Celebrating Birthdays are: September 9, Todd Drew, Dennis W.
Chagnon, Ashley Stearns; September 10, Stephen Catalano;
September 11, Lisa Fries; September 12, Kate Vogt, Anne Ruth
Dunne; Heidi Hillsgrove, Christopher Lee Briggs, II; September
13, Ian Pollard, Leon Bly, Loretta Suchomski; September 15, Jane
Adams.
A Very Happy Birthday to One and All.
Best Wishes to John and Anne Shaver, Sr. who will celebrate
their Wedding Anniversary on September 13th.
Winners in the August drawing at the Peterson-Cram American
Legion Post in Pittsfield were: #67, Robert and Cindy Thompson,
$50; #333, Diane M. Vaughan, $25; #10, Allan Nutter, $10; #66,
Robert and Cindy Thompson, $10; #10, Allan Nutter, $10.
Look out world, here we come, diabetics, high blood
pressure, heart attacks, has your love of food become too
much?
How about all of that medicine the Dr. prescribes, all
of the money they take. Why not do something for yourself, and
take off just a few pounds. You’d be surprised what TOPS can do
for you. We are a non-profit organization, and a support group
that is friendly, reasonable, perhaps for you and your family.
We meet Tuesdays at 6:30. Why not stop in and observe, and
possibly join? We weigh in at 5:30-6:15 p.m. with the meeting to
follow.
Please contact Pat at 435-5333 or Sandy at 798-5658.
We’d love to answer your questions. Members, remember to call to
be excused.
Beatrice Santolucito and Andrew Richmond announce the birth
of a son, Riley Andrew Charles Richmond, on 8/10/09, born at
home in Pittsfield, NH. Cindy Owen, CPM, of Birthroot Midwifery
Service was in attendance.
Morrisville State College, Morrisville, NY, recently
announced that Mark Fisher of Pittsfield, NH, was named to the
President’s List for the spring 2009 semester.
To be named to
the President’s List, a student must achieve a perfect 4.0
average for the semester and complete 12 credit hours.
Morrisville State College, Morrisville, NY, recently
announced that Jesse Fisher of Pittsfield, NH, was named to the
Dean’s List for the spring 2009 semester.
To be named to the
Dean’s List, a student must achieve an average of 3.0 to 3.99
for the semester and complete 12 credit hours.
Don’t Forget - The Greater Pittsfield Chamber of
Commerce Business Showcase Saturday, September 12, from 10:00
A.M. -2:00 P.M. at the Pittsfield Elementary School
Gymnasium. FREE Admission. Concessions available. Ident-a-Kid -
NINTENDO WII GRAND PRIZE DRAWING. This is a great time to meet
local business owners and see what they have to offer.
Questions? Call Lyn at 435-7170 or go online to
www.pittsfieldchamber.org.
Ten of the sixteen Dorcas Guild members of the First
Congregational Church in Pittsfield who attend the weekly
meetings of the Wednesday Work Women (WWW) enjoyed their annual
“eat out” at the Happy Family Restaurant in Epsom recently.
Those who were able to attend were Freda Jones, Pat Rutherford,
Sue Bleckmann, Dolly Kelley, Evelyn Rogers Richard, Joan Riel,
Sally Lewis, Elaine Glidden, Maddy Rogers and Nancy White. A
wonderful time of fellowship and delicious food was enjoyed.
School Lunch Menus
September 14-18, 2009
CHICHESTER
Monday - Baked potato, broccoli and cheese, Caesar salad,
sliced apples, milk.
Tuesday - Teriyaki chicken dippers,
baked fries, green beans, mandarin oranges, milk.
Wednesday -
Spaghetti with meatsauce, garlic bread, veggie, fruit, milk.
Thursday - Homemade chicken soup, toasted cheese sandwich,
carrots, pineapple, milk.
Friday - Variety pizza, veggie
sticks, watermelon, milk.
PMHS
Monday
- BLT, fruit, milk.
Tuesday - Steak subs, onions/peppers, cheese, fruit, milk.
