‘round-the-clock’ care Karen needed during the last 11 months of her life. After Karen died, her family expressed their wish that Petersen continued to help other families with a catastrophically ill child. Sheila named her effort Friends of Karen, and used the remaining funds to help another child, and then another…Today, Friends of Karen helps hundreds of ill children and their families every month.
