Monday, October 20, 2008

From volunteer Sarah Smith

Let me know if I can help in anyway with next year's clean up day. I thought it was a great community project and hope that it continues for many years! - Sarah Smith

From "Captain" Nancy Pickle

Bob. the pictures are great. Several of the Mothers with children on my list asked to do it again next time.

From Debbie Mendes, Girl Scout Leader

The girls had a great time. My 6 year old actually thanked me for bringing her to the clean up, she said it was fun! The streets do look nice.

It is great to get them involved at this young age, maybe it will stick with them, to stay involved in their communities!

I thought my 6 yr old would be so exhausted, but alas she is still awake and going strong!

I am one of the Girl Scout Service Unit Managers for South Hadley. That pretty much means I give all the leaders info, hold a monthly meetings, try to help keep the troops involved. So if you have any other community service projects you may like the scouts to help with send me an email... Your niece Caroline was in my troop for a few years, she can tell you that we keep them busy !

Debbie Mendes

Sunday, October 19, 2008

From Linda Young

"...our amazement of what we actually were able to accomplish. While we had this "wide" vision of what would be great if we could do it, we just didn't believe it possible. Yet it was! Volunteers really went beyond our expectations in their efforts and we are thrilled and rejuvenated in what can be accomplished. Our hopes of restoring the Falls area to the beauty and vibrancy we know it can be just got better today because of the volunteer efforts. - Linda"

Thanks to the Boy Scouts!

Your very welcome, Bob... I think for the first pass it was a great success.

Our scouts in attendance were:

Mason Mongeon, Nathan Gardner, Clayton Mastorakis, Nick Bernard, Sean Brower, Dan Campbell, Brian & Kevin Regen

We will be there again next year!

Paul Terkelsen

From: ...SCOUTING@aol.com
Sent: Saturday, October 18, 2008 7:49 PM
To: bobjudge
Subject: Re: Paul Terkelsen email address?

Bob

I am glad it all went well. I wish I could have been there but I had several other commitments. Thank you for your continued support of scouting and especially Troop 303.

Steven P. Roberts, Scoutmaster
Boy Scout Troop 303
South Hadley, MA 01075

Saturday, October 11, 2008

We will need rakes, brooms, grass clippers, and gloves!

On October 18, please remember to bring a rake, broom, grass clippers, and/or gloves! If you cannot come to the Falls that day, we would still appreciate you loaning such equipment to us. You should put your name on the equipment. Phone 413-315-5094 or email to southhadleymakeadifference@gmail.com. We will arrange to pick up the equipment from you and we will return it to you on the afternoon of October 18. Thank you!

Friday, October 10, 2008

Thanks to the Boy Scouts!

Hi Bob,

Thanks a bunch for your note of thanks. I can’t take any credit for what those scouts did, but I am glad everyone is pitching in. Mostly, my work had been getting the word out that the Cleanup was taking place. Thanks for your work—and I hope you have a great turnout on the 18th! I’ll pass along your email to the coordinator here in case there are any volunteers looking for a mission in you neck of the woods. Thanks.

