The REAS Foundation and the Publick House are teaming up to host a gala Wine & Beer tasting event to express our gratitude for the tremendous community support recieved, on behalf of Sturbridge seniors. We hope you will join us in this celebratory event to mark the four-month mark of our shared efforts and the conclusion of our 10K events. We still have much to do as requests for assistance are arriving at a fast and furious pace, but we hope you will join us in thanking you for your generosity.

What: Sample from a host of Wines and Beers from around the corner, and around the world! Taste and array of fine food selections from the Public House Chef and Brian Treitman of BT’s Smokehouse, against the backdrop of beautiful music. Be on hand, as the drawing for the REAS Gift Baskets is conducted.

Baskets include:

1)    Pamper Yourself With Lotions from Crabtree & Evelyn

2)    Golf Foursome at Cyprian Keys with a $75.00 Gift Card for Pro Shop/Restaurant/Gift   Shop.

3)    Star Wars Themed Basket

4)    Shaw’s Food Basket with $65.00 Worth of Snacks and a $100.00 Shaw’s Gift Card

5)    Spa & Jewelry Basket: Massage, Pedicure, & Facial, along with a $75.00 Gift Card for Garieri’ Jewelers.

Where: PUBLICK HOUSE TAP ROOM & PINEAPPLE ROOM
 
When: THURSDAY - NOVEMBER 20, 6:30 – 10:30 PM
 
Why: Please join us as we celebrate a successful fundraising drive in our first year of serving Sturbridge seniors. 100% of all proceeds go directly towards Sturbridge senior energy assistance. All event costs are being shared by individual members of the REAS Foundation with support from the Public House, Yankee Spirits, and others.

How Much: $35.00 per person  /  $50.00 per couple

RSVP: 508-434-4614
info@reasfoundation.org

A second anonymous donor has stepped forward to issue yet another 1K Challenge. Citing the desire to “do as much as we can”, this new challenge will make it possible for the REAS Foundation (on your behalf), to help an additional five qualifying Sturbridge seniors with energy costs.

For every donation received (regardless of size), in direct response to this additional 1K Challenge, the sponsor of this challenge will match it dollar for dollar, up to a grand total of one thousand dollars. As was our practice with the previous 1K Challenge, the REAS Foundation will only count those donations specifically designated as 1K donations towards this new challenge. This enables us to maintain the spirit of the 1K Challenge. 

In response to this challenge, we will be implementing a new graph on the front page of our website, which will display a figure representing a senior for each $400 received in combined donations. This amount represents the mid-range grant award issued by the REAS Foundation on your behalf.

So, let the challenge begin and let’s see just how quickly we can get those figures up on our front page.

Thomas R. Creamer - Executive Director

There is much that could be said about the immense compassion Sturbridge residents have exhibited in support of its seniors. Great stories could be written about the amazing fellowship we’ve all been witness to here in Sturbridge. No doubt, one could easily exhaust a thesaurus, detailing the unparalleled generosity demonstrated these past months.

Yet nothing is as poignant, nor as telling, as the sentiments and words expressed by those you’ve helped. Nothing better conveys the overwhelming sense of desperation replaced now with hope, due solely to the compassion of Sturbridge residents helping their own. At the very moment you settle to read this, there is the quickened beat of grateful hearts that rumbles throughout Sturbridge. It is a sound that grows louder each day, as those seniors whose burden you’ve lightened, breathe a sigh of relief.

Though strangers we may be, it is indisputable that we are all neighbors within this wonderful community; as such we are intrinsically linked to one another. Each of you who has participated in this great endeavor should take pause to reflect upon the amazing act of compassion you are party to. For you, each and every one of YOU, are the only reason that hope has replaced despair for many Sturbridge seniors; evidenced in the words of those you’re helping. Some express their sentiments in the simplest of terms, others a are a bit more expressive; all are powerfully revealing. 

“What great news, this is fantastic, last year we went without hot water because it was cheaper, we won’t have to do that again, this is going to really help.”

“Oh, my…thank you! This is wonderful, wonderful news.”

“Thank you so very much. I’m not sure what we would have done. My God, thank you so very much.”

“This is so wonderful. I’ve done everything I can to pinch every penny. I make sure to count my meals and only buy what I absolutely have to. It was so hard to ask for help, but I’m at the end of my rope.”

“I want to thank you for what you’ve done. I’ve never had to ask for help before but I can’t watch my sweet wife struggle through another winter trying to stay warm. She’s made a darn good life for me and I can’t bear her suffering through the cold again. I just can’t. This will change so much for us.”

