HANOVER – Hanson Multi-Service Senior Center Director Mary Collins has long faced the challenge of providing SHINE counseling services to a growing number of residents and their need for privacy, with her staff’s ability to work without the distraction of heavy foot traffic into Collins’ office.
The answer has been a renovation to a little-used space at the center, enclosing an alcove in the foyer to provide office space separate from the rest of the office, providing clients the privacy they need.
But in a town where finances are tight, who would do that work?
Hanson, one of eight member towns sending students to South Shore Tech, has received help from a program at the school that provides students with practical experience in their trades before they go into their cooperative education placements in the workforce.
“It’s been a great experience for a lot of our seniors,” Collins said. “[They] were so happy to see the young trades people in working on a project here. It’s been a great experience for our seniors and I think it’s been a good experience for the kids.”
Both the carpentry and electrical shops worked on the office project. Collins also said SST graduate Charles Baker, the town’s facilities manager was instrumental in putting the project together.
“We had a need and this was the best way to approach it,” Collins said.
Both Town Administrator Lisa Green and Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett also lauded the program, both as a way of giving students valuable experience and one that saves the town money.
“They did a great job,” Green said of the project at the Senior Center. “It provided them with really essential experience in the trade and basically the town paid for the materials. That was a real savings for the town.”
“I think it’s a wonderful way for us to save tax dollars,” she said. “The benefit is also that it’s usually kids from the surrounding communities, or our own community, that are getting an opportunity for experience and to give back to their community. Honestly, it’s a no-brainer, a win-win-win.”
She stressed that students are very carefully supervised by licensed professionals on the jobsites, in the interest of safety as well as practical and educational experience.
More familiar with the work SST students did at the town’s historic Bonney House in 2017-18, FitzGerald-Kemmett, who used to chair the Community Preservation Commission, said that project was a valuable lesson in unexpected challenges during renovations.
“When they got in there. It ended up being a lot bigger than what they had originally thought, and it was a lesson for all the kids” she said, noting that the supervising teacher had to go back before the CPC to tell them the project was more involved than they thought it was and that the students would fix what they came across, but stressed they would not do a slap-dash job, as the aim was to teach how to deal with such problems in real life.
“I think we’re super-lucky and would like to see us looking for more projects that we could partner with SST on,” she said. “They have wonderful programs that have benefitted the town in so many different ways.”
SST students are currently busy obtaining practical experience in their vocational fields while benefiting several of the school’s member communities, as members of the School Committee heard during its Dec, 21 meeting.
Vocational Coordinator Robert Mello, who has been a metal fabrication instructor since 2010, joined the administrative team in 2019, and has become and an excellent project manager, “finding the right balance between aggressively taking opportunities for students to have real-life work experience in their fields before coop, and ensuring we accept only the projects that are safe and suitable for our students,” Assistant Principal Sandra Baldner reported to the committee.
Mello highlighted some of those projects for the committee, but advised that the carpentry students are booked through June.
“If you have any projects for your town, please reach out, but it’s probably going to be next school year,” Mello said.
Hanson’s Senior Center privacy wall project was among several he outlined, as well as working with cosmetology students to arrange hair and makeup services to seniors at the center. SST students are also working on two projects for private citizens in Hanson — a shed and a deck.
In Whitman, the Fire Department is making use of student workmanship to fill in a section of a floor where a fire pole was once located and the tower where the department used to hang hoses to provide more storage space.
“It takes the door that basically now opens up to a ‘bottomless pit,’ so we don’t have any liability issues there for the guys,” Mello said.
Whitman Fire Chief Timothy Clancy said Select Board member, and representative to the SST School Committee Dan Salvucci has been a big booster for the program.
Clancy has liked what he has seen so far, noting the couple of small projects for the department that Mello described as important to making better use of space at the station.
“They are here and they are helping us,” Clancy said. “It’s where the old poles used to be, we don’t use it anymore because of some [safety] concerns.
The biggest part of the project is sealing off the hose tower floor and putting a ceiling in there to give us a bit more storage.”
He said it is probably saving the town a significant amount of money. But the experience is the key.
“They’re getting some good experience and seeing some of the fire world, too, which is kind of cool” he said. Clancy added that the application process started in the summer and the work was able to begin in the fall.
“We’ve always reached out to South Shore when we thought they could add some value to what we’re doing,” said interim Town Administrator Frank Lynam. “The whole idea of vocational training is to teach kids how to be tradesman and, certainly, if we have to opportunity, to work with them on municipal projects, it gives them experience with a qualified builder/overseer and it ultimately saves us money as opposed to going out and hiring a contractor.”
Students have also worked on an overhang to protect gas meters and turnout gear storage cubbies at the Hanover Fire Department. They are doing some wiring work at the Hanover Police Department for the dispatch room. Horticulture students have also been helping with cleanups of Hanover’s veterans’ parks ahead of Veterans Day and Memorial Day observances in Hanover. They are also providing those landscaping services for Abington.
Carpentry students built a shed for a drama club production at Scituate High School and two sheds for Norwell residents are in the works as well as some dugouts at the high school ball fields. Sheds for residents will also be constructed in Abington.
“We’ve streamlined the application process,” Mello said. “We cut out some redundancy with Docusign … it’s just click and done.”
At their own school, SST students are building a fence to park buses behind, were wrapping up work on a new suite at the school’s vocational offices and building a new transportation office to allow the district to end it’s need to lease space.
Vocational Coordinator Keith Boyle, who directs the coop program has placed more students than ever before in internships or part-time employment with companies in their shop fields, Baldner said.
“Students now expect to go out on coop, which is a change from us expecting them to go out on coop.” she said of the change in culture at the school that Boyle is spearheading. “This is a fantastic change for us.”
Principal Mark Aubrey also reported that, as freshmen began their shop assignments, and 90 percent of them getting their first choice – and 97 percent got their first or second choice.
“A lot has to do with the budget from last year,” he said, noting the school was able to hire four teachers in electrical, allowing every student with electrical as a first choice getting a spot. Another hire in culinary allowed an additonal 20 students a place in the program and horticulture took on another 18.
“Where we are spending our money on personnel is where the students want to go and where they want to be,”

