How much do you want to play football?

Nine year old Kyle Florio has been deaf since birth. He was born with the love of football. Kyle's parents are also deaf and they wanted their son to be able to play sports just like all the other kids. So they supported his decision when he wanted to join the Pop Warner league. 

"I feel like it's a little different. Most of the time, feels just normal," says Kyle through an interpreter. 

This year mark the third year Kyle has been drafted by the Charger's as a defensive back. And thanks to his team's generosity, they have raised thousands of dollars every year to make sure Kyle has an interpreter right there on the field with him, putting Kyle on a level playing field with everyone else. 

"It's really nice to have an interpreter there. Have full communication access, full enjoyment. It's almost like a sense of equity among the players, says Steve Florio, Kyle's father, through an interpreter.

Read more: http://www.myfoxny.com/story/23233829/team-raises-funds-for-child#ixzz2cqHBKTky

The fund raiser was held this past Friday night at Cole's. If anyone knows if the team is still accepting donations and where to send them, please let me know. We can update this posting to share the info.

The team needed to raise $3,600 to pay for an interpreter this season. If you'd still like to help the team, visit: http://www.gofundme.com/Communication-Access-Fund 

Read more: http://www.myfoxboston.com/story/23247306/2013/08/24/franklin-football-players-raise-10k-to-help-deaf-teammate#ixzz2d0ya5QA3

New York News

Franklin Public Schools: School Improvement Plans (SIP)

On the agenda for the School Committee meeting on Tuesday Aug 27 is the presentation, discussion and acceptance of the school improvement plans.

The district improvement plan is set and then each individual school works out how they can meet the overall objectives based upon their student population and individual requirements.

The School Administration earlier this year introduced a checklist to enable better tracking of the improvement plans and detailed action items. The checklist can be found here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2013/02/fps-district-improvement-plan-checklist.html


The individual school improvement plans can be found on the link to each school name.

Elementary - School Improvement Plans

1. ECDC
2. Davis Thayer
3. Jefferson
4. Keller
5. Kennedy
6. Oak Street
7. Parmenter

Middle - School Improvement Plans

1. Horace Mann
2. Remington
3. Annie Sullivan

High School – School Improvement Plan

1. Franklin High School

Bottle and Can Drive - FHS Boy's Hockey - Sep 7

The FHS Boy's Hockey Bottle and Can drive 

Saturday, Sep 7th

Pirelli Veterans Arena

8:30 AM to 2:00 PM

"SNAP dollars" are used like regular money

In an effort to expand their customer base and provide fresh and affordable food to low-income families, some Bay State farmers markets are accepting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. 

Previously known as food stamps, SNAP is a federally-funded program that offers nutritional assistance to millions of low-income families. The U.S. Department of Agriculture budgeted $82 million for the program in fiscal year 2013. 

According to MassGrown, which is overseen by the state Department of Agriculture and provides information on farm products and activities, 80 farmers markets in Massachusetts now accept SNAP benefits, including Ashland, Framingham and Hopkinton.

Read more on the Milford Daily News webpage here
http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x511616740/Farmers-markets-starting-to-accept-SNAP-benefit?rssfeed=true

Voices of Franklin: FRANKLIN HEIGHTS: Family Community Dream or Foreclosure Nightmare?

The Franklin Heights development is a Townhome/Condo Community located off of Lincoln St. My family purchased our town home in May 2008, at that time there were two townhome buildings with 4 units per building on the property. We were told at the time of sale there were plans for a beautiful family community and 109 townhomes were to be built in two phases. 

