ECCF at Work

To help the effort, ECCF and EBSCO Publishing Company have partnered to purchase ‘Stamp Out Hunger’ bags that will be delivered to residents this week in participating towns. The bags have been proven to increase donations by up to 80%!

Whether you receive a bag or not, please participate in this important food drive. Donations go to local food pantries to help stock their shelves during the summer months.

It’s Easy!

1. Place your nonperishable food donations in a bag.

2. Leave at your mailbox on May 11th.

3. Your letter carrier will pick up and deliver to local pantries.

The Michael Latta EMS Scholarship Foundation is hosting its 3rd Annual Lights & Sirens Fundraiser! The event includes a spaghetti dinner, scholarship presentations, raffles, silent auction and dancing. Tickets are required. 100% of all proceeds go towards the scholarship foundation whose purpose is to award scholarships to young EMT's to help them continue their education and become Paramedics.

For more information, please visit, www.emsscholarship.com

Members of the North Shore Hunger Network had a successful visit to the Food Research and Action Center's (FRAC) National Anti-Hunger Policy Conference in Washington D.C. March 2 through March 5 that culminated in a day of advocacy on Capitol Hill. Thanks to support from the Essex County Community Foundation, three members of the North Shore Hunger Network (NSHN) Beverly Bootstraps, Our Neighbor's Table and The Open Door were able to attend, represented by Gus McDonald (BB), Lori Townsend (ONT), Jen Perry (TOD) and Sarah Grow (TOD).

During two days of intense workshops and networking, NSHN representatives attended 24 Workshops focusing on both direct and indirect anti-hunger policy practice that included but was not limited to Advocacy Building, SNAP Outreach, Innovative Approaches to Address Senior Hunger, Data Matching, and Strategic Partnering with Schools to Implement Child Nutrition programs. (Please see attached complete report of each workshop.)

Read full report

Linda will be painting a nature scene at her easel and over 100 early childhood professionals are invited to paint the same scene on canvas. Each participant will be given a canvas, brushes, acrylic paint to work at their own easel. It will be one giant painting flash mob.

In addition to the keynote address, eight local teachers and professionals will present workshops on subjects including empathy in the preschool classroom, music and movement, gardens and recycling and what makes children tick.

The theme of the event is 'Inspire, Inquire, Maintain Your Fire', and is dedicated to giving teachers of young children an energy boost near the end of the winter season. Play It Forward Giving Circle, a fund of the Essex County Community Foundation, sponsors the Legacy of Teaching Institute. The institutet is planned and organized by an all volunteer committee made up of teachers from around the region.

For more information, please visit www.playitforwardgc.org.

Progress in restoring the quality and success of our schools depends on good integration of your work and ours. The goal is to give all school-age children a seamless community of services that will include your organization and dozens of other nonprofits, with close connections between schools and services and homes. LPS has many students who need your help, so we hope you will see this as a good way to grow your programs and connections.

This event affords community partners two opportunities to engage personally with all the LPS principals to hear their needs and tell them your ideas. First we’ll have a lot of  quick and easy “speed dating” conversations with each other, and then after a break we’ll take time to have deeper conversations among those who have discovered some particularly good opportunities for collaboration. Lunch will be served at noon.

We have some funding and will add more to help worthy organizations add and expand services as opportunities arise from these conversations. Many doors will open January 3.

How the day will work:

• The goal: To connect your programs and Lawrence schools to extend learning time and programs for our students, in school and throughout the city, throughout the year.
• Your opportunity: All 32 Lawrence school principals will be there to learn about your programs for school-aged children and to talk with you about working together.
• Your role: Each nonprofit (YOU!) will have a table in a big circle in the Fieldhouse. Bring your ideas, business cards, print materials, and elevator speech. You may have up to two people at your table. Please do not bring large posters or displays.
• Speed dating: The principals will circulate around the room in search of programs that can be helpful to their students. This will be like a speed-dating event: you’ll have three minutes with each principal, to tell them what you do and find out what they need. Make a match, spark some interest, exchange cards.
• More contact: Have lunch at noon with principals you’ve connected with, and maybe with peer organizations that you might collaborate with.
• Follow-up: in the following weeks and months there will be opportunities to follow up and decide on your partnerships. There may be urgent needs to fill now, but the primary objective is to develop alliances for summer projects or perhaps during the next school year.
• About the money: Grants totaling $250,000 will be awarded to outstanding summer programs, with preference for those relating to student achievement, and we’re raising money to support more projects next fall.

We hope you will join us at this incredibly important event as we build teamwork between our schools and the community at large. We are asking that each organization bring no more than two representatives. Please share this invitation with anyone who serves – or intends to serve – children and youth in Lawrence.

Please rsvp with p.michaud@eccf.org by january 2nd.

Keynote, Jeff C. Riley, Superintendent and Receiver, Lawrence Public Schools, will brief grant makers on the plan for Lawrence and the progress made to date.

All eyes are on Mr. Riley and Lawrence and it is expected that the success – or failure – of the receivership will impact the future of school district reform, not only in Massachusetts, but in troubled school systems throughout  the country.

A panel of education experts will offer their view of what is happening in Lawrence and its connection to other education trends, past and present.

Beth Anderson, Executive Director, Phoenix Charter Academy

Sheila Balboni, Executive Director, The Community Group

Scott Given, CEO, Unlocking the Potential, Inc.

Presentations will be followed by a facilitated funder discussion lead by AGM member, Dave Welbourn, President and CEO of the Essex County Community Foundation. This important peer-to-peer learning opportunity will provide funders active in Lawrence and other communities to share information about their strategies, concerns and future plans. Featured Funders include:

Lynne Doblin, Executive Director, Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation

Katie Everett, Executive Director, Lynch Foundation

Laura Perille, Executive Director, EdVestors

Does your nonprofit organization serve school aged youth in Lawrence, MA? If so join a city-wide movement to raise student achievement, create new opportunities for learning, support families and faculty, and strengthen your own organization.

We have created the following survey to help us understand the array of services being offered by local nonprofits for Lawrence school children.

Please take a few minutes to complete this survey: http://www.eccf.org/lawrence-nonprofit-survey

Lawrence’s schools are at work on major improvements, including expanded learning time and valuable community experiences for all students. Your answers will help the city’s public schools work with nonprofits to match each other’s needs and opportunities so that together we meet the needs of Lawrence youth. The survey should only take a few minutes to complete and implies no obligation on anyone’s part.