By Linda Ibbitson Hurd
Special to the Express

Asa Wallace was the father of four children. His oldest daughter Ceara was 19, attended a local college and earned money babysitting. His second oldest, Ben, was 17 then Joel fourteen. Both boys had after school jobs two days a week, which they alternated at the market in their small town. The youngest, Cassy who was 12, was just starting to babysit.

Asa was short on communication and sensitivity and long on gruffness but he loved his family and was a good provider. He wished his job in construction paid more but with the help of his wife Jane who drove a school bus and was very good at managing their finances, they managed. Where Asa was gruff Jane was the heart of their home. 

Summer had ended and the fall season was in full swing. Asa had seen an advertisement in Yankee magazine for a build-it-yourself grandfather clock that came with plans and all the parts. The ad showed a picture of what the clock would look like all put together and the cost was affordable. Jane had always wanted one and he was thinking about it for Christmas. Asa started saving money. He was sure he could put it together and have it ready for Christmas and his parents who lived nearby offered to let him use their garage to work on it. Very unlike him, he even showed the ad to his son Ben who thought it was a nice idea. 

Ben told his sister Ceara what their father had planned to do for their mother for Christmas. She was surprised her dad told Ben but was excited and thought it a great idea. She knew how long her mother had wanted a grandfather clock and how much she would love it.

Asa picked up a part time job on Saturdays operating a backhoe at a sand pit loading dump trucks so he would not have to take money out of his paycheck to save for the clock. He had to send for the plans in October to have the clock finished and ready by Christmas. The third week into October the weather turned very cold and there was a heavy snowstorm. All the work at the sand pit came to a halt and it wasn’t sure when they would be back up and running. He was eighty dollars short and could not send for the clock. 

His family noticed he seemed more short-tempered than usual but it happened from time to time and they steered clear of him. Jane was used to his moods and didn’t think too much of it. Then he took Joel to task saying a “C” was too low a grade to get on one of his tests. He also got angry at Ceara’s boy friend saying 11 o’clock was too late to get home from a party. Then he got upset at Cassy and told her she shouldn’t take phone calls after seven at night. He was upsetting the entire household and Jane and the kids were upset.

