Grace Capital Church of 55 Barnstead Road, Pittsfield will be
celebrating a community-wide Thanksgiving Eve Service. Please
join us on Wednesday, 11/23 at 7:00 p.m. for fellowship, worship
music, prayer and a message. All are welcome. We’d love
to meet you.
Church Fair
Takes Place Saturday
Baskets, table runners, quilts, and so much more at the
Dorcas Guild’s Christmas Fair – this Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
First Congregational Church, 24 Main Street, Pittsfield.
Ho, ho, ho… the Christmas Fair and Bake
Sale at the First Congregational Church, 24 Main Street, Pittsfield,
is happening this coming Saturday, November 19, from 9 to 2.
Sponsored by the Dorcas Guild, this fair is the event you won’t want
to miss.
The Guild has been busy crafting all those
special festive gifts including mittens, hats, aprons, quilted
items, baskets, ornaments and special gourmet and baked goods. Don’t
forget the “Unique Boutique” for outstanding values and the “Silent
Auction” for those special one-of-a-kind gifts.
Bring your friends and neighbors to shop
and stay for a great corn chowder and sandwich lunch with yummy pies
for dessert. Parking and wheelchair accessible entrance available at
rear of church – enter at Chestnut Street or come in through the
courtyard entrance on Main Street. For more info, call the church
office at 435-7471.
Jitters Under
New Ownership!
By Meggin Dail
New owners at Jitters have given you some big screen TVs and hope
you’ll enjoy the new atmosphere and friendly service.
New owners, Paul Vien and his wife Dottie
welcome you to the new Jitters. Paul and Dottie signed the papers in
September of this year and want to welcome everyone to come try
Jitters again, or if you’ve been coming in all along, to continue
and watch for some upcoming changes and ideas they have for the
cafe’ on Main Street in Pittsfield.
“I’ve always wanted to own a cafe’, I’m a
real people person,” Dottie says, “and I love to bake!” So you’ll be
seeing a lot of homemade pies flying out of the kitchen for the
holidays. “Order ahead.” Dottie says, but she can’t wait to bring
you her mouthwatering pies.
Paul is also excited about some menu
changes he’s in the process of making, “We have fresh ground beef
burgers, meatball grinders and chicken parmesan.” The new Jitters
owners plan to continue to have Friday night dinners for those who
have come to expect and enjoy them.
Of course, they will still be open for
breakfast and lunch as well, as they are the only breakfast joint in
town! They’ll continue to serve a breakfast buffet on Sundays 8
am-12 noon. “We’re open Monday through Friday from 7 am to 2 pm, and
Saturday and Sunday 8 am to 12pm.”
Some changes that have already taken place
are obvious as soon as you walk through the door, Jitters now has 2
big screen TVs so you can catch the news during your morning
breakfast. “We’re also putting in some more booths and changing out
some of the lighting to make it nice and cozy in here.” Dottie
promises.
Paul and Dottie are eager to meet old
customers and new and to take your orders for some homemade pies for
the holidays. Stop by Jitters on Main Street in Pittsfield and see
what’s changing!
Operation
#GETyourBEARDon
Starting December 1st you may notice some
of your favorite first responders in blue growing beards. This is an
effort to raise funds for local community groups.
Facial hair is typically against
department policy in Pittsfield, but a $100 donation raised by each
officer participating, allows that officer to grow a beard. Over 30
departments across the state are participating in similar
fundraisers.
Chief Cain is allowing his officers to
grow a beard for the months of December and January for the
fundraiser. He has challenged them to raise a total of $1000. If
they reach that goal he will allow them to keep the beards through
the end of February.
Those wanting to make donations for
Operation #GETyourBEARDon can donate to the officers growing the
beards or send check to the PD made out to the Pittsfield Police
Association. All funds raised get directly donated back to local
scholarships and organizations.
VA Releases Major Report On Progress Of “MyVA”
Transformation Process
Multi-year Effort Showing Measurable Improvements in Homelessness,
Health Care, Claims
Submitted Via Merrill Vaughan
WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs released a major update on the MyVA transformation,
Secretary McDonald’s effort to transform VA into the top customer
service agency in the federal government. This third edition of the
program’s semi-annual report shows progress serving veterans with
more services, in better time.
“Guided by Veterans’ needs, we’ve left
old, unresponsive ways of doing business behind,” writes Secretary
Robert McDonald. “We’ve changed leadership. We’ve added staff. We’ve
adjusted policies. We’re eliminating bureaucracy and unproductive
work. We’re encouraging innovative approaches to serving Veterans,
and we’re sharing best practices across the Department. In short,
we’re making VA the high-performing organization that it can be, and
that my fellow Veterans, expect and deserve.”