Wednesday - Early Release - Pizza, veggies, fruit, milk.
Thursday - Chicken, veggies, fruit, milk.
Friday - Meatball
subs, veggies, milk.
PES
Monday
- Shepherd’s pie, mashed
potatoes, corn, fruit, milk.
Tuesday - Popcorn chicken,
veggie, fruit, milk.
Wednesday - Early Release - Tuna roll,
chips, fruit, milk.
Thursday - Baked chicken, veggie, fruit,
milk.
Friday - Pizza, veggie, fruit, milk.
EPSOM
Monday - Hot dog with roll, baked beans, celery sticks, fruit,
milk, or yogurt tray, or ham and cheese salad.
Tuesday -
Grandparent Lunch - Spaghetti with sauce, garlic rolls, tossed
salad, milk, ice cream, no yogurt trays or salads.
Wednesday
-
Lunchables, crackers, ham and cheese, carrot/celery sticks,
pickles, fruit, milk or yogurt tray.
Thursday - Cheesey egg
with sausage, blueberry coffee cake, celery sticks, orange
juice, milk, or yogurt tray or egg salad.
Friday -
Shepherd’s pie, bread and butter, fruit, milk, or yogurt tray,
or Caesar salad.
VA’s Suicide Prevention Program Adds Chat Service
New Service
Expands Online Access for Veterans
The Suicide Prevention
campaign of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is expanding
its outreach to all Veterans by piloting an online, one-to-one
“chat service” for Veterans who prefer reaching out for
assistance using the Internet.
Called “Veterans Chat,” the
new service enables Veterans, their families and friends to go
online where they can anonymously chat with a trained VA
counselor. If a “chatter” is determined to be in a crisis, the
counselor can take immediate steps to transfer the person to the
VA Suicide Prevention Hotline, where further counseling and
referral services are provided and crisis intervention steps can
be taken.
“This online feature is intended to reach out to
all Veterans who may or may not be enrolled in the VA health
care system and provide them with online access to the Suicide
Prevention Lifeline,” said Dr. Gerald Cross, VA’s Acting Under
Secretary for Health. “It is meant to provide Veterans with an
anonymous way to access VA’s suicide prevention services.”
Veterans, family members or friends can access Veterans Chat
through the suicide prevention Web site
http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org. There is a Veterans tab on the left-hand side of the website
that will take them directly to Veteran resource information. On
this page, they can see the Hotline number (1-800-273-TALK), and
click on the Veterans Chat tab on the right side of the Web page
to enter.
Veterans retain anonymity by entering whatever names they choose
once they enter the one-on-one chat. They are then joined by a
counselor who is trained to provide information and respond to
the requests and concerns of the caller.
If the counselor
decides the caller is in a crisis, the counselor will encourage
the Veteran to call the Suicide Prevention Hotline, where a
trained suicide prevention counselor will determine whether
crisis intervention techniques are required.
The pilot
program, which has been in operation since July 3, has already
had positive results. In one instance, the online counselor
determined that a Veteran in the chat required immediate
assistance. The counselor convinced the Veteran to provide the
counselor with a home telephone number and then remained in the
chat room with the Veteran while the hotline staff called the
number and talked to the Veteran’s mother. The hotline counselor
worked with the Veteran’s mother to convince the Veteran to be
admitted to a medical facility for further treatment.
“The
chat line is not intended to be a crisis response line,” said
Dr. Janet Kemp, VA’s National Suicide Prevention Coordinator at
the VA Medical Center in Canandaigua, N.Y., where VA’s trained
counselors staff the chat line 24 hours a day, seven days a
week. VA’s suicide prevention hotline is also staffed
continuously.
“Chat responders are trained in an
intervention method specifically developed for the chat line to
assist people with emotional distress and concerns,” Kemp said.
“We have procedures they can use to transfer chatters in crisis
to the hotline for more immediate assistance.”
Both Veterans Chat and the VA’s Suicide Prevention Hotline have
been established under the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline,
which was established through collaboration between VA and the
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
(SAMHSA) of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Since becoming operational in July 2007, VA’s Suicide Prevention
Hotline has received more than 150,000 calls, resulting in 4,000
rescues.
