Lou

The Danvers Dems Committee meeting was held on March 23 in the Gordon Room at the Danvers Peabody Institute Library on Sylvan St.

The guest speaker was Library Director Noelle Boc. Noelle presented a quite interesting presentation on the Danvers Library, the services provided and the challenges encountered. If you have not been to the library for awhile, Noelle described the many services the library provides that you may not have been aware of. There was some discussion concerning the recent actions by the Republican Party to have certain books from libraries across the country. We thank Noelle for joining us.

Julie Curtis distributed the minutes from February’s meeting. See below.

Topics of interest:

1. The Scholarship Committee is forming. The committee reviews application for the annual DDTC scholarship to a Danvers High School student. Julie Curtis chairs the committee and is inviting committee members to join. If interested, contact Julie or via Contact Us.
2. Committee formed to address inviting new members to join the DDTC is planning a Meet and Greet on May 25 at the Danvers Library Gordon Room. Plans are in the initial phase. Purpose is to provide an opportunity for people who would like to get involved to meet the committee members and also to invite some of the local representatives. In formative phase, more to come on this.
3. The Danvers Town Caucus to elect members to attend the MassDems Convention will be held on May 25 in the Gordon Room at the Danvers Library. This will be a hybrid meeting with people meeting at the library but also access via Zoom. This will be our first hybrid meeting so we have a little work to prepare.
4. The Danvers Annual Town Clean Up Day is April 22. The DDTC is planning to form a team to take part in this town effort. Anyone interested in joining the team can contact Marilyn or via Contact Us.
5. Next meeting will be April 27. The Gordon Room is booked so we will be looking at the Polish Club on Cheever St as an alternate site for this meeting.

February’s meeting will be an in-person meeting in the Gordon Room at the Peabody Institute Library Thursday Feb. 23 at 7:00 PM.

Our guest speaker is Noelle Boc, the Library Director.  She will be speaking about the library and book-banning across the country.

Noelle must leave by 7:30 for another commitment, so, please arrive a little early in orders we can start right at 7.

Looking forward to our being with one another.

If someone absolutely must do Zoom, please, contact Marilyn Hazel.

The January meeting was one of our most informative meetings with Mike Landers joining us as guest speaker. Mike wears many hats as Essex Agricultural and Technical High School Committee member, Light Commissioner, and Finance Committee member. He was with us for over an hour and gave us many insights in to Essex Agricultural and Technical High Schoo, its programs and why so many children apply to go there . Sen. Lovely and Rep Kerans attended updating us on upcoming legislation and committee assignments. Matt Chiliak from Congressman Moulton’s office also joined us relating information regarding the new Congress. This was one of our best and most informative meetings and we thank all who attended.

On teh Committee business side, we voted to finance our zoom account and the committee website (www.danversdemocrats.org).

It has been difficult deciding whether to have our meetings via Zoom or in-person as COVID is still a concern. I am aware that some of members do not choose to participate using Zoom while others including guest speakers who find it easier prefer Zoom. . Other committees are having the same problem. But, At our last in-person meeting in November more people did come attend. It is a dilemma. Possibly a hybrid approach would work. Feedback is appreciated. Contact Marilyn directly or if preferred, use the Contact Us on the website.

A subcommittee has been formed to look at ways to increase our membership s we prepare for the 2024 election season. . This will be on the agenda for upcoming meetings.

Our next meeting will be Feb. 23. Guests TBD.

Successful Martin Luther King Day of Service

Our Martin Luther King Jr Day of Service was a wonderful success.

This year the DDTC collected personal items at the Danvers Food Pantry at 12 Sylvan Street.

Volunteer Paul Brown gave the committee a tour of the pantry. Presently the pantry provides food to approximately 350 Danvers families. There were well labeled shelves of boxed and canned goods and refrigerators for meat, fresh vegetables and fruit. There is a small section for gluten-free and low sugar items. The section storing personal items was virtually bare so the DDTC decision to collect these items was timely.

DDTC members and others made a significant donation of personal Items such as soaps, deodorants, dental supplies, women products, Depends, diapers and other useful items. The pantry provided us a 6′ X 4′ by 4′ bin to place collected items which we pleasantly not only filled but many large items were stacked up on the side.

Thank you to Tom and Carla Meagher, Julie Curtis, Lou and Maria Bernazzani, Kacey Desmond, Stan Slepoy and Mary Condon. Folks from outside the committee and from Peabody contributed. It was a good time.

Thank you to everyone who donated and made the day a great success.