Best,
Karl Meyer


From: Bob Judge [mailto:BobJudge@comcast.net]
Sent: Sunday, October 12, 2008 8:10 AM
To: Karl Meyer
Subject: Thanks for your work on the Oct. 4th River Cleanup!
Dear Mr. Meyer:
Several residents of South Hadley are planning a beautification project day on October 18, the details of which are at http://southhadleymakeadifference.blogspot.com/.
On Friday, several of us met to plan for October 18, and we noticed that work that had been done very recently between the parking lot on Main St. in S. Hadley and the CT River. We were surprised to see the clean-up and we wondered who had done that work.
Then, yesterday, a Main St. business owner told me that a group of scouts had been cleaning there on October 4. A light went on in my head, and I remembered your September email!
Thank you for organizing that October 4 work. You have made our workload for October 18 a lighter one!
Yours,
Bob Judge
-------------------------------------------
From: Karl Meyer[SMTP:KMEYER@CTRIVER.ORG]
Sent: Tuesday, September 09, 2008 1:18:27 PM
To: Judge, Robert (HOU )
Subject: Oct. 4th River Cleanup invite
Hi Robert,
…it looks like there will again be a group going out at Mitch’s Marina, and there’s also Boy Scout Troop 303 going out along the Ct. River in South Hadley. Hope you all can make it.
Best,
Karl Meyer
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
August 27, 2008
...
The Connecticut River Watershed Council (CRWC) is holding its 12th Annual “Source to Sea Cleanup” on Saturday, October 4, and we invite you and your staff to participate. This is a terrific way to spend a morning on a community-wide project that brings a feeling of satisfaction to all who participate. It would also be a great opportunity for you to connect with your constituents around the issues of a cleaner environment.
The Connecticut River and its tributaries are much cleaner today than 20 years ago. Unfortunately some sections and riverbeds are still treated as dumping grounds. The Source to Sea Cleanup is CRWC’s way of highlighting this problem and involving people in caring for New England’s mightiest waterway – a natural treasure as well as a critical resource.
We hope you and your staff will be able to join CRWC’s 12th Cleanup effort by linking up with a community group conducting a cleanup in your district (we will have a list of approximately 40). We’ll work to insure there is good publicity about the Cleanup in your area’s newspaper(s), which in turn will help the Council get the word out about its programs. For more information about the Cleanup, check CRWC’s Web site at: www.ctriver.org . A list of registered groups will be posted on our website in the coming weeks.
Last year over 2,000 volunteers hauled more than 50 tons of trash from the Connecticut River and its tributaries. Nearly 1,000 (984) of them were from Massachusetts! They pulled everything from barbeque grills, refrigerators and shopping carts, to hundreds of tires and rims from stream sides and floodplains. Some 60 civic groups and towns joined the CRWC to make last year’s Cleanup a great success. With your help, we hope to make the 2008, the 12th annual Source to Sea Cleanup, even bigger and better. Hope to see you on October 4!
Sincerely,
Andrea F. Donlon
River Steward, CRWC
(413) 772-2020, ext. 205

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Watch for the Girl Scouts on October 18!

Hello Mr. Judge-
I received an email from the local chapter of Girl Scouts letting us know about the Community Clean Up Day on October 18. My troop would love to be involved. We are troop 193, a Daisy Troop. We will assist in any way we can from 9:00-10:00 AM. We were told to assemble at the Egg and I at 9:00 AM. We will see you then!

Regina LeCours
Troop 193

Monday, September 29, 2008

Thanks to Bruce and Dianne Perron of the Egg & I/Roost

Bruce will generously offer a discount on October 18 to "Make A Difference Day" volunteers!

Thanks to the Ryder Funeral Home

Will Ryder has kindly offered to loan his large tent-like covering on Oct. 18. It will be in the "Command Center" in the parking lot across from 26 Main St. If it is a warm autumn day, it will give the volunteers some shade!

Thanks, Will!

The Chamber of Commerce will help!

From: Susan Stockman [mailto:susan@shchamber.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2008 12:16 PM
To: 'Susan Stockman'
Subject: Make a Difference!
Importance: High

Hello all,

Here’s your chance to show up and make a difference in your community! On Saturday, October 18 from 9 am to 1 pm (rain date October 25) community-minded people are volunteering to help make a difference in the South Hadley Falls area. The kick-off location is the parking lot across from the Egg & I on Main Street. Volunteers should bring rakes, weed-wackers, work gloves and work boots if they have them... If anyone can donate bottled water to the effort, that would be great, too.

Refreshments will be provided. Please visit the impressive blog below for more information about this effort. The Chamber is mentioned! If you arrive early enough, you may get a Chamber hat to wear during your efforts!

