May was a busy month for Friends of Mascoma and we are behind in sharing some exciting news. Holly West was honored by Vital Communities as a Hero and Leader in the Upper Valley. Holly spends a lot of her time volunteering with Friends of Mascoma, Mascoma Cooperative Preschool, and several committees for the Town of Enfield. Please join us in congratulating Holly on this honor!
Friends of Mascoma is sponsoring a summer garden program again this year! Our first session was June 28th and students filled the raised beds, planted seedlings, and watered the newly planted garden beds. Students had a great time and learned a lot during the first session. Please join us for future sessions!
We attended senior awards night at Mascoma Valley Regional High School on June 4th and there are some incredible students in the Class of 2017! We are pleased to announce we awarded 13 scholarships totaling $14,500. The scholarships and recipients are:
- Roberta Hines and Jerry Liebrand Healthcare Scholarship in Memory of Sadie Seamans awarded to Kaitlyn Seamans
- Roberta Hines and Jerry Liebrand Healthcare Scholarship in Memory of Velma Hines awarded to Emily Tevere
- Roberta Hines and Jerry Liebrand Science Scholarship in Memory of Verne Hines awarded to Courtney Grover
- GitHub Women in STEM Scholarship awarded to Emma Grodan
- GitHub Women in STEM Scholarship awarded to Haley Bissonnette
- Malformity Labs Women in STEM Scholarship awarded to Kylie Sumner
- Malformity Labs STEM Scholarship awarded to Garrett Williams
- Carolyn A. Cusick Trust Teaching Scholarship awarded to Justine Martin
- Friends of Mascoma Foundation Political Science Scholarship awarded to Layla Meyveagaci
- Friends of Mascoma Foundation Scholarship awarded to Alicia Gonzalez
- Friends of Mascoma Foundation Scholarship awarded to Maia Zawilinski
- Friends of Mascoma Foundation Scholarship awarded to Evan Peck
- Friends of Mascoma Foundation Scholarship awarded to Amy Labrecque
These scholarships were made possible by our generous donors and supporters. Thank you for your support!
We are pleased to announce that our Friends Feeding Friends Food Initiative moved into a much bigger space in the MTD Property Building in Canaan thanks to the generosity of Matt and Rebecca Dow. This space allows us to house a bigger Canaan Pantry space, distribution space for backup food, a prep area for fresh foods and eventually will be the FOM headquarters. We couldn't have done this without the support of our communities' volunteers, who moved food and assembled new racks, tables, etc. The Enfield Fire Department moved our refrigeration on a stormy night! Our donors helped us raise money to cover the costs of the new pantry items we needed. Thank you for all caring about sharing food with your neighbors. Pictured above is one of our wonderful donor partners, Willing Hands and we also partner with the NH Food Bank, Price Chopper Supermarkets Fresh Rescue, and Shaws Supermarket Fresh Rescue. Want to help? We can always use new volunteers! Send an email to food@friendsofmascoma.org.
Chef Brent Battis of B&W Catering Company (Mascoma Class of 1998) was the featured chef at the Friends Feeding Friends Pop-Up Dinner at 56 Main Street Bar & Grill on May 1st. The reception and dinner featured local foods and libations including cider from Farnum Hill Cider and Eden Ice Cider with pairing talks from Steve Wood, pork from The Stewart Farm, Sunset Rock Farm cheese, Brabant Farms micro-basil, and much more. Special thanks to Dick Dumez and Kim Quirk, the Energy Emporium, Gen Y Creative, Blood's Catering & Party Rentals, Mascoma High School Radio - MIX 96.6, Captured Moments Photography by Bridget, Safflowers, all volunteers, donors and attendees.
During NH Gives this year we are raising money for our scholarship program. The Class of 2018 will be the third class to receive scholarships from FOM and this day of giving will help insure we can meet our minimum goal of distributing $7,500 in scholarships next year.
Fun fact: over half of our donations have come from outside our district! The image below shows states in green, these states are where donations have come from. We have even received a donation from outside the country!