Key results in the report include:
Veteran trust of VA is on the rise. In
June 2016, nearly 60% of veterans said they trust VA to fulfill our
country’s commitment to Veterans – a 47% improvement from six months
before.
We are completing more appointments,
faster. In FY 2016, VA completed nearly 58 million appointments –
1.2 million more than in FY 2015 and 3.2 million more than FY 2014.
More of them are provided by a network of more than 350,000
community providers – a 45% increase in the number of providers
since last year.
Processing of disability claims is faster
and more accurate, too. The average wait time to complete a claim
has dropped by 65%, to 123 days. We completed nearly 1.3 million
claims in FY 2016, and reduced pending claims by almost 90%.
Urgent care is available when a Veteran
needs it, and for non-urgent appointments, wait times are down. By
September 2016, the average wait time for a completed appointment
was down to less than 5 days for primary care, less than 7 days for
specialty care, and less than 3 days for mental health care.
Veteran homelessness has been cut in half;
it’s down 47% since 2010 nationwide, thanks in part to VA’s work
with nearly 4,000 public and private agencies.
In the last 18 months, VA has facilitated
dozens more collaborations, bringing in more than $300 million in
investments and in-kind services to support America’s veterans.
Quality is improving. 82% of VA facilities
improved quality overall since the fourth quarter of FY 2015.
The report details the changes and
innovations, large and small, which produced these results. It also
lays out a path forward for the agency – including an important role
for Congress before the end of 2016.
VA And Social
Security Partner To Speed Up Disability Decisions For Veterans
Submitted Via Merrill
Vaughan
WASHINGTON — The
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Social Security
Administration (SSA) launched a new Health IT initiative that
enables VA to share medical records electronically with social
security disabilty processors. This secure process will save time
and money resulting in better service for Veterans and dependents
who apply for social security disability benefits. The SSA requests
nearly 15 million medical records from health care organizations
yearly to make medical decisions on about three million disability
claims. For decades, SSA obtained medical records through a manual
process. This new national initiative puts in place an
automated process to obtain Veterans’ medical records entirely
electronically.
“VA’s partnership with Social Security
will ultimately improve the quality of life for Veterans and their
dependents by enabling Veterans to share their health information
within a safe and secure health-related consumer application,” said
Dr. David Shulkin, VA’s Under Secretary for Health.
The joint venture is expected to
significantly speed up social security disability decisions,
utilizing VA’s VLER Health Exchange under the Virtual Lifetime
Electronic Record (VLER) Program. The VLER Health Exchange gives VA
and participating community providers the ability to retrieve
Veterans’ health information from each other for the purpose of
treatment. Currently, VLER Health Exchange shares health data with
over 79 community health care partners, representing 775 Hospitals,
427 Federally Qualified Health Centers, 142 Nursing Homes, 8441
Pharmacies and over 11,969 Clinics. The SSA now has access for the
purpose of processing benefits for Veterans and their dependents.
“This SSA-VA partnership is another
example of VA’s leadership in interoperability efforts among federal
partners,” said VA Secretary, Robert McDonald. “Increasing federal
partnerships to improve operation and resource coordination across
agencies is among VA’s 12 Breakthrough Priorities for 2016.”
VA has partnership agreements with Health
and Human Services (HHS), Department of Defense (DOD), Department of
Treasury (DOT) among many others.
To learn more about VA health care visit:
www.va.gov/health.
VA Expands New
Innovators Network Program
Submitted Via Merrill
Vaughan
WASHINGTON –The
Department of Veterans Affairs Center for Innovation (VACI) is
expanding its Innovators Network Program. Fourteen new VA Medical
Center innovation sites and one National Cemetery innovation site
will join the eight selected last year, for a total of 22 recognized
innovation sites across the country. The sites were selected from a
highly competitive pool of 44 sites from across the country. The
selection was based on a review of 12 parameters, including:
proposed Veteran-centered approach; plans to empower and engage
employees and collaboration with local infrastructure enablers.
The VA Center for Innovation identifies,
tests and evaluates new approaches to efficiently and effectively
meet the current and future needs of Veterans through innovations
rooted in data, design-thinking and agile development. Each of the
Network sites is focused on building a culture of innovation to
support employees working with input from Veterans to design and
develop new innovations to better serve Veterans and their families.
