Homeless Prevention Council’s Adopt-a-Family for the Holidays Program.
This annual program provides Holiday blessings for needy families on Cape Cod. Children and families who are most in need are selected from our clients, and there are more this year than ever.
What you give is up to you, and you can adopt a whole family, or just a child. Gifts could include clothing, toys, a bike or just one special something. Local businesses as well as individuals have adopted Homeless Prevention Council (formerly Interfaith Council for the Homeless) families, and many people ask for the same family each year. Others have encouraged their children to become part of the gift-giving effort.
If you’re too busy to shop, a donation will allow our “special moms” to do the shopping for you.
To adopt a family, please call Maureen Linehan, as soon as possible, at the HPC office, (508)255-9667, ext. 13. Leave your name and phone number, and we’ll be happy to call you back to start the process of matching you with your child or family.
Time is of the essence, so you can do your shopping before the hectic Holiday season. Gifts can be dropped off at any time during business hours, 9 am to 4 pm at the HPC office, 14 Old Tote Rd, Orleans MA . All gifts should be delivered by December 11th, to give HPC time for distribution to the families.
Thanks so much for your generosity, and for keeping the gift of hope alive in our community.
____________________________________________________________
Contact: Maureen Linehan, Adopt-a-Family Coordinator,
(508)255-9667, ext.13
Playing in the surf at Nauset Beach.
photo by Jerry Johnson
In these uncertain economic times, those of us in the community who work with low income families and seniors look for every glimmer of hope. So, while it is welcome news that heating oil costs are expected to remain relatively stable this winter, that’s not enough to ensure the people we serve will stay warm and safe.
Mother Nature isn’t expected to be on our side either. New Englanders are being told to prepare for the coldest winter in a decade.
Some economists and officials have started talking about economic recovery, but we don’t see that in the faces of the people who come through our doors every day. Statewide, the unemployment rate increased from 5.3 percent to 9.1 percent and the number of initial foreclosure filings shot up 154 percent from 2008.
In Orleans, unemployment is at 6.9 percent.
People who are unemployed or underemployed mean something else this year: there are thousands of Massachusetts residents who now, based on their income, may qualify for heating assistance, weatherization and discount utility rates. These are folks who have not previously received such services, don’t know where to go to apply and might even feel ashamed to ask. They shouldn’t.
Consider this: a family of four with a monthly income of under $4,124, or individuals making less than $2,144 a month are eligible for some form of assistance. Energy Buck (www.energybucks.com) can help. It’s a partnership between Massachusetts utility companies, the Low-Income Energy Affordability Network (LEAN) and local community action programs, like the Community Action Committee of Cape Cod & Islands, Inc. (CACCI) in Hyannis, that connects people to fuel assistance, discounts on utility rates and energy efficiency services.
Qualified families save up to 30 percent on their energy bills by insulating and weatherizing their homes, repairing or replacing an old, inefficient heating system, receiving discount rates for electric and gas, installing energy efficient appliances and obtaining fuel assistance.
By taking part in a home weatherization and other energy efficiency programs people will not only help their own pocketbooks; they may also boost the economy. According to a report released by nonprofit advocacy group Environment Northeast, for every $1 spent by utility companies and government agencies on efficiency programs, between $6 and $8.50 is pumped back into the economy in the form of wages and additional spending.
Temperatures will drop soon and when they do, sadly, people will start to make hard choices about how to get through the winter. Energy Bucks means that choosing between food and fuel does not have to be one of them.
We urge readers to call the Community Action Committee of Cape Cod & Islands, Inc. (CACCI) at (508) 771-1727 today to see what financial assistance and services they qualify for.
- Joe Diamond is the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Association for Community Action (MASSCAP)
A willet runs along the sand flats of Pleasant Bay.
photo by Jerry Johnson
A dramatic look at the sky over Nauset Beach in early November.
photo by Jerry Johnson
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Infrared sauna is a sauna powered by the infrared rays. Infrared rays are rays with a high wavelength, greater than the normal red light’s. This leads to a number of benefits including therapeutic, health and beauty advantages.
These saunas come in different models, including small portable ones that you can keep in a tiny corner of a room, till large ones that will occupy a room by itself. And there are intermediate sizes. The small portable sauna is cheap and nice for one person, so cheap compared to its benefits that it is gradually becoming almost a household item in many parts of the USA. The bigger one – the far infrared sauna – retails the benefit, is more expensive, but can fit in anywhere from 1 to 5 persons depending upon the model you select. These are items of ultimate luxury.
The top 5 benefits of an infrared sauna include:
1. Blood quality and circulation improvement: You improve your quality of blood as well as flow of blood tremendously over time; hence your vital organs get a much-desired boost for longevity.
