ESSEX HAPPENINGS April, 2015

ESSEX HERITAGE EVENTS

Featured Partner Event: Pesticides and Bees in Essex County Lecture by Dr. Alex Lu

April 2, 2015 • Cox Reservation, 82 Eastern Avenue, Essex, MA, 01929

Learn about the effects that pesticide use has had on bees in Essex County, and what we can do to combat this.

Rocks Village Architectural Tour

April 11, 2015 • 55 East Main Street, Haverhill, MA, 01830

Join Essex Heritage and the Buttonwoods Museum for an architectural tour of Rocks Village -- one of Haverhill's oldest neighborhoods!

Essex Heritage Annual Spring Meeting

April 16, 2015 • Everett Mills, 15 Union Street, Lawrence, MA, 01840

We invite you to participate in this free, valuable morning of networking and regional engagement. Join us!

Featured Partner Event: Earth Day Festival

April 26, 2015 • Cox Reservation, 82 Eastern Avenue, Essex, MA, 01929

Join Greenbelt and community partners for an Earth Day Celebration at the Cox Reservation.

When: Sunday, April 26th 10am-2pm

Where: Cox Reservation: 82 Eastern Avenue, Essex MA 01929

HERITAGE HERO EVENT

As the Heritage Hero dinner approaches, I am writing to ask that you to take action to support Essex Heritage’s major fundraising event.  As previously detailed in the attached summary, you can help support our worthwhile organization in one or more of the following ways: Sponsorship, Program Tribute Ad (April 10 deadline), Toast Sponsorship, and Ticket Purchase.  The event will be held at THE Danversport Yacht Club in Danvers.

 

To pursue any of the following opportunities, please contact Development Assistant Robyn Giannopolo at RobynG@EssexHeritage.org or (978) 740-0444 x130. Thank you for your Prospective support of Essex Heritage.

SPONSOR OPPORTUNITIES

$10,000 - Premier branding at the event including: Speaking opportunity at the event, Opportunity to include logo on promotional gifts at the event, Corporate banner on site, Inclusion of your company logo on event save the dates, invitations, and post-event thank you cards, Prominent promotion at the event, Pre-event promotion on our website and social media, Top listing on the sponsorship poster, Table Sign, Top sponsor listing in the program book, Full page, full color ad on back cover of the program book, Promotion at the event; Exclusive table for 10 individuals at the event.

$7,500 - Premier branding at the event including: Corporate banner on site, Inclusion of your company logo on event invitations and post-event thank you cards, Prominent promotion at the event, Pre-event promotion on our website and social media, Listing on the sponsorship poster, Table Sign, Sponsor listing in the program book, Full page, full color ad inside the program book, Promotion at the event; Exclusive table for 8 individuals at the event.

$5,000 - Branding at the event including: Pre-event promotion on our website and social media, Listing on the sponsorship poster, Table Sign, Sponsor listing in the program book, Full page ad inside the program book, Promotion at the event; Exclusive table for 8 individuals at the event.

$2,500 - Branding at the event including: Table Sign, Sponsor listing in the program book, Half page ad inside the program book, Promotion at the event; Table for 8 individuals at the event.

$1,500 – Sponsorship listing in the program book, quarter-page ad in the program book, 6 tickets.

$1,000 – Sponsorship listing in the program book, quarter-page ad in the program book, 4 tickets.

$265 - includes 1 ticket and a one line “Toast” (140 characters) in the program book and a “live-tweet” of your toast the night of the event

REGIONAL NEWS

SPRING WEATHER CONDITIONS

After the incredibly harsh winter with near record snowfalls spring sports at the high school level and the golfers in the region will likely see delays in those start up times.  Everything might be set back at the very least a couple of weeks, but maybe spring or very early summer will arrive in Essex County but do not count on winter being over just because April has arrived,   We have seen major snow events in April.

CITY OF SALEM MAKES CHANGES IN LEADERHIP

The City has made two appointments that impacts public safety and education.  They have named a new Police Chief, Mary Butler, that is the first ever female Police Chief in the Witch City History.  Chief Butler has come from the police ranks and replaces Chief Paul Tucker who has assumed the role of State Representative in the State Legislature.  The second appointment was a second woman, Margarita Ruiz who has been named the new Superintendent of Schools.  Ms. Ruiz lives in Salem and speaks Spanish and that is quite an asset in Salem which has a large Spanish based population.

  

COP-AA INFORMATIONREPORTS    

The efforts of the leadership of COP-AA is paying off as several contributions have been made to the organization with hopefully more to come.  Work is also being accomplished to add important board members to the leadership. Several COP-AA members have recently enjoyed Spaulding Hospital Adaptive sports programs in Skiing and indoor Golf.

OTHER INFORMATION ABOUT HANDICAPPED PEOPLE

A NIGHT THAT WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN

The Challenged Athletes Foundation is honored to share that A Celebration of Will, A CAF Gala to Honor the Legacy of Robin Williams, held on March 7th, was a huge success. Thanks to the generosity of our anonymous matching donor, sponsors, donors, guests, incredible table captains and co-chairs Jeff Jacobs and Jeffrey Essakow, over $3 million dollars was raised and placed in the Challenged Athletes Foundation Endowment in Memory of Robin Williams.

