Hope for our heroes

I was just reading the wickedlocal.com when I ran across an excellent article entitled, “HOPE Sudbury spring benefit drive“.  According to this article, the HOPE Sudbury organization will be sponsoring a drive to collect DVDs, gum, non perishable candies, slippers, socks, stationery, undergarments and toiletries including conditioner, feminine products, lip balm, make-up, shampoo, soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste to benefit Local Heroes, a Wilmington-based, non-profit organization dedicated to helping service men and women and their families.

HOPE Sudbury is a local non-profit organization that was set up after 9/11 by local residents and businesses.  HOPE Sudbury stands for Humanitarian Outreach Program, and its goal is to provide support, encouragement and financial assistance to returning service personnel and their families.  HOPE Sudbury was established in 2002 and has since sponsored many activities and events aimed at helping to bring the community together in order to help those who help those in need.

Local heroes is a Wilmington-based non-profit organization dedicated to helping military service personnel and their families.  Over the past four years Local Heroes has sent more than 8,400 care packages to our service personnel round the world.  This year, Local Heroes hopes to receive enough donations to send a care package to all of the Sudbury-area service personnel who have returned from their tours of duty as s how of appreciation for their dedicated service.

The drive starts today, Monday, April 27 and runs through Friday, May 8.  Those who are interested in helping our returning veterans can drop off any of these items at any of four locations; the Flynn Town Office Building at 278 Old Sudbury Road (next to the Peter Noyes School on Route 27), Goodnow Library at 221 Concord Road, Shaw’s Sudbury on Route 20, Sudbury Farms on Route 20 or the Sudbury Learning Express on Route 20.

If you are not able to make it to any of these locations, you can send your donations to Local Heroes by mail:

Local Heroes Inc.

P.O. Box 536

Wilmington, Massachusetts 01887-0536

Middlesex County, MA – April 2009 Events

• April 15, 2009 – Salem Arts Festival Call to Artists Extended Deadline – Contact Jennifer Bell, Manager, Salem Main Streets 265 Essex Street, Salem, MA at 978.744.0004 or visit Salem Arts Festival website.  
• April 17, 2009 – 7th Annual Boston International Film Festival – at AMC Loews Boston Common 19, the festival will feature a Red Carpet entrance and an opening and closing night Galas. It will run from Friday to Sunday, April 26, 2009.  For more information visit the Boston International Film Festival website.  
• April 17, 2009 – Death by Chocolate… not by Taxes at the First Church of Winthrop in Winthrop, MA.  A chocolate dessert and piano bar with music by Cassandra Marsh and desserts at moderate prices at First Church of Winthrop Fellowship Hall. For more information visit First Church of Winthrop website or call 617.846.0708. 
• April 18, 2009 – Fun Run/Fun Fair Wellesley High School Track, Wellesley Hills, MA. The Wellesley Community Children’s Center’s 29th annual event features races for children 3-12 years old from 9am-12. For more information visit Wellesley Community Children’s Center website or call 781.235.7667 
• April 18, 2009 – Spring Fest Charity Fair 2009 at Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, MA.  Boston-area charity festival to raise funds for the China Nest of Hope Orphanage. For more information on this event email info@springfestboston.com or visit the Spring Fest of Boston website.   
• April 25, 2009 – 22nd Annual Sheep shearing Festival located at Gore Place in Waltham, MA.  Demonstrations of sheep-shearing, herding dogs, spinning, weaving, and more. Large crafts fair, live entertainment, wagon rides, historic demonstrators, games and farm animals. For more information on this event call 781.894.2798 or visit the Gore Place website.  
• April 18-26, Old Sturbridge Village, offers family-friendly activities including music and magic shows, colonial crafts demonstrations, animals, historic school lessons and more. For more information call 800-733-1830 or visit www.osv.org.

