Pick-Me-Ups: News and Notes from the Yankee Community
Things that helped brighten our week, in the hopes that they will help brighten yours.
By Yankee Editors|May 01 2020|
Pick-Me-Ups: News and Notes from the Yankee Community
- Shepard Fairey, best known for the 2008 Barack Obama “Hope” poster, is using art to help boost spirits in Rhode Island. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, he has created an art piece called R.I. Angel of Hope and Strength to promote the new RI Arts initiative, which both encourages people to connect through art and supports the Rhode Island Artist Relief Fund. Of the piece, he said it’s meant to “generally symbolize the spirit of hope, strength, compassion, and resilience that we can all summon in ourselves and share collectively.”
- Midcoast Maine is tapping into some good cheer, as the holiday star on Camden’s Mount Battie has been lighted by volunteers more than seven months early. It marks the first time in the display’s 50-plus years that it has been lighted outside the holiday season. Organizers say the star — which reportedly can be seen from as far as Matinicus Island, some 20 miles away — will be lighted at each night for as long as the pandemic lasts.
A view of the Savidge Library at the MacDowell Colony, located on 450 acres in southwestern New Hampshire. The venerable artists’ retreat is now hosting local frontline workers.
Credit: Ngoc Minh Ngo/MacDowell ColonyCredit: Ngoc Minh Ngo/MacDowell Colony
- New Hampshire’s MacDowell Colony, the nation’s oldest artists’ colony, has reopened its doors to give shelter to frontline healthcare workers needing to self-quarantine. Founded in 1906, MacDowell has hosted some of the nation’s most celebrated writers, artists, and composers, including Aaron Copland and Alice Walker, but it closed down its residency operations in March due to concerns about COVID-19.
- A Massachusetts amateur athlete has notched a victory in a sport made for social distancing. As The Boston Globe reported this week, 29-year-old Ben Thompson of Medford broke a 20-year-old speed record on the Skyline Trail in Middlesex Fells Reservation in pursuit of Fastest Known Time (FKT).
- Connecticut’s frontline workers are getting high-fives from Hollywood. Thanks to a well-connected Nutmeg State attorney, celebrities including Billy Baldwin, Debra Messing, and Steve Guttenberg have shared videos praising the efforts of first responders and healthcare workers, and teachers as well.
- In Rhode Island, best-selling author and Narragansett resident Padma Venkatraman rallied her fellow young-adult authors to use their books as platforms to help raise awareness of public health guidelines. Dubbed #AuthorsTakeAction, the social-media campaign will culminate in a book drive.
Pick-Me-Ups from Friday, April 24
The Montejo family of Hudson, MA — mom Jess and kids Everly, 3, and Bodie Montejo, 5 — take a peek at Regalo the alpaca during the Harvard Alpaca Ranch’s “drive-through” fund-raiser for a local food pantry.
Credit: Matthew Varrell/Harvard Alpaca RanchCredit: Matthew Varrell/Harvard Alpaca Ranch
- Last weekend the Harvard Alpaca Ranch — a three-year-old family-run enterprise in Harvard, MA, that has hosted alpaca yoga and alpaca-assisted therapy, among other offerings — invited its cooped-up neighbors to go on an alpaca safari. Held at nearby Westward Orchards, the drive-through event drew a few hundred fans of the fuzzy camelids, and raised nearly $2,000 for a local food pantry.
- In the lead-up to Ramadan, the New England Arab American Organization put together and distributed food donations to help hundreds of new Mainers prepare for the Muslim holy month. Founded in Westbrook, ME, in 2016, the NEAAO works to support Arab immigrant families and bridge the gap between cultures.
- The c. 1741 Colony House in Newport, RI, has started ringing its bells at noon every Friday to remind residents “we’re all in this together.” The effort was organized by the Newport Historical Society, which is inviting churches and individuals to join in by ringing their own bells each week. As the society wrote in its event announcement: Newporters are not strangers to adversity; together we have faced extreme hardships. We are also not strangers to ingenuity; together we have created an incredible place to live.
Vermont’s own Kevin Pearce, former pro snowboarder and founder of the Love Your Brain Foundation, gets to work assembling donations for Goggles For Docs.
Credit: Courtesy of Kevin Pearce/Goggles For DocsCredit: Courtesy of Kevin Pearce/Goggles For Docs
- A Massachusetts ski resort owner’s light-bulb idea has led to the creation of Goggles For Docs, a New England–based organization that collects new and used snow goggles to provide eye protection for frontline healthcare workers. Burlington, VT’s Burton Snowboards is among those who have pitched in to donate some 32,000 pairs so far — but even more is needed, organizers say. (To learn how to donate, click here.)
- Quincy, MA, is buzzing about a mystery woman dubbed the “Bar Pizza Bandit” for her unique spin on do-gooding. Over the past two weeks, she has shelled out $600 on food deliveries to local firefighters, police, and EMTs — specifically, deliveries of South Shore bar pizza, a signature food in this part of Massachusetts.
- In Keene, NH, a company called Bulldog Design has launched the Great Grey Tee Project, which offers T-shirts customized with logos from almost 300 local businesses and organizations — from theaters to hair salons to schools — many of which have never been featured on tees before. A portion of the sale goes directly to aid the business featured on the shirt.
An image from “Boston Is Still Running,” a video from The Boston Globe released on the eve of what would have been the 124th Boston Marathon.
Credit: Courtesy of MullenLowe