Questions? E-mail Dave Welbourn at the Essex County Community Foundation, dw@eccf.org

But Riley, who was hired by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education six months ago to do just that with the state's most troubled school system, vowed he will do whatever it takes to get the job done. He called it "unacceptable" that half of the students who attend Lawrence High School "actually wind up walking across the stage" to receive their diplomas. Read article...

In what can only be called a “ride to remember”, more than 360 cyclists pedaled 28 miles from Lynnfield to Gloucester in an event that raised more than $149,000 to fight the cancers striking adolescents and young adults.  At the finish line, riders and supporters celebrated some long-awaited achievements in that fight.  
This was the eighth consecutive year for the Reid’s Ride Bike-a-thon, held annually on the third Sunday in July.   The event is named after Reid Sacco, a Lynnfield native who lost his two-year battle with cancer at age 20.

On-hand for the finish-line festivities at Stage Fort Park in Gloucester was Susan Parsons, M.D., Director of the newly established Reid R. Sacco Adolescent & Young Adult (AYA) Clinic for Cancer and Blood Diseases at Tufts Medical Center in Boston.  Addressing the hundreds in attendance, Dr. Parsons announced that the clinic will open in September 2012 as part of a first-of-its-kind program in Boston to uniquely focus on the AYA age group.  She went on to describe details of the program and its role in patient follow-up and treatment, in basic research, and in the education of patients, families and medical professionals.  Dr. Parsons explained how the program will help fill an urgent unmet medical need for this patient population.

The clinic and program are major milestones for Reid’s Ride and its mission to improve the outlook of cancer patients age 15-39.

Setting the spirit of Reid’s Ride to music was Ms. Venere Salzillo, of Saugus, who had recently returned from Los Angeles where she placed first in a national teen vocals competition.  Her moving rendition of “The Climb” stirred cheers, applause and tears from the Reid’s Ride audience.  With lyrics that speak to the importance of facing each uphill challenge with strength and perseverance, the song not only symbolized each rider’s effort that day but it also resonated with those who have personally experienced the impact of cancer on their lives. At the conclusion of Ms. Salzillo’s performance, a large balloon in the shape of a butterfly was released in a symbolic gesture of honor or remembrance for those who have won or lost their battle with cancer.

Lorraine Sacco, Director of Reid’s Ride, congratulated and thanked the assembled riders, supporters, volunteers, and sponsors for their tireless fund-raising and assistance in making this year’s event another record-breaker.  She emphatically reminded them that it was their hard work and commitment that made the new clinic and program at Tufts a possibility and now a reality. “Reid would be very proud of how far we have come in so little time,” Sacco concluded.

Frank Basler, Operations Director for Dunkin Brands, presented Lorraine a check for $25,000 from the Dunkin Donuts Community Foundation.  Dunkin Donuts is the premier event sponsor for Reid’s Ride.  Accompanying Mr. Basler was the Braga family of Gloucester. The Braga family is a franchise-holder and a tremendous supporter of Reid’s Ride.

Heading up the list of top fund-raising individuals was Patrice Fogg (Madbury, NH).  Other top fund-raisers included Meredith Greeno (Brookline, MA), Michael Marra (Brighton, MA), Jane Greeno (Los Angeles, CA), Weston Sacco (Lynnfield, MA), Rachael Sacco (Haverhill, MA), Frank Sacco (Haverhill, MA), Linda Ladd (Lynnfield. MA), Liz Joyce (Danvers.MA), Kate Jackson (Danvers, MA), and Eric Primack (Ipswich. MA)

The top ten fund-raising teams were Skid Marks (Revere and Madbury, NH), Danvers Diehards (Danvers), Babo Kicks Butts (Babson College Alum), Team Fun (Concord), Team Lyons (Danvers), Team Turner (Haverhill), Pedal Mettle (Lynnfield), Team Bankoff (Lynnfield), and Team Newbury North (Lynnfield).

“We had about 360 registered riders this year, and more than 50 teams,” Sacco reported. “We’re very pleased with that, and very fortunate have had beautiful weather.  We had prepared for the forecasted heat and humidity by adding extra water stations and supplies.  But temperatures turned out quite reasonable for this time of year, with some cooling breezes off the ocean.  It was a delightful ride.”

Over the years, Reid’s Ride has become a popular “warm-up” event for those cyclists competing in the Pan Mass Challenge in early August.   Next year, Reid’s Ride organizers plan to add a separate start, with timing services, for those interested in obtaining an official time for the 28 mile ride through Lynnfield, Middleton, Danvers, Beverly, Manchester and Gloucester.

Sacco remarked that there is really only one formidable challenge to Reid’s Ride.  “So many wonderful people turn out for Reid’s Ride that you just want to jump off your bike to catch up with old friends or to learn what motivated a new rider to come out this year.  If I did that every time I wanted to, though, I’d still be out on the course!”

“We’re already planning for next year’s event,” Sacco concluded, “and will spend the next month listening to riders and volunteers for ideas on how we can improve.  Our adolescents and young adults are counting on this event becoming even bigger and better, so that we accelerate the progress we need to make in the fight against AYA cancers."

Twenty-three workshops on important youth care topics were offered in the morning and afternoon breakout sessions. The lunch time break featured a music performance by youth from Plummer Home for boys, followed by a presentation of the Diruhi Mattian award and a much appreciated and humorous keynote address by Carrie Stack, Founder of the Say Yes Institute and Certified Life Coach.

Washington DC- With thanks to the Essex County Community Foundation, 5 representatives from three local organizations in the North Shore Hunger Network were able to add their voices to the 700 antipolicy advocates that descended on Washington D.C. in late February to attend the Food Research and Action Center’s (FRAC) Anti-Hunger Policy Conference. The Three days were jam-packed with workshops including such topics as “Best Practices of SNAP (Food Stamp) Outreach” , “Making Summer Meals Happen”, " Keeping Hunger in the Public Eye", "Child Nutrition and Wellness", and "Strategic Partnerships and Coalitions for Effective Advocacy". The five North Shore advocates were busy learning and neworking from morning till night, until day three culminated in visits to their local representatives’ offices Senator Scott Brown, Senator John Kerry, and Congressman John Tierney.

