Due to the expected low temperatures, the overflow at 71 Division Street will be opened again tonight. The temperatures look like they will be rising well above 28 after this evening and going through the weekend. Guests should plan to arrive for 6pm and the cutoff will be 8:30pm
All inquiries can be forwarded to Sister Rose House and 1-800-homeless’
Meet Chris Andrade, 32-year-old Program Supervisor at the Key Program, Inc. As a lifelong native of New Bedford, he recalls facing adversity as a youth being raised in public housing and coming from an immigrant family. Despite these challenges, Chris was thankful to have a strong supportive family who invested in his future and guided him away from the negative influences within his neighborhood.
In high school, he interned for PAACA as a peer mentor, working with troubled youth in efforts to engage them in positive outlets. After high school, Chris went away to UMass Amherst focusing on Legal Studies with hopes to eventually go on to Law school. Each summer, Chris returned home to work for the Greater New Bedford Youth Annex (New Directions) through the Career Center, assisting youth with attaining summer employment. After attaining his Bachelor’s Degree, he found that his passion lies within Human Services and opted out of pursuing Law school.
Chris continued his path in servicing others by obtaining a position as an Outreach Worker for a non-profit agency named the Key Program, Inc. where he worked to assist at-risk youth and families involved with the Department of Children and Families (DCF). From there, he worked his way up to the position of Program Supervisor and now oversees several community-based programs that focus on the development of positive life skills and experiences for youth and families so they may lead productive and rewarding lives. Even at the supervisory level, Chris has continued to carry a caseload of his own because he is passionate about helping others and creating a positive impact on the community.
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Faces of New Bedford is a project by Colton Simmons. If you are interested in booking a shoot or getting prints from the series email all inquiries to colton@coltonsimmons.com. Follow Colton on Instagram: https://instagram.com/simmonscolton
Read more of the Faces of New Bedford series here.
The Leduc Center for Civic Engagement initiative has delivered 300,000 hours of reading and math tutoring to New Bedford and Fall River students
On Thursday, December 6, 2018, the UMass Dartmouth Leduc Center for Civic Engagement celebrated 20 years of America Reads/Counts tutoring program that has sent student tutors into the SouthCoast community. To commemorate the anniversary, university officials, legislators, and community partners gathered at the YMCA’s in New Bedford and Fall River to witness the impact of tutoring.
The America Reads program, which was started by President Clinton in 1996 to increase literacy across the nation, connects university student tutors to SouthCoast K-12 students at 14 different locations in the two cities. At community centers, and local elementary, middle, and preschools, UMass Dartmouth students provide classroom support and individual attention to the younger students.
“This program is about the human element of connection, allowing for new and incredible possibilities,” Matthew Roy, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Civic Engagement, said. “Our student’s tutoring and mentoring youth in the SouthCoast open their eyes and hearts through learning. They provide an example of how furthering your education is possible and how education enriches lives.”
The program strives to increase the reading levels and mathematics understanding of local children from pre-K to fifth grade, increase university students’ involvement in the community, and strengthen the partnership between the university and the local community.
America Reads/Counts program sites include:
· Boys & Girls Club, Fall River
· Boys & Girls Club, New Bedford
· Brooks Elementary school, New Bedford
· Buttonwood Park Zoo, New Bedford
· Carney Academy, New Bedford
· Dennison Memorial Community Center, New Bedford
· Gomes Elementary, New Bedford
· Head Start, Fall River
· Henry Lord Community School, Fall River
· Housing Authority, Presidential Heights, New Bedford
· School on Wheels, Harbour House, New Bedford
· St. Andrew’s afterschool, New Bedford
· YMCA, Fall River
· YMCA, New Bedford
Since the initiative began, UMass Dartmouth has provided more than 300,000 hours of tutoring and helped more than 15,000 SouthCoast students. Each year, 175 to 200 tutors perform approximately 20,000 hours of reading and/or math instruction and homework help.
Shane O’Donnell, a 34 year old Dartmouth man, was sentenced in the Fall River Superior Court on November 30, 2018, for Larceny and Robbery offenses stemming from a 2016 crime spree in Seekonk, Fairhaven and New Bedford, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III announced.
On February 29, 2016, the defendant went into Total Fitness in Seekonk. While inside the men’s locker room he cut the lock off of two lockers and stole phones, credit cards and keys. He utilized one set of stolen keys to steal a motor vehicle from the lot of the gym.
