May 10, 2020
~ Building Community One Positive Story at a Time
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Princesses & Superheroes in Bridgewater
by Christina Montana,
contributing writer
A princess appeared on the 700 block of Pleasant St. today, and it likely won’t be the last time. Jessica Parzyck operates a cosplaying group called “The Invisible Heroes of Tomorrow” that often does charity events at libraries and various walk and run events. During the current state of things, many of these events aren’t available, so she’s begun spreading positivity another way.
“With nothing to do one day I decided to get into my Little Mermaid costume and go outside and wave,” said Parzyck.
“My goal is to brighten people’s days, both young and old, as they drive by.” Since she lives on a main road, Rt 104, there are always plenty of people passing by.
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The rain on May 8
th shortened the amount of time passersby could see her as Cinderella, but it didn’t wash away the idea. “I have a ton of costumes I wear so I can’t wait to bring them out for other days I’m able to do this!” Her costumes also include characters such as Alice in Wonderland, Belle from Beauty & the Beast, Elsa from Frozen, and Rey from Star Wars.
She hopes to continue doing this in Bridgewater, both now and when things calm down and are once again safe to open. “But right now, being outside my house, waving, and putting a smile on peoples’ faces is what I’m doing. I’ve also joined some of the birthday car parades that people are doing,” Parzyck explained. It sounds like we can look forward to seeing more movie magic in Bridgewater in the future.
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May 11 - 17...you decide who wins $100
in these good news stories from Bridgewater, Brockton, East Bridgewater, Halifax, Raynham, West Bridgewater and Whitman.
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Historical Tidbit:
Juror's Box 1887
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In 1887, the process of choosing a jury was simple. All eligible town residents had their names placed in the Juror's Box. If your name was chosen, you would serve on a jury. This box was used for both Grand Jurors and Petit Jurors.
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Henry L. Crane, Bridgewater's Town Clerk and Treasurer in 1887, was the first to use this Juror's Box and the first to add his name to the inside. He also added Town Clerks who served between 1835 and 1887 on the right. Below his name on the left are others who also served this office.
1835 Joshua E. Crane
1859 Lewis Holmes
1873 Joshua E. Crane
1875 Henry T. Pratt
1879 Edward A. Hewett
1887 Henry L. Crane
1926 Edwin Keith
1947 Jennie W. Carroll-asst. Town Clerk
1953 Jennie W. Carroll
1972 A. Evelyn Nourse
1972 Arthur W. Blanchard
1975 Paul H. Lyons
1976 Patricia Ann (Forrest) Canepa-acting Clerk
1977 Ronald R. Adams
This item and others are on display at the Bridgewater Town Clerks' Office now located in the Academy Building at 66 Central Square.
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Academy Building Municipal Offices
66 Central Square
508-697-0921
Mon - Thur 8a - 4p, Fri 8a - 1p Services available through phone, email & website only
Check Town website for needed updates
Public Library
15 South Street
508-697-3331
Mon - Wed 9a - 8p
Thurs 10a - 5p, Fri & Sat 10a - 2p
Cole-Yeaton Senior Center
10 Wally Krueger Way
508-697-0929
The Bridgewater Senior Center is closed to the public. However, the following services will continue: Meals on Wheels and medical appointment/grocery store transportation services.
Food Pantry
Central Square Congregational Church
71 Central Square
508-697-6016
Thursdays - 10a - 1p
1st Monday of each month from 6 - 8 p
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Congratulations!
Janet Packer
won a
$50 gift certificate to Beauty Counter products through Independent Consultant
You should play our
Historical Tidbit Trivia Game
at the bottom of this newsletter.
You could win
$15 gift certificate to Pinches & Pounds
Candy Store Rt 18, Whitman!
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Bridgewater Town Council voted to change the Regularly Scheduled
Town Election
The Bridgewater Town Council, in a one-time, emergency effort to protect the health and safety of Bridgewater voters and poll workers, voted to change the regularly scheduled Town Election from Saturday April 25 to:
Saturday June 27, 2020 and set the polling hours to open at 10a and close at 4p.
The Bridgewater Town Clerk’s Office will do everything in its power to protect the health of Bridgewater voters and poll workers. One means of protection is limiting crowded polls, e.g., self-distancing: voting-by-mail.
There are two options available to vote by mail:
(1) Absentee Ballots
The Governor and Legislature have provided legal exceptions to the rules for Absentee Voting (AV) in 2020 local Town/City Elections. The legislation: Expands the reasoning for voting absentee because a physical disability prevents the voter from going to the polling place to include any person taking precaution related to COVID-19 in response to a declared state of emergency or from guidance from a medical professional, local or state health official, or any civil authority.
(2) Early Vote by Mail
In addition to relaxing absentee-applicant qualifications, the Governor and Legislature: provided for early voting by mail in any annual or special municipal or state election held on or before June 30, 2020.
Applicant voters will receive a ballot and return envelope by mail. The ballot may be marked either EV or “Absentee” and will arrive with an EV-7 inner envelope for return.
All EV ballots must be received before the polls close at 4:00p on Saturday June 27 to be counted.
