Enchanted Mountains Village, Inc. 

The Enchanted Mountains village is a 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit organization governed by a volunteer board of directors.

​The mission of the Enchanted Mountains Village, Inc. is to support its members to age well at home by fostering connections to other members, community resources, educational and social activities thus encouraging the development of a vibrant, involved, and mutually supportive community. 

Members are the heart of our mission and inform the development of our programs, services, and activities. Afterall, the Enchanted Mountains Village is YOUR village and is member driven to reflect the quality of life you want so that you can remain in your home and live the life you choose. 

​The path to forming Enchanted Mountains Village

The idea behind the Enchanted Mountains Village (EMV) was inspired in 2019 by Atul Gawande's book, “Being Mortal,” and the story of his own journey with his father. He questioned society's response to the aging and ill, instead suggesting the question, “How do you want to live?”
The path led a core group to learn from members of the Village to Village movement in Ithaca, and then to the decision to create a Village in this community.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Unable to bring people together, the group decided to begin acting like a Village, mostly virtually, hosting Zoom socials and presentations and spreading the word via flyer and personal contact. Organizational work continued during the pandemic months: incorporation as a nonprofit organization (confirmed April 16, 2021); development of bylaws; election of a board of directors; a survey of prospective members; an EMV Facebook group and an email list of potential members.

October 17, 2021, witnessed the first in-person launching of the Enchanted Mountains Village. Its leaders described the history of EMV, its connections to the Village to Village movement, and invited all to active membership.

Watch the presentations from the official Enchanted Mountains Village launch celebration​

Meet our volunteer Board of Directors

Contact Theresa

Theresa Schueckler, Chairperson

• Theresa Schueckler graduated with a BS in Social Science and a MS in Education. Her work experiences include working as a Site Manager and Social Worker at Meals on Wheels of Buffalo and Erie County, Inc. She also worked at the Erie County Department of Social Services as a Public Assistance Examiner and at Cattaraugus County Department of Social Services in the Employment Unit. At Cattaraugus County/Allegany BOCES, she was the Adult Education Team Leader and worked with adult students in the Career Technical Programs to prepare them for success in the workforce. She developed new programs for employment opportunities in the area, hired instructors, and facilitated all areas of the program. She has served on the Cattaraugus Council on Alcohol and Substance Abuse, the Cattaraugus/Allegany County Workforce Investment Board and the Cattaraugus/Allegany County Cornell Cooperative Extension. Her volunteer activities include service as Vice President of the Home School Association, assisting a Vietnamese Resettlement Program, serving as Parish Chairman of the Bishop’s Committee, being a member of the Business and Professional Women’s Association and helping with Rebuilding Together.
  

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Contact Kimberly

Kimberly LaMendola, Vice-Chairperson

• ​Kimberly LaMendola is the Regional Development Coordinator for Southern Tier West Regional Planning & Development Board (STW) and Food System Projects Manager for NY Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (NYSAWG), a 501(c)(3) non-profit affiliate of STW. Leveraging her background in community and economic development, Kimberly works with food system stakeholders to fortify the return on investment for farmers and local food producers while also working to strengthen food access/security and food system equity. She provides programmatic and planning assistance at all points on the food system supply and value chains, integrating sustainable economic, social, and environment goals. Her experience includes nonprofit management and board directorship, business development, oversight of a revolving small business loan fund; and decades of grantsmanship and grant program administration for federal, state, and local programs. She's curious about learning what makes communities unique and therein likes to lose herself in explorations, contemplative travel, and new experiences. Kimberly is a certified yoga teacher trained in the Himalayan tradition, and maintains 12 large raised-bed gardens for food production at the 1890 farmhouse she shares with her wife. She holds degrees in Business Administration and Community and Rural Development, with advanced certificates in food systems planning. 

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Contact Jean-Francois

Jean-François Godet-Calogeras, Treasurer

• Jean-François Godet-Calogeras, professor emeritus of Franciscan studies at Saint Bonaventure University, New York, received his education in classical philology and medieval studies at the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium. As a Franciscan scholar, he is internationally well-known for his publications on the early Franciscan documents, in particular the writings of Francis and Clare of Assisi, for his lectures and workshops on early Franciscan history, and for his participation in the elaboration of the new Rule of the Third Order Regular of Saint Francis.

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Contact Linda

Linda Matthews, Secretary

• Linda Matthews has a Master's degree in Counseling and a long history of serving at various times on the following Boards of Directors:  Canticle Farm Inc., Cattaraugus County Community Services Board, Cattaraugus County Mental Health Sub-committee, Cattaraugus County Drug and Alcohol Sub-committee, Cattaraugus County Community Services Quality Assurance Committee, Southern Tier Health Care System Mental Health Roundtable, Directions in Independent Living, Head Start Policy Council, and Home Health Care of Cattaraugus County. Linda worked in mental health in both McKean County, PA and Cattaraugus County as well as being the Coordinator of Services at the Cattaraugus County Department for the Aging.  Following those experiences, Linda had a 38 year career teaching human services and psychology at the Cattaraugus County Campus of Jamestown Community College. Currently retired, she heads the Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Committee which provides donations and material goods to refugees coming into the Buffalo area.

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Contact Athena

Athena Godet-Calogeras, Director

• For 25 years, Athena Godet-Calogeras taught high school in poverty areas of New York, Chicago, and Cleveland, and co-founded an alternative high school for teens and young adults who had dropped out of Chicago’s public schools. During her years in Chicago she also helped initiate Haversack, a Franciscan review, and for 15 years served as its editor. In Cleveland she worked with the Universal Health Care Action Network of Ohio as associate director, directing her passion for justice and her educational and organizational skills to promoting health care for all. Before moving to Allegany 13 years ago, Athena served as co-chair of Ohio’s statewide Coalition for Affordable Prescription Drugs, which won groundbreaking legislation in December of 2003.  At present she chairs the Health Care Access Coalition, a grass-roots community organization committed to affordable and quality universal health care and is a co-founder of Enchanted Mountains Village (EMV), a member of the Village-to-Village Network. Athena has also taught GED classes as an Adult Education Instructor for BOCES in Olean, and for the past seven years she has worked as a volunteer educator with the Cattaraugus County Department of Health where she initiated the Veggie Wheels, a project to bring fresh, local vegetables to low-income residents of the county’s government housing.  Athena has an M.S. degree in biology from Notre Dame University, Indiana.

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