On March 2, 2016 the defendant robbed the Santander Bank in Fairhaven of $1,000 after he approached the teller, wearing gloves, with a note stating he had a gun. Surveillance video from Santander Bank showed the defendant in the stolen car from the February 29th incident. The defendant abandoned the stolen vehicle in Fairhaven.
After a joint investigation between Fairhaven and Seekonk Police they were able to develop a fingerprint off of a package of gloves that surveillance showed the defendant purchased just prior to the bank robbery. The fingerprint came back as a match to the defendant. The gym manager viewed the surveillance video from Santander Bank and indicated he appeared to be the same individual who went into Seekonk Total Fitness on February 29th and signed the gym form, “Shane Donnell”.
Police also obtained the defendant’s phone records which showed a call placed from his phone to the Seekonk Total Fitness on the date of offense. On March 12, 2016, the defendant went into Gold’s Gym in New Bedford with a large gym bag and snapped the locks off of three lockers. The defendant stole credit cards and wallets out of the lockers. The defendant was identified through video surveillance.
At sentencing, the Commonwealth, represented by Assistant District Attorney William Flynn, recommended a 10 to 13-year state prison sentence. The Defendant recommended a 5 year State Prison sentence. Judge Mark Hallal imposed a State Prison sentence of 6 years to 8 years for the charges of Larceny over $250, Breaking into Depositories, Armed Robbery and Receiving a Stolen Motor Vehicle. The defendant was also recently convicted in Norfolk Superior Court for similar charges in that county and was sentenced to 3.5 to 5 years in the State Prison.
“This defendant, a convicted felon, is a career criminal who continues to rob and steal from people.” District Attorney Quinn said. “The only alternative is to lock him up and keep him off the streets to protect the public.”
Applications, together with the $100 application fee, must be filed no later than February 5, 2019. An extended deadline of February 19, 2019 is being offered, however, a late fee of $50 will be required.
No applications will be accepted after the final February 19, 2019 deadline.
Exam information is available at www.newbedford-ma.gov; or the Massachusetts Human Resources Division, civilservice@state.ma.us CivilService@state.ma.us.
To apply for the exam, please visit http://www.mass.gov/civilservice.
The snow has just begun to fall, but now is the time to prepare for cold winter temperatures in the 20’s and 30’s and the need for warm coats and jackets, hats, scarves and gloves. As the temperatures drop, please sort through your closets for winter coats and jackets you no longer need, but will help someone else keep warm this winter.
The 29th annual Coats for Kids (and grownups, too!) community coat drive is beginning now and coats are needed for this year’s coat drive.
Coats will be distributed to anyone in need 11 AM to 3 PM on Saturday, December 15th from the First Unitarian Church in NB, 71 Eighth Street. The location in downtown New Bedford is handicapped accessible.
New, Next-to-new or gently worn clean coats can be brought directly to the Unitarian Church on Saturday, December 15th between 9 AM and 11 AM. Or you can drop off your coats at the following locations this year through Friday, December 14th
• First Unitarian Church in NB, 71 Eighth Street (please call 508.994.9686 to be sure they are open)
• City Hall, Room 220, 133 William Street 8:00am – 4:00pm
• Spherion Staffing Services, 365 Faunce Corner Road, Dartmouth (across from Vanity Fair), (Monday thru Friday – 8:00am to 5:00pm
508-991-8170)
Coats for Kids will also accept hats, scarves, and mittens or gloves, snow pants, sweaters and boots, as well as blankets. In past years, the greatest demand has been for children, men’s and larger-sized women’s coats. For 28 winter seasons, Coats for Kids has collected gently used children’s and adult coats, giving away more than 12,300 coats and helping more than 250 families and individuals each year.
For more information about the coat drive, call Pam Pollock at 508-965-6927 or the YWCA at 508-999-3255. This year’s coat drive is sponsored by the City of New Bedford – Mayor’s Youth Council and the First Unitarian Church in New Bedford in partnership with the YWCA Southeastern MA and New Bedford Office of Community Services.
St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, in collaboration with The Bridge: A Center for Hope and Healing, is offering a special service of support and hope for anyone in the community who may be struggling at this difficult time of year.
“BLUE CHRISTMAS: A Service of Remembrance and Hope when the Holidays Hurt” will be held on Tuesday, December 18, 2018 at 7:00PM at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 351 Elm Street, Dartmouth.
This service is held at the time of the Winter Solstice, the darkest time of the year as we long for light.