The deadline to apply for an EV ballot is Noon on Friday June 26, 2020. If the office is open to the public, the ballot may be voted in person at the Town Clerk’s Office. Warning: mailed ballots must arrive in time to be delivered to the polls by 4:00p, Saturday June 27.
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Thank you, from our Bridgewater Fire Department
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Instagram Quilt Project
The Bridgewater Public Library has started the Instagram Quilt Project. Snap photos of nature and send them to
rmamakos@sailsinc.org or hash tag them on your own Instagram with the hashtag
#BWPLQuiltProject
. Please don't include any photos of identifiable people.
Check out the Bridgewater Public Library
Facebook page for more information.
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Customer Supporting Her Favorite
Small Business!
Revolutions client is raffling off hair & face care.
How to enter the raffle for your chance to win:
Venmo $50 to @MelissaDraper1
If you do not have a Venmo account and would like to enter, please email Melissa (mdraper@alum.rpi.edu) or Monica (esmahan@verizon.net) for alternate payment arrangements.
For every $50, you will be entered for one (1) chance.
You will be assigned a number for each entry. The winner will be selected at random using
Random.org
on Facebook Live on Saturday, May 23, 2020.
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Hello friends of the Bridgewater COA,
Please join instructor Wendy Moore for a full hour of evidence based exercise class designed especially for people with arthritis.
Participants should have handheld weights (soup cans could work well), a paper plate, and a kitchen towel. If you have a TheraBand please have that also available. If you need weights or exercise tubes, please email Wendy directly
wmoore143@gmail.com.
Have fun and enjoy!
COA's Exercise class:
EVERY WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY AT 10a
Join Zoom Meeting:
Meeting ID: 931 4349 5863
Password: 300615
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Thinking of You
Greetings and Salutations,
Welcome to a special edition of
Top of the Hill. We wanted to share the most current resources and materials with you as we live in unprecedented times. Here you will find online exercise programs, a new van schedule, coronavirus scams info, and so much more. The Executive Office of Elder Affairs also published a new nursing home resource line for family members and friends currently residing in long and short term care. We recommend calling the hotline to help families get information about their loved ones’ care at nursing homes, which have been hit especially hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
All of us are connected and dependent on each other and we want older adults to continue calling and emailing us to keep in touch. While our building is closed to the public, we continue to deliver Meals on Wheels, offer information and referral, phone consultations and benefits assistance. Your health and wellness is no less important than our own and we’ve made it our goal to do everything possible to limit exposure and protect Bridgewater seniors. We also need your help in looking out for one another. Call your friends from Zumba and Mah Jong. Text your card players in whist and cribbage. People may not always ask us for help, but they will rely on one another for continued support and a good laugh. We’re all in this fight together.
We would like to thank all of the staff, incredible volunteers, our board, Dress-a-Girl seamstresses for sewing over 500 masks, and Town departments. Thank you Bridgewater Police, Fire, and Health for keeping folks safe and reducing community spread; shout out to the Library team for producing numerous online programs and educational entertainment for residents across the lifespan; and Town Administration and Council for quickly developing and coordinating new polices and protocols.
When we all stay home today, we see fewer new cases tomorrow. Be well and please check in on your neighbors.
Sincerely,
Emily Williams
COA Director
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Stay home and dress up your gardens!
Order your mulch online today!
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We have wood pellets, feed & grain and
we're open for essential items!
Please call with your order and drive up.
1000 Plymouth St (Rt 104) Bridgewater
(508) 697-0357
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Free Virtual Q&A to solve your productivity problems
Join Cleonie Mainvielle the 3rd Wednesday each month (May20th) at 12:30 pm EST to troubleshoot your productivity questions and concerns. This group brainstorming session is where you bring your productivity and time management questions to a...
Read more
www.eventbrite.com
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BTV interviews Bridgewater-Raynham Superintendent of Schools,
Derek Swenson
Topics covered:
School Closure
Virtual Learning
Graduation Backup plans
Resilience of B-R school district
Upside down frown challenge
Message from superintendent
Video Courtesy of BTV
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Now offering Disinfectant Fogging & HEPA Vacuuming Services!
As small businesses start to return to work, HEPA vacuuming is an effective way to take the cleaning and sanitation precautions necessary for a safe environment.
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What you Need to Know About COVID-19 Testing and Contact Tracing.
- The more people that get tested the better. Then we have a better count and can effectively track the spread of the virus.
- Massachusetts plenty of tests available. At this time, testing is readily available for free to all essential workers and people showing symptoms. A drive-up testing site in the parking lot of Brockton High School, located at 470 Forest Ave is open weekdays from 9a to 4p. Patients must call in advance to a hotline at 1-844-483-7819 to book an appointment. (A collaborative effort between The City of Brockton, Signature Healthcare and the Brockton Neighborhood Health Center.)
- If you test positive for COVID-19, the MA COVID Team will reach out by phone to connect the confirmed case with support and resources necessary for quarantine, and to identify any close contacts that may have been exposed. As MA continues its contact tracing work to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, it is critical that Massachusetts residents answer the phone when a contact tracer calls or texts. Contact tracers will only reach out from phone numbers with 833 or 857 area codes, and the phone’s caller ID will say MA COVID Team.