The North Shore Hunger Network is a collaboration of 25 local agencies committed to hunger-relief in north shore Massachusetts communities. NSHN partners attending the FRAC conference were Beverly Bootstraps (Beverly), Haven From Hunger (Peabody) which attended for the first time and The Open Door (Gloucester). Executive director of The Open Door, Julie LaFontaine, credits the 10 years of attendance at the Anti-Hunger Policy Conference for helping to expand and deepen the programs offered at The Open Door.

Throughout the weekend in-depth timely discussions on the potential cuts to the 2012 Farm Bill were stressed. Proposed cuts include funding for SNAP (food stamps), and cuts to USDA Commodities that supply nutritious food to many food banks and local emergency providers. “Our mission at The Open Door is to connect people to good food,” says Julie LaFontaine and emphasized how critical it is to talk to local representatives about real needs for these services as they contemplate the 2012 Farm Bill and next year’s budget cuts. “We know that 80% of our clients are already on SNAP, and come to the Food Pantry every month when their SNAP benefits run out,” said Julie. “Low-income families are already feeling the pinch and struggle to put food on their tables even with the $4 a day that SNAP provides. Cuts to these basic services will lead to more hunger, put more stress on families, and further strain resources to hunger-relief agencies in the North Shore Hunger Network. We are already stretched.”

In 2011, The Open Door, like many members of the North Shore Hunger Network, saw a 23 percent increase in the number of requests for food assistance. Haven From Hunger saw a 35 percent increase, and in the last three years Beverly Bootstraps and The Open Door have seen a record 30 percent jump and have worked hard to both maintain and meet that need. Cuts last year to the federally funded TEFAP (The Emergency Food Assistance Program) meant that for many agencies there were no USDA-funded commodities on the shelves of food banks and food pantries. For six weeks pantry shelves at The Open Door were empty of USDA-funded peanut butter and tuna fish, a basic protein-source that many clients rely on to make a nutritionally balanced meal. This short-fall in supply had to be made up through local food drives and local funding.

For NSHN advocate Alyse Barbash who has just completed her first year as executive director of Haven From Hunger (HFH) “going to Washington helped me change not just my small day-to-day world, but showed me how to work collectively to make a difference for everyone, not just Haven From Hunger.”
Since going to Washington and taking FRAC’s Summer Lunch workshop, Alyse has taken the lessons learned and expanded HFH’s Summer Lunch sites from two to seven and expects to serve about 700 meals--up from 200 a year ago. “I learned a lot about what’s available including the Summer Lunch and After School Meals program.” Now after focusing her attentions on Summer Lunch, Alyse hopes to look into providing some after-school meals. Going to the FRAC conference “really helped me step up my game in terms of program development and advocacy,” said Alyse.

NSHN advocate Sue Gabriel from Beverly Bootstraps said “knowing that our clients must focus on their day-to-day basic needs creates an incentive for us to advocate, many times on their behalf, for legislation and funding that will assist them. Going to FRAC helped our NSHN advocates connect with others so together we can advocate for funding and effective programming to alleviate hunger in all our communities.”

Capitol Hill visits by the North Shore Hunger Network put local representatives in touch with the real-life stories of hunger that exist here in the North Shore in Beverly, Essex, Gloucester, Ipswich, Manchester, Peabody and Rockport. They heard of the NSHN client “James” that finally managed to find a job after almost six months of unemployment, 3 months less the average amount of time some one is on SNAP (Feeding America). He was able to survive thanks to the safety net that SNAP and the food pantry provided him. Because of those face-to-face visits on Capitol Hill, supported by the Essex County Community Foundation, less than a week later, Congressman John Tierney gave testimony on the house floor to the importance of SNAP and TEFAP funding for our most vulnerable North Shore residents and clients of the North Shore Hunger Network.

If you would like to review the FRAC Conference materials and presentations, they are posted as PDF's on the FRAC web site here: http://www.antihungerpolicyconference.org/workshop-presentations

ECCF and EBSCO Publishing Partner to Support the U.S. Letter Carriers' Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive
Each year on the second Saturday of May, mail carriers across the country volunteer their time to collect food donations for the food pantries and soup kitchens in their communities. In 2011, this national drive provided 70.2 million pounds of food to help feed hungry families throughout the country. Celebrating its 20th year, the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive collects food at a crucial time of year- stocking pantry shelves with nonperishable food items for the summer months ahead.

This year ECCF is partnering with EBSCO Publishing of Ipswich, MA to supply grocery bags to encourage the donation of food for the drive. Joining Campbells Soup Company, International Paper, AARP and Publix grocery stores who provide bags in other regions of the country, ECCF and EBSCO will provide 169,000 bags for participating Letter Carriers to deliver to residents along their routes. The bags help make donating easy and fun.
ECCF has provided the bags as part of its Hunger Initiative for the past three years which resulted in 50%-80% additional food for the County's hunger organizations. Look for your Stamp Out Hunger grocery postcard and/or bag in your mailbox during the week leading up to the May 12th pick up date, fill bag with nonperishable food items, and on Saturday May 12th leave it by your mailbox for your mail carrier to pick up. And if you see your mail carrier, don't forget to thank him or her for helping us stamp out hunger in Essex County!
If you don't receive a postcard or bag, you can still participate by donating to your local food pantry. Go to http://www.essexcountyhungerrelief.org to find a food pantry or soup kitchen near you.

The conference opened with a moving keynote address by Karen Ansara, co-founder of The Haiti Fund at The Boston Foundation. 15 workshops were offered in the morning and afternoon breakout sessions on both beginning and advance level topics on board management and the lunch time break featured a presentation of Bank of America's High Net-Worth Philanthropy Study. New this year was a well received opportunity for attendees to have one on one sessions with high level consultants in place of workshop sessions. The information packed day closed with a well deserved 'Salute to Trustees' wine and cheese social.

Inspiring words

During Karen Ansara's presentation, she asked attendees what their personal mission is in the philanthropic work they do. We collected their responses and would like to share their inspiring words. Together they paint a picture of the heart and passion driving the nonprofit sector to make our communities better, healthier and more compassionate to those less fortunate.

