Hi Joey,  On Saturday, June 4, Holy Family Women’s Guild will be hosting the annual Strawberry Festival 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. at St. Ann Church Hall.  This year the Guild will be honoring the Gloucester Lobster Fishermen.  We will be offering a lobster buoy paired with a gift certificate.  There will be handmade ceramic mugs and biscotti for sale also – a Gloucester Mug-up.  The Strawberry Festival will also offer homemade cookies muffins, jams and other baked goods including our famous Strawberry Shortcake.  There will be hand-crafted items and note cards.  As usual, there will be many types of plants offered as well.  All donations will be gratefully accepted.  If you need more information please call Jane Marshall at (978) 283-5111  or Janet Lucido at (978) 526-1543.

Get your foursome together and join us at Bass Rocks Golf Course for the 2016 Cape Ann Chamber Education and Scholarship Golf Tournament!  The tournament is on Monday, May 16, 2016 with a shotgun start at 1:00 PM.  This annual event benefits education initiatives on Cape Ann as well as Chamber scholarships for local high school students. The tournament features delicious treats out on the course, great raffle items, a special giveaway, an awards dinner and more.  Don’t miss out!

Register Here to play in the Golf Tournament.

There are still sponsorship opportunities available for this event. Contact Kerry McKenna at the Chamber to become a sponsor.  978-283-1601.

Tournament Features:
Low Gross & Net Prizes, Closets to the Pin, Longest Drive, Closest to the Line’Raffle Including a set of irons, Hole in One wins a new car from Sudbay Motor Group*

Fee includes cart, greens fee, clubhouse facilities, fun snacks throughout the course, ticket to the awards dinner and a special giveaway.

We have some exciting news!

Mayor Romeo Theken signs on as a CEO Against Stigma

Gloucester, MA—Gloucester Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken has joined the growing list of municipal leaders and chief executives across the Commonwealth, vowing to help eliminate stigma in the workplace related to mental illness. The mayor of Cape Ann’s largest city has signed a pledge to become a CEO Against Stigma, joining the workplace initiative created by the state chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI Mass).

“I’m proud to sign my name to this important initiative which offers courageous hope and opportunity to people with mental health conditions,” says Mayor Romeo Theken. “Across the Commonwealth, the North Shore and here in Gloucester, too many people are suffering from issues related to mental health and sadly avoiding appropriate care due to social stigmas. It’s time to tackle these negative outlooks and provide genuine help to our community.”

CEOs Against Stigma, which launched in 2015, partners with the top leaders of businesses, organizations and municipalities across Massachusetts to change misconceptions about mental illness by encouraging people to open up and speak freely about the conditions that affect them and their immediate families, and seek treatment.

“Mental health conditions – including depression and anxiety – affect one in five adults and are the number one cause of workplace disability,” says Linda Lewis, NAMI Cape Ann board member. “By joining CEOs Against Stigma, Mayor Romeo Theken demonstrates that she is committed to creating a supportive environment for everyone.”

One vital element of the campaign involves bringing NAMI’s In Our Own Voice (IOOV) presentations into the workplace. Recognized by a leading national mental health researcher as the most effective anti-stigma program in America, IOOV presentations feature two people sharing their personal stories of recovery. Mayor Romeo Theken and the City of Gloucester will also provide helpful information for employees and managers so they are better informed as well as make employees more aware of the mental health benefits available to them.

Mayor Romeo Theken also remarks, “While there has been terrific progress made around mental health advocacy, we can still do more to help. Gloucester’s city employees are our number one asset and providing benefits, support and care that keeps them strong physically and mentally remains a top priority.”

Any Massachusetts company, organization or municipality with at least 50 employees can join. NAMI Mass and its affiliates are committed to signing 250 executives and elected leaders to the campaign and reaching half a million employees. For more information about CEOs Against Stigma, log onto the website: http://ceos.namimass.org. You can also contact NAMI Cape Ann at 978-281-1557 or namicapeann@verizon.net.

Hello All Dory Rowers

We will be prepping the race boats and one practice boat to be painted.  We will need help sanding and scraping the boats.  We will meet at Cape Ann Storage on Eastern avenue on April 23^rd at 8:00 AM.  We will have all the needed supplies for this.  If anyone has sanders or scrappers feel free to bring them.  I will also be sending out another email to the whole dory membership.  The more the merrier so please invite all to attend.  If you have any questions fee free to contact me at coachbilly@verizon.net.  Thank you

International Dory Race Committee

Coastal Elite Teams are competing locally tomorrow Sunday, April 17th at Beverly High!

All of the Coastal Elite All-star Cheer teams are competing this Sunday, April 17th in the NSCX Invitational at Beverly High School — we are so excited to be finishing our competition season locally!

Performance times are — Mermaids 9:35am; Stingrays  10:10am; Perfect Storm  11:15am; Riptides 11:45am

Admission is $12 — children under 5 free

Come support this amazing & talented group of local athletes!

North Shore Swim Club is accepting children into their swim team programs at Gordon College. The Spring session is May 2- June 19, 2016. North Shore is a USA swimming club that offers programs for children ages 5-18. Preteam practices are twice per week for 30 minutes for children who need stroke development. Junior practices are 2-3 practices a week for 60 minutes, while learning the latest techniques of all four competitive strokes and the fundamentals of starts and turns. An age group swimmer is asked to make 3-4 practices per week for 90 minutes as they learn how to increase the proficiency of their starts, turns and of all four strokes, while also giving the swimmer a base for aerobic conditioning. The competitive senior program is for swimmers who are asked to make 5-6 practices a week for 90 minutes, while seeking stroke improvement, aerobic conditioning and the fundamentals of race strategy.

NSSC does not have tryouts, but space is limited. Swimmer evaluations and placements will be during the first week of practice, guaranteeing your children are placed in the appropriate practice level. To learn more about North Shore Swim Club, please see our website atwww.northshoreswimclub.com. or contact Coach Tony Padvaiskas at tonypad@aol.com ,(978)314-5445.