Tens of thousands of Massachusetts residents have participated in contact tracing. Staffed with more than 1,600 tracers, the Tracing Collaborative has reached nearly 14,000 confirmed cases and established more than 7,500 of their contacts since calls began on April 12.
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Grant's sends out support & care to all of our communities.
We're all in this together.
10 Bedford Park, Bridgewater
(508) 279-0950
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BLISS
THROUGH
YOGA
is NOW open
in
Your OWN Home!
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Now Live Streaming ALL Classes!
Tuesdays @ 5:30p; Thursdays @ 7p; Fridays @ 6:30p; Saturdays @ 9a
Contact Janice to register
Find YOUR bliss at Bliss Through Yoga!
Yoga for the Rest of Us!
(508) 331-3564
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Check Out the Turn Your Frown
Upside Down Challenge
as it gets passed around the staff of the Bridgewater Raynham School District. Each challenge has 24 hours to post a joke video. Videos are all posted on the
B-R Facebook Page.
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Dance Theater of New England
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We are Hiring:
A Message From Jacquie
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♦️FREE PIZZAS FOR IN NEED FAMILIES MONDAY AND TUESDAY THIS WEEK
♦️
For the 3rd week, Prisco's Market & Deli is offering free pizza on May 4th & 5th to families in need. Last week Carlo Crocetti and
Crocetti's offered to foot the entire bill! This week donations have come in from all over to cover the pizza cost.
If you would like to try a Prisco Pizza for free on May 4 or 5, call in your order. Simple as that! One pizza per family, no delivery available.
This is only part of the story. Since mid- March, Steve & Nancy Prisco have been hard at work, feeding and supplying anyone who calls looking for help. Moved by his deep faith in God, Steve takes calls all day, listening to people, hearing their needs and putting together care packages. People are quarantined, people are immobilized. Prisco's has a process in place to deliver compassion and supplies. "If they can't drive, I have 45 volunteers ready to deliver." Said Steve, "I listen to their needs, ask them about dietary restrictions, and if there is a child, I will add a toy from the store to the package. It's about helping out one another, it's about faith, hard work and family." To date, Prisco's has provided over 400 families with food and supplies.
Please call the store with your orders and requests ahead of time (508) 697-2273.
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If you would like to donate to Steve and Nancy Prisco's Families Feeding Families Fund see contact info below. They are offering free care packages to any families in need that include three days worth of food, toilet paper and other essentials. All money donated to the fund is used for the care packages and meals for families in need.
8 Romney Road
Bridgewater, MA 02324
Phone: (508) 697-2273
Pictured above: Steve Prisco and Carlo Crocetti.
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WEEKLY TRIVIA GAME
Have fun with us and bee entered to win a
$15 gift certificate to Pinches & Pounds Candy Store Rt 18, Whitman!
Historical Tidbit Question
:
Who was the first to use the Juror’s Box in the image?
Please submit your answer through our website
here
. It's easier for us to run more contests & distribute prizes this way.
We are looking forward to giving you more opportunities to win!
By entering, you give us permission to announce your name in next week's
Buzz Around Bridgewater.
On May 13, 2020 we will randomly pick a winner from the correct answers.
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The Buzz Around is brought to you this week by
Jen Bellody, Janice O'Brien, Megan Piche, Jacquelyn Rose, Gregory Venezia
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For Our Planet:
20 years ago, when my kids were little, I looked at my life, analyzing everything I spent money and time on, making sure that all decisions pointed toward caring for the earth and myself. My emotions could not be trusted when making decisions, nope, I needed to think it through.
Where I worked, what I ate, what I spent my time doing. How is our house heated? Where did our electricity come from? Where were our clothes made? All decisions were for the purpose of caring for our planet, caring for our health, and nurturing our community relationships. These were the seeds that lead to the creation of your BuzzAround...
“Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.” ~Unknown
“It is our collective and individual responsibility … to preserve and tend to the world in which we all live.” ~ Dalai Lama
“It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do little. Do what you can.” ~ Sydney Smith
“Because, underneath all of this is the real truth we have been avoiding: climate change isn’t an “issue” to add to the list of things to worry about, next to health care and taxes. It is a civilizational wake-up call. A powerful message—spoken in the language of fires, floods, droughts, and extinctions—telling us that we need an entirely new economic model and a new way of sharing this planet. Telling us that we need to evolve.”~ Naomi Klein
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“What is the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?”
~ Henry David Thoreau
Publishing the BuzzAround is the most miraculous career I could ever imagine. I hope that we all can take some time and look at how we impact our earth, how we care for ourselves and community relationships, because miraculous things do happen. ~ Jacquie
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Copyright 2020 Buzz Around Bridgewater.
You have our permission to share and copy this issue in its entirety as much as you like. If you take it in part, please give credit. ("Buzz Around Bridgewater 5/10/20")
Disclaimer: At the Buzz Around, we promote community and family. Occasionally, there will be links to town committees and other non-profit groups, as a way of sharing local information. Individual groups are responsible for how they represent themselves on their websites and in their promotional materials. The Buzz Around does not claim to support any particular view.
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