• Making a difference in the lives of people with disabilities so that the world will be a better place because of my existence.
• Out of my Jewish faith I believe in working to repair the world. My world is focused in Lawrence as a catalyst for change.
• Do good things.
• I'm passionate about enriching the lives of children through arts.
• Help improve my community locally and the lives of poor women around the world.
• I want to make all the world care about the ocean's health and its ability to sustain all life in the world.
• I'm committed to building justice in every sphere of my life.
• To make everything possible to promote opportunities for children and families to do better in life.
• To support women and girls to be powerful and make them to be self-sufficient and find peace within themselves.
• Housing is a right not a privilege.
• I seek to translate my religious faith and values into action and gifts to change the world.
• I believe beauty can transform individuals and groups and is the lasting legacy of human society.
• To wake up each morning with the core belief that I, individually and within a group can make the world a better place now and for future generations.
• I want to help break the cycle of family violence and abuse that I myself have experienced and survived.
• I was told by others that I had much to give in areas I never thought of before - and discovered this was true and discovered also the pleasure that this giving gives me.
• I will create and support communities and systems that empower people through knowledge, self-knowledge, exploration and a love of learning.
• I helped protect all the remaining undeveloped land in Essex County through a collaborative effort with donors and land owners.
• To help children foster a sense of intellectual curiosity.
• My time and support can make a difference.
• To heal broken people in the neediest places and from the poorest circumstances in the world.
• Continue to open my heart and my mind by remaining present and knowledgeable of the human condition- one story at a time.
• I work to enable all parents and children who are in need to live in healthy homes and neighborhoods as a foundation for building healthy lives.
• The measurements of life's success are not the things we have, but the way we gave of ourselves to others for their growth and personal development.
• We do what we do to break down barriers between people.
• Connect kids to nature to save earth's biodiversity and natural resources for the benefit of all.
• Promote social justice and opportunity by strengthening the nonprofit sector and increasing philanthropy.
• My inspiration for philanthropy will inspire and encourage others to become involved in programs and organizations close to their hearts.
• One is important. Two can do more. Whatever you do has an impact.
• In helping others, I enrich and improve myself as well.
• Live with a focus on mission in all you do, a passion fo truly making a difference, and with the vision to meaningfully impact the lives of others.
• In a micro sense, to preserve and enrich the culture my children's school has given them and me. In a macro sense, to bring that mission and nurtuting commitment they have taught us beyond the schools boundaries.
• To share the knowledge, assets and wisdom with those who are less fortunate than me.
• To share skills from a lifetime within non-profits to facilitate whatever others want to learn and do.
• I am on a mission to stop the stigma of mental illness. It is called CAP. Community Awareness Project.
• My mission is to teach my child to be self sacrificing and to care about others.
• A person to person campaign to make things better for family care givers and their loves ones in nursing homes organized through civic minded hair salon operators.
• Convince my spouse and family that my mother's drive to make a difference for the less fortunate is valid and to be pursued.  With my current board position to give more and find another to contribute more in line with my own goals.
• To take groups of people from different perspectives and backgrounds with the same ultimate goals and to weave that into successful outcomes.
• Taking the potential that is everywhere and make it work.
• I am beginning to acknowledge that my journey is about the connection and power between the arts and social responsibility.
• Faith, family and experience led me to answer the question, "Am I my brother's keeper?" with the word "Yes."
• Positive, heartfelt giving.
• Continue to hear God's calling and guidance to serve his children and help God's children help themselves out of poverty and into sustainable meaningful lives.
• He saved the coast of Massachusetts from destruction and degradation and inspired residents to take an active role in its protection.
• I want to build an educational community on the water/ocean.
• Never stop giving back to honor what you have been given.
• To provide opportunities to those who lack them through education and direct service.
• Growing and living in and around poverty, my family had always been of the tribe of medicine. It has been in my DNA to do do the good hard work of giving back.
• Eliminating economic disadvantage as a barrier to educational opportunity and advancement, believing that "education is the great equalizer".
• I have a fundamental responsibility to conserve the environment and to provide shelter to all people.
• To develop the characters of young men of African descent through Christ (to be the leaders of our future).
• I change the world one child at a time!
• A world empowering all with the courage to help people heal and become self-sufficient.
• Ensure a strong community that values people and places.
• Empower and enable girls and women through access to education and job training.
• I want to lead as a participant, with humility, respect and openness.
• As a christian, I have a passion to address the whole person through any and every avenue available.
• The best way to honor Him who sent us is to hone the work and the workers He put beside us; to preserve the value in all things and raise up who and what has fallen.
• Every child deserves a rainbow.
• Share our experiences and stories with others with the hope that they can understand experiences of people different from themselves.
• I believe children and their mothers should have shelter as a first step out of poverty, and I love using my gifts to help.
• I have a 'tool box' given to me by my parent but I am the only one who can use it. I hope to teach the same 'tool box' to my children for them to use to the best of their ability.
• I commit to elevate my own gifts to excite an unstoppable path of empowered leadership for others to achieve their lifes potential.
• I continue to learn. I learn to continue.
• To make the world I see in front of me, a better place.
• As Board Chair my mantra is to encourage mission-focused results through board member participation. Open the door for the cats to go through.
• To recognize and embrace every opportunity to help further causes that lead children to the fulfillment of their life's dreams.
• Helping students/people to make real world connections to find their true calling.
• Let all share in the grace from which I have benefitted.
• Changing and empowering lives one person and a time.
• Core values - Appreciate the seniors of America as living time capsules and how they can be more appreciated and ackowledged as learning opportunities and inspirations for children and grandchildren. Sentence - I'd like to write a children's book to help society discover the wonderful relationships that can exist between grandparents and grandchildren.
• Tap into the goodness of others in order to echo the goodness of God especially in behalf of and in partnership with the poor.
• Mantra- I am entering doctoral studies to research the efficacy of single parent higher education programs. There are only nine in the United States. What are the stress factors and enhancers for these single parents and how does a higher education improve the lives of parent and child(ren)? Then, I would like to form an alliance with a college or University and start another program for single parents becuase if we can educate and improve the lives of these families by creating opportunities, we can prevent them from generations of poverty.Why? Becuase i was a single parent of three and was challenged with the role of work, parent and school!
• Serving the environment by sharing images of nature with others through photography and service.
• Serve others through local environmental and church stewardship.
• To advocate for those who have no one to advocate for them.
• To help kids grow to their greatest potential.
• Giving back so other people can live a decent life.
• As a small pebble, let me create a ripple that changes the world.
• Everyone should be as lucky and happy as me.
• I have been blessed with a talent and want to share it with others to make a difference.
• I want to inspire my children and the children of my community to care for the earth as part of a lifetime journey.
• One's health is the foundation of a connected community; empower individuals to make healthy choices and build stronger families and communities now and in the future. The power of a community depends on the health of its people.
• To open the door of opportunity to those without.
• To live my life in faith and give in faith to as many as I can.
• If there really is a God, He'll know I lived a good life and let me in.
• My efforts in board leadership go towards supporting the belief that all children, particularly those of 1st generation immigrants deserve and can rise to the standard of an excellent education.
• Spread the importance of education and strengthen support structures for education of first generation immigrants.
• I assist and encourage other people to recognize and achieve their full potential.
• Eliminate poverty at the local level in my community through affordable housing, education, and leadership opportunities.
• To live a life that honors the mystery of compassion and respects a person's spirit where it meets the bone.
• Promote historical preservation activities.
• I am helping new immigrants become self-sufficient and part of the American mainstream.
• To become personally engaged with others and organizations who promote social improvement.
• Educating young adults in the area to understand finances for their personal success.
• He taught us all to treat each other with respect and to listen to one another.
• To help others reach their goals they can only now dream of.
• 1. See more people do more for others. 2. Help children in need of companionship and education.
• My purpose is to share with my family and other families our values, beliefs and shelter so they can grow and become more independent and contributing members of society.
• Make each relationship better than I found it.
• Think LOCALLY in addition to globally.
• Empower and engage youth to prepare for a future with full possibilities and potential.
• To use my God given gifts to make my community and the world a better place.
• Every day to take an action that makes a positive change or outcome.
• I empower people to find their voices and build community.
• Help as many downtrodden people as possible in my lifetime.
• Breaking the cycle of poverty.
• Help and support others to rewrite the script others have imposed on them.
• To rediscover the wealth, the beauty and the mystery of the ocean is to embrace and sustain the human spirit.
• Clearing the way for children who need help clears a path for all.
• I will make a world where the equality babies are born with can remain with them throughout life.
• To empower youth to grow and achieve personal potential.
• To find my passion and make it serve my community.
• Make a difference in my community. Belive in the process of working together to make a right in what we do.
• 1. Make my children's world better than my own. 2. This is borrowed: "If you want peace, work for justice"
• To create a center of openness where people can discover the Holy and be empowered to change the world.
• Where there is a need there is a way.
• It doesn't matter what you do, but you should be contributing to something larger than yourself.
• To make Salem a better place to live.
• I transfer my profession and manufacturing to address poverty by building homes and growing Habitat's umbrella with sound business practice.
• Pay it forward!
• If I cannot make the world a better place, at least I can make it more comfortable.
• Give the opportunities to others to improve the condition of all.
• He moved His world one step forward for the betterment of those he encountered.
• Giving back is easy and forever.
• My personal philanthropic mission is to link under-privileged people to resources that they need in order to improve their quality of life, and to do this in collaboration with others. (service providers, communities of faith, etc.) To break down barriers and differences between "privileged" and "underprivileged."
• My sense of purpose comes from strong family values that define a need to improve the human condition/quality of life for those less privileged.
• May I be as generous with my time as those who inspire me.
• I want for others what I have for myself.
• My goal is to leave my community stronger than I found it!
• I will do what I can to be sure that everyone in America has access to food and health, which will make it easier for everyone to participate in global action.
• To do what I can to help someone else improve their moment.
• Making people aware of the roots of disharmony. To inspire others to become strong and work towards peace and a better quality of life.
• I will pass this way just once; therefore I will do what I can to make life better for those around me.
• Feeding one family at a time.
• My desire to be inolved with the communities I live in or I used to live in has been driven by the example of the women in my life starting with my mother and grandmothers and their desire for better opportunities for their children and others around them.
• From a very young age I have been drawn to help people in need and this desire to help has been nurtured in my family, in my education and world as a registered nurse, and in my church, and I hope to give back to my world with hands on care, with personal relationships to empower individual wholeness, and to express the power of love and creativity of the inclusive God I have come to know.
• Keep your eyes on the right thing and do it.
• Moving mountains - together.
• Land conservation.
• To do the comparatively little I can to improve life of education for my community.
• To endow St. Ann School into the future.
• I've learned how to make a difference in the organizations I have served and see how these small changes can have a large impact on the community and this fuels my passion.
• Provide, promote beneficial medical assistance to others.
• Let's not allow our freeedom of speech be sold to corporate America!
• Free digital rights for all citizens of the world.
• Creo en ambientes, lugares y situaciones que me apoyaron, motivaron y conscientizaron a preparame por la mejoria del estado para la solidaridad. (rough translation: I believe in the environments, places and situations that have supported me, motivated me and made me aware to improve myself in solidarity.)
• To open the door of opportunity to the underserved populations.
• I am a communicator for vulnerable populations who do not have voices to speak for themselves, whose language is not English.
• To enhance the lives of people who do not have a voice. To enhance the lives of people with disabilities.
• To bring the ability to experience self-respect and self-belief to other people regardless of their life circumstances.
• Respect and dignity for all: rich, poor, abled, disabled, educated, undereducated…etc.

