Did you miss our Love Greater Cape Ann Fundraising Auction last week? Well, we have great news! The fun continues today, November 19 and lasts until Friday, November 26 with our second online, virtual auction. The community of Greater Cape Ann has come together in support of this incredible place we all know and love. We have a fantastic assortment of restaurant cards, harbor tours, overnight stays on the water, art, and more! We hope you start your holiday shopping early by signing up today and begin placing your bids. Good luck and most importantly, have fun!Please use the instructions provided below to create an account and start bidding. If you participated in the silent auction portion of last Wednesday’s auction, please use the login credentials you previously created.
The Open Door held its annual Thanksgiving Food Drive at six locations on Saturday, Nov. 20: Market Basket (Gloucester), Stop & Shop (Gloucester), Shaw’s (Eastern Ave., Gloucester), Shaw’s (Ipswich), Crosby’s (Manchester), and Market Basket (Rowley). Donations will help keep local households fed through the holidays. An emphasis was placed on cereal donations, as cereal is an item always in high demand at The Open Door.
Community partners that volunteered at participating Thanksgiving Food Drive sites in addition to community volunteers included the Pingree School, We Are All in This Together Gloucester, the Ipswich YMCA, the Manchester-Essex Rotary Club and Gloucester Police Department.
While the Thanksgiving Food Drive was ongoing, The Open Door also distributed Holiday Baskets to local people at a drive-thru event on Emerson Avenue. Thanksgiving Holiday Baskets provide families with a turkey and all the fixings so that they can enjoy a holiday meal at home. Along with many individual volunteers, the TOAST team and Cape Ann Savings Bank team volunteered at the Holiday Basket distribution event, providing key support for the effort.
The Sawyer Free Library has launched its 2021 Annual Appeal campaign,“Charting the Course.” Letters with appeal information are in the mail to over 1,500 Gloucester households. The goal is to raise $50,000 during this year-end campaign, which provides the Library with much-needed annual support.
The Library relies on this yearly fundraising effort to provide a wide range of new collections and resources, technology, innovative programming, and critical services to respond to the changing needs of the Gloucester community.
“The Sawyer Free Library’s mission is to be a place of learning, innovation, and creativity to support the community we serve. During this challenging time, we have learned that whether our Library services are delivered in a physical location or digitally, they’re not just “nice-to-haves” – these services are vital to our community,” said Mern Sibley, President of the Sawyer Free Library’s Board of Trustees.
This year a record number of Sawyer Free Library users from near and far connected, learned, and experienced moments of comfort and joy, in-person and online. The Library offered hundreds of hours of responsive programming and learning opportunities for all ages. Strategic investments were made in the Sawyer Free’s digital device program, increasing the number of laptops, e-readers, tablets, and Wi-Fi hot spots available to patrons, especially those who needed connections for education and jobs. Its vast collection of e-books and audiobooks and online resources were also dramatically expanded. Many new innovative and reimagined services emerge in response to the evolving landscape, including Digital Devices to Go, Job Seekers Resource Program, the Student Study Hall, Gloucester Connection, and more.
“Private support strengthens the Sawyer Free Library’s capacity to innovate and adapt to change, especially now as we move ahead and help our Gloucester community recover, rebuild and renew safely,” said Library DirectorJenny Benedict. “Supporting the Annual Appeal makes the difference in helping job seekers, keeping kids on track for school success, assisting digital learners in finding their way in the online world, connecting newcomers and lifelong residents to current information about community services – and so much more.”
Donations to the Library’s Annual Appeal may be made by check to the Sawyer Free Library, Annual Appeal, P.O. Box 415, Gloucester, MA 01930, or online at www.sawyerfreelibrary.org.
A SYMPOSIUM IN THE GLOUCESTER MEETINGHOUSE, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20TH, 2-5:00 PM, WITH VIDEO SIMULCAST ON YOUTUBE
This event, part of an annual series hosted by the Gloucester Meetinghouse Foundation on topics of civic concern, will concentrate on what is happening in our communities and around the country now. More information and video link at: http://www.gloucestermeetinghouse.org
Before our last Summer Series concert we heard an impassioned talk by Congressman Seth Moulton about our responsibility for the safety and resettlement of people from Afghanistan in New England. The Symposium will take a broader view, hearing from members of several organizations who have assisted new arrivals from many countries for a long time. Of equal importance, some presenters are individuals who have been through the immigration or refugee experience themselves. They will gather for a round table discussion in the last segment, addressing questions submitted from the audience, helping us to understand how best to offer our support.
