President Andrea Battle called the meeting
of the Amherst Club to order at noon on Tuesday, July 21th, 2015, and
welcomed us all. She announced an important date has been set: our 2016 fundraiser will be on March 19th! Spread the word! Note: in August, the club meets twice. This year, we will meet on August 11th and 25th. Therefore, we will NOT meet on August 4th. Amherst Boys and Girls Club Awards Andrea welcomed our guests from the Amherst Boys and Girls Club, who were invited to join us to celebrate the presentation of awards to two of their young members, Gabriel Fontes who has just graduated from Amherst High School, and Zack Poulin, who is going into 7th grade at Amherst Middle School. These two young men won the first Amherst Club awards for community action and volunteer contributions by a teenager. Gabriel was not able to be present, but his mentor at the club spoke movingly about his impressive record of achievement, both socially and academically. Gabriel felt privileged to attend Amherst High School for four years. His volunteer work focused on several organizations including Black Lives Matter and Schools for Africa, an organization he helped to found and of which he is president. The organization’s goal is to build schools in needy parts of Africa, and for this, they managed to raise $20,000. Gabriel was awarded $700, plus $50 to donate to a charity of his choice. Gabriel chose to donate to the Literacy Project, where his grandmother is learning English. Zack Poulin thanked us for his award, and told us of his commitment to public service, based on principles he learned at the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House. His focus is the organization Not By Bread Alone, where he works most Saturdays helping with their meal service. He concluded his talk by urging us all to “Be the change you wish to see in the world”. His award was $200, plus $50 to donate to a charity of his choice. Announcements: View Lois Barber’s watercolors, “Birds of a Feather”, at the Village on Main at Aveda Salon, 213 Main Street, Northampton, till Sat. July 25th. Celebrate Medicare’s 50th Birthday on Thursday, July 30th! Short festive gatherings will be held with music at Springfield City Hall, 36 Court Square, 9 am; Holyoke City Hall, High and Dwight Streets, 11 am; Pittsfield Federal Building, 79 Center Street, 12 noon; Northampton City Hall, 210 Main Street, 1:30 pm; Greenfield Town Common, Main and Federal Streets, 3:30 pm. For more information, contact Jackie Wolf, lwvahealthcare@yahooo.com. Amherst International Folk Dancing every Friday at 7:30 at the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House . On August 7th, Barbara Freed’s band “Panharmonium”, will play. In the fall, the group returns to the Bangs Center. Raffle: Joan Hanson won the wine. Andrea Battle won the $10. Speaker: Philippe Galaski introduced our speaker: Mark I. Nickerson, co-author of The Wounds Within: A Veteran, A PTSD Therapist, and a Nation Unprepared, is a local psychotherapist and internationally recognized expert on the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Mark told us of his experiences with local veterans – and non-veterans, as it is recognized now that people in non-military violent situations may also suffer from PTSD. He told of one case from Belchertown, a young soldier in the Marine Reserves who sadly ended up as a suicide. Errors and failures in his case by the VA and others lead to improvements in the treatment now offered to others suffering like him from unresolved memories and suppressed emotions. See www.woundswithin.com . Your scribe, Linda Honan |
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