Susan Stockman, Executive Director
South Hadley/Granby Chamber of Commerce
116 Main St., Suite 4
South Hadley, MA 01075
(413) 532-6451
www.shchamber.com

Sunday, September 28, 2008

From Stacy Counter

From: Stacy Counter
Sent: Sunday, September 28, 2008 9:18 PM
To: BobJudge
Subject: RE: Make A Difference Day

Yes, I live in South Hadley, I'm a junior at the HS, and I'm president of the leo club. I will try to coordiante to be there, but I think I have marching band rehersal that morning. If circumstances permit I will be there. I will do my best to get some members of my club to be there. Thanks!

Stacy Counter
---------------------------------------
Stacy:

Fine, thank you!

- Bob Judge

Saturday, September 27, 2008

The Cub Scouts are coming!

We have about 12 cub scouts from Pack 303 coming on the 18th. They range in age from 6-10...This is in addition to the crew from the Boy Scouts (older group). - Linda

Thursday, September 25, 2008

The Boy Scouts will be there!

Steve, that's great. Would you ask the scouts if they could bring
rakes, work gloves and work boots if they have them. We're getting a
good number of volunteers so it looks like we should be able to
accomplish a significant amount of clean-up. Thanks for your help.

Linda

Quoting Steve Roberts:

> Looks like we will have a crew there from the Boy Scouts
>

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Volunteers from South Hadley High School!

We're scheduled for a connecticut river cleanup on Oct. 4, but why not make a month out of it? I personally will be in Boston that weekend, but I could do my part to orchestrate an event, if another cleanup isn't overkill. Just a thought- Bridge street is pretty close to the river, this is the area we cleaned last year along the Connecticut.

Abbe

--- On Wed, 9/17/08
From: ...
Subject: RE: Make A Difference Day
To: drllyoung@comcast.net
Cc: bobjudge@comcast.net, edwall@pioneeradvisor.net
Date: Wednesday, September 17, 2008, 7:44 PM

I'll do my best to sell it-I'll give the kids their comm service projects next week-so it'll be a great way to have some preloaded projects for the kids. Hopefully some will show. I'll keep you posted, jacob

p.s. I have added Abbe Hamilton the enviro club ringleader on this email to help me push with other kids-plus I know that she had a river cleanup scheduled for around that time-not sure of the exact daate-but maybe we could coordinate

________________________________________
From: drllyoung@comcast.net [mailto:drllyoung@comcast.net]
Sent: Wed 9/17/2008 7:33 PM
To: jMasenior
Cc: bobjudge@comcast.net; edwall@pioneeradvisor.net
Subject: Make A Difference Day

Jacob, it was nice to see you and the girls outside the Senior Center today. I love wagons!

A Make A Difference Day Committee has been formed to do some clean up on Main and Bridge Streets and the surrounding areas. We are hoping that your high school students would have an interest in helping us. It will be on Saturday, Oct. 18 from 9-1 with a rain date of October 25. When you respond, could you please include the two individuals I have cc'd on this e-mail as I will actually be away from Sept. 30-Oct. 19th. Thanks for considering this request.

Linda Young

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Participation by Mount Holyoke College Students

Wonderful! I joined the blog and I will talk to the rest of the Mount Holyoke Student Government Assocation's Executive Board to see which option (or both) they would like to take you up on! I definitely have been publicizing the event here on campus and hope people will want to help out!

Erna
________________________________________
From: BobJudge
To: wilso...@mtholyoke.edu

Subject: RE: South Hadley Make A Difference Day - Saturday, October 18, 2008
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:11:43 -0400

Erin:
...I appreciate your willingness to involve MHC students in Make A Difference Day! I will send you a separate email invitation to join our blog at http://southhadleymakeadifference.blogspot.com/, which I am hoping to use to share information and generate enthusiasm about October 18.

I have a meeting with Kevin McAffrey tomorrow, and I will be sure to tell him that you and I have connected!

Between now and October 18, I would be happy to meet with you and/or any other student to tell you more about Make A Difference Day. If you or other students want to see the area in S. Hadley Falls, I would be happy to take an hour sometime, at your convenience, to drive a small group from the College to S. Hadley Falls, to show you what we plan to do. Please let me know if either idea interests you.

Monday, September 15, 2008

From Stacy Counter

I think that would be great! I will send out an email and see who is interested...