The historic (1806) Meetinghouse, home of the Gloucester Unitarian-Universalist Church, is located on the green at the intersection of Middle and ChurchStreets. A lift to the Sanctuary level is available just inside the 10 Church Street door. It is a free event – all are welcome. Your safety is important to us. Masks are required inside the building and seating is staggered to encourage social distancing. We request that the audience be vaccinated or have had a recent negative Covid test. Refreshments will be available at break times outside near the front entrance.
SYMPOSIUM PRESENTERS:
Elsabel Rincon, Founder and Executive Director of The Welcome Immigrant Network in Salem, and recipient of the Peter J. Gomes Service Award
Alexandra Weber, Chief Institutional Advancement Officer for the International Institute of New England in Boston
Andy Allen, Director of Adult Education at Wellspring House
Francis Mpfuranziza, who fled the Democratic Republic of Congo during the ethnic violence
Blanca Martinez, an immigrant representative from the Essex County Community Organization (ECCO) in Lynn
Rev. Rona Tyndall, Pastor, West Gloucester Trinitarian Congregational Church, UCC, and organizer for Allies of Our Afghan Allies
Rev. Alice Erickson, Gloucester resident who has been active for many years in the process of resettling refugees
Melissa Buchanan, ESOL Coordinator for the Wellspring Adult Learning Center
REGISTER HEREto enter into the Historic Gloucester Gingerbread House contest at the Sawyer Free Library as a part of the MIDDLE STREET WALK on Saturday, December 11th!
Recreate your favorite Gloucester building with gingerbread, frosting, candy and all things delicious!
Entries will be on display for all to see at the Sawyer Free Library located at 2 Dale Avenue for the Middle Street Walk!
Top prizes will be presented by the Library for best historic Gloucester gingerbread creation!
First prize $100 Cape Ann Chamber Gift Certificate
Second prize $50 Cape Ann Chamber Gift Certificate
This Veteran’s Day, the Cape Ann Museum is proud to announce a year-long community art project inspired by Gloucester-based sculptor Walker Hancock, who served in the U.S. Army during World War II and was pivotal member of the Monuments Men. Inspired by Hancock’s Basketball Player Series, a featured part of the Museum’s collections, every eighth grader on Cape Ann will be given the opportunity to create a small sculpture depicting themselves doing their favorite activity during the 2021-2022 school year.
In addition to learning about Hancock, students will learn how to create their own sculpture out of wire armature and clay. This hands-on activity will create a safe space for students to participate in important discussions about identity, representation, and body image. CAM Educators will visit classrooms throughout the school year, culminating in an exhibition of the student work and the Hancock sculptures in the spring of 2022.
Inspired by the success of the Community Portraits project, which included 637 portraits from across Cape Ann, the Museum will also be creating opportunities for community members to make their own sculptures to take home.
Cape Ann residents of all ages get to visit for free on Second Saturdays. This Saturday, visitors can see the Hancock sculptures and then stop by the CAM Studio to make a sculpture. The Teen Arts Council will coordinate their own special Teen Art Night on November 20 where anyone age 13-19 can make a sculpture with their peers.
Collection of basketball players by Walker Hancock (1901-1998), 1960s, bronze. Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester, MA. Museum purchase, 1982, with funds provided by Evelyn Bartlett.
Upcoming Events
Second Saturdays: Sculpting Self November 13, 10:00 am — 3:00 pm CAM Studio at the Downtown Campus 27 Pleasant Street, Gloucester, MA This program is free and open to the public. Museum admission is free for Cape Ann residents on Second Saturdays.
Teen Art Night November 20, 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm CAM Studio at the Downtown Campus 27 Pleasant Street, Gloucester, MA Free for teens age 13 – 19, registration required.
Author’s Talk with Cape Ann Poets December 4, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm CAM Auditorium at the Downtown Campus 27 Pleasant Street, Gloucester, MA Free for members, $10 for non-members, registration required. Also live-streamed on Facebook and Vimeo.
December Vacation Week Monday, December 27 – Friday, December 31 9:00 am – 12:00 (optional afternoons to 3:00 pm) Offered in partnership with Art Haven Registration will be available through Art Haven.