“Down on the Farm….Off to the County Fair”
Pittsfield Old
Home Day, 2009
Mother Nature spared us again – in a season of
lots of rainy days – July 18th, Old Home Day turned out to be a
beautiful day. Many THANKS are due to lots of groups,
organizations, businesses and individuals who make this event
possible.
The Pittsfield Players Encore group has been a part
of Old Home Day for many years and we appreciate your continued
involvement!
The Park Street Baptist Church served a
delicious breakfast on Saturday morning to start the day.
Thank you to ALL the cooks! Many THANKS to Tammy Colby,
organizer of the craft fair. The park was full of crafters and
people could try some local produce from some of the farmers’
market members. The free craft table for kids was manned by
Carol Grainger, Paula Belliveau, Michele Karwocki, Erica
Anthony, Shawna Sherwood, Leslie Vogt and Kathy Bleckmann.
THANK YOU to all! Rebos the Clown provided balloon animals for
all the kids – free! Thanks to PYW for manning the jump tent and
the carnival games for the kids. The “pretend” cow was
quite a hit as kids were taking turns trying to milk it.
Many THANKS to the creators of the “Farmer Time” photo props,
Judy and Ray Webber and a huge THANKS to Bob Legg and Harry Vogt
for taking the photos and posting them on the town website.
Thank you to Phil and Stephanie Joyce for providing music and
singing for the morning at Dustin Park. Also, the Concord
Coachmen Barbershop Quartet provided a wonderful show.
The
annual Cookoff was an “Any Fruit Crisp or Cobbler Cookoff” this
year. Thanks to all the participants (11 entries this
year!).
The winners by popular vote were: 1st – Corine
Miller (#7- 6 Fruit Crisp), 2nd – Kathy Bleckmann (#8 –
Blueberry Buckle), and 3rd – Rose Kimball (#3 – Lemon Crisp)
*** Watch The Sun for the winning recipes to be printed! ***
A very special THANK YOU to the Victory Workers 4-H Club
for organizing and manning the booth.
The Pie Eating Contest
(thanks to Louie and Patty Houle) was great fun to watch. The
Kids Division had 7 entries and the winner was presented with a
coupon for a Pizza Pie and a whole blueberry pie! Thanks
to all the kids and adults who participated.
The Scarecrow
Contest (thanks to Linda Rafeal) was very popular. Ten entries
were submitted for the public to vote on….and the winners were:
Funniest: Damien Tetro, Scariest: Lily Edmond, and Best Use of
Green Material: Jazmyn Price (and Mom).
Nancy Talbott
provided the invocation before the parade – thank you for
joining us that day! A special thank you to Ms.Stephanie Joyce
for her beautiful rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. Many
thanks to Stan Bailey for providing announcing duties for the
Parade this year. We would also like to THANK Granite Image for
providing all the flyers and program printing for the day. THANK
YOU to the Suncook Valley Sun for printing all of our articles,
ads and the day’s schedule.
Congratulations to Tom “Fuzza”
Freese on being named Citizen of the Year. Thank you for
all you’ve done and continue to do for our community.
THANK
YOU to ALL who participated in the Parade. YOU are the
ones who make the Parade what it is – and the Parade was
fabulous! The OHD Committee would like to thank Judy and Ray
Webber for designing, constructing and decorating our parade
entry and thanks to Jimmy Webber for hauling the float. A HUGE
THANK YOU to NHIS Motor Speedway for the use of their “people
movers”. They worked perfectly for the bands in the parade and
for the guided tours later in the day.
PARADE WINNERS
Floats: Commercial Division: 1st – Marston Farm, Non-Commercial
Division: 1st – Granite Brigade, 2nd – Women of Rotary, 3rd –
Pittsfield Players and Rotary Club
Youth Division: 1st -
Victory Workers 4-H club, 2nd - kYdstop
After the parade, the
FB Argue Recreation Area was open for swimming and the place was
busy! It was a nice way to take a break.
