Hockomock Area YMCA: Holiday Gift Drive

holiday gift drive

Attached is an invitation to participate in the YMCA's annual giving tree program.  Sharing gifts with families in need this holiday season exemplifies the caring of our community, our staff, and our YMCA members.  On Christmas morning last year, 705 gifts found their way to the homes of 118 Y families, for which we were truly thankful to all involved.  That meant together we brightened the lives of 357 children, women, and men in our community. 

Thank you in advance for your consideration in printing the attached release to help make the holidays much brighter for those families with tags remaining on our lobby trees. 

Scholarship Fund in memory of Colleen Ritzer

From the Essex County Community Foundation website:

To carry on the legacy of our beautiful daughter and sister Colleen and her passion for teaching, we have established the Colleen Ritzer Memorial Scholarship Fund. This scholarship will be awarded to students who are pursuing a degree in education so they can continue her legacy of making a difference in a student's life. 

Colleen Ritzer

The Colleen Ritzer Memorial Scholarship Fund is managed by Essex County Community Foundation. If you have any questions regarding your online donation, please contact Kathy (978) 777-8876 or k.moriconi@eccf.org. If you prefer to make a donation by mail you can make a check payable to: 

ECCF/Colleen Ritzer Fund and mail to: 

Essex County Community Foundation
175 Andover Street
Danvers, MA 01923

You can donate online via this link
https://secure.etransfer.com/ecomm/donation/donation1.cfm?d2org=EssexCCF&d2tool=ColleenRitzerMemorialFund


Who was Colleen Ritzer? An Assumption College graduate and teacher at Danvers High School.
http://www.massteacher.org/News/archive/2013/ms_ritzer_scholarship_fund.aspx

"the regulations tighten the town’s rules on smoking in public places"

The Milford Daily News reports on the public hearing being set up for Jan 7th to review proposed new tobacco regulations for Franklin.

The Board of Health will hold a public hearing next month on whether to pass comprehensive new tobacco regulations. 

The three-member board scheduled the hearing for its Jan. 7 meeting, set to begin at 10 a.m. at the Municipal Building, 355 East Central St. Health Director David McKearney wrote the proposed regulations. 

If passed, the controls would reshape how the town handles tobacco sales, raising the legal age to purchase tobacco products to 19 and establishing a tobacco and nicotine delivery products permit, administered by the board. Currently the town does not have a local tobacco permit for businesses, which still must acquire a license from the state Department of Revenue in order to sell cigarettes and other tobacco products.

Read more: http://www.milforddailynews.com/blog/healthconscious/x915450461/Franklin-Public-hearing-set-for-new-tobacco-regulations#ixzz2mnGuTbfg

Franklin Elks - BPOE 2136

The membership and association clubs such as the American Legion and Elks would also be included in the new regulations to ban smoking within their facilities.

I would hope that there would also be a hearing scheduled for some evening as any of the voters/residents who work during normal business hours are disenfranchised by this particular time of day for the 'public hearing.'

Weekend events in Franklin

• The Annual Christmas Fair takes place at St John Episcopal Church on Saturday from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM

• Bubbles and Bark, wine tasting and special hot dogs to raise money for the Forever Home Rescue New England at Pour Richard's on Saturday from 1:00 Pm to 4:00 PM

What is missing from this list? Is something else happening here in Franklin this weekend?
Please leave a comment to include that item.


Updated 12/6/13 6;00 PM


Saturday, December 7th from 8am-11am,

• Cub Scout pack 126 will be holding its Annual All You Can Eat Pancake Breakfast with Santa. 

It is being held at The Elks Lodge, 1077 Pond Street , Franklin Ma.
The cost is $6 per person, with children under 3 and Pack 126 scouts in uniform free.
Breakfast includes pancakes, eggs, sausage, orange juice, coffee and tea.
Santa will be available for photos for a cost of $3.
There will be a raffle to win one of our gift baskets, with tickets on sale to benefit the scouts!
Scout popcorn and candy bars will be available for purchase.
Pack 126 will also be hosting a toy drive for local children in need. You may bring to the breakfast a new unwrapped toy if desired.

• Craft fair open house at Akin Bak Farm from 9:00 - 6:00 PM! Also selling fresh trees and wreaths

Hockomock Football awards recognize Zucco and Tighe

HockomockSports.com continues their fall award announcement with Football. Nick Zucco and Griffin Tighe represent Franklin on the 'Hock 5" for their respective positions. Nick among the quarterbacks and Griffin among the offensive line.


Read the full listing of the football awards here
http://www.hockomocksports.com/1/post/2013/12/hockomocksportscom-2013-football-awards.html

Stories told via postcards

A regular reader shares this bit of info:

"Given the holiday season, we are striving to make more people of your towns aware of the book. Postcard History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, makes a marvelous holiday gift and one that parents and children and other town folks would enjoy reading. The book provides unforgettable memories about each of the communities as well as serves as a reference."

The book tells stories of the towns in Norfolk County including a section on Franklin. The stories are told with post cards from each town. The picture book is a good size so it would not make a 'stocking stuffer' it would be more of a 'coffee table book'.

Part of the interest in this books comes from the story on how it was written. James and Paul Tedesco started writing it after getting the idea from a note on the back of an old postcard. James, the son, died a couple of years into the writing effort and the father Paul completed the book.

You can read the WickedLocal article on this book here
http://www.wickedlocal.com/dover/news/x511637164/Dover-resident-writes-postcard-history-of-Norfolk-County

If you want to order one, you can email Paul Tedesco at postcardbook3@aol.com

Welcome myBigY members to the New BigY.com

We're upgrading our website to bring you more of the features you've been asking for.

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Welcome myBigY members to the New BigY.com! Hello! We'd like to introduce all of our MyBigY members to the new bigy.com and updated myBigY. As a member, you know that at Big Y, the customer is Job #1 and we're upgrading our website to bring you more of the features you've been asking for this year. • clean and bright new design • easy to navigate • new recipes with nutritional info • meal planning information for healthy living • and coming soon...     Special offers only on bigy.com     Special deals that load right to your Big Y Express Savings®     or Silver Savings Club® card In order to continue to offer you great customer service and a fast and efficient online experience, please reset your MyBigY password in order to keep your information secure and accessible. Simply click on the link below and continue to take advantage of great service, great sales and an easy way to get both! UPDATE myBigY now Thanks for being a myBigY member and for shopping Big Y, The Big Y Web Team

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