Jane tried to talk with him to see if there was something wrong and he became very argumentative. She told him he was turning his kids against him with his behavior by getting on them about every little thing. 

Asa went down cellar after Jane told him he better do something about himself. He started working on a lamp that needed fixing when Ben came down to see if he could find out what was troubling his father. 

“Hey dad, looks like you’re in the dog house.” Asa just grunted. Ben tried again. “How’s it going with the clock?” 

“Not too good!” 

“How’s that?”, asked Ben.

In his gruff way Asa came back with, “Well, I lost my Saturday Job!” he yelled. 

“You mean that’s how you were paying for the clock?” 

“Well ya, what’ya think!” 

“Well,” said Ben, “I didn’t realize that’s why you took the job, you just said they needed you.” 

“They don’t need me now!” exclaimed Asa. “Well, maybe some other place might need some part time help?” Ben suggested. “Extra work’s hard enough to find right now with such cold temperatures and all the snow and ice.” 

Ben looked at his father, “How much do you need?” 

“I’m eighty dollars short, I’ll have to wait until next year,” Asa said looking down at the floor. 

“You better get your homework done Ben, I have to finish up down here.” 

“Okay dad.” Ben went upstairs to look for Ceara.

Ben told her what happened. 

“So that’s what’s been going on! Why doesn’t he ever tell us anything?” Ceara sighed, saying “He makes you so mad you just don’t even want to care.” 

“True.” said Ben, “But we do care, he’s really in a spot.” Just then Joel came looking for Ceara to get some help with his homework and Cassy came bounding into Ceara’s room as well. 

“How come everyone’s in here?” Cassy wanted to know. Ben looked at Ceara, 

“We might as well tell them, dad’s never going to.” Ceara nodded and they told Joel and Cassy why their dad had been in such a bad mood. “It’s hard to feel sorry for him,” said Cassy, 

“He gets so awful sometimes,” 

“Tell me about it,” said Joel. 

Ben said, “I know but he also works really hard and this is something he really wanted to do for mom and if it were us that needed help, he’d help us.”

“Ya, after he yelled at us!” said Cassy. After a good laugh they tried to figure out how to help. 

Asa came up from the cellar late that night. Jane had kept his supper warm in the oven and she and the kids had gone to bed. Asa was feeling pretty miserable about not having enough money to get the clock and also about upsetting his family. After he ate he got ready for bed. Jane was sleeping soundly as he started to get into bed and he was careful not to wake her. He noticed something sticking out from under his pillow. He pulled out a long white envelope and walked down the hall to the bathroom to open it so he wouldn’t disturb Jane. He turned on the bathroom light and opened the envelope. It was full of paper money and change. There was a note with it that read, Merry Christmas Dad, love Ben, Ceara, Joel and Cassy. When Asa counted it there was eighty dollars. A tear rolled down his cheek and his heart burst with love and pride as he realized what his children had done for him. 

The clock came out beautifully and Mom loved it. It’s still in our family to this day. It lives in my brother’s house still happily telling the hours as it chimes away. Dad was never one to say he was sorry but we knew he was by the better way he treated us. 

(Linda Ibbitson Hurd is a Halifax resident who grew up in Hanson and from time to time writes about her childhood memories. She shares these remembrances of Christmases past with our readers.)

GINGERBREAD DREAMS: The Hanson Public Library hosted a pretty sweet Gingerbread House Decorating Workshop on Thursday, Dec. 15! Mandy Roberge, of Wicked Good Henna, provided gingerbread houses and various types of frosting, fondant, and a generous candy buffet to help participants make their own unique creations.                                           Courtesy photos, Hanson Public Library

Whitman Fire Department seemed to have predicted the weather as they sponsored one of the trees receiving the most votes from visitors at the DFS Holiday Tree Lighting Dec. 9-11 in Whitman Park, left. Ryleigh Small is unsure about Santa, while her brother Brady happily poses for the camera during the vendor fair inside Town Hall, above. Mary Gallinger and daughters Elsa and Nora look through photos used to decorate ‘Are You Here?’a tree featuring photos of retired teacher Lauren Kelley’s past students, below. See more photos, page 6. Photos by Carol Livingstone

WHITMAN — What can one kid do?

