It’s that time of year again! Normally, we would be gearing up to host our annual fundraiser, the Great Gloucester GrowDown.
First, the Bad News. We’ve made the tough decision to cancel this year’s GrowDown. We’ve been watching the spread of the Delta variant closely, and feel that this is the best choice for us and our community.
🌿 A chance to win an installed double-high 8’x4’ raised garden bed filled with Black Earth Compost OR 3 GrowBags, plus a planting plan by Backyard Growers’ founder and executive director, Lara Lepionka. We’re giving away 2!
🥕 The Raffle Fine Print: Garden bed/bags to be installed and delivered within 30 minute drive of Gloucester. Winners can transfer their garden prize to a local friend or family member.
🍅 An exclusive veggie-loving Spotify playlist curated specially for us by our great friend and Gang of Four’s Hugo Burnham
🥬 A video premiere honoring a year of resiliency to watch whenever and wherever you’d like
Join us for our Virtual ‘Auction’! We’re raising critical funds to help us pursue the expansion of Burnham’s Field Community Garden in downtown Gloucester in order to meet our community’s growing needs for fresh, healthy produce. And, we’re planning on additional programming and services to meet the increased demand. Thank you for sticking with us and for supporting our work and community as we continue to weather this storm together.
THE ANNUAL ART AUCTION sponsored by the FRIENDS OF THE SAWYER FREE LIBRARY is now on display in the Matz Gallery located in the main lobby of the Sawyer Free Library throughout the month of September!
Come In, Enjoy and Bid on the exceptional works of art, including paintings, drawings, and mixed media, all generously donated by talented artists throughout the Cape Ann community including: Jeff Weaver, Ray Crane, Peter Tysver, Carol Loiacono, David Curtis and Coco Berman.
The Bidding Book is available throughSeptember 30 in the Gallery for silent bids. The top bid from the September bidding will be the beginning bid for the Online Auction being held October 1-5. Â
Please note, this year’s live auction has been moved online due to health precautions.Details are forthcoming.
Selections of art work being auctioned to benefit the Sawyer Free Library.
All proceeds from the Art Auction benefit the Sawyer Free Library. So be sure to bring your family, friends, neighbors and more along with you to the Matz Gallery this month, to preview the beautiful art, and bid on your favorites!
New Online Ordering System Returns Agency to Shoppers
GLOUCESTER — A new online ordering system at The Open Door has expanded choice more than ever before for client shoppers.
SmartChoice™ at The Open Door launched this June and allows clients to place a weekly grocery order that matches any special dietary needs they may have as well as their taste. Clients select from featured items, fruit and juices, vegetables, protein and dairy, ready-to-eat items, grains and cereal, baking, snacks, condiments, special dietary items, pet supplies, household supplies, health and hygiene products, baby food and supplies, and miscellaneous items.
Once clients sign into SmartChoice™ at The Open Door at FOODPANTRY.org/order, they can use the above menu to create their weekly grocery order. (Image Courtesy of The Open Door)
“When people choose their own groceries, we know they’re getting the food they’ll eat and enjoy to thrive,” President and CEO Julie LaFontaine said. “We’re proud to have this new resource for our clients.”
Before the online ordering system became available, The Open Door provided bags of pre-selected groceries for clients starting in March 2020 in response to the pandemic. This was done through a Curbside, No-Contact model used at both the Gloucester and Ipswich food pantries, and protected the health and well-being of clients, volunteers, and staff alike while also expanding the nonprofit’s capacity to meet increased need. While the curbside model was necessary to feed more people, it left shoppers with less personal choice.
At the height of the pandemic, The Open Door met a 40% increase in need for food resources, and continues to meet ongoing need.
Today, clients are still picking-up their groceries at either site or receiving deliveries if they qualify for The Open Door grocery and meal delivery program. However, SmartChoice™ at The Open Door brings more choice to the table than ever before. It accounts for every item available in The Open Door’s inventory, working seamlessly in partnership with the warehouse. Grocery orders are managed by the Fulfillment Center, where staff and volunteers package grocery orders Monday through Friday.
Volunteer Laurie Fenton prepares a grocery order placed via SmartChoice™ at The Open Door. (Image Courtesy of The Open Door)
Translation services are available over the phone in many languages. Those without internet access, with questions, or who prefer to place their order by phone are welcome to do so by calling 978-283-6776. Â
About The Open Door
The mission of The Open Door is to alleviate the impact of hunger in our community. We use practical strategies to connect people to good food, to advocate on behalf of those in need, and to engage others in the work of building food security.
Founded in 1978, The Open Door is a 501 (c)(3) tax exempt nonprofit and community food resource center for low-income residents of Gloucester, Rockport, Manchester, Essex, Ipswich, Hamilton, Boxford, Rowley, Topsfield, and Wenham. In 2020, The Open Door helped stabilize the lives and health of 9,681 unduplicated people from 4,703 households through the distribution of 2.46 million pounds of food, amounting to 2.05 million meals. Requests for food assistance during this pandemic year were up 27 percent.
Programs of The Open Door include two food pantries (located in Gloucester and in Ipswich), 12 Mobile Markets, Community Meals, SNAP Application assistance and Advocacy, Medically Tailored Groceries, Nutrition Education, Therapy and Counseling, Food Rescue, Summer Meals for Kids, On Your Mark Job Training and Internships, Holiday Baskets, Senior Soup & Salad, (NEW) SmartChoice™ at The Open Door and (NEW) Grocery and Meal Delivery. Second Glance, the thrift store of The Open Door, provides revenue for the organization, referrals for people in need, and recycles textiles and other materials.