Stacy Counter

--- On Sun, 9/14/08, drllyoung@comcast.net wrote:

From: Linda Young
Subject: Make A Difference Day
To: "Stacy Counter
Cc: BobJudge, edwall
Date: Sunday, September 14, 2008, 7:43 PM

Stacy, a group of us are organizing a Make A Difference Day for Sat. Oct 18th
from 9-1 to clean up Main and Bridge Streets. We are meeting with the business
owners along the way, working with the DPW on a dump truck and some serious
cleaning by them, St. Patrick's church for volunteer parking spaces, and
working on publicity. BUT we need volunteers. Do you think the Leo Club
would like to participate in sweeping, weeding, raking, picking up trash, light
trimming, etc? We have a rain date of Oct. 25th.

If you think the Leo Club would like to help, could you let me know asap.
I'm also cc-ing Bob Judge and Ed Wall on this e-mail as they are also
coordinating volunteers, etc. so please include them on your response.

On another note, do you think any members of the Leo Club would like to be
...?

Linda Young

Saturday, September 13, 2008

September 13 news

Lin Pickle just completed a 2 day job of clearing vines, brush, trees, etc from the fence in back of the park adjacent to the Firehouse Museum. This is on Carew St. across from car wash. It looks much better and opened up the street and the Park. The brush and trash (a lot of trash) is in piles on the side of the street. I guess he thought he couldn't let the rest of the Falls Area look better than the Historical Society and park. He hopes the DPW will pick up the trash.

-Nancy Pickle

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Thanks to Dan Evans

Thanks to Dan Evans, there is now a link to our blog on the town website!
Jeff don't feel bad, I too am challenged to the world of blogging. My daughter Martha is a member of the student council at SHHS and will be going to her weekly meeting tomorrow to recruit members of the council to help with clean up day. Will let you know the outcome after she attends. My family and I will be attending our daughter Abbie's parents weekend festivities at Skidmore College on the 18th so we'll be unable to volunteer that day but we're offering to clean, weed and plant in front of the police station prior to the event. I have rounded up some volunteers for the weekend of the 11th. I hope this is OK.

Carlene

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Hi all, I am still trying my best to follow and participate in this new age blog stuff. I am very old school and this has been my biggest challenge as relates to what you call blogging. So this is my first test message. Blog me if you hear me! Best, Jeff

More comments on September 9

Jeff:
We would of course love to have the Village Commons as a sponsor! The flyer is just a draft, and I would enjoy greatly adding The Village Commons to that list, which I hope and expect will grow.

...

- Bob Judge

From: Jeff Labrecque
Sent: Tuesday, September 09, 2008 10:47 AM
To: 'BobJudge'
Subject: RE: DRAFT flyer - Please suggest changes!

Hi Bob,

...I love the photograph. Which corner of Bridge & Main was that? As a resident and business member of the community I hope to participate. How do you become a sponsor? Is it to late for The Village Commons to become one? Linda and I had a great meeting with...

Look forward to hearing from you.

Best,

Jeff

September 9 comments

From: Kate Bedard
Sent: Tuesday, September 09, 2008 11:16 AM
To: Ed Wall...
Subject: Re: Falls MADD

Ed,
Let me know how you do w/ Home Depot or Bargain Outlet;as you know, corporate sponsors are tough to land. Knowing the cost of materials first will give us a greater sense of feasibilty. If a wood supplier is found perhaps Rocky's could be approached to supply the nuts & bolts? I will assist you as needed. - Kate

--------------------------------------------------

-----Original Message-----
From: Edward G, Wall
To: ...
Sent: Tue, 9 Sep 2008 9:46 am
Subject: RE: Falls MADD

Kate:
That is a great idea. I will contact Home Depot or Bargain Outlet and see if they would be willing to do something as a community sponsor in the way of materials.
Ed
________________________________________
From: Kate Bedard
Sent: Tuesday, September 09, 2008 10:39 AM
To: ...
Subject: Falls MADD

It was terrific to see aesthetic improvements in progress on the Hass property(even though not owner directed); we can only hope it inspires others along Main St. to follow suit! With all our discussion on what able-bodied volunteers can contribute to the event, we should be mindful of those who can only contribute in a non physically demanding manner. Who will be overseeing the refreshment, parking, and info area? Perhaps committee members should not only be visible but mobile to ensure the event runs smoothly?