An Old Fashioned Ham
& Bean Supper was sponsored by the South Pittsfield Community
Club. Ham, beans, potato salad, pickles and, of course,
Homemade PIES were served! A HUGE THANK YOU to the SPCC Members
for putting on a great meal. During the three sittings,
fiddle music was provided by Freestyle Folk. While people were
waiting for their turn to eat, Larry Berkson of the Pittsfield
Historical Society provided guided tours of the South Pittsfield
Area. The information was quite informative as well as a
few humorous tales included! Many thanks to him and thanks to
Rita Davis and Helen Schoppmeyer for their presentation at the
Quaker Church. Also, we’d like to thank Jim Webber for the use
of his tractor (and his driving!) to haul the “people movers”.
Thanks for agreeing for the extra long ride.
After Dinner,
people moved to Drake Field and “Freestyle Folk” provided more
fiddle music for our enjoyment before the spectacular FIREWORKS
show. Thank you to ALL who made the show possible.
The
Old Home Day Committee would like to THANK the Pittsfield
Police, Fire and Highway Departments and the many extra
volunteers that helped at any of the events.
We would
also like to THANK Jim Smith of Weekly Trash Pickup for his
donation of trash removal for the event.
We hope you enjoyed
the day! Please feel free to call Andi Riel at 435-6346 or Louie
Houle at 435-6938 if you have any suggestions, comments or if
you’d like to volunteer next year.
Winners Of The Pittsfield Circle Of Home And Family Raffle
Listed below are the winners of the Pittsfield Circle of Home
and Family raffle held at Balloon Rally. We’d like to thank
everyone that purchased tickets. This is the only fundraiser for
the CHF group and we appreciate everyone’s support.
Circle of
Home and Family is a woman’s group that meets monthly. We are an
educational not-for-profit organization whose mission is to
enrich the lives of home and family through knowledge, skills,
leadership and self esteem. The group meets to discuss a
different topic each month including cooking, gardening, crafts,
health or a foreign country. We also perform many various
community service projects. Our meetings are held on the 4th
Thursday of each month (except summer) at 7:00 p.m. at the
Pittsfield Community Center. It is a very fun and welcoming
group of women. Anyone who is interested in joining, please
contact Andi Riel at 435-6346.The next meeting is scheduled for
Thursday, Sept. 24.
….and the Winners are:
Hot Air
Balloon Quilt, Gladys Tibbetts; Hand Woven Basket, Pam
Frizzell; Quilted Table Runner, JoAnn LaMothe; Aran Knit
Blanket, Carole Richardson; Handmade Toss Pillow, Denise Foster;
Herbal Relax Pack, Linda Spinosa; Quilted Star Centerpiece,
Becca McHaas; Decorated Hand Towel Set , Carole Richardson;
Child’s Knit Sweater, Pat Shea Oliver; 3 pc set stuffed Disney
Characters, Jordan Newhall; 4 Beanie Buddies, Jean Jelley;
Hot Air Balloon T-Shirt, Lisa Analetto; and Handmade Scarf,
Shirley Stancheua.
Senior Centers Work: Come Celebrate National Senior Center
Month!
Senior Centers Work. Today’s Senior Centers are
reflecting an empowered vision of aging. They are a resource for
wellness, lifelong learning, access to benefits and meaningful
opportunities. Senior Centers serve the entire community with
information on aging and develop innovation approaches to
addressing aging issues. The older adults who participate in
Senior Centers share their diverse skills and talents through
their participation and volunteerism. Senior Centers make a
connection through art, movement, technology, friends and
generations.
September is National Senior Center Month and
Thursday, September 17th, 8 Senior Centers of Belknap and
Merrimack Counties and Horseshoe Pond Place Senior Resource
Center in Concord, NH, will celebrate their accomplishments with
a special program and reception to highlight their many
offerings. If you have never visited your local senior
center, this is a wonderful opportunity to find out about its
multiple activities. If you already attend a senior
center, please invite a friend to accompany you to your center
for this very special event. Senior centers offer something for
everyone and are exciting hubs of activity.