Please share the word about NH Gives (especially if you have family and friends living in states where we have not received donations from, we would love to fill in this map)!
Holly Howes, IRS media specialist and the Grade Five teachers of Indian River School received a mini-grant from Friends of Mascoma that enabled every student and teacher to receive a hardback copy of "The Prizewinners of Piedmont Place", Bill Doyle's entertaining book about a fifth grader's family quest to win a contest. The IRS Library Book Sales fundraising helped also. All the students knew they were going to meet the author via Skype, so they all kept questions to ask, as they were reading. And.... they came prepared. Bill told them all about being a writer and some tips, also, to help them write. The students were insightful and Bill was inspirational. Thank you donors for making very special projects like this happen.
To read more about Bill Doyle go to www.billdoyle.net .
Bill Doyle's newest book and sequel to the book the students just read. FOM donated these five books to the library and we are pretty sure they are already checked out!
Last year was an exciting and productive year for Friends of Mascoma Foundation. We are excited to share our 2016 newsletter with you, please click the image above to see our full newsletter.
Friends of Mascoma Foundation celebrated our art initiative "Art All Around" and our volunteers at a well attended reception. This is a great example of how community artists and volunteers support our school district and link together to offer more opportunities and resources.
Michael Kraatz of Canaan in front of "Diverse Unity", a multi-media mural he designed and created in collaboration with his wife, Susan Russell. Thanks to the support from the Brundage Foundation, the Mascoma Bank Foundation, Friends of Mascoma Foundation donors and volunteers, Chris Morse with Experiencing the Arts and Mascoma students in Dave Shinnlinger's wood shop classes. There are pieces of wood in the mural from the old gymnasium, bleachers and library shelves, along with pieces students created. Please go view this in the entrance hall to the media center.
Rebecca Powell, an Enfield tapestry weaver, has collaborated with Experiencing the Arts in Art Design class to create from the students' nature themed designs a beautiful-to-be 4x6 foot tapestry to hang in the new media center. Woodshop students built the loom for her and Friends of Mascoma Foundation is happy to fund all the materials for all of our artists through our above mentioned sources. Becky can be found most weeks in the front entrance halls of the MVRHS and welcomes a visit from you. Margaret LeVesque a volunteer from Enfield is also pictured.
Gary Wood, a Canaan master wood craftsman, collaborated with Dave Shinnlinger's wood shop students to build this beautiful cherrywood bench that graces the front lobby. This project was supported by Friends of Mascoma Foundation and the Guild of NH Woodworkers.
Friends of Mascoma Foundation is proud to have saved and restored the Generations Mural that had to be removed in pieces from the old existing wall , stored and rehung in a new spot. We thank Matt Dow, our board member, and MTD Property for donating their time and expertise to rehang the mural. Gary Hamel of Orange, pictured above in the hat and beard, was the original artist in residence. We would love to see this mural continue.
As you can see this was a festive night celebrating our wonderful community Artists and Volunteers. If you would like to be a volunteer, please email us at info@friendsofmascoma.org.
Our Canaan and Enfield Food Pantries are celebrating our Year One. We are grateful for all of our partnerships, our donors, our volunteers and our shoppers who motivate us to find the best resources we can bring to our community.
Sneak peak at our 300 square foot Kraatz & Russell multi media mural that is one of our Art Initiative projects. A surprise of connecting the old with the new..............
This wall is outside of the media center and lower level auditorium entrance.
We are getting lots of community service help to organize, weigh and pack our donations of food for the upcoming winter break food boxes that are Indian River School's Helping Hands project and the MVRHS Making a Difference project.
Pictured here are students Sam Rizzo, Zoe Stanford, Julianna Morse and Lana Evans (Pantry Volunteer)
Standing are helping moms, Liz Rizzo and Jodi Morse.
We are proud mini-grant sponsors of two documentary films and forums. if you missed "the Hungry Heart, a documentary film on prescription drug addiction and recovery,please don't miss this one!