In regard to Ed's idea of installing a simple fence along the backside of the parking lot across from The Egg & I, perhaps a business(s) would step forward as a materials sponsor. I'm sure we could find volunteers willing to install it. Of course, the cost of materials will not come cheap.
Kate Bedard
________________________________________

Monday, September 8, 2008

Today's news

On Monday, September 8, a group met to make more plans for Make A Difference Day. We walked along Main Street and spoke with a couple of business owners who were enthusiastic about the idea.

In the afternoon, a representative of Mount Holyoke College said that he would provide information about the day to the Student Government Association.

We are making progress!

Saturday, September 6, 2008

From Linda Young

Can we begin some articles promoting SHMADD to generate as many volunteers as possible besides relying on our contacts with organizations? Would Bruce & Diane post a sign-up sheet at the Egg & I? What about at the library, laundramat, Crack of Dawn, etc., etc?

Friday, September 5, 2008

South Hadley Make A Difference Day will be Saturday, October 18 with a rain date of Saturday, October 25.

-----Original Message-----
From: Linda Young
Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2008 7:26 PM
To: Bob Judge; 'Edward G, Wall'
Cc: 'Michael Szlosek, Town Administrator'
Subject: RE: Proposal for a S. Hadley Falls "Spruce-Up" Day, Saturday, October 18

Hi everyone, both my phone messages and those I saw at Dockside are abuzz about our clean-up day. You all are doing a great job.

Make A Difference Day did not allow for an alternate date except for October 26 so I chose to put the Oct. 25th date into our application… There is no problem with our doing it on Oct. 18th and linking it to the national Make A Difference Day... Doug and I probably won't be back for the 18th but will plan on doing our part during the following week or coordinating efforts for any other volunteers who could do more on the 25th.

I'm really excited about the idea of a mural on the ... building. Mike...Jeff Lebrecque and I are meeting next week in Mike's office...Involving the schools and the college is great. The college I believe is participating in the United Way Make A Difference Day in September. Have they lined their projects up yet? Would you like me to find out and see if they could do the parking lot, etc? Are we still meeting on the 8th at noon for a walk through? - Linda
------------------------------------------------------

From Ed Wall:
Bob, also, may I suggest that instead of 'spruce-up' or 'clean-up' day we officially name this 'South Hadley Falls - Make a Difference Day' - It's a mouthful but it puts us in line with national campaign and specifically identifies the community we are looking to concentrate on.

In terms of the things that can be done before the 8th:
Bob if you could make that contact with the college that would be great. Maybe if you have the time, you could also speak with the right people to begin the process of getting this into the school system. Maybe if they have the right amount of notice, the art departments could take some projects to help us with some signage to put on the rotary that weekend and around town. They could also make a large banner to put up at the "command center" that day. They could also design an ad or notice for The Reminder and we can see if The Reminder will give us some space for that.

I will contact the right people at Intelicoat and let them know our intent and feel them out. I will contact...and try to get him to let some people plant flowers. I will also get the right contact people for Getty and see if we can get somewhere over there as well. We need someone to contact Haas and the Dinn Bros. Haas has some old grafittied trailers that need to be painted over white in addition to the field and weeds on fence situation. Dinn would need to either cover up that graffiti or give us permission to do it. If Michael's Market is coming down, we don't need to worry about that. But Marilyn had a good idea with a mural. Maybe the high school art department could use this opportunity to paint a mural on the bridge side of the 'Crack of Dawn' building of the old river before the dam and that really neat ramp that was built with the water wheels on it. Just an idea.