Trustees need time to focus on their dedication to their organization and renew energy to do their jobs better, according to Julie Bishop, vice president of grants and services for the Essex County Community Foundation (ECCF), a Danvers-based organization that works to educate and develop local non-profits.

“If the board is strengthened, everything an organization does will be stronger,” said Bishop.

Karen Keating Ansara of Essex, a mother of four adopted children, knows this firsthand. After witnessing poverty in South America through the adoption process, Ansara and her husband, Jim, became committed to ending poverty overseas through local platforms. Now co-founder and board member of three non-profit organizations, The Ansara Family Fund, New England International Donors, and The Haiti Fund, Ansara wants to become a better leader herself. Read article...

We are pleased to announce the opening of the EBSCO Publishing Grants Resource Center at ECCF (GRC). In partnership with Associated Grant Makers and sponsored by EBSCO Publishing, the GRC is a valuable research database for nonprofits seeking new funding sources through regional, national and international granting foundations. The GRC is a portal located at Essex County Community Foundation in Danvers that provides access, free of charge, to two databases: AGM’s Grant Makers Directory which consists of in-depth data on 400 funders that grant in Massachusetts and New Hampshire and the Foundation Center’s Foundation Directory Online which includes over 100,000 foundations, corporate donors, and grant-making public charities.