2. Detoxification: Most people believe this is the best benefit of the infrared sauna, be it portable, or a far infrared sauna (FIR). It promotes the elimination of toxins from your muscles and skin, including slow-gathering poisons that manifest long way down the line but let you live peacefully for now, lactic acid, excess sodium associated with hypertension, free fatty acids, subcutaneous fat associated with aging and fatigue, and uric acid which causes pain.
3. Injury and pain removal: The infrared sauna is an excellent pain and injury remover; in particular it can produce amazing results for joint pain removal.
4. Improved metabolism and weight loss: An infrared sauna, portable or FIR, can improve your metabolism by a noticeable degree and produce non-water sweat to remove a lot of your fat. One can gain the effect of running 2-3 miles simply by an hour in the FIR sauna.
5. Skin improvement and beauty: Infrared saunas do deep-cleansing for your skin and remove all the toxic substance just below your skin surface. As a result one feel the inner glow of the skin rise to the surface. The improved blood and skin quality leads to a high improvement in beauty and perception.
photo by Jerry Johnson
Costume Ball Fundraiser
to benefit Missie’s Closet
Halloween, a time for scaring,
becomes a time for caring when the
Community Action Committee
of Cape Cod and the Islands
presents its
third annual
Costume Ball Fundraiser
10 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23,
at the Sandwich Taverna,
Route 130, Sandwich.
The Halloween event is
to benefit Missie’s Closet,
an emergency pantry
providing food, clothing
and household necessities
for Cape Codders in need.
The pantry, located the CACCI office,
115 Enterprise Road,
in Hyannis, is open
from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Monday through Friday.
Since it opened in 2007
Missie’s Closet has seen
a steady and significant increase in use.
“Due to the economic crisis,
we have seen a 200 percent increase
in households needing
emergency assistance
with food and clothing,”
said Mellisa Carney-Getzie,
director of CACCI’s
Client Self-Sufficiency program.
“Many families that have
never had to ask for
help before are coming into
Missie’s Closet for help
with food, diapers and
clothing for their children.”
The fundraiser will include
music, dancing costume prizes,
a silent auction,
a 50/50 raffle, as well as
a raffle for a pair or
New England Patriots tickets
(on the 40-yard line).
Suggested donation is $5.
Those seeking further
information or wishing to
donate to Missie’s Closet
can call Mellisa Carney-Getzie
at 508-771-1727 Ext 146
Nauset Beach hike
On the homestretch to the parking lot at Nauset
The end of a 2 hour hike - the last leg along the beach.
By ROBERT GOLD
rgold@capecodonline.com
The Lower Cape is beloved by many for its open waters and timeless beaches. But for whatever reason, many visitors here never get past the tourist attractions of the mid-Cape. Here are some of the main attractions and some lesser-known gems in each town that make the Lower Cape an inviting destination.
Chatham
Big draw: Chatham Light, or The Light, the town’s popular lighthouse, was built in 1881. It was moved to its current spot in the early 1920s near the Coast Guard Station. The Chatham Chamber of Commerce boasts that “you will find few spots on the entire East Coast of North America that can equal the view,” including the breakthrough at North Beach.
Hidden gem: Atwood House Museum. Looking to turn back time? You might want to check out this site at 347 Stage Harbor Road. The original house, now run by the Chatham Historical Society, was built in 1752. It is decorated as it would have been in the 18th and 19th Century.
Brewster
Big draw: The Brewster Flats are a mega attraction. “All of the beaches are on the Bay side and of course at low tide it’s an explorer’s delight, whether one is old or young,” writes Kyle Hinkle, executive director of the Brewster Chamber of Commerce.
Hidden gem: Punkhorn Parklands. The 800 acres of conservation land is loaded with walking trails, woodlands, ponds and marshes.
Eastham
Big draw: The National Seashore Coast Guard Beach is always a top lure, even for people braving the autumnal chill. It gets plenty of publicity nationwide as one of the country’s top beaches.
Hidden gem: Fort Hill Trail.. Just off Route 6, the 1.5-mile trail includes views of Nauset Marsh, the Atlantic Ocean and Nauset Spit.
Harwich
Top draw: The town has 22 fresh and salt water beaches. Get ready to walk and gaze.
Hidden gem: The Herring River is close to the hearts of canoers and kayakers. So if you like the water and exploring marshes, this will keep you coming back.
Orleans
Big draw: Rock Harbor. Pam Patrick, an administrative assistant at the Orleans Chamber of Commerce calls the sunsets here “legendary.” It’s a big fishing boat area, not to mention a common attraction for nature lovers.
Hidden gem: Kent’s Point Conservation Area: Hiking and dog trails abound on this 27 acres of wooden property near Pleasant Bay.