This service is geared toward anyone who is hurting or is experiencing loss due to the death of a spouse, child, family member or another loved one; those struggling with separation of divorce; those struggling to find hope and meaning in life; those struggling with health issues or the illness of a loved one; those who are alone, isolated, stressed or experiencing emotional pain; those struggling with addiction or in recovery.
For more information, please call 508.997.0903.
(The Rev.) Scott A. Ciosek,
Executive Director
The Bridge: A Center for Hope and Healing,
351 Elm Street, Dartmouth, MA 02748
Pastor, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church,
351 Elm Street, Dartmouth, MA 02748
Pastor, St. Martin’s Episcopal Church,
136 Rivet Street, New Bedford, MA 02744
The New Bedford High School Early Childhood Education program participated in a holiday card creation activity in concert with Home Instead Senior Care of Dartmouth. The holiday cards were created jointly by the high school students and their child clients enrolled in the “Little Whalers” Pre-K Daycare, which is facilitated by the early childhood education program at NBHS. The cards were presented to Home Instead staff at a ceremony on Friday, November 30. The colorful cards are being delivered by Home Instead to seniors through the local Councils on Aging.
Jill Khoury, Community Relations Manager at Home Instead Senior Care, worked with NBHS to ensure that every card would have a recipient. “We are so pleased to have partnered with NBHS students and the Little Whalers Daycare Program to make this wonderful idea a reality. I know that our seniors appreciate receiving these cards, made by little, loving hands; it’s a thoughtful gift of caring at this time of year,” she said.
“This enriching project implemented by our high school students and the Little Whalers is an outstanding example of New Bedford High School’s core values in action, as it demonstrates how our students are committed to kindness and compassion toward all in our community, said Bernadette Coelho, Headmaster of New Bedford High School, “I am so proud of their taking the time to brighten the holiday season for the seniors at Home Instead.”
“The holiday card creation activity represents a fulfilling service learning project blended with an opportunity for our high school students to practice their career technical skills in early childhood education. Both our high school students and their Pre-K student clients were excited to collaborate with Home Instead on this project”, said Christopher Cummings, Manager of Career Vocational Technical Education. “Our vocational programs are enhanced by value-added school-business partnerships, and we look forward to collaborating with Home Instead through additional initiatives.”
New Bedford High School’s Early Childhood Education program is part of the school’s offerings of Career Vocational Technical Education programming. In addition to Early Childhood, the school offers career pathway programs in Finance, Instructional Technology, Health Sciences, Engineering, and Criminal Justice. For more information about Career and Technical Education at New Bedford High School, please contact Christopher Cummings, Manager of CVTE, 508-997-4511, ext. 24204.
Late this morning, at approximately 11:52 a.m., troopers from the State Police Barracks in Andover responded to reports of a head-on crash, I-495 northbound, just south of Exit 42A in Lawrence. The actual location of the crash was directly on the Andover and Lawrence town-line.
Upon arrival, troopers discovered that a 2016 Kia Sportage, driven by a 38-year-old woman from Lawrence was traveling southbound on I-495, when for reasons still under investigation, she traveled through the median into the northbound lanes of traffic on I-495. The Kia sideswiped a 2004 Ford F350, driven by a 59-year-old man from Dracut, who was not injured. The Kia then continued and struck a 2003 Honda Pilot head-on. The Honda was being driven by a 55-year-old woman, with a 56-year-old male passenger, both of Lawrence. The Kia then struck a 2016 Toyota RAV4 driven by a 58-year-old woman, with a 27-year-old female passenger, both of Andover.
The driver of the Kia and the male passenger of the Honda were both determined to be deceased at the scene. The driver of the Honda was transported with serious injuries to Lawrence General Hospital. The driver and passenger of the Toyota were also transported to Lawrence General Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
During the incident, all lanes of Interstate 495 northbound were closed to traffic. Traffic was diverted off initially at exit 41, then later changed to Exit 40, I-93, and detoured up to Route 213 and back onto I-495. All lanes were opened at approximately 2:56 p.m.
Troop A Headquarters, State Police Andover Barracks, Essex County State Police Detective Unit, State Police Collision Analysis Reconstruction Section (CARS), State Police Crime Scene Services Section (CSSS), Andover Fire/EMS, Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (Mass DOT) all assisted on scene.
The remaining facts and circumstances of the crash are under investigation.
Ah, that time of year where one has to become Santa Clause and create a list of who is naughty and who is nice. Nice means “You get a card and/or a gift. I shall spend money on you.” and if you are deemed naughty you get – to quote the great sage, Willy Wonka “Nothing!”