Backyard Growers is seeking a part-time Accounting & Payroll Specialist to manage the organization’s bookkeeping and payroll using BYG’s existing software platforms, Xero and Gusto. Must be proficient in accounting for not-for-profit organizations. Apply by 9/30 for an 11/1 start.
Backyard Growers (BYG) is a grassroots community-based organization in Gloucester, MA. We are a small but mighty group of committed people who love what we do, and have fun while we work hard. Our mission is to cultivate healthy, connected, environmentally sustainable communities and to fight for food justice by teaching people how to grow their own food. We provide resources and support to establish vegetable gardens at homes, housing communities, organizations, and schools, and offer learning opportunities in growing and preparing fresh produce.
BYG serves low- to moderate-income residents and public school children in Gloucester, and shares our scalable and reproducible school program models regionally through a consulting practice to increase our impact. Our goals are to increase access to healthy, affordable foods, help support attitude and behavior changes in making healthy food choices, reactivate neglected urban spaces through food production, and to build community and self-sufficiency within diverse populations. We believe that by growing some of our own food, we are empowered, connected, and strengthened.
If interested, please fill out the information below and return it with your check for $50.00 for a 6-8 foot table.  Placement is on a first paid basis. Please indicated if you would like an 8 ft table.
You must also donate one handcrafted item for a fundraising raffle. This item will be collected at set-up before table assignment.
Return form (you can print this post or send information via email) and payment promptly as space is limited. Special requests are not guaranteed. Tables will only be reserved with full payment.
For more information email: rebsly@gmail.com.
Pay via PalPal (RockportPTO@gmail.com) or Venmo (@Rockport-PTO) or make checks payable to: Rockport PTO.
Mail payment to:
Rockport PTO Holiday Fair, c/o Rebecca Sly, 8A Pleasant St., Rockport, MA 01966
Sorry, no raffles, bake sales or used items
Name:_____________________________________
Phone:_____________________________________
Address:___________________________________
Email:______________________________________
# of Tables:_________
Type of Craft:__________________________
Special Request:_________________________________________________________
On Tuesday morning, August 10 the Sawyer Free Library hosted a ribbon-cutting to commemorate their amphitheater’s new awning in memory of one of Gloucester’s preeminent and beloved public citizens, the late Janis Davidson Stelluto.
Dr. Michael Stelluto, Janis’ husband, her family, friends and colleagues, along with the Sawyer Free Library leadership, came together to mark the official opening of the Library’s now shaded expanded outdoor space. Gloucester’s Mayor Sefatia Romeo Thenken , former chair of the City Planning Board Jack Clarke, President of Library Board of Trustees Mern Sibley and Library Director Jenny Benedict offered remarks prior to the ceremonial ribbon cutting.
Through the Stelluto family’s generosity, the Library was able to bring to fruition the installation of a state-of-the-art awning over its amphitheater as a lasting tribute to their family matriarch Janis Davidson Stelluto, who dedicated herself to serving the Gloucester community for over two decades. Among many other organizations, Janis Stelluto served in leadership roles at the Sawyer Free Library for more than twenty years.
Sawyer Free Library Amphitheater Awning Dedication and Ribbon Cutting with Stelluto Family
Stelluto Family joined by Jack Clarke, Mayor Sefatia Romeo Thenken, Library Director Jenny Benedict
Shaded by the new awning, the Sawyer Free Library’s outdoor amphitheater located on Dale Avenue now serves as an inviting venue for Library programs, public performances, including theater and musical performances, art exhibits, lectures, and community activities.
“We are very grateful for the Stelluto family’s generosity,” said Mern Sibley, the Gloucester Lyceum and Sawyer Free Library’s Board of Trustees’ President. “Janis made it her life’s work to find ways to improve our Gloucester community, all the while seeing beauty in the world. It only seems fitting that the awning has been installed in her memory, creating a welcoming space where people can take advantage of all that the Library offers while enjoying being outside.”
“The awning has created a welcoming outdoor gathering space for Sawyer Free Library’s summer programs which are open and free to the community,” said Library Director Jenny Benedict. “From children’s storytimes and adult book club gatherings to family concerts, we have found with the new awning, the sky’s the limit to what we can do! Stay tuned because we have big plans, and we can’t imagine Janis Stelluto would want it any other way.”
The Sawyer Free Library is open throughout the summer, Monday through Friday, 10 am to 5 pm, Thursday 12 – 7:00 pm, and Saturday 10:00 am to 1 pm and 24/7 at sawyerfreelibrary.org.
The Gloucester Area Astronomy Club is once again meeting in-person at the Lanesville Community Center, on the second Friday of every month at 8:00 pm. We have a terrific program for our Friday August 13 meeting, with astronomer Dr. Seth Gossage from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, with a great presentation on starlight and what it can tell us.
In addition to discussing what light can tell us about a star’s properties such as mass and chemistry, Dr. Gossage will review next generation stellar models built to explore the effects of stellar rotation. Stars spin, and this is also a fundamental stellar property (alongside mass and chemical composition), which helps determine the evolutionary course of a star, and its light output for the entirety of its lifetime.
GAAC members meet at the Lanesville Community Center in the Lanesville neighborhood of Gloucester MA, at 8:00 pm on the second Friday of every month, for presentations, discussions and activities related to all facets of astronomy. There is no cost. These are fun meetings, with lots of friendly people, refreshments, and great, accessible talks by knowledgeable and entertaining folks. Come see us! No special knowledge or equipment is needed to have a great time. Meetings are also streamed live on our Facebook page. For more information on the club, see our website.
Cape Ann Community 