The GRC portal opened on Tuesday, January 24, 2012. The first in the door was Brian Frykenburg of Friends of Andover Tennis Fund. He said, “It’s a valuable resource. I found three good leads that I will now pursue for new funding!”

The GRC at ECCF is available by appointment only Monday through Friday (except holidays) 10am - 5pm. Beginning in March, extended hours will be available one day per week until 7 pm and one Saturday per month from 9 am – 12 noon. Dates TBA. The GRC is available for nonprofit staff, grant writers, fund holders, foundation staff and development consultants. It is not available to for-profit businesses.

The GRC is part of ECCF’s Center for Nonprofit Excellence - a comprehensive set of educational offerings, services and resources designed to train and support nonprofit leadership. Learn more or sign-up for a GRC session.

Twenty nonprofit organizations serving the Merrimack Valley region will receive over $40,000 in grant awards from the Merrimack Valley General Fund. The awards ceremony will be held this morning, December 13th, at Family Service Inc. in Lawrence. The grants will help stock shelves at local food pantries , support a variety of after-school programs, as well as fund programs for the elderly and the disabled. A grant to the Lawrence History Center will help fund the development of a curriculum guide for local schools to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Bread & Roses Strike next year.

The Merrimack Valley General Fund (MVGF) is a permanent fund of the Essex County Community Foundation (ECCF) serving agencies in the Eastern Merrimack Valley. The fund was established when the Merrimack Valley Community Foundation merged with ECCF in 2004. The MVGF funds all fields of interest including Arts and Culture, Education, Social and Community Services, and Youth Service. The 2011 MVGF committee members are Richard Blain, North Andover, Peter Caruso, Sr. Andover, Sheila Doherty, Andover, Patricia Driscoll, Lawrence, Julie Gadziala, Andover, Chair, Paul Heggarty, Newburyport, Patricia Karl, North Andover, Lisa Mc Donald, Andover, Daniel Murphy, North Andover, Marianne Paley, Newton, and Len Wilson, Andover. View grant awards...

"A wonderful woman and inspiring philanthropist"

Betty, a long time administrator of The Stevens Foundations, was a passionate promoter of the importance of providing broad levels of assistance beyond financial support to grass-roots, nonprofit organizations in and around Lawrence. At the same time, she recognized that there had to be a way of retaining some of the philanthropic dollars that were then flowing into Boston, and refocusing them to support local nonprofits.

The founders of Broadhow, the precursor of ECCF, first met Betty through her active support of and engagement with the Essex Art Center in Lawrence. She encouraged them to establish Broadhow in 1998, to provide low cost or free consulting and training to nonprofits. Betty worked closely with Broadhow and helped plan its reorganization to become the Essex County Community Foundation, of which she was a founding board member. Through her active promotion, The Stevens Foundations made substantial and critically important grants to underwrite ECCF’s early operating costs.

It was Betty who started the Greater Lawrence Summer Fund in 1990 and drove it to become a major funding source for Greater Lawrence nonprofits. In 2001, she asked ECCF to take over the Summer Fund which is now one of ECCF’s most successful donor collaboratives  providing summer enrichment activities for over 15,000 youth in the region.

Betty was also one of the founders of the Greater Lawrence Community Foundation which began in 1993. As its scope expanded, it was soon renamed the Merrimack Valley Community Foundation and in 2004 it merged with ECCF. Its legacy is now the Merrimack Valley General Fund which makes grants each year to nonprofit programs in the area. Betty’s purpose in all of these efforts was always to bring donors together to do big things they could not do as well separately.

Betty Beland was a unique, warm and caring person. She was a much loved “den mother” of the Greater Lawrence nonprofit community and an inspiration to all she worked with. With all she did and all the difference she made to so many, it seems as if she received special recognition by passing away on National Philanthropy Day. We have all benefited from her example and many contributions to the community and will miss her more than words can tell.

-Remarks from David Tory, Founder of the Essex County Community Foundation

"My 'Irish Godmother'"

Betty Beland was my self proclaimed "Irish Godmother". Betty took me under her wing and taught me to see her Lawrence, the potential, the need and the unique qualities of the people engaged in the non-profit sector. She provided great guidance in the founding and growth of Groundwork Lawrence, she introduced me to funders in both the private foundation sector as well as the business community. She included me at the table when we began the Lawrence Community Foundation even though I was a kid, she sat next to me at meetings and made me laugh with her gossip and running commentary - always with the twinkle in her eye. She taught me that you can lead with your heart and vision to change the world. What a difference a person can make.

- Remarks from Marianne Paley Nadel, Founding ED of Groundwork Lawrence and ECCF Merrimack Valley General Fund committee member

"She was brilliant at connecting with all children," said Janie Bellenis, a teaching assistant at Cutler and close friend of Evetts. "She was incredibly vibrant and fun. She made learning very fun."

Evetts died in September 2009, four months after being diagnosed with cancer. She will be remembered tomorrow at a coffeehouse fundraiser for a scholarship created in her memory. Planned for 2 to 5 p.m. at Miles River Middle School, tomorrow's event features live music by local performers and a few Evetts family members, as well as auctions.

...The Evetts scholarship has been given to Hamilton-Wenham graduates for the past two years; the fund is managed by the Essex County Community Foundation. Read Article

The 11th annual Youth at Risk (YAR) Conference will be held at Endicott College in Beverly on Wednesday, June 8th. Attended each year by over 500 professionals from all over the region, this event has become an essential conference for providers of services to youth. YAR enables providers to deepen their knowledge of critical practices and reconnect with peers as they work to reduce the problems faced by many young people. Conference attendees can choose from over 20 workshops on topics ranging from the treatment of trauma and substance abuse to the effects of immigration on families, suicide prevention in adolescents, and identifying and treating youth with Aspergers Syndrome.

Kids, who have become involved with the social service system, often meet with a variety of organizations who are attempting to provide a complete continuum of care. When these providers know about each other, the gaps in services often close and the opportunities for success increase exponentially. While parents remain the first line of defense in keeping our kids from following self destructive behaviors, social workers, psychologists, youth counselors, teachers, school adjustment counselors, and public health workers are necessary elements for this task. YAR is a place where these providers can network and learn from each other what resources are available.