Middlesex County, MA – March 2009 Events

• March 11, 2009 – Fleetwood Mac at TD Bankworth Garden in Boston at 8 pm, for more information call 617-931-2000 (venues website)
• March 12, 2009 – Stories and Crafts for Kids in Sudbury at the Goodnow Library This Thursday at 9:30 am.  For more information call 978-443-1035 ext 2
• March 13, 2009 – The Beauty Queen of Leenane at Amazing Things Arts Center in Framingham this Friday at 8 pm.  Call 508-405-2787 for more information.
• March 13, 2009 – Gary Fieldman Quartet, “Field Effect” at the Acton Jazz Cafe this Friday starting at 9:30 pm.  For more information call 978-263-6161
• March 14, 2009 – BugFest 2009 Family Festival at Harvard Museum of Natural History this Saturday from 11 to 5 pm.  For more information call 617-495-3045
• March 14, 2009 – The one & Only Boston Chocolate Tour in Boston – Starts at 11 am and last 3 hours. Very fun event, for more info call 617-269-7010
• March 15, 2009 – St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Boston at Broadway “T” Station starting at 1 pm this Sunday. 
• March 20, 2009 – Paradise City Arts Festival in Marlborough at the Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel and Trade Center from 10 to 5 pm, for more information on this great even call 508-460-0700
• March 21, 2009 – Wine Testing and Jazz Styling at Congregation Beth El of Sudbury River Valley starting at 7:30 pm. For more information call 978-443-9622
• March 21, 2009 – Character Visit – Meet Arthur at Barnes and Noble from 11 to 11:30 am, for more information call 508-628-5567.
• March 29, 2009 – Boston Bazaar at the Cambridge Community Center from 1 to 5 pm. For more info call 781-302-4835

Live show to help benefit our local food pantries

Recently I wrote a blog entry about the Sudbury Community Food Pantry and how those who are interested can help those who are in need helping make ends meet. Today I saw an interesting article in the WickedLocal.com entitled, “Sudbury coffee house show to benefit local food pantries”.

According to this article, the Women’s Alliance of First Parish Sudbury will be hosting a Coffee House and Open Mic on Saturday March 7 at 7:30 p.m. to benefit our local community food pantries. New England Weather and Terry Lockhart will be the featured performers for the evening.

New England Weather ins a Boston-based band and gets its name from the unpredictability of New England’s weather patterns. New England Weather is an accomplished band that covers a broad range of genres and styles during their show.

Terry Lockhart is a baritone soloist who forms part of both the First Parish Choir and the Halalisa Singers World Ensemble. With Steve Campbell on the piano, Terry is scheduled to perform a set of Cole Porter songs.

The Coffee House and Open Mike will be held at the First Parish of Sudbury, located at 327 Concord Road. This event will feature wheelchair accessibility as well as accessibility for the hearing impaired. The price of general admission is $12 and there will be refreshments starting at 7 p.m.

If you love live music, his is a great way to get out for a night of entertainment while helping our local food pantries.

To find out more about this event please call 978-443-2043 or visit the First Parish of Sudbury’s website at fpsudbury.org.

Click to read this article in its entirety at WickedLocal.com.

The Flatbread Company fundraiser for canines

I was just wandering around online a little when I noticed that the Flatbread Conpany in Bedford, Massachusetts will be holding a fundraiser for Save A Dog. Save A Dog is a local all-volunteer, all-breed, canine rescue group dedicated to helping find homes for friendly dogs.

The Flatbread Company will be donating a portion of all their proceeds from pizza sales between 5 p.m. And 9 p.m. On Tuesday, February 17^th to Save A Dog. They encourage everyone to come on out and enjoy a delicios pizza to help benefit a good cause. There will also be a raffle as well as a Save A Dog retail table where attendees can shop.

Shirley Moore and her husband David Bernier founded Save A Dog in 1999, but it wasn not until last year that they were able to find a place from where they could run this all-volunteer organization dedicated to finding good homes for stray and unwanted dogs. Before they found their new locale at 604 Boston Post Road, they ran their operations from their home.