Ashlynn Moses of Enfield
Joshua Simoneau and Kylie Sumner of Canaan
One of our annual fundraising auction items in September was to treat the first three Students of the Month with an ordered lunch from Mickey's Cafe in Enfield delivered to them by an FOM board member. They also received VIP parking for the day. This auction item was won by Kate Plumley Stewart. Who will be the next three lucky and deserving students?
VIP parking for the Day!
Tuesday, December 27th: Over 100 Friends of Mascoma Supporters turned out for our 2nd Annual Night of Homegrown Talent featuring Mascoma alumni Brooks Hubbard and Hannah Hoffman at Whaleback Mountain. Many thanks to both artists for sharing their talent for another fun night celebrating community! You can see live video from the event on our Facebook page. Hear more and support the artists by downloading music through their webpages [linked above].
We are grateful to Whaleback for their partnership and to Donnie Dunkerton, a Mascoma alum and owner of Dunk's Concessions, for serving up delicious fair food for everyone at the event. We were thrilled to have Mascoma's Best Variety Mix 96.6, a radio station run by Mascoma students, broadcast live from the event. Listen to Mix 96.6 online and show them some love on Facebook.
We would also like to thank our amazing team of volunteers of all ages for being wonderful ambassadors for Friends of Mascoma and to everyone who took the trip out to the Whale - it's fun and now you all know it's actually not that far! The event raised over $600 to support Friends of Mascoma's ongoing work in our community.
Did you miss it? Watch for other #MascomaMixer events throughout the year and pencil us in for Christmas break next year!
Did you know? Whaleback is also a 501(c)(3) non-profit community foundation. They are open for skiing now and also rent out their facility in the off-season. Hit the slopes at this family friendly mountain and enjoy reasonable rates and the new snow while it lasts!
Please consider a donation to Friends of Mascoma Foundation! We are busy working on our 2016 Annual Newsletter. We hope you will be part of our support system in 2016. Let's ring in the New Year with strong commitments!
Thank you all; we are excited about 2017. Look for the grand installation of the Kraatz and Russell multi media mural to be revealed in January! This is one of our Art All Around Initiatives.
Friends of Mascoma Foundation wishes you all a Happy New Year! Let's go out with a bang for your buck!
Cameron Jesperson-Pecor had a great ride to IRS in a big red Canaan Firetruck thanks to the Canaan Fire Department for generously donating their time for an auction item for our annual fundraising dinner in September. Christine Jespersen had the winning bid and she awarded this experience to her grandson.
Alton Hennessy, John Hennessy, Cameron, Chief Bill Bellion ready to get to school!
Rachel Dargie, an eighth grade student at Indian River School, was Co-Principal for a day with Principal Kevin Towle, who generously donated his time to give Rachel a wonderful experience that was the result of our annual fundraising auction item that Linda Paulsen of Canaan won and awarded to Rachel. We thank you for supporting our efforts to offer more opportunities to our staff and students.
We raised over $1400 at Margarita's Lebanon On November 11. We are so appreciative of all of the support. Thank you to Margs for hosting and generously donating to FOM, to everyone who came out to dine and celebrate community with us, and to our awesome volunteers who greeted restaurant goers all day.
Pictured are board members: Andrew Cushing, Carolyn Cusick and Theresa Sabol
Raffle winner of FOM swag: Jayden Montebianchi of Canaan
Veteran's raffle of a $25 gift certificate to Margs: Steve Josephson of Virginia
Fourth graders at Canaan Elementary School participated in King Arthur's Bake for Good program. The fourth graders and their teachers, Mrs. Naranjo, Mrs. Landry and Mr. Henry were proud to donate their home-baked bread loaves to two local charities: End 68 Hours of Hunger and Friends of Mascoma Foundation. We were delighted to offer this fantastic contribution to our Friends Feeding Friends Food pantries. Thank you for caring!
www.kingarthurflour.com/learnbakeshare
Some of the participating Fourth Graders with their take home kits.
Mrs. Kim Naranjo, fourth grade teacher at CES, handing off some of the Bake for Good bread to Carolyn Cusick, representing FOM.
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