Elder
Services, of Community Action Program Belknap-Merrimack
Counties, Inc. serves all of the communities in the two counties
including the management of eight Senior Centers, two
Meals-on-Wheels Outreach programs, and a senior resource center
at Horseshoe Pond Place in Concord. Last year, the Senior
Centers offered 1,229 exercise programs, 217 educational
seminars, 19,782 rides on the Rural Transportation Service
Senior buses, 3,439 social opportunities, and 118 health
programs including screenings and information programs. Through
Community Dining at the Senior Centers and community outreach
programs as well as the Meals-on-Wheels program, 304,490 meals
were served throughout Merrimack and Belknap counties.
The
public is invited to call the senior centers for more
information and to secure a reservation for lunch.
Alton
Senior Center, 875-7102; Belmont Senior Center, 267-9867;
Horseshoe Pond Place, Concord, 228-6956; Laconia Senior Center,
524-7689; Pittsfield Senior Center, 435-8482; Suncook Senior
Center, 485-4254.
Area Students Graduate From Morrisville State College
The
following area residents were among more than 750 students to
graduate from Morrisville State College, Morrisville, NY,
in May.
Jesse Fisher, a resident of Pittsfield, NH, received
a degree in Animal Sci - Equine Sci & Mgt.
Mark Fisher, a
resident of Pittsfield, NH, received a degree in Animal Sci -
Equine Sci & Mgt.
Kennedy-Lowe
Christine Lowe and Michael Kennedy were married June 20, 2009,
in a double-ring ceremony at Candia Woods Golf Club in Candia,
NH. The bride was given in marriage by her father.
Adam Lowe
of Somersworth, NH, Brother of the bride, was man of honor.
Megan Heeder of Burlington, VT, Kimberly Lynch of Londonderry,
NH, Sarah Arnold of Bow, NH, Denise Robinson of Alton, NH, and
Jessica Kennedy of Pittsfield, NH, were bridesmaids. Kianna
Vincelette of Pittsfield, niece of the groom, was flower girl.
Sarah McNulty of St. Albans, VT offered a reading.
Jayme
Kennedy of Pittsfield, NH, brother of the groom, was best man.
Dan Chapman of Alton, NH, Steve Marston of Pittsfield, NH,
Justin Kennedy of Barnstead, NH, Shayne Kennedy of Barnstead,
NH, and Shawn Crowley of Burlington, VT, were groomsmen. Jim
Paveglio, step-brother of the bride, was an usher. Kaleb Kennedy
of Pittsfield, NH, nephew of the groom, was ring bearer.
The
bride, daughter of Janet and Bob Tarantino of Pittsfield, NH,
and Don and Diane Lowe of Bow, NH, graduated from Bow High
School in 2001, and graduate School at UNH in 2007. She works
for Liberty Mutual in Portsmouth, NH.
The groom, son of Tom
and Nancy Kennedy, graduated from Pittsfield High School in
1998. He works for the State of New Hampshire in Concord.
The couple lives in their new home in Northwood, NH.
What’s Up at PYW?
Submitted By:
Paula Driscoll, PYW
Program Director
Hello Pittsfield, and our surrounding
neighbors! Much has been happening at The Pittsfield Youth
Workshop (PYW), despite the tons of rain and cool temperatures
that we had this summer. We have just finished our summer
schedule, and I wanted to extend a hello to all of you and recap
some of the memorable moments from the last couple of months.
This summer PYW offered a total of 23 trips. Most of our
excursions were on Tuesdays and Thursdays, along with Drop-In on
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. There was a Wise Guys boy’s
group on Mondays facilitated by Jeff Martel, Full of Ourselves
girl’s group on Wednesdays run by Paula Driscoll, Carol Stewart
and Kate Spillane, a bike group every other Friday with a final
trip to Bear Brook State Park led by Bill Provencal, thanks
Bill! Along with time for cooking, tie-dye anything,
making homemade ice cream, tournaments, and lots of fun games
and activities.