I think one of the biggest projects is that Egg & I parking lot. In terms of the town's help. I'm going to just throw this out there. Would it be possible for the town between now and the date as a preliminary related project, to cut some trees back in that lot. If they are going to cut one or two, it's not worth it. That lot needs to be beat back about 5 feet including the really high trees that begin deeper in but hang way over.

Those can just be trimmed back. However, this project is not for volunteers. The rest can be taken care of by an army of people: raking, shoveling off the dirt, sweeping the lot. The last piece I would love to see is our street sweeper take a few passes through the lot and then have it re lined with paint.
...
Ed Wall
________________________________

Ed,

Thanks for attending last night...As you heard, we got a solid endorsement for the idea from all of the Selectboard members.

What should we do, if anything, before our 9/8 walk-through? I would think you would be the best person to contact the Chamber. I would be happy to contact the College, if you like. I or maybe Linda could also contact the Boy Scouts. It was suggested last night that we contact the high school. Was there any other suggestion last night of who we should contact, who we had not yet thought of?

Let me know what you think.

-Bob
> ----- Original Message ----
________________________________
From: Bob Judge
Sent: Sunday, August 31, 2008 8:03 PM
To: edwall; Linda L. Young; Nancy Pickle; Katharine Bedard
Cc: Brenda L. Mathieu;
Subject: FW: Proposal for a S. Hadley Falls "Spruce-Up" Day, Saturday, October 18

Ed, Linda, Nancy, Lin, Kate:

As you see below, our proposed Oct. 18 Falls "Clean-up" ("Spruce-up?") will be on the Selectboard agenda for the 9/2 meeting, probably sometime after 8:15 pm. If you are able, please attend so that one or more of you, not just me, can hear any suggestions from Selectboard members. In any case, I will note carefully what others say about our good idea. - Bob

From: Bob JUdge
Sent: Friday, August 29, 2008 1:10 PM
To: 'Michael Szlosek'
Cc: Carlene Hamlin, Chair, Town of S. Hadley Selectboard
> Subject: RE: Proposal for a S. Hadley Falls "Spruce-Up" Day, Saturday,

From: Bob Judge
Cc: edwall
Subject: Proposal for a S. Hadley Falls "Spruce-Up" Day, Saturday, October 18

Mike:
Ed Wall owns Pioneer Financial on Bridge Street across the street from Town Hall. Ed started a "Google Group" for those who are interested in improving S. Hadley Falls, at http://groups.google.com/group/shfallsrevitalization. He sent you an email invitation to join that email group.

Ed, Linda Young, several other residents, and I would like to organize a "Help Us Clean-Up South Hadley Falls Day" (name still to be determined), for probably 9am-1 pm, on Saturday, October 18, with a rain date of Saturday, October 25. The date coincides with National Make a Difference Day (http://www.usaweekend.com/diffday/ ). That entity awards grants and Linda intends to submit an application, although she does not expect that we will get a grant.

The plan is to invite all residents to join us for an hour or more on October 18 to help with some simple beautification work in the Falls, primarily on Main and Bridge Streets. We would invite people to arrive at the parking lot across from the Egg and I, which is owned by Holyoke Gas & Electric but is apparently leased by the Town. We would ask people to bring perhaps a rake, broom, glass clippers, and/or gloves, for instance. We would set up a table and sign in the parking lot and hand out simple assignments, such as "Please trim the weeds in front of the police station" or "Please pick up the trash in the gutter on Main Street." During the day, we hope that people will patronize businesses in the Falls, for food or drink, for instance.
After we met on Thursday night, several of us walked from the Police Station to the Roost to look for possible tasks. We need to discuss our idea with business owners and ask for their cooperation and we hope participation.

We hope that the DPW could make a truck available in the afternoon to take away the trash, weeds, and whatever else we collect. We will want direction from the DPW as to what the DPW would like us to do and what the DPW would like us not to do.

Like any such effort, this one it will succeed only if we organize well and communicate properly with those affected, especially the property owners. At some point in the planning process, a couple of us may go door to door to business owners to tell them what we would like to do and to ask for their ideas.