“VA continues to increase its ability to
rapidly respond to Veterans’ needs and deliver the best possible
experience for Veterans. We have invested in creating a culture of
innovation which we can constantly find, test and create better ways
to deliver services to our Veterans,” said VA Secretary Robert
McDonald.
The Network began as a pilot in early 2015
and seeks to build and empower a community of VA employees who are
actively engaged in innovation. The Network has been a tremendous
success in developing VA’s culture of innovation, empowering
employees to improve the experience and care of our Veterans, and
successfully funding transformational innovations that significantly
reduce costs and improve the care and services available to
Veterans. The Network program and Innovation Specialists – dedicated
staff at each innovation site – have trained over 1,300 VA employees
on innovation-related competencies to help them first recognize, and
then solve problems that are negatively impacting or preventing
Veterans from receiving the care and services.
To support initiatives, the VA Innovators
Network creates a pathway to accelerate the development of new,
reimagined experiences for Veterans and their families. The
accelerator has invested in 38 projects across the VA. Two of its
biggest, Technology-Based Eye Care Screening from the Atlanta VA and
the Care in the Community Tool from the Portland VA project to save
over $20 million over the next five years and improve Veterans
access to services and care.
The following sites been selected as
Innovators Network Sites for 2017:
Albany Stratton VA Medical Center, Albany,
N.Y.
Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center,
Cleveland, Ohio Grand Junction VA Healthcare System, Grand Junction,
Colo.
Hines VA Medical Center, Chicago, Ill.
Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center,
Richmond, Va.
Lebanon VA Medical Center, Lebanon Pa.
Lexington VA Medical Center, Lexington,
Ky.
VA Loma Linda Healthcare System, Loma
Linda, Calif.
New Mexico VA Healthcare System
Puget Sound VA Healthcare System, Seattle
Wash.
VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego,
Calif.
South Texas Healthcare System, San
Antonio, Texas Tuscaloosa VA Medical Center, Tuscaloosa, Ala.
White River Junction VA Medical Center,
White River Junction, Vt.
Fort Snelling National Cemetery,
Minneapolis, Minn.
Oklahoma! At The Scenic Theatre
Maggie Faneuf as Aunt Elller, Kevin
Kennedy as Curly and Catherine Martinez as Laurey in The Pittsfield
Players’ production of Oklahoma!
Tickets are going fast for the Pittsfield Players’ fall musical
Oklahoma! at The Scenic Theater, 6 Depot Street, Pittsfield, NH, the
continues its run on Friday and Saturday, November 18 and 19. Both
shows are at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $17 per person. You may purchase
them by visiting the Players’ website,
www.pittsfieldplayers.com and
clicking on the TicketLeap button, or you can reserve seats by
calling 435-8852. When you call, be sure to spell your last name as
part of your message.
The Players have been blessed with a
fantastic cast for this show. The three major actors in the show are
seasoned, talented performers who will capture your attention from
the first moment of the show and take the audience back to Oklahoma
Territory in the early 1900’s. The music is wonderful, the acting is
supberb, and the costumes and sets are some of the best you’ve ever
seen on the Scenic stage.
Maggie Fanuef sets the bar in her role as Aunt Eller, the matriarch
of the neighborhood. After retiring from over twenty years of
teaching, Maggie fulfilled a life-long dream of doing theater full
time. She has been blessed with many wonderful experiences and
roles. Today, however, her favorite roles are wife, Mom/Mama
to her five children, and Nana to her 14 grandchildren and dear
little great-granddaughter. IN spite of all of Maggie’s acting gigs,
this is her first appearance with the Pittsfield Players, and we are
so very happy to have her on stage with us.
Kevin Kennedy, who plays Curly, brings his
wonderful tenor voice tosome very familiar Rodgers and Hammerstein
songs. Kevin’s most recent roles with the Players include Lieutenant
Cable in South Pacific, Jimmy in Thoroughly Modern Millie and Dr.
Karakas in Man of Le Mancha. Kevin also sings in his church choir at
the First Congregational Church of Pittsfield, while maintaining his
day job is as a partner at Maloney and Kennedy, a Certified Public
Accounting firm.
Catherine Martinez, who plays the role of
Laurey, is very excited to be performing with the Pittsfield Players
again. Her last performance with the group was in 2014 playing the
role of Nellie Forbush in South Pacific. Catherine is a New
Hampshire native and has been performing musical theatre and opera
since a very young age. Some of those performances include Anything
Goes, Godspell, Sweeney Todd. She appears often with The Piccolo
Opera Company, and can be heard singing the National Anthem at
Monarch’s games. Her wonderful soprano voice is a delight to be
heard.