“I really have tried to cut back on everything. I’m extra careful to make sure I only use the two front rooms and I keep the thermostat at 64 degrees. I even use the stove sometimes to take the chill out of my bones along with a few bowls of soup or hot cereal a day. And I always make sure to bundle up with some sweaters I’ve collected. Then when the warm weather comes I get to eat a bit more since I don’t have to put so much aside for the oil man. I’m so thankful and I promise not to go wasting people’s money by turning my heat up. It’s really nice of people to do this and I wouldn’t want to insult anyone by wasting their money. Maybe they won’t mind so much if I squeeze in an extra meal during the week every now and again.” 

“One day last week after paying bills, I found I didn’t have enough money for food. So one night last week I ate only instant mashed potatoes for dinner. The next day I ate just cooked rice for dinner with no breakfast. I would like to thank all of you involved for your help.”

What an incredible honor it is for us at the REAS Foundation to be given the privilege of doing this work on your behalf. We are grateful that you have allowed us to be a part of this magnificent act of love, and fully understand the incredible responsibility we have to each of you as donors, to make sure we do this right.

Each of us at the REAS Foundation fully understand that the grants awarded to Sturbridge seniors are so awarded because of your kindness, your generosity, and your donations. We are distributing your money and you have graciously entrusted us with the honor of doing so. We thank you for allowing us the opportunity to share in the gratitude, expressed by those you’ve helped.

Thomas R. Creamer - Executive Director

REAS Foundation

6th Annual Giving Tree at Susan’s Secret Garden.

The Giving Tree at Susan’s Secret Garden is decorated and ready for customers to choose a “wish” from a child in our area and provide that item.  For the past 6 years Susan has worked with a social worker to find children in Sturbridge and surrounding towns who won’t have a visit from Santa without the help of the very generous people who visit Susan’s Secret Garden. 

Last year the Giving Tree project collected over 400 gifts of clothing, toys and gift cards for groceries.  The results were that 18 households were filled with squeals of joy on Christmas morning, 35 children didn’t wonder why Santa didn’t stop at their house, and 21 parents now see the world as a kinder place where strangers reach out and show compassion.

Since starting the Giving Tree project everyone at Susan’s Secret Garden has had a front row seat to watch miracles happen.  The people who come back year after year to help are so excited to be part of the project that they begin asking in August if the children’s wishes are ready.

Susan receives letters and cards from the families asking her to thank the “angels” and “elves” that helped their children.

This year the Giving Tree has 50 children counting on compassionate strangers to make the magic happen.  Susan is asking that angels and elves stop by when they have a minute and read some of the wishes on the tree.  Some requests are as simple as a doll, a truck or just a pair of mittens.

Gifts need to be returned to Susan’s Secret Garden by December 8th in order to have time to organize and deliver gifts to the families.

Two different people in Sturbridge have heard and shared with me that Walmart might be moving to Charlton to expand to a Super Walmart with the obvious consequence being that the Sturbridge store would close. I wonder if there is any fact to this or if it is just a rumor? Has anyone heard anything about this? Thanks.

Wow! For a small shelter, in a small town, this is quite a feat! Second Chance Animal Shelter is ranked 16 out of 20 finalists. Visits will be made to all 20 finalists and hopefully all will receive some form of financial support. News will be updated regularly at the shelter’s website, as well as www.zootoo.com.

Are you an animal lover like me? Here’s a chance to make a difference for homeless animals - and the best part is that it won’t cost you a dime. Second Chance Animal Shelter is the only Massachusetts shelter in the top 20 in a national contest for a $1 million makeover from Zootoo.com. There are only days left to make your vote count. The contest ends on March 31^st!

They need community support to win this makeover. All you need to do to register your support is to go on their website at www.secondchanceanimals.org and click on the makeover registration. Or you can go directly to zootoo.com and select Second Chance Animal Shelter. Be sure to use their zip code of 01515.

Let’s show them that we care!

Join residents of Southbridge, Sturbridge, and Charlton for a rally to support the Board of Health and show them that the community is concerned about the threat to public health.  Southbridge Landfill is about to become the largest raw garbage landfill in Massachusetts!  Casella Waste Systems plans to increase the permitted raw garbage to over 400,000 tons of municipal solid waste - raw garbage - there each year including Boston and Springfield’s trash.

Residents of Sturbridge, Southbridge and Charlton have been complaining for years about the odors from the Southbridge Landfill.  If these problems intensify, all the neighborhood homes within 3-4 miles of the dump could be devalued.

Where: Casaubon Senior Center, Southbridge

When: 6PM on Thursday, March 27th

For more info please go here: www.southbridgedump.org