Senator Spilka: Office Hours

SENATOR SPILKA ANNOUNCES ASHLAND AND NATICK OFFICE HOURS

On Friday, February 22nd, join Senator Karen Spilka and Puja Mehta, Senator Spilka's District and Constituent Services Director, for district office hours in Ashland and Natick. They will be available to update constituents on the latest news and events and discuss any concerns or questions you may have.

ASHLAND OFFICE HOURS
Sunnyside Cafe
24 Front Street
Ashland, MA 01721
8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.

NATICK OFFICE HOURS
Zaftigs Delicatessen
Sherwood Plaza (Rt. 9 East)
1298 Worcester Road
Natick, MA 01760
9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

Any resident unable to attend or looking to schedule an appointment should contact Senator Spilka's office at (617) 722-1640.

Franklin LIbrary: Scary Stories

Sent to you by Steve Sherlock via Google Reader:

Scary Stories

via Franklin Public Library by Franklin Public Library on 2/16/13

Things you can do from here:

• Subscribe to Franklin Public Library using Google Reader
• Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites

Trivia Bee - March 21

The Franklin Education Foundation will present its 17^th Annual Trivia Bee on Thursday, March 21, 2013.

Franklin Education Foundation

The Bee is the FEF’s largest fundraiser and has enabled the organization to donate over $255,000 to the Franklin Public Schools since 1997.

This year’s theme will be Music.

The Bee will be held at the Thomas Mercer Auditorium at the Horace Mann Middle School at 7:00 p.m. and will include live music by the Franklin High School Jazz Band, a raffle table, and refreshments.

Teams consist of three people sponsored by local businesses, civic groups, and individuals.  Anyone interested in sponsoring a team or donating an item to the raffle table should contact Maureen Roy at maurroy@aol.com.

For more information about the Franklin Education Foundation, please visit our website at www.franklined.org.

Sunday Reading suggestions

With snow swirling again, pull up a cuppa something warm, settle into your comfy chair and click through to read a few articles on local government, interesting free tools used in schools and deceptive ingredients in common branded foods.

Boston Fed Highlights Regional Consolidation as Opportunity for Local Governments to Reduce Costs, Improve Service Quality

from Boston Fed News

New research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston's New England Public Policy Center is prompting state and municipal officials to take a second look at a familiar proposal: regional consolidation. Motivated by the prospect of continuing strain on local government finances, this research examines the extent to which joint service provision could potentially reduce costs.

Student Oral Reports with School Hallway Dioramas via AudioBoo

by Wesley Fryer

I took the following photographs today in the hallway at Independence Elementary School in Yukon, Oklahoma. The GT teacher, Dawn Dukes, has helped students create audio narrations (powered by AudioBoo) linked via QR codes for independent study projects students completed recently. It’s a high-tech museum-like audio tour, in the hallways of IES in Yukon. What a great use of educational technology tools to help students practice their oral language skills as required by the Common Core State Standards! It’s especially cool since the library at IES has iPod Touches for students to check out, pre-loaded with QR Code reader apps like i-Nigma so students can listen to their peers share their reports

Food Babe Investigates: How Food Companies Exploit Americans with Ingredients Banned in Other Countries

by Food Babe

Thoughts of outrage, unfairness, disbelief, and ultimately grief consumed me while I was doing this investigation. A list of ingredients that are banned across the globe but still allowed for use here in the American food supply recently made news. While I have written about some of those ingredients before, this list inspired me to look a little deeper and find out how pervasive this issue is for us. Are these banned ingredients contributing to the higher mortality and disease rates in the U.S.? . . . → Read More: Food Babe Investigates: How Food Companies Exploit Americans with Ingredients Banned in Other Countries

Updates at the Franklin Art Center

Hello Everyone,

Franklin Art Center

We have rescheduled the iphone workshop for March 8 & 15  6:30-8

Arctic Art will be Tues- Thursday this week 10-12

Student Show  Opening is March 2   1-3  

If you  have not dropped off work for this show , stop by during Arctic Week

or by Tuesday  February 26th

There is still space in the Watercolor class Monday evening, Drawing class Wednesday evening and the 

After School classes on Monday and Wednesday and two spots in the Tuesday and Thursday class

Saturday morning art has a few openings and PreSchool art Classes are open 

New  Saturday Morning Painting  Teens- Adults

11-12:30

This is a beginner painting class  Great for anyone wanting to work on portfolio pieces or  begin to paint in

Acrylics and Oils or improve their skills

April Vacation  

to be announced

Summer Vacation

will be posted after February vacation week

Schedule will be like last year ...we may change and add some new themes

We may have to cancel the first week due to the snow day and last day of school...If interested in the sculpture and Collage week we can have the class Tuesday-Friday that last week of June 

Enjoy the week

Linda and Ian Kabat

Franklin Library: Family Storytime & Winter Carnival

Sent to you by Steve Sherlock via Google Reader:

Family Storytime & Winter Carnival

via Franklin Public Library by Franklin Public Library on 2/14/13

Things you can do from here:

• Subscribe to Franklin Public Library using Google Reader
• Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites

"the giving season spans the entire year"

Franklin Phone-A-Thon to raise money for pantry

by Matt Tota/Daily News staff

Losing a day to the Blizzard of 2013 has not deterred the more than 30 volunteers for today’s Franklin Food Pantry Phone-A-Thon from endeavoring to beat last year’s fundraising total.

Franklin Food Pantry

Those staffing the phones have a list of more than 3,000 residents to call. "There’s 15 phones, and we have three different shifts," Lynch said, adding that Dean has graciously offered to feed the volunteers. 

That makes for a lot of dialing, but also a lot of excitement. 

"It’s absolutely fun," Lynch said. "It’s a great way for people to feel like they are making a difference." 

And whatever the final amount, she said, "We’re so grateful for all of the community’s support. It’s been wonderful."

Read more: http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x1433784738/Franklin-Phone-A-Thon-to-raise-money-for-pantry#ixzz2L3vtZ3Ya

To make a secure donation online, you can visit the Franklin Food Pantry webpage
http://www.franklinfoodpantry.org/

or use the Donate Button on the top right corner of the Franklin Matters page. The donation routes directly to the Food Pantry account.

Disclosure: I am  honored to lead the Board of the Directors of the Franklin Food Pantry. Helping our neighbors matters very much to me.