Hearing directly from those who have received services is an essential element of the Youth At Risk Conference. This year, a midday “Panel of Hope” will highlight former at risk youth who will share their stories of what brought them to the attention of human services, their journeys to recovery and stability and their advice for conference attendees looking for encouragement to continue their work. Providing some joy and rhythm to the lunch time break will be a performance by Express Yourself. This exciting and inspirational program offers at-risk youth the opportunity to explore art, music and dance as a path toward healthy identity and belonging. Express Yourself has performed at the Wang Theater and the White House and has become an annual treat for YAR attendees.

"The Youth At Risk Conference has attracted very engaging speakers and workshop facilitators", says Marian Myers, co-chair of the YAR organizing committee. This year’s keynote speaker will be Edward Hallowell, M.D. a child and adult psychiatrist, and director of The Hallowell Center in Sudbury, Massachusetts. He has authored eighteen books on various psychological topics, including attention deficit disorder, the power of the human connection, and the childhood roots of happiness in life. Recent keynote presenters have included: Jack Williams of Channel 4 and founder of Wednesday's Child and Dr. Ross Greene, the author of the highly acclaimed books' The Explosive Child' and 'Lost at School'".

To thank the sponsors, agency executives, and public officials who support YAR, a pre-conference breakfast is held. This year’s breakfast speaker will be the Massachusetts Secretary of Health and Human Services, Dr. JudyAnn Bigby, who oversees 17 state agencies and serves in the Cabinet of Governor Deval Patrick.

They say the Essex County Institute for Trustees helps them keep the area’s arts groups, food banks, and other nonprofit organizations running successfully in difficult financial times.

“It has been tough, and a lot of people come to these types of events to see if they can generate some ideas,’’ said Peter Konrad, a board member at Danvers-based Strongest Link AIDS Services Inc., who also attended last year. “It’s a good networking opportunity, it’s a good learning opportunity, it’s an energizing opportunity.’’ Read article...

With a Community Foundation's special ability to pool many smaller funds, ECCF can diversify holdings, increase safety, employ expert managers, provide greater oversight, and achieve economies of scale for Fund Holders. Every three years, ECCF issues a Request for Proposal for investment managers and selects a diverse group to guard and grow these assets.

ECCF's Investment Policy Statement requires a carefully balanced portfolio aimed at preserving capital and growing assets for the long run as is appropriate for charitable funds. In recent years it has ranged from 55% equities to 70% equities as the Committee has adjusted to changes in capital markets.

The results are worthy of the good causes these funds support. ECCF measures its investment performance against two benchmarks. One is the national average for over 800 college and university endowments, which ECCF has significantly exceeded three years in a row. In 2010, these college and university endowments on average  gained 11.9% while ECCF gained 14.6%.

The second benchmark is the balanced model for ECCF's main portfolio. The Foundation's chief custodian, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, submitted its 2010 summary report at the January meeting of the Trustee Committee on Investments. Here are the latest results:

Jan Plourde and her family ran a special kind of business supporting teachers and parents with teaching tools and ideas for 22 years in the Boston area. The Learning Tree Store in Danvers and Stoneham served as a community hub for teachers to buy toys, books and teaching supplies, as well as to access new ways to teach their young charges through teacher training and support. When the recession hit in October 2008, the store lost 35% of its business and after two years had to close its doors.

Because the community of teachers had felt so supported by Jan and The Learning Tree Store, they wanted to ensure the real magic of the store could continue, so in the spring of 2010, they gifted Jan with the funds necessary to set up the Play it Forward Giving Circle as a fund at the Essex County Community Foundation.

The mission of Play it Forward Giving Circle is to offer support to folks who are doing the great work of teaching our young children. The main initiative is the Legacy of Teaching Early Childhood Institute which Jan started in 1989 as the Four College Conference. In 1995 the conference became The Legacy of Teaching Early Childhood Institute, and it is the only early childhood conference dedicated to providing workshops and inspiration for teachers of young children in our region. This year's Institute will be held March 12th at the Riverside School in Danvers.

"There is much good work being done in our schools, but it's like taking a spoon and shoveling beach sand. We are trying to support and supplement what good work is already happening," commented Jan Plourde. 

Play it Forward Giving Circle is also developing five initiatives that will take place throughout the year. The first is the Sister School Initiative, a collaboration between an independent high school and a primary school in Lynn. This year's sister schools will be Pingree School in Hamilton and the Tracy School in Lynn. During Pingree's 2-week March break, motivated students will become helpers and role models to Tracy School's kindergarden-5th grade students by spending an hour each day working on art projects. They will create an art installation at the school, with a planned reception and art show the week before Mother's Day where the framed artwork will be sold to raise money to support Tracy School's art program.

While Jan has the momentum of years of passionate work at The Learning Tree Store, the Giving Circle itself is still in its fledgling state. "The vision for the Circle is to build a team of people with a strong interest in supporting education with a special focus on early childhood education to raise money and volunteers for collaborative initiatives in our region's schools," Jan said.

The Circle is perfect for folks who have recently retired from teaching, empty nesters, young mothers and anyone who wants to be involved in improving education for our young. The next meeting is January 29th at Notre Dame Children's Class in Wenham. All are welcome to join. Because ECCF is so pleased to welcome Jan and her creative new fund to our philanthropic community, we asked Jan why she chose to set up Play it Forward Giving Circle with us.

"Because ECCF is a foundation. We can focus on our own region; they teach us how to do the job of a nonprofit, and we receive mentoring and support. It is a natural fit."

Thanks Jan, from all of us at ECCF!

The boys covered a lot of ground during the Children’s Center’s summer program, thanks in part to grants provided by the Greater Lawrence Summer Fund, a collaborative donor effort administered by the Essex County Community Foundation.

“We do two to three field trips a week, plus an array of classes and workshops,’’ says Erica Kennedy-Cruz, the center’s director. “Everything from a Fenway Park tour to a live show at the Palace Theater in Manchester, N.H., to cooking classes and beach days.’’

There’s an academic element to all that fun as well, Kennedy-Cruz says.

“The kids have to write a mini-report after each activity. They answer questions like what did they like about it, what was the biggest surprise, things like that.’’

In addition, the children put in reading time each day, usually focused around the summer reading lists supplied by their schools. The center also works in conjunction with the Lawrence and Methuen public schools to find out what they want emphasized over the summer, including math and science.

It’s this combination of culture and education that exemplifies the goal of the Greater Lawrence Summer Fund program, according to Clare Gunther, assistant manager for Grants and Services at the Essex County Community Foundation.

