President Andrea Battle called the meeting
of the Amherst Club to order at noon on Tuesday, June 14th, 2016, at the
Monkey Bar/Bistro 63, and welcomed us all. Andrea welcomed back members Arthur Kinney and Carolyn Holstein who have not been with us for a while. She reported the good news that Ruth Miller is recovering from oral surgery, and will certainly welcome our good wishes. Remember - the annual meeting will be on June 21st! Try to attend on that day! Announcements: Thursday – Sunday June 16 - June 19, 2016, the Taste of Amherst festivity on the Common. 21 restaurants will delight our taste buds this year! Saturday, June 18, Garden Opening Concert, 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm, UMass Renaissance Center. To celebrate the official opening of our gardens, we invite you to hear three concerts outside on the back patio of the Renaissance Center. The musical talent featured will be Zoe Vandermeer, AyreCraft, and Nota Bene. Guests may take refreshments outside to enjoy during the concerts. No reservations are required. Suggested donation is $5 per person. Saturday, June 25, 2016, Amherst Crafts on the Common Fair. Enjoy visiting the 120 exhibitors, and help out Big Brothers/Big Sisters. Sat. June 25th, Amherst Garden tour, 10 am- 4 pm, to benefit the Amherst Historical Society. Tickets available at the society, and at Hastings and the Hadley Garden Center. Wednesdays, July 27, and August 10. Join the friends of the Jones Library at these Literary Feasts. Come to dinner at a favorite local restaurant, and discuss the literary work cited: Wed. July 27, Chez Albert (413-253-3811), All the Light We Cannot See; Wed. August 10, Judie’s Restaurant (413-253-3491), In the Unlikely Event. Ten percent of the check will go to the Jones Library. Speaker: Andrea introduced our speaker, Maury Bohan. After earning an M.P.H. (Masters in Public Health) at Columbia, Maury earned an educatin degree at UMass. After teaching 5-6th grade in Amherst for some years, she founded a non-profit organization called Baby and Me: Learning Together, which focuses on early literacy and successful child-raising for low-income families in Amherst, including many foreign graduate students at UMass. Baby and Me sends trained volunteers into homes weekly, to mentor parents in child rearing and model successful interactions with babies and toddlers, including bringing a children’s book each week which is read during the visit and then left at the home. The need for such early intervention is vital: it is now well-documented that children from low-income families suffer a huge deficit in vocabulary acquisition which they never make up during the school years. Conversational interaction in such families is limited and often takes the form of negativity without any positive reinforcement. Children from such backgrounds show behavioral difficulties and linguistic limitations if these are not addressed at an early age. Volunteers and donations are welcome: to see how you can help go to (413) 461-0556 or babyandme.amherst@gmail.com or visit the web site at Baby and me.org. Raffle: Gigi Barnhill won the wine. Surinder Mehta won the $10 and generously returned it to the Club. Your scribe, Linda Honan |
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