Conley School Principal Karen Downey used a can of green beans and 24 laundry baskets to illustrate the answer for the students at her school during the annual Thanksgiving Basket Assembly on Friday, Nov. 18.

“You live in a wonderful community,” said Whitman Food Pantry volunteer Lauren Kelley. “Anytime we’ve asked for support, you’re always there to help us.”

But she reminded the students that she was getting older and the pantry would be looking to them to step up and help other families.  Kelley mentioned the high school volunteers, who are realty appreciated — especially lifting heavy boxes.

Members of the Whitman-Hanson football team had a hands-on answer as they volunteered as servers for the annual Knights of Columbus Thanksgiving Dinner for seniors.

The Knights prepared 24 turkeys — as well as all the fixings — to serve the early holiday meals to 305 elders and volunteer on Saturday, Nov. 19.

In both cases, the commitment of young people to their town gave comfort that Whitman is a community that cares.

“Everybody brings something and we make something very special happen,” Downey said. “We’ve been talking all year about being kind, responsible and respectful and now we’re going to see sort of the fruits of our efforts.”

She held up that can of green beans and asked the students if bringing in the one item they were asked to donate was hard.

“No!” the children yelled back.

She asked them if they thought that can would feed her whole family if she brought it home? Again, the answer was no.

“But, when I put it all together, with all these beautiful baskets, I can probably feed my family for a couple of days,” she said. “There’s leftovers and all kinds of good stuff.”

Downey then told the children, when she thinks about the assembly and what they accomplished it makes it clear what people can do when they work together.

“Sometimes it feels like we can’t do a lot on our own … and sometimes it feels like we’re just kids,” she said. “But guess what? Are you ready to see what you did?”

As Student Council members filed out of the cafeteria, Downey spoke of her pride in the student body.

“I’m so proud with the work that you have done — everybody just brought in one little thing,” she said. “We just did something special. You are going to feed 24 families. You did that.”

She challenged them to tell other kids they can do the same.

“It’s more important to me that you are good citizens and that you take care of people and each other,” Downey concluded adding that it is just as important as reading or math.

As the students sang “When Fall Comes to New England,” the Student Council members filed in carrying those 24 dinner baskets and placing them on the steps to the stage.

Kelley, herself a retired teacher was overwhelmed with the donation of the baskets.

“I want to thank you for your generosity,” she said. “We will be servicing probably 100 families this year. … We’ve had wonderful donations, moneywise, that will help offset some of our costs, we’ve also had food drives, but this is the icing on the cake for us.”

The dogs and cats sheltered by the Animal Control Department are also remembered each year by Conley School students through their year-long change drive, Pennies for Paws. This year the school raised $950.

“You guys are wonderful every year,” Animal Control Officer Laura Howe said. “These times are very challenging for families, so this year I’m even more emotional. … We always spend [the donation] on just the animals,” she said. “We tell the town, ‘You can’t spend this on anything other than toys and dog bones and things that the animals enjoy.”

During pre-dinner speeches and a blessing before the KofC dinner the next day, another kind of service to community was celebrated.

Police Chief Timothy Hanlon presented a plaque honoring the retirement of Edward DeAndrade after 28 years of service as an auxiliary police officer. The requirements of the state’s new police reform law did not provide a sufficient window in which to complete the 200 additional hours of work he needed to be fully trained as a full-time officer, in the wake of the closure of the part-time officers’ academy.

“He volunteered for every shift that he needed to, every cruise patrol, on different events in different types of weather,” Hanlon said. “He has sacrificed for this town and volunteering. I didn’t want him to go as much as he wanted to make it closer to 30 or even more.”

The pre-dinner ceremonies also included the blessing.