Early this summer, a group of
girls decided to participate again in the American Cancer
Society’s Relay for Life (an 18 hour fundraising event for
cancer research). They raised over $1000.00 and walked many
miles. Great job girls!
Our first official trip for the
summer was to Hilltop Fun Center. We got a game of miniature
golf played before it started to rain and then we spent the rest
of the day playing Laser Tag. No complaints about that!
A
week later we were off to York Wild Animal Kingdom. It was cool
and by that I mean we had our sweatshirts on. Yeah, the animals
were also great. One of the youth was very excited to ride a
horse/pony for the first time. My favorite was seeing the
butterflies!
Next, some of us took our Dramamine and went
deep sea fishing. As the youths dropped their lines into the
water the fish, mostly Mackerel, started to bite. Each youth
caught lots of fish with us bringing more then a hundred back to
PYW to split-up and bring home. We were told to marinate the
fish with milk and mayonnaise and cook it on a grill! I was not
a big fan of it but many of the youths said it was good.
As
the rides came to a halt the youth wondered what had happened.
Canobie Lake Park lost power and the park closed about an hour
before we were going to leave. If that wasn’t bad enough, the NH
National Guard bus broke down in the parking lot. After a two
hour wait Karen Bruedle picked us up with H.A. Marston’s bus and
I have to say the youth were tired and hungry but complained
very little and were well behaved the whole time.
“What are the Wolves?” I was asked this many times and I
explained that they are a football team - arena football. None
of the youth had even been to see arena football, but were ready
to experience it for their first time. As we walked into the
Verizon, the music was playing and the teams were warming-up.
The game started and the youth watched carefully for the first
few minutes and not long after that they were cheering on the
team… like real fans of the sport.
For one of our last
trips we were not able to avoid the hottest day of the summer
with temperatures in the nineties, the youth brought plenty of
water and good attitudes to play some mini-golf, race go-carts,
climb a climbing wall, hit balls at the batting cages, and/or
try the jumpster at Chuckster’s.
Throughout the summer we also offered two four week sessions of
outdoor rock climbing. For the first session we had 14 youth
sign-up to test their skills at something new, or to just
continue expanding their climbing knowledge. During the second
session many of the youth from the first session continued to
climb with us. Still, there were many new youth who climbed for
their first time and said they couldn’t wait to climb again.
Some of the youth have been climbing with us for more than four
years!
There is nothing boring or uneventful at PYW and I
would not have it any other way.
We would like to thank
everyone who participated, volunteered and/or supported us
during another great summer! If you would like to learn
more about the trips that PYW offers during the summer and
school year, please call Paula and Zach at 435-8272 or stop by
to see what we are up to. We offer great opportunities, trips,
and activities for the youth to do year round.
New
Prevention Specialist Working to Reduce Alcohol Abuse Among
Youth
The Pittsfield Community Coalition has hired Sarah
Sadowski as the new Coordinator/Prevention Specialist in effort
to address substance abuse among local youth. Sadowski
will be pursuing ways to prevent alcohol abuse through
educational programs, citizen patrols and coordinating
Pittsfield’s participation in national campaigns such as Project
Alert and the Safe Homes initiative.
The Pittsfield branch
of the Safe Homes Network is being introduced this fall. Safe
Homes is a community of parents who have pledged to actively
supervise youth gatherings at their home, do not allow youth to
use or possess alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs, and believe in
appropriate expectations and consequences for their child’s
behavior. Sadowski cautions that signing the pledge is not
legally binding and parents should always feel comfortable
contacting the supervising adult. However, “It’s a great way to
get the conversation started about substance abuse among youth”
Sadowski said, “Parents can see who else in their community has
signed the pledge and feel a sense of solidarity with other
parents.”
If you have ideas about how to help support youth
in making healthy choices or would like to be involved please
contact Sarah at 435 8272. The next regularly scheduled meeting
of the Pittsfield Community Coalition will take place at PYW on
Tuesday, September 15, 2009, at 9:00 AM.