There’s always a tough balance when it comes to creating Santa’s list. “How much money do I have?”, “Who is at the top of the list and gets the most expensive or best quality gifts?”, “How much is coal? I need to get a bunch of it.” or “Can I pretend I forgot to get a gift when it comes to ‘so-and-so’?”
Maybe, just maybe there is that “special” someone that you will actually spend a significant amount of money beyond the price of coal to get them a gift that sends them the message that you aren’t exactly happy with them. Perhaps, a little voodoo doll pierced with hundreds of pins – I wonder how much that costs?
In this day and age, we should seriously price out a variety of safe spaces and cry closets. I know, I’m not alone when it comes to knowing a few people that would benefit having one of those at home.
Do they make ones that fold into a small compact form that you can put in a backpack or purse? A travel version? If not, someone should invent and market one and become a millionaire. You can buy one for yourself and then during conversations, you are in or overhear you can say to the triggered person “Hi, I can help.” And then you can whip out the cry-closet and “poof” it’s instant healing and you’ve done a service for the community.
Since this overvaluing of boo-boos on feelings and political correctness is characteristic of the Zeitgeist. You can simply just be sitting there sipping your coffee and someone will take offense. I’m not joking – the color of your skin, your sports cap, even your hair may be offensive or considered some silly cultural appropriation. There are simply people angry that you’re even breathing because of what your existence represents and that’s not satire, that’s real life.
It can’t be avoided, just accept it.
Going a step further we should make the best of it. Turn lemons into lemonade, they say. Stop looking at the glass as half-empty and start looking at it as half-full, you pessimist.
You better vote Whig next time, you Nazi! Now, let’s go get some cranberry sauce.
What does that mean in a practical sense? Well, in the weeks leading up to Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Yuletide, or Pancha Ganapati you can start voicing your actual, genuine opinions on current affairs, your president, patriotism, god being a female or one of the other 72 genders or not existing at all. Then magically your list will be halved and your savings doubled.
Best of all, you will not have to come up with excuses for a low quality or cheap gift, or forgetting someone. With the extra money, you can get people on the “nice” list higher quality presents too. Things get better too: those people will also likely not turn up on Christmas dinner. That means you have a lower chance of having an argument or debate that ruins dinner.
Where’s the lie? ’tis no lie.
By weeding out people who are always on the search for ways to be offended or triggered ahead of time, Christmas Day doesn’t have to be “Christmad Day”, it can be bliss. In other words, you can have that special day free of aggravation and drama by sharing your opinion with certain people ahead of time.
Which people?
• The cat lady with blue hair and dark-rimmed glasses, that will point out your grammar mistakes in between her complaints about black people BBQing, the flocks of 9-year olds who keep sexually assaulting her, and the ever-growing population of pesky kids selling bottled water without a permit.
• People who identify with a fantasy gender beyond the two real ones, including that cosmic gender that combines all 73 genders in one body. Aum.
• The liberal who equates switching a profile image, making a post on social media, or expresses their hurt feelings and outrage with actually doing something about racism, inequality, or the environment. Often, expressed simultaneously with their hatred for their own white skin and in between shopping sprees while commuting with their BMW, Lexus, Mercedes or massive, gas guzzling SUV which is almost always empty.
• Asking for something free because you are a non-profit hair salon or cupcake bakery, in spite of your 6-figure salary.
• Conservatives who cherry-pick scripture to justify their own immorality in speech and deeds, especially when it comes to the imagining what people are doing in their bedrooms – something they will never see. Often he or she will then lecture you about the hateful use of “X” in the words Xian, Xianity, and XDom in spite of your factual references to it being started by early Xians.
• Angry atheists that fly into a seething, spitting, vitriolic rage after someone sneezes to intercept anyone what was even remotely thinking of saying “God bless you!” Because they are a better person, of course. After the squashes those blessings of oppression, he will then put the term “Zombie Jeebus” into every other sentence while giggling.
• Pro-Marxist university students and professors who when asked how things are going at school spend the next 48 minutes enlightening you about Noam Chomsky’s poisonous, unpatriotic ideologies. America is a military-industrial complex whose pursuit of a worldwide domination through its desire to be the only hegemony on the planet needs to be opposed. Often, this meanders through various conspiracies, the Bilderbergers, and Illuminati but will always come back to Chomsky who is the truth, the way, the life.