We are open to comments and suggestions about changes we should make to the above early plan. I am sure there are several questions that we have not yet anticipated. For instance, we should think about who and how to ask for sponsorship, for example, to purchase materials, such as trash or leaf bags. When we have finished the plan, we will want to publicize it in the media, hand out flyers, announce it at an October Selectboard meeting, and use any other way to generate enthusiasm and participation.

We plan to meet again at the Egg & I on Monday, September 8 at Noon (rain date Sept. 9) to do another walk through the area to look for good tasks. We hope that you and Jim Reidy and/or his designee can join us for lunch.

This morning, Ed Wall sent an email about our plan to the Google Group, which you can see in the "Falls Clean-up" email conversation at http://groups.google.com/group/shfallsrevitalization>. I like "Spruce-Up" more than "Clean-Up" but maybe there is even a better name than either of those two for the day that we should use!

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Another way to help South Hadley

SOUTH HADLEY & GRANBY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Susan Stockman, Executive Director
Office Telephone: 413.532.6451
Office: Tuesday & Friday 9 am -1pm
Home Telephone: 413.532.2480

South Hadley & Granby Chamber of Commerce
Helping Hand Committee Begins Sweatshirt Drive

The Helping Hand Committee is kicking off their October Sweatshirt Drive at a Chamber Beyond Business event at Adelfia’s Restaurant on Tuesday, September 30. The drive will last for the month of October.

The Helping Hand Committee is appealing to residents to donate NEW sweatshirts for youngsters who attend the West Street School in Granby and the Plains School in South Hadley and who otherwise will not have sufficient warm cover-ups in the chilly fall weather. Other items of clothing needed by some of the little ones are NEW underwear. Sweatshirts should be “unisex colors” in children’s sizes small, medium, large and extra large. They can be pullovers or zip ups or hoodies, but we ask that they NOT have logos or other images on them. Underpants should be for both boys and girls in children’s sizes 4-6, 6-8 and 8-10.

Collection containers in South Hadley will be at Family Cuts, 189 East St., Carey’s Flowers at 300 Newton St, and TD Banknorth at 460 Newton St. In Granby, collection containers will be at Florence Savings Bank, 58 Pleasant St. and at the Granby Town Hall. Donations of cash to purchase the items will also be accepted at Family Cuts.

Chamber of Commerce members Mary Sudyka, Chair, Family Cuts; Wendy Story, Beers & Story Funeral Homes; Tom Carey, Carey’s Flowers; Eve Luneta, Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine; Russ Sawyer, All Star Dairy; Rob Chateauneuf, Berkshire Bank; and Rose Helman of TD Banknorth are members of the Helping Hand Committee.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

A different "Make A Difference" opportunity

2nd Annual Make a Difference Day Book Drive for Children’s Literacy

Greetings from Megan Barber and Amanda Doster,

I am writing to invite you to participate in the 2nd Annual Make a Difference Day Book Drive for Children’s Literacy, organized by the ACT Community Service Center and RSVP of Hampshire & Franklin Counties. Last year we collected and distributed over 7,000 new and gently used children’s books to local agencies, who then shared the books with the children they serve.

Please let us know ASAP if your organization is interested in receiving books. The book drive takes place on Make a Difference Day, Saturday, October 25. You would need to be able to pick up your books in Northampton, Amherst or Greenfield on Monday, October 27, between the hours of 1:00 and 4:00 PM.

If you would like to receive books, please give us the following information:
· Organization name:
· Address:
· Contact person name:
· Contact person phone number:
· Contact person e-mail:
· # of books desired (books are packaged in bundles of 25)

· age 0-3:
· age 3-6:
· age 7-9:
· age 10-12:
· or assorted:

Please email Make a Difference Day planning committee member Lisa Bertoldi at bertoldi@crocker.com with your request.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We look forward to working with you to engage the community in promoting children’s literacy!

Sincerely,

Megan Barber, RSVP Director
RSVP of Hampshire & Franklin Counties
United Way of Hampshire County (413) 584-1300 x180
(413) 584-1465 (fax) mbarber@unitedwayhampshirecounty.org