480 supporters gathered at the beautiful Rancho Valencia Resort & Spa to celebrate WILL and pay tribute to a dear friend and long-time CAF supporter Robin Williams. The evening was filled with uplifting and transformational moments including dance performances by a CAF athlete, Paralympic medalist and Dancing with the Stars fan favorite, Amy Purdy.

There is still time for you to help carry on Robin's legacy and support CAF's mission. Each dollar raised will continue to be generously matched and placed in the Challenged Athletes Foundation Endowment in Memory of Robin Williams. You can donate directly at Donate CAF.com.

INFORMATION FROM NORTH SHORE ELDER SERVICES

Are You Ready for Primetime?

Every day in this country, 10,000 Baby Boomers are turning 65 years old!  How many are ready for the primetime of their lives?  Some, but unfortunately not most.  Faced with vital questions as they near retirement years, many are not fully informed to make knowledgeable decisions such as:

•  When should I access my Social Security benefits?  What do I give up or gain if I retire early at age 62 or wait until I am at least 70?

•  How do I make the best selection among the array of Medicare coverage options - Medicare Parts A, B, and D as well as Medicare Advantage plans?  When and how should I enroll in Medicare?

•  Should I have an executed Health Care Proxy in effect?  What is it and what does it do?  How is it different from a living will?

These are just some of the questions to be addressed in a free series geared for Baby Boomers - and anyone else - who want to know more about Medicare, Social Security, and health care proxies and living wills.

North Shore Elder Services is sponsoring Are You Ready for Primetime? seminar sessions on the last Wednesday of March, April, and May.  Each session will be lead an expert on the topic and will emphasize practical, “how-to” and “why” information.  Sessions are offered from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. and repeated the same day from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.

March 25             Health Care Proxies led by Ellen DiPaolo, Esq., Honoring Choices MA

April 29                Social Security led by Thomas Riquier, CPU, The Retirement Center

May 27                 Medicare led by Irene O’Donnell, SHINE Program

Sessions are free.  Pre-registration is required.  Register for any one or all three topics.

www.regonline.com/primetime; 978 750 4540; info@nselder.org

Please share with contacts within your network.

ST JOHN’S PREP Information

We shared this update with faculty and staff today and thought you would be interested in seeing it.

Dear Colleagues:

A blizzard of snow days and vacation this month have left us all scrambling to catch up and get back into something of a routine. Despite these interruptions in day-to-day school life, however, much progress has been made in admission, construction and fundraising. We wanted to touch base on initiatives in all three areas.

Admission

The Office of Admission has been especially busy during the past few months—conducting interviews, hosting a variety of on-campus and off-campus events, and processing applications for both the Middle School and the High School. Letters of acceptance were posted on Veracross and put into the mail on February 5 for the High School and on February 15 for the Middle School. Applications for the High School were up by three percent over last year, and applications for the Middle School were right on track to reach our enrollment goals for September 2015.

During the next four weeks you will see more families and students on campus for Middle School revisit days and the High School Eagle for a Day shadow program.

We are approaching the Middle School faculty hiring process in three phases. Phase one is complete, phase two is underway now, and based on what we expect for enrollment, we plan to move on to phase three.

Advancement

We are happy to report significant gains in the area of fundraising. More than $9.2 million has been raised for the Prep 20/20 campaign. These funds will support endowment growth and construction of the wellness center. The Fund for St. John’s, which includes parent philanthropy, continues to track ahead of where we were at this time last year. We hope to raise $1.5 million by June 30. As you know, annual giving supports every aspect of school life, including tuition assistance, facilities, and academic programs. Your participation—through your time, talent and treasure—has helped us reach these significant heights in our advancement efforts.

Construction and Campus Planning

Progress on our construction projects continues to be on schedule, despite the never-ending snowstorms! During February break, crews successfully extended the sprinkler system to all classrooms in Brother Benjamin Hall. They also began demolition work in the basement, where lockers for the Middle School will be built during the summer. We will use April vacation week for additional building infrastructure work in Benjamin Hall.

Windover and their teams have powered through the cold and snow to stay on schedule with the new High School Academic Building. Crews continue to work on installation of the mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, and almost all of the windows are in place now. Exterior brick work will resume when the weather allows.

As construction work continues, plans for the packing and moving process are underway, too. Steve Cunningham will be in touch with you.

Preliminary information outlining the process and the support that will be in place to ensure that everyone is packed up by the beginning of June.

With your dedication and support, we have been able to accomplish a great deal in the past few months. Please know that we appreciate all you do for St. John’s.

Peace and prayers,  Ed Hardiman, Headmaster

SPORTS

Boston Professional Sports

The Red Sox have started Spring Training and it appears that pitching will be a bit of a problem, but they have gathered s number of professional hitters.

Both the Bruins and Celtics are playing well and the playoffs seem possible for both winter sports teams.

The Patriots won a thrilling Super Bowl 49, but in just a few days after the win, players were leaving for greener pastures.  A re-building effort for 2015 will be a must.

Local High School Championships

Congratulations to the Hamilton/Wenham Generals and the Danvers Falcons for their State Basketball wins.   That was the third in the last four years for the Danvers boys.  A Real Dynasty.  Congratulations to St Johns Prep for their efforts in the Super Eight Hockey Tournament against Malden Catholic   They came from the fifth seed to win the tournament.