• Toxic feminists who will tell you how ashamed you should be for daring to have been born with testicles – symbols of oppression, the patriarchy and toxic masculinity. By having them you can’t stop raping women in your mind whenever they are around. If you don’t have yourself castrated, you are toxic. Because the best way to defeat #ToxicMasculinity is with #ToxicFemininity.
• Those who want you to have a Ghettotastic holiday by being incapable of discussing anything without referencing memes and when not referencing memes it just means they want to lecture you on 911 and moon hoax conspiracies, “evidence” for a flat-earth, the shadow government behind the puppets. The only reason you won’t break out in laughter is because you aren’t that adept in understanding the Wal-Mart dialect.
• “Coexist”ers who will demand you be tolerant even if it means a Muslim wearing a bomb vest and a backpack with a pressure-cooker bomb of projectiles sits in the table next to you and starts rocking back and forth while repeatedly saying “Allahu Akbar.” If you won’t coexist, they will beat it into you in the form of a Coexistence knuckle-sandwich to the face.
• The arrogant know-it-all pseudo-intellectual that explains away everything you say by pointing out the specific logical fallacy you are using while always missing his or her own use of logical fallacies. He thinks he is intelligent because he reads a lot, but in actuality isn’t that smart, just articulate which aren’t the same thing. “That’s an Ad Hominem attack, you jerk.” He only graces you with discussion because it’s a chance to “learn you” about how wicked smaht he is.
Literally a cry-closet. Like, literally as in literally literal.
The list could go on a lot longer and mention the arrogant, know-it-all Agnostic too intellectually lazy to have a stance, the harmless, Archie Bunker grandpa spewing ignorant stereotypes all day, or the zealous patriot who explains everything he doesn’t understand with a “‘Murica! F*** yeah!” et al, but there isn’t enough bandwidth or time. If there was anyone missed, you can net them with a Crowder-style sign at a pre-Christmas day dinner that states “My opinion is as important as yours. Change my mind.” and voila.
Oh, crap. I just realized that if we eliminate all of those people there will literally be no one left and we’d be completely alone eating “Christmad” ham and washing it down with tears.
Or…we could just let people have their differences in opinions and voice them without being mean, insulting or demeaning. Is that possible or has ‘Murica reached a tipping point of no return? Are we so divided that we can’t have a discussion without someone being offended and causing an argument? We then have to hide our opinions or bite our tongue to keep the peace because there is always someone in a perpetual search to find something so they can be offended.
Can we have a dinner where people of every race, religion and creed…and opinion…can sit in one place and get along. Share our different opinions even if they are hateful and ignorant? Because the truth is that everyone….everyone is intolerant and ignorant about something or someone. It’s hypocritical to point out the faults in others when we have the same faults and if the whole world was full of people who were more concerned about their own faults before pointing out those faults in others, we’d have a gran ‘ol time of existence.
Whenever someone has an ignorant, intolerant, even hateful opinion there is a learning opportunity. If you ban, boycott, or demand that they go away you help promote their ignorant idea – you are an accomplice to that poisonous idea by allowing it to perpetuate. And that is simply ineffective and impractical in terms of winning someone over to a more tolerant, compassionate thought process. Someone with an intolerant or hateful viewpoint only evolves past that viewpoint by shining a light of understanding on it and he won’t have that chance if he is excommunicated from society…or the Christmas dinner table.
Sorry to say, but there is nothing original about demeaning, insulting or ridiculing someone because they have a different opinion, religion or political party than you. You are flat-out unoriginal and there is nothing special about you. You’ve been programmed and you don’t have to accept that programming. There is something special and original about a person who hears an opposing opinion and then shares their own opinion helping each other understand.
We can learn from one another when we stop being such hypersensitive, always offended Nancies and have some perspective. You’re at least alive and living a good enough life to be offended in the first place. That’s some good old-fashioned irony. Suffice it to say, that flipping out because someone voted differently from you isn’t the same as the 1,000 kids that died from starvation somewhere in the world in the time it took you to read this.
Get a grip folks.
America has always been a melting pot of peoples, religions, cultures, ideas, and creeds and it is where its strength comes from. When we no longer have that we will be weaker for it. At the “end of the day” we are all Americans first and then Democrats or Republicans, theist or atheist.
We libtards, conservatards, angry atheists, Femnazis, cat ladies, and literal Hitlers should just enjoy at least one day a year where we can enjoy the beauty and grandeur of our differences. It should be like that every damn day of the year, but making an effort on at least one very important day is a great start.
I hate everyone one of you fellow Americans equally, anyway. 😉