The cast also includes Cindi Bell as Ado
Annie, Jared Griffin as Will Parker, John Chinn as Jud Fry, Jeff
Gregoire as Ali Hakim, Ashley Pence as Gertie Cummings, Bill Schultz
as Andrew Carnes, Turner Jennings as Cord Elam, Nathan Strong as Ike
Skidmore, Caleb Molloy as Fred, Coy McCarty as Slim, Lena Luongo as
Ellen, Jean Gentile as Kate, Vicki Watson as Vivian, Elisha Griffin
as Virginia, Earnhardt Dail as Mike, as John Ahern as Joe. Chorus
members include Heather Bradley, Lorraine LePage, Ashley Connor, Bea
Douglas, Marie St. Cyr, Logan Connor and spencer, Faith and Carly
Griffin.
The show is directed by Maye Hart,
choreographed by Dee Dee Pitcher, with set design and lighting
design by Jim Hart. Josh Crowell is stage manager.
Join us at The Scenic Theatre for a
wonderful night of musical theater. Get your tickets now for
Oklahoma!
PMHS 7/8 Boys Soccer Team - 2016 Suncook
Valley League Champions
Decorated Wreath Contest At The Pittsfield
Christmas Tree Lighting
Mark your calendars - Saturday, Dec. 3 from
4:00-6:00pm for the annual Christmas Tree Lighting Celebration
sponsored by the Greater Pittsfield Chamber of Commerce - Everyone
is welcome to attend!
We will be having a decorated wreath contest again this year.
Everyone is invited to bring a decorated (anyway you’d like) wreath
to Dustin Park. The wreaths will be displayed inside PYW and
will be judged by the public. The winner will be announced at
6pm after the Tree Lighting and will receive a $50 CASH PRIZE.
Please drop your wreath off by 3:45pm at Dustin Park (PYW) and
please pick up your wreath by 6:15pm. Any wreaths that are not
picked up will be donated to local groups.
Get in the Holiday Spirit and show off your creativity and bring a
wreath. The contest is open to everyone! For more
information, contact Andi Riel at 435-6346 or email at
[email protected].
St. Stephen’s Annual Holly Fair
Rocking horse, race cars and bookcase.
Drop leaf table.
Again this year there are great Holiday
Fairs in Pittsfield Saturday, Nov. 19th. St Stephen’s Annual Holly
Fair is a great opportunity to find a lovely decoration for your
home and some unique gifts at bargain prices. Our parishioners have
been busy making handcrafted holiday decorations including wreaths,
centerpieces and various sizes of snowmen and reindeer constructed
from birch logs.
If you are making the rounds of fairs,
plan to stop in for a delicious lunch of hot soup and sandwiches at
our café. Then pick out a yummy dessert at the bake sale. Our Holly
Fair has a large silent auction again this year. The list of fine
art, antiques, collectibles and furniture is amazing. We have pewter
items including a punch bowl and coffee set, a lovely braided rug
made by Joe Knox. Surprise your child on Christmas morning with a
large mechanical ride on rocking horse, or one of our remote race
cars. We’ll be auctioning off a solid Oak bookcase, a drop leaf
table, antique sleds, dolls, linens, fine art, glassware, a crèche,
and so much more. You can view pictures of our auction items at our
website ststephenspittsfieldnh.org.
Come do your Christmas shopping 9 AM to 2
PM Saturday November 19th. See you there!
Obituaries
Robert Chilson
PITTSFIELD- Robert Chilson, 56 of
Pittsfield; passed away on November 3, 2016 with his family by his
side.
Robert was born on February 5, 1960 in
Ithica, NY. He worked for many years at Robert Landry Trucking. In
his spare time Robert enjoyed all types of fishing, snowmobiling and
anything else related to being outdoors.
Mr. Chilson is survived by his son Robert
Chilson II and his wife Shari of Concord, NH; sisters, Hope
Goutremonte, Faith Eastman and a step daughter Laura Stevens;
grandchildren, Sean, Cody, Penny, Tyler, Garrett, Nicholas and JJ;
Uncle to Daniel, Gavin, Amber, Nicole and Samantha. Robert was
predeceased by a son Nicholas Chilson.
Memorial Hours will be held on Saturday, November 19th from 11:30am
to 12:30pm at the Petit-Roan Funeral Home, 167 Main Street,
Pembroke. A Memorial service will be held in the funeral home at
12:30pm. Interment to follow at Blossom Hill Cemetery, Concord. To
share a memory or offer a condolence, please visit
www.petitroan.com
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