“It’s wonderful to gather this way to give thanks, to celebrate and to eat said the Rev. Andrian Milik, pastor of the Holy Ghost Chrurch as he said offered grace.

Whitman Council on Aging Director Mary Holland noted that some other KofCs in the state have had to cancel the last three years because of COVID ad this year, because they couldn’t get the food,

“Thank you to the Knights of Columbus for hosting this every year,” she said. “It’s amazing what these guys do and they go above and beyond to make sure we have this turkey dinner.”

During the pandemic, the meal was distributed to seniors at their homes by Whitman Police as a kind of door-dash service and it returned to an in-person event last year.

HANSON — Instead of the usual program of paeans to patriotism, speakers at the annual Veterans Day Breakfast at the Hanson Multiservice Senior Center Thursday, Nov.10, focused on the future of veterans’ health. The annual program is hosted by the Friends of the Hanson Senior Center.

Home health care programs through the Brockton VA Hospital under its Community Care Program, were discused as were the Camp LeJeune Justice Act and the newly signed PACT Act.

“I thought I’d do something a little different than we have in the past,” White said about the program he planned for the event.  “There have been many recent law changes and additional services that the Department of Veterans Affairs provides that are fairly new, and I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to inform you of [them].”

After celebrating the Nov. 10 birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps, Veterans Agent Timothy White also wished a belated birthday (the U.S. Navy — founded on Oct. 18 — as well as holding a moment of silence in honor of senior volunteer and Navy Veteran Ernest Jutras, who died Oct. 17.

Jutras’ widow and daughter surprised his gathered friends among the town’s veteran community by baking patriotically decorated cupcakes and staying to attend the program, Senior Center Director Mary Collins said.

“We’re so glad that they could be with us this morning,” Collins said.

White also spoke of a Malden Army corporal, who had been taken prisoner of war around Thanksgiving in 1950, during the Korean war, and killed in February 1951. His remains had only recently been returned to his family for reburial.

He then read the Veterans Day Proclamation issued by Gov. Charlie Baker.

Brockton VA Medical Center RN Karen McCabe spoke briefly about non-institutional care, a program she coordinates at the hospital, including home care benefits, under the VA Community Care Program.

“Basically what we do is cover services that might otherwise not get covered or things like skilled or non-skilled  services,” McCabe said. Skilled services include physical therapy needed following hip or knee replacement or daily wound care, and non-skilled are more along the lines of a non-health aide to assist with tasks that mobility impairments make difficult such as bathing, dressing or  those involving finer motor skills such as preparing meals.

Her office processes paperwork and answers questions about co-pays, or services the VA can provide that a private insurance plan may not cover and helps contract with home health aides for non-medical assistance to patients.

“Our assessment would determine how many hours you would need per week,” she said. “That’s long-term, forever, if needed.”

Caregiver support, usually linked to a percentage of how service-related the need in, can also provide respite for a veteran’s primary caregiver.

“Respite is very important,” McCabe said. “Caregiver burnout is real and you want to see that before it gets too bad.” 

Home-based primary care for “complex” cases with a service-connected need, has a waiting list at the moment, she said. Veteran do not have to change primary care physicians to take part in VA programs, and White said he could help veterans or their family members sign up for care programs.

White provided a brief overview of the Camp LeJeune Justice Act and the PACT Act.

“It adds diseases and medical complications as presumptive diseases to Agent Orange exposure,” he said. “They also added geographical locations that were not included in the past.”

Agent Orange coverage used to be limited to personnel with boots on the ground in Vietnam and had a presumptive disease linked to direct exposure to the dioxin used as a defoliant to make enemy troops more visible in jungle terrain. The list of illnesses was later expanded, and included blue water sailors in harbor waters within the path of trade winds carrying the dioxin fumes. The PACT Act expands the list of illnesses and locations further, with Guam and Enewetak — for which the act authorized a study of radiation effects for nuclear cleanup personnel where nuclear testing took place in the 1950s — among them as well as to personnel exposed to smoke and pollutants from burn pits in the Middle East.

He said he can help veterans previously denied with coverage based on the new legislation. Widows of veterans who died of presumptive diseases might be able to receive death benefits.

