Help celebrate Walter's 104th Birthday

"HELLO ALL,

We live in a community unlike any other!!

We here in the Town Clerk's office are reaching out to the residents of Franklin requesting your help to celebrate and honor Franklin's oldest resident, Mr. Walter Zinchuk, born on July 19, 1917 celebrating his 104th birthday.

Walter, along with his late wife Alta, purchased their Franklin home in 1958, where they raised four children. Mr. Zinchuk who is a World War II Veteran, served in New Guinea and Australia as a combat engineer. Walter received the Boston Post Cane which represents the oldest Franklin resident, and holds the title proudly! Walter is a very young 104, actively participating in various activities at Benchmark Senior Living.

To celebrate this amazing gentleman, a gathering is planned for Sunday, July 18th at 1:30 PM at Benchmark Senior Living, Forge Hill Road, Franklin. We are asking Franklin residents to "participate" in Mr. Zinchuk's birthday celebration by mailing a birthday card to:

Mr. Walter Zinchuk c/o Benchmark Senior Living

4 Forge Hill Road

Franklin, MA 02038"

Walter Zinchuck, the oldest Franklin resident received the Boston Post Cane

Town Council meeting recap of March 4, 2020
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2020/03/town-council-recap-march-4-2020.html

The Climate Minute: Advice on how to lobby your elected representative (audio)

"Climate activist can take advantage of opportunities to speak with their elected officials.  Lobbying can seem intimidating. What is the best way to do it?  We talk to a legislator about what he hopes to hear from people who come to talk to him about pending legislation."

Ted McIntrye talks with State Representative Jeff Roy about this topic. The conversation runs about 14 minutes.

Audio link =>  https://massclimateaction.podbean.com/e/advice-on-how-to-lobby-your-elected-the-climate-minute/

 

The Climate Minute: Advice on how to lobby your elected representative (audio)

FM #578 - Talk Franklin with Jamie Hellen - 07/09/21 (audio)

FM #578 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 578 in the series. 

This session of the radio show shares my "Talk Franklin" conversation with Town Administrator Jamie Hellen. We had our conversation via conference bridge to adhere to the ‘social distancing’ requirements of this pandemic period.

We talk about: 

• 4th of July; Farmers Market and Concerts on the Common

• Fire dept, Red Cross in response to lightning strike

• Maple Hill right of first refusal scheduled for Town Council vote at meeting 7/21/21

• Dale Kurtz retirement among several to be recognized

Links to the key topics covered here are included in the show notes. The recording runs about 30 minutes, so let’s listen to my conversation with Jamie.

Audio file => https://anchor.fm/letstalkfranklin/episodes/4th-of-July-Recap--Farmers-Market--Concerts-on-the-Common-and-Other-Local-Updates-e14bd4s/a-a64am7i

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4th of July Coalition webpage  https://www.franklin4th.com/ 

Town Council agendas  https://www.franklinma.gov/node/160/agenda/2021 

Cultural Festival scheduled for September  https://www.franklinmatters.org/2021/06/franklin-gearing-up-for-franklin.html 

Harvest Festival scheduled for October  https://www.franklindowntownpartnership.org/2021/04/harvest-festival-scheduled-for-october.html 

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We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) or 102.9 on the Franklin area radio dial.  

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.

 

How can you help?

• If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors

• If you don't like something here, please let me know

Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.

For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.org/ or www.franklin.news/

If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana"  c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.

I hope you enjoy!

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You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"

FM #578 - Talk Franklin with Jamie Hellen - 07/09/21 (audio)

FHS' Vinayak, Marr, Malhotra, Gundimeda, Shaik recognized as Tennis All Stars; Marr as boys Kelley-Rex Div MVP

Below are the official 2021 Hockomock League Girls Tennis All Stars, selected by the coaches in the league.

KELLEY-REX DIVISION MVP

Katarina Schneider, King Philip

KELLEY-REX DIVISION ALL STARS

Vedika Vinayak, Franklin

Honorable Mentions

Sarah Schiavo, Franklin

Below are the official 2021 Hockomock League Boys Tennis All Stars, selected by the coaches in the league.

KELLEY-REX DIVISION MVP

Liam Marr, Franklin

KELLEY-REX DIVISION ALL STARS

Liam Marr, Franklin

Vayshnav Malhotra, Franklin

Anish Gundimeda, Franklin

Sameen Shaik, Franklin

Honorable Mentions

Thomas Broyles, Franklin

The complete Boys list:
https://hockomocksports.com/2021-hockomock-league-boys-tennis-all-stars/

The complete Girls list:

https://hockomocksports.com/2021-hockomock-league-girls-tennis-all-stars/ 

FHS' Vinayak, Marr, Malhotra, Gundimeda, Shaik recognized as Tennis All Stars

Reminder: Community Conversations - Housing and Race - July 14 - 7 PM (via Zoom)

Housing and Race - July 14 - 7 PM

The Franklin Area Against Racism group (FAAR) is holding the second segment of its Community Conversations series, this time on Housing and Race next Wednesday, July 14th at 7:00PM. 

We invited Jim Johnston (longtime Franklin resident and historian), Bryan Taberner (Franklin Director of Planning and Community Development), and Jesse Kanson-Benanav (Executive Director of Abundant Housing MA) to discuss how how Franklin's housing policies and practices have fostered socio-economic inequities and worked to reduce diversity in the community.

Zoom info contained in the image

Background on Jesse Kanson-Benanav

https://abundanthousingma.org/2021/03/29/ahma-announces-executive-director/ 

Franklin Odd Fellows - Trivia Extravaganza - Aug 1

On August 1, 2021, the public is invited to join the Franklin Odd Fellows for an afternoon of Trivia, fun and good cheer from 2 to 4:30 PM at the Bellingham Sportsman Club at 360 Lake St., Bellingham, MA 02019.

The event will consist of teams of up to ten players with a registration cost of just $10 per person and $15 at the door.  Team pre-registration and pre-payment is strongly encouraged.

After a long and difficult year in 2020 where four Odd Fellows fundraising events were canceled due to Covid-19, William F. Ray Lodge #71 has remained active and continues with the renovation process of the building and with indoor meetings and cookout gatherings in their quaint pine grove back yard.  

This will be our first social event for this year that will help us to continue the longstanding tradition of giving back to our local community - and have a good time while doing it!  The Bellingham Sportsman Club has worked closely with the Bellingham Board of Health and is now following restaurant guidelines for holding public events.  

Get your team of trivia masters together and register today.  Entries at the door will be integrated into whatever teams have space remaining at their tables.  There will be a cash bar available during the event.

Register and prepay:    http://www.franklinmassoddfellows.org/trivia2021/

Download the flyer as a reminder ->    https://drive.google.com/file/d/133QIpuopY5ohYYMvs3X5TXV-jyrOQUcM/view?usp=sharing  

Franklin Odd Fellows: Trivia Extravaganza - Aug 1

Invisible Stories - #2 - "House Calls to Homeless People in Venice Beach"

"the intervention that counts is housing"

Mark Horvath (@hardlynormal) tweeted on Sun, Jul 11, 2021:

Invisible Stories is a mini-doc series that goes beyond the rhetoric, statistics, political debates, and limitations of social services to examine poverty in America via a medium that audiences of all ages understand and can't ignore. 

Link to the second of the series: https://youtu.be/8N2Ry_g15KA

Link to the series: https://t.co/Y0NRNIujar 

Shared from Twitter: https://twitter.com/hardlynormal/status/1414284287034155020

Note: I met Mark at a social media conference many years ago and have been following his work. This series is very well done. Yes, the series is set in LA but homelessness is an issue all around us whether visible or not.