“The Summer Fund began in 1990 when it was created by the Stevens Foundation,’’ Gunther says. “At the time, the idea was that low-income kids deserved access to enjoyable summer programs, too.’’

The foundation took over the program in 2001. Today, more than 40 organizations in Greater Lawrence support the effort to offer a fun learning experience.

“It’s phenomenal. There are over 5,000 children involved,’’ says Dick Purinton, a foundation board member who sits on the Summer Fund committee.

“The majority of the programs are educational, or have strong educational content.’’

It’s that emphasis that addresses a hot topic in education: summer learning loss. According to a study by Duke University professor Harris Cooper, all children lose some math skills while they’re away from school in the summer.

But while middle-class students hold their own in reading skills over the break, their low-income peers lose both reading and spelling skills, slipping as many as three months behind in reading comprehension. Cooper determined that by ninth grade, summer learning loss could be blamed for almost 60 percent of the achievement gap between the income groups.

Last summer, the Essex County Community Foundation raised $228,000 for the Greater Lawrence Summer Fund, with a $38,500 matching gift from the Amelia Peabody Foundation, a grant provider focused on positive learning experiences for children in Massachusetts.

All of the programs and organizations that benefited featured some element to address summer learning loss.

One was the Greater Lawrence Community Boating program, which runs rowing, sailing, canoeing, and kayaking lessons out of the Abe Bashara boathouse on the Merrimack River.

While membership for the program runs $50 per summer, between 600 and 1,000 children participate for free, supported in part by the Essex foundation.

In addition, 2010 marked the first year community boating used Summer Fund grant money to introduce the Project Coach program, a curriculum developed at Smith College to use sports to engage and empower teenagers by training them to become coaches in their communities.

According to Ellen Minzner, executive director of the Community Boating program, the 50 Lawrence High School students who took the six-week program last summer learned leadership skills while being physically active.

“Project Coach trains them in leadership. They did role-playing exercises and videotaped their sessions to learn different coaching styles,’’ she says.

“Then they got to practice coaching when the rec kids would come in each day.’’

No easy feat, given that Lawrence Recreation brings between 200 and 300 children per day to the boathouse for summer programs. In addition to their training sessions, Project Coach students had to commit to daily Kaplan academic sessions. Today, graduates of the Project Coach program use the skills they learned to coach middle school students on indoor rowing equipment, teaching basic fitness exercises in addition to on-water techniques that can be used next summer.

“The carryover has been fantastic,’’ says Minzner. “The kids are really engaged; they remember so much and work really well together. This is where we see the rewards of the program.’’

Carlos Taveras, 17, says the best part of going through Project Coach was interacting with the Smith College coaches.

“We learned about what kind of attitude we need to have, and how to keep your cool working with kids,’’ he says. “They taught us so much. You learn how to set goals, and you want to meet those goals.’’

When asked if his experience has translated into the classroom now that he is back in school, Taveras says one skill in particular has come in handy.

“The public speaking part. As a coach, you have to be the voice of the team,’’ he says.

“I am no longer afraid to raise my hand and say what I have to say.’’

Reprinted here with thanks to The Boston Globe. Access article here.

...Through a week-long artist-in-residence program at the Witchcraft Heights School, students in all grades worked with children’s author and poet Jeff Nathan, who taught them writing skills through lessons infused with humor and song...Grade five teacher Kathy Marchetti raised $6,000 to pay for the program, securing a $1,000 grant from the Salem Education Foundation, donations from the PTO and a school fundraiser, and a $3,000 matching grant from the Essex County Community Foundation. Read more...

By the late 1950s it had become something else: a crumbling relic of Lawrence's vanishing glory and a 267-foot-high roost for generations of pigeons that left behind tons of droppings during the four decades they had the run of the place. The city still struggles, but a million-dollar restoration brought back the Ayer Mill clock tower in 1991. On Oct. 3, it turns 100.

"The local people, by making that investment in the tower, (showed) their desire and endeavor to change the direction of Lawrence," said David Tory of the Essex County Community Foundation, the successor of the company that took possession of the tower as part of the renovation. "It was a message to the world: We want Lawrence to come back, and an indication of ato refurbish its most obvious landmark."

The clock tower's 4,850-pound copper and tin bell first pealed across the Merrimack River valley at 9 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 3, 1910, when mill owner Frederick Ayer pulled the rope nine times to signal bedtime to his hundreds of employees. At a celebration on Oct. 3, Charlie Waites, the keeper of the clock, will pull the rope 100 times to mark each year in the tower's centennial, although the peals will come from a replica of the original bell that was manufactured in the Netherlands for $36,000 as part of the 1991 restoration. The original bell disappeared after the mill closed, possibly melted for scrap or sent downriver to serve another tower.

If the bell is a replica, the 2,000 pounds of brass and cast-iron that make up the clockworks are original. The works, which include a 14.5-foot pendulum that powers the springs and gears, along with the four transparent faces of the clock and the tower's copper roof, were the major parts of the $1 million renovation. Rick Balzer, the clockmaker who rebuilt the Lawrence clock in his Freeport, Maine, studio, will speak at the centennial celebration. "I've got to talk basics with you," Balzer said in response to a question about why the clock is worth saving, then launched into a description of the double three-legged gravity escapement and other pieces of clock guts that only a clockmaker could love — or understand. "How long will your car last — 100,000 miles? 200,000 miles?" he asked. "And you run it an hour or two a day, maybe? And you get rid of it after three or five years? This thing goes nonstop, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And it's still going. Show me another machine that can do that. That alone should be a good reason to save it."

Balzer's wife, Linda, a partner in the project, recalled the hopeless conditions that greeted her when she walked through the tower for the first time. "You can see the pigeon dung is halfway up the leg," she said, pointing out the piles of waste in a photograph of the structure that supports the clockworks. "I heard it was 20 tons. It was also infested with mice. They were living in the pigeon dung. It was unbelievable. A hazardous waste company removed the dung. There was so much dust (coming out of the tower) that people thought it was on fire."

The restored tower, atop a mill building where New Balance assembles pieces of shoes made in China, operates on a budget of up to $15,000 a year, supported by a $400,000 endowment. The Essex County Community Foundation recently began soliciting contributions to replace the interior lighting in the tower, which will allow its glass dials to be illuminated from within.

The Oct. 3 centennial celebration will feature a raffle — which will include a tour of the clock tower — to help reach the $40,000 goal to redo the lighting. The celebration begins at the tower at 2 p.m.