“My intension here is to get the word out so I can help figure out the case,” White said. “Every case is different.”

Inside the PACT Act is the Camp LeJeune Justice Act, which has been the subject of class-action lawsuits.

“Just about every other day somebody’s in my office asking about it,” White said of law firm TV commercials about the class-action lawsuit over contaminated drinking water at the Marine Corps’ Camp LeJeune in Jacksonville, N.C. “Every one of you has seen one of these commercials.”

He cautioned that, before making that 1-800 phone call, veterans should know that the compensation for any settlement could be used to compensate any funds paid by the VA for past care a veteran may have received, minus a reference fee to the lawfirm advertising.

“This is going to take years if you file,” he added.

­The program was followed by a performance of service anthems and other patriotic songs by the Senior Center’s chorus, The Swinging Singers.

HANSON — Alpacas, and chickens and goats, oh, my! Not to mention horses and rabbits and ducks — the young members of the new Chicks and Chaps 4-H Club love them all.

The new club draws its 20 members from Whitman, Hanson, Rockland and Halifax at the moment.

Special needs preschool teacher Sarah Wall of Whitman, is the leader of the group, started in August and held a Family Farm Day Oct. 29 at Channell Homestead, South Street in Hanson, with club members in costume for the Halloween-themed event. 

“I was in 4-H from the time I was in fourth-grade all the way until I graduated high school,” said Wall, who was dressed as a Minion for the Family Farm Day. “I was huge into 4-H, It was something I did with my dad for years.” 

Wall’s daughter, Lillian, also enjoys 4-H.

“It’s a good experience and a good time,” she said of her work with horses and goats in the club. “I like to learn about the goats a lot.”

So far, Lillian found a talk and demonstration on horse’s hoof care by a professional farrier to be the most interesting.

Ashlyn Savastano of Halifax became involved through the Channell Homestead, where she works in the barn, and is also particularly keen on horses and goats.

“Just being with the animals and being on the farm,” led her to get involved.

She started in a rabbit club named the Briar Patch Bunnies. While working at the Channell Homestead farm with students in the WHRHS Transition Vocation Program last year, Wall began discussing the possibility of a 4-H Club with farm owner Christianie Channell, but Wall said she didn’t have the information on how to go about it.  

“We kind of teamed up and a lot of people had said to me there’s a really big need for this in the community,” Wall explained. “Because we have this beautiful venue and access to all these animals, and a meeting spot, this was perfect.”

A bake sale the members ran brought in $121 for club programs and projects.

Horse project members are more “horse enthusiasts and riders,” none of them actually owns a horse at the moment, but their goal is to show all the animals they work with at the Marshfield Fair next year.

A couple of those horse enthusiasts were handling the pony rides inside the barn as eager visiting children in costume led their parents all around the farm to look at, feed and pet the animals. 

“The animals are always at the forefront of 4-H, but I think what a lot of people don’t realize about 4-H is there’s so much more about community service and leadership,” Wall said. “They also learn about the government.”

Wall attended a 4-H youth leadership program in Washington, DC when she was in high school as well as the National 4-H Congress in Memphis, Tenn., another year.

“When I was in high school, [it seemed] there was a stigma attached to 4-H,” she said. “People think it’s only agriculture. Even though that is such an important part of it, I always say to these guys that I can’t stress enough – service is going to be above everything else for us.”

The farm does other summer programs, including horseback riding lessons as well as running a farm stand that sells goat’s milk products. She had a table with her soaps and other goat’s milk products at the Farm Day.

Channell has given members talks on goat anatomy as well as the care of goats and horses and one of the club’s junior leader has been giving member riding lessons, as well.

They generally hold meetings of the 4-H Club twice a month in the Channell Farm bar, but winter meetings are planned for once a month at the library.

While less hands-on winter meetings will still concentrate on the animals, doing lessons on crop harvests and animal husbandry.

The club, like the others in the area are operated through Plymouth County Extension and UMass. For more information on the Chicks & Chaps 4-H Club check out their Facebook page at facebook.com/ChicksandChaps4H.