Soon after our sale, we noticed that things weren’t happening the way that we were told they would. Since our development was not complete, our association was run by the Trustee, the current builder. He had the control over how our condo fees were distributed and we were unaware of how much money was not being used as we were told until the development went into foreclosure and we were told that our condo reserve was gone. During this time, we had no landscaping or road maintenance. Our yards were literally overgrown, there were big mosquito infested holes from where construction had begun but not finished. From what I understand, the Condo association is required to have a 10% reserve in the budget for units to be sold and re-sold. We have never, in the 5 years that I have lived here, been given a budget or statement of how our fees are distributed. Our fees were quickly raised to make up for this reserve that is needed. We are threatened with liens on our property if we are delinquent on payment. After the foreclosure, we were told (through our own research through the Registry of Deeds and demands for information from realtors on the property) that there was a new property developer taking over our development. The new developer has since only developed the 18 unit complex located on the property that was abandoned for years. It took our own research through the Registry of Deeds to find out that a member of this new company was the new Trustee of our association. He has told us that his hands are tied in relation to the existing townhome units. He will not answer my emails or talk to me about my concerns. He will only send impressions of legal action if I continue to speak out with my opinions. We are told by Continuing Care (Property Management Company that handles our association money) that there is no money in our budget for road/driveway maintenance, recycling, and regular maintenance of our units. This is all outlined as the responsibility of the Trustee/Association in our condo documents. All townhome units pay month HOA fees, some units as high as $310/month. Just recently, homeowners have begun to use their own money to make repairs to prevent damage to our cars and provide safe spaces for our children. 

My mission is to raise awareness about this development in hopes that drawing attention will force the “board” and “association” and “Trustee” to start running this neighborhood as a true association with unit owner involvement and proper maintenance of our units and roads. 

Thank you,
Rachel Brancato

Voices of Franklin guidelines
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2011/03/introducing-voices-of-franklin.html

"we have a long way to go"

The Citizens Committee is exploring how to get the downtown train station on the historical register according to this article in the Milford Daily News.

Describing what comes with placement on the registry, McNiff said, "If it’s a commercial property, there are some tax benefits available. Work done on it would have to be reviewed by the historical commission if what’s being done does not conform with the historic nature of the building." 

"There are preservation grants that are available," he continued, "and those are open to communities and nonprofit entities. It’s a competitive program so you have to make an application." 

One of two T stops here, the downtown station dates back to the 1800s. "A lot of us who grew up in Franklin remember what the station looked like: a picture-perfect postcard," Benedetto said. "Now it looks like the South Bronx."

Read more: http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x1655329783/Franklin-panel-envisions-station-on-historic-list#ixzz2csdfSPQf

The station roof was being repaired when I made the rounds in Franklin recently to capture some photos. Boarded up to do the roof construction certainly gives it a different appearance.

Downtown train station under construction

Bekah Redwine's "Bear Mitzvah" Project

Julia Redwine sent me an email with this message: "I wanted to share a special story that I thought may warm your readers' hearts."

A year ago July, a very special family friend of ours, seven year old Alexandra Pacher, lost her battle with leukemia. As one can only imagine, this was extremely heart breaking for Alexandra's family, friends, and our Franklin, MA community where Alexandra, her parents and dog Franklin lived.

Our daughter Rebekah was one who was very much affected by Alexandra's passing. Bekah and Alexandra were not close friends but had spent some time together over the years and for Bekah, it was just unfathomable that anyone so young would not only have cancer, but worse, pass away from such an unfair and cruel disease. Soon after Alexandra's passing, Bekah asked in honor of her own Bat Mitzvah which was coming the following June (June 22, 2013) if she could take on a special project in memory of Alexandra. At our temple, a large "mitzvah" project is not required for preparation of becoming a Bar/Bat Mitzvah but Bekah wanted to do this in addition to the responsibilities that were actually required at our synagogue leading up to her special day - Alexandra's passing really affected her.

Bekah decided to sew 54 bears (18 in the Jewish religion is "chai" and means life - so triple chai is 54) in Alexandra's memory. Bekah spent the next 11 months sewing, stuffing and adding eyes, noses and bows to these cuddly critters. Alexandra's favorite colors were pink and blue so Bekah decided to tie these colored ribbons around the bears necks so that they can be given to boys and girls alike. 

Yesterday Bekah, along with Alexandra's mother, Tamara Pacher brought the 54 bears to the MGH clinic where Alexandra sadly spent a lot of time receiving treatments. Bekah and Tamara visited one of the pediatric inpatient floor as well to continue handing out these special bears. Next year our family is planning a trip to Israel and Bekah's intention is to sew and stuff an additional 54 bears over the next year and deliver them to a hospital there as well. 

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month so not only does Bekah hope that these bears bring some comfort to the children at MGH and want them to know she is thinking of them, but to also spread the word of how important it is to continue the commitment to fighting childhood cancer.

The story aired on Channel 7 and can be viewed here




http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/boston/10011490853248/girl-makes-homemade-bears-for-cancer-patients/