Lee Kingman Natti (1919-2020), Snow Storm, 1952, ink on linen, linoleum block print. Collection of the Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester, MA.
CAPE ANN MUSEUM 27 Pleasant Street, Gloucester, MA 01930
CAPE ANN MUSEUM GREEN 13 Poplar Street, Gloucester, MA 01930
With over 200 apples donated by Russel Orchard, your kids will float and find the best placement for their mast prior to launching their personalized Apple Boat into the Essex River at 3pm on the incoming time.
Our Chase boat will retrieve the Apple Boats from the finish line in front of Great Marsh Brewing Company.
1st, 2nd and 3rd place prices will be awarded
This is an outdoor event, so keep an eye on the weather and on our social media pages for updates.
With support from an organizing group of civic and faith-based community leaders, a public gathering will convene on Tuesday, November 16th at 7 pm to organize volunteers and identify resources to assist several refugee Afghan families resettle in Gloucester and neighboring Cape Ann towns. The group, to be known as “Allies of Our Afghan Allies” in acknowledgment of the support many of these refugees gave to American efforts in Afghanistan during the past twenty years, will meet in Rockport at the Congregational Church on 12 School Street.
Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken, Reverend Rona Tyndall and Reverend Alice Erickson (both of the West Gloucester Trinitarian Congregational Church, UCC), former Mayor Bruce Tobey and others have held a series of planning meetings to lay the framework for this gathering. “We came together because we recognized the need to help families who find themselves in our country after fleeing their native land with little more than the shirts on their backs,” said Mayor Romeo Theken. “Ours are communities that help those in need, and now is the time to step up.”
“The Afghan refugee families are temporarily living on U.S. military bases waiting for processing and clearance. When they leave the bases, they will face a tight housing market,” added Rev. Tyndall. “The national median rent rose to $1,302 in September, up 15% from a year ago, and costs are even higher here on Cape Ann.”
Rev. Erickson, who brings hands-on experience in refugee resettlement to this effort, understands the support that must be mustered. “Funds are needed to cover housing costs, including rent, utilities, and furnishings, as well as for education, employment training, clothing, food, medical care, transportation, and legal fees for family reunification.”
Any and all who can help this effort in any way are urged to attend this meeting, where fundraising, volunteer solicitation, and resource identification will be discussed. Masks and social distancing are required at this in-person gathering, which can also be live-streamed either at “Rockport UCC” on Facebook or at the “Old Sloop” YouTube channel.
“These families and their children deserve the same opportunities for success our communities offer to our kids and grandchildren,” said former Mayor Tobey. “This is our chance to be there now for those who stood with us as our allies. As they struggle to rebuild their lives, please join us in this effort.”Those who wish to donate immediately to the on-going “Allies of our Afghan Allies” GoFundMe campaign may do so either by visiting https://gofund.me/6ddd185e or by mailing a check, with the notation “Refugee Resettlement” in the memo line, to the West Gloucester Trinitarian Congregational Church, 488 Essex Ave., Gloucester, MA 01930.
This year’s 34th Annual Love Cape Ann Fundraising Auction kicks off on Wednesday, November 10th at 5:00pm. Didn’t buy a ticket? That’s okay! Online bidding lets you bid on auction items from your smartphone, tablet, or computer. Bid at an event or from any location with internet access, however only guests present at the event will enjoy the Live Auction. You can create your account to get started bidding by following the instructions below.
Early Bidding Instructions:
1. Click hereand then click the “Get Started” button to register. 2. Create a (NEW) Account using a computer or smartphone (this must be different than your Chamber account).
Shipping address
Credit card number
Your cell phone number (You can receive text alerts for the items you bid on)
3.Verify your email address.(You will receive an email from Greater Giving and you need to click the link in your email to finish your registration)4.Once you are logged in, Browse Packages using the menu
Use the ≡ to open the menu for Bids, Favorites, and Categories
Under Categories, you can filter (i.e. Art, Dining, Recreation/Travel etc.)
Favorites – Use the star ☆ to save Packages for later viewing.
Bids – See Packages that you have bid on already.
Act Now – Sort Packages quickly by No Bids, Currently Open, and more.
Use the magnifying glass 🔍or scroll down to search for Packages.
5. Tap a Package to Start Bidding
Bid: Place a single bid at the next increment.
Bid More: Place a Max Bid, the system will bid in your favor until you are outbid or the auction closes.
Cape Ann Community 