Provincetown
Big draw: It would be nearly impossible to miss the Pilgrim Monument in town, a 252 foot tower dedicated to the Mayflower Pilgrims’ first landing spot in the “New World” in 1620. A museum at the base of the tower fills visitors in on Provincetown’s history.
Hidden gem: Herring Cove Beach allows sunset bonfires with a permit. Get a permit.
Truro
Big draw: Cape Cod Highland House Museum is considered one of the top landmarks in town. It features a bevy of historical artifacts including 17th-century firearms, early whaling gear and even a pirate’s chest.
Hidden gem: Long Nook Beach. Courtesy of Cape Cod Time’s online beach guide: “Long Nook Beach’s wildness and isolation are synonymous with Truro’s outer reaches. This large oceanside beach is backed by massive sand dunes, impressive even to locals. The picturesque landscape is enhanced by small waves great for boogie-boarding or some rougher swimming. Travel too far down the beach, though, and you might be greeted by an unexpected sight - this beach is popular with nude sunbathers.”
Wellfleet
Big draw: The Wellfleet OysterFest comes back for its ninth year, Oct. 18 and 19, to celebrate the town’s shellfishing.
Hidden gem: Freshwater ponds in town are “stocked with several varieties of trout, joining native perch, large and small mouth bass, pickerel and sunfish” according to the Wellfleet Chamber of Commerce.
By SUSAN MILTON
smilton@capecodonline.com
ORLEANS – It’s easy to tell when the sun has set at Rock Harbor or Skaket Beach on Cape Cod Bay.
A line of cars, headlights on, stream away from the popular spots minutes after the sun slowly sinks and then suddenly drops under the horizon.
“We tried to hit it three or four consecutive nights. The sun doesn’t hang very long. Boom, it goes,” said John Erisman of Manchester, Conn., who spent a week in Orleans with Pam, his wife in September.
She’s the photographer who clicks photo after photo as the light softens, colors intensify and shadows grow at every sunset that she sees.
“When I hear the word ‘sunset’ now, I think of Skaket Beach,” she said.
On sunny days, Skaket skies may fill with orange and reddish hues. On cloudy days, the hues are silvery. Every photo has the setting sun and “the rock,” the offshore landmark that identifies the site as Skaket Beach. But otherwise every shot is unique in its own way.
“I think sunsets are just like snowflakes,” she said. “I don’t think you’d find any two pictures alike of a sunset.”
Rock Harbor is less than a mile away, as a gull flies, but worlds apart in scenic views and watchers. The small harbor has a charter fishing fleet, a fish market and restaurant, the Community of Jesus and traditional Cape Cod homes.
“There’s something that’s quaint about Rock Harbor,” said Barbara Bayers, sitting and shivering on a bench with husband Mark Douyard, on their vacation from Newburgh, N.Y.
They usually watch the sunset from First Encounter Beach in Eastham but came to Orleans in a failed attempt to hear the steel drum band that plays on summer Fridays.
But actually, Bayers said, she was drawn there “by the space that reminds you of the beauty of the world. The sunset is the icing on the cake.”
Not far away from Bayers, Klaus Wilke of Cologne, Germany, was in motion, moving from the beach to the rock jetty to capture different photographs of the sky where clouds hid the setting sun.
He was on his second visit to Rock Harbor, a place he found by accident during his stop on Cape Cod during a two-week U.S. visit. He thumbed his camera images back two days and displayed the orange, red and black sky and shadows he captured while on his first visit.
Rock Harbor offers a photographer “everything you could want,” he said.
He pointed to the shapes and lines created by the stretch of beach, the frilly edge of beach grass, the rough texture in the stone barrier that juts out from the harbor, the curve in the “trees” that mark the channel and the skyline, pebbled with clouds.
It’s a view that never gets old, according to Richard Eble. He and his wife, Lee Sullivan live at the corner of Rock Harbor Road in Orleans
“She’s the one running over there with her camera all the time,” Eble said. “Everybody thinks we are just tourists, but we’ve been here for 30 years. It’s always different. Every time we go out for a ride or come back, we drive over to the harbor and take a peek, and, if it’s a good sunset, we get the camera out.”
Dogs and their owners come for a walk at sunset. Many people just sit in their cars, escaping tiny gnats that are annoying in the summer and the cold breeze in the fall and winter.
When the tide’s out, the flats lure people out into the tidal pools. Couple kiss in the glow of the sun. Long shadows ripple over the white sand.
“There’s no better way to end your day,” Pam Erisman said about a sunset. “When you put your toes in that soft sand, everything is OK.”
Next season even more big bass will be landed using ultra light tackle...