Man About Canton: Friendly Visitor Program
By Joe DeFeliceDID YOU KNOW …
The Friendly Visitor Program is a volunteer program through the Canton Council on Aging, which targets seniors who have expressed feelings of loneliness and isolation and have difficulty getting out. After the prospective volunteer is interviewed and screened, he or she is eligible to be matched with a senior. Once matched, the volunteer is asked to visit the senior a minimum of one hour per week and hopefully develop a long-term relationship, with the ultimate goal of helping the senior to remain at home as long as possible.
If anyone is interested in volunteering, contact Robin Tobin at the Council on Aging at 781-828-1323. According to COA Director Diane Tynan, “We are desperately in need of volunteers.”
The Canton Association of Business and Industry celebrated its 40th anniversary this year. Companies who are CABI members paid over $22,000,000 in fiscal year 2012 in commercial taxes to the town of Canton, which represents 22 percent of the annual operating costs for schools and municipal services.
The Swinamer girls, Holly, age 10, and Emily, age 7, daughters of Canton High School graduate Mike Swinamer, are making a name for themselves in figure skating. The girls recently competed in the International Skating Institute Holiday Classic held in Danbury, Connecticut, December 1-2 and both won gold medals. Next up for the Swinamers is the Bay State Games where they will compete for a spot at the State Games of America, to be held in Hershey, Pennsylvania, this coming summer. Good luck from MAC!
In case you missed it, athletic goods manufacturer Reebok International, headquartered in Canton, recently eliminated 150 jobs worldwide, including 65 at its Canton headquarters. The cuts amount to 7 percent of the Canton workforce.
Canton selectmen have set up a Community Preservation Committee that includes George Comeau from the Historical Commission; Bob Golledge from the Capital Planning Committee; and resident Lisa Lopez, wife of Selectman Vic Del Vecchio. Selectmen will add to the committee over the next few months. Canton voters backed the adoption of the CPA after rejecting it in 2006 and again last spring.
According to Ralph White, president of the Retired State, County, and Municipal Employees Association of Massachusetts, “the actual combined $25 billion debt to our pension funds was created by the failure of state and local government to meet their share of ongoing scheduled appropriations each year.” Working with the governor and legislature, the annual unfunded pension liability payments have now been extended as far as the year 2040.
12/12/12 was the last repetitive date you will ever see.
Social Security beneficiaries will see a slight increase in their checks beginning in January. That’s when the 1.7 percent cost-of-living adjustment takes effect, boosting the average benefit of $1,240 by $21 a month. The increase is less than half the 3.6 percent raise beneficiaries received in 2012, but more than they received in 2010 and 2011 when there were no raises. Many seniors say this cost-of-living adjustment really isn’t going to help them, especially those on fixed incomes who are struggling to get by.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2011 American Community Survey, the estimated median household income in Massachusetts is $62,859. Only Maryland ($70,004), New Jersey ($67,458), and Connecticut ($65,752) are higher. Mississippi at $36,919 has the lowest median household income.
Like many years in the past, you probably will see at least one copy of the letter that 8-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon wrote to the editor of the New York Sun in 1897 questioning whether or not Santa Claus really existed. When you see it, take a moment and read the editor’s response. It explains it all.
You may not realize it, but the popular winter song “Jingle Bells,” which is over 150 years old, never mentions Christmas and is instead about old-fashioned winter fun. Most people know and sing it, and it has been recorded by hundreds of singers.
Finally, Christmas Eve is less than a week away, and Santa will be coming down your chimney with his sack loaded with presents. He will snack on the cookies and milk that you leave for him and his reindeer, and he will leave a lot of great gifts for those of you who are on his “nice” list and some lumps of coal for those on his “naughty” list. Nevertheless, MAC takes this opportunity to wish that you all enjoy a very Merry Christmas, and he hopes you and your family get all the wonderful presents you hoped for. Again, a Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
This is all for now folks. See you next week.
Joe DeFelice can be reached at manaboutcanton@aol.com.
Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=17898
Posted by Joe DeFelice
on Dec 19 2012. Filed under Featured Content, Man About Canton, Opinion.
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