It’s good to see an organization that is not funded by tax dollars helping to reduce our stray dog population here in Sudbury and it is even better knowing that these dogs are not being euthanized, but rather, are finding great homes with local dog lovers who will love and caref or them.

I hope tha anyone reading this will be interested enough to visit the Save A Dog website to find out more about this worthy organization and maybe even donate some money or time to helping their cause.

Please click to visit the Save A Dog website and find out more about how you can help.

Please click to visit the Save A Dog store.

Massachusetts Upper-tier Real Estate Market Review

Massachusetts Average Selling Price by Year

Sudbury Market Trends for 2003-2008

Number of Sold properties for The Town of Sudbury, Ma

Average Days on the Market for the Town of Sudbury, Ma

Wayland and Sudbury unite to lower costs

According to an article that I have just read in wickedlocal.com, the Middlesex County, Massachusetts communities of Sudbury and Wayland are looking into ways that can help them to save some money. Two boards of selectmen and town executive officers met at Sky Restaurant last week to discuss some cost-cutting initiatives. The main topic of discussion turned out to be a new concept aimed at helping the two cities cut overhead costs, regionalization. Regionalization is a means for neighboring cities to share services and pool resources in hopes of cutting down on overall operating costs.

This article entitled, “Wayland and Sudbury look at areas where the two towns can share services” goes on to mention some of the services which could be shared by the two towns. Some of the short-term ideas discussed at this meeting were combining the transfer station operations of the two towns as well as sharing library services and recreation department administration programs and equipment. For the long term, Sudbury and Wayland would seek to develop alternative energy resources, share police services and collaborate on GIS data-gathering and Council on Aging services. Other potential services that the two cities would share in the future include sharing equipment, pre-season preparationof playing fields and coordinating summer programs. Some of these initiatives could potentially be financed by state or Federal grants.

There are those who think this would be a great way to help both cities save some of their budgets during these especially difficult economic times and of course there are detractors. I am sure that this would be welcomed by residents of both towns if, in fact, it can help them save some money on their property taxes, foer example. What do you think, would regionalization be a good idea for these two towns or should “business as usual” be the order of the day?

Please click to read this article in its entirety at wicked local.com.

Sudbury Community Food Pantry

The current economic situation across the nation has affected many Americans.  Record foreclosures and a slowing real estate market have made for tough times for some of us.  Unemployment numbers are up and many are finding it hard to make ends meet.  Some folks have even had to resort to receiving support from places like the Sudbury Community Food Pantry.

For those who are not aware, the Sudbury Community Food Pantry has been helping those in need since 1990.  Their mission is to provide free food to anyone who needs it.  The food pantry is open to all who need food without prerequisites such as letters of referral or needs tests.  Folks who need a little extra support in order to make ends meet can stop by the food pantry located in the basement of Our lady of Fatima Church located on 160 Concord road and get a variety of different food stuffs and supplies at no charge.  Aside from Sudbury residents, the food pantry also serves more than twelve other towns nearby.

The Sudbury Community Food Pantry is a 100% volunteer organization and has never compensated any volunteers for their time or expenses.  Currently, there are approximately 75 active volunteers in the Food Pantry.

The Food Pantry receives donations from local schools, churches, synagogues, businesses and organizations that provide services.  It is open for food distribution on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12 noon to 2:30 p.m. are always accepting donations

These are indeed trying times for many and it is times like these that test the mettle of any community.  These are times when we come together in order to overcome obstacles and prosper as a community, together.

If you are interested in donating food, please contact Ed Gottman, the Sudbury Community Food Pantry Director by calling (978) 443-9233 or you can send an e-mail to riddlered@aol.com.  The Food Pantry will pick up donations at your home or office for those who are not able to drop them off personally.  The Food Pantry also accepts cash donations as well.  You can also contact Ed Gottman if you are interested in volunteering to help the Sudbury Community Food Pantry.