Sturbridge 7-27-07 (Page 1) - Southbridge Evening News

20 STURBRIDGE VILLAGER • Friday, June 10, 2011
Brimfield church opens doors for storm victims
REBUILDING
continued from page 1
who lives near the Sturbridge
town common.
As of Thursday evening,
there were still 1,000 residents
without power in Sturbridge
and thousands of individuals
without power in Brimfield,
Holland and Wales. Twelve
crews from Verizon and
National Grid worked in
Sturbridge alone, installing
new poles and wires to
restore telephone, Internet,
and electric service.
Residents of remote sections
of Holland and Wales are
expected to remain in the
dark for an indefinite period
of time.
“Emergency personnel,
under the direction of Police
Chief Thomas Ford, the
town’s emergency management
director, were immediately
on scene to assess damage
and assist citizens,” said
Sturbridge
Town
Administrator Shaun
Suhoski on Thursday night.
“An emergency shelter that
was established at Tantasqua
Regional High School was
closed late Wednesday night,
as citizens found shelter with
family, friends, or at area
hotels.”
Brimfield residents spent
Thursday trying to account
for everyone impacted by the
storm, as some individuals
were reportedly trapped
inside their homes. Since it
Photos courtesy Ian Lynch
Scenes from Holland Road and the bike trail between Five Bridge Road
and Route 20 in Brimfield Thursday, June 2, the day after the storm.
was difficult to navigate most
roads in town due to the
debris, Reverend Ian Lynch,
of the First Congregational
Church of Brimfield, rode his
bicycle throughout Brimfield
to check on parishioners.
“I went to Hollow Road and
then moved on to Haynes Hill
Road and Five Bridge Road,”
Lynch said. “There was a lot
of damage to houses, and a
few were total losses that had
been destroyed down to the
foundation. Many others had
roof and shingle damage due
to trees and branches that fell
on top of them.”
Lynch was unable to continue
all the way down Five
Bridge Road, as dozens of
trees littering the road made
it impassable, even for a bicycle.
“There was one area where
every tree for half a mile was
either sheared off or blown
over,” Lynch added. “Many
people couldn’t get back to
their homes Wednesday night
because so many trees were
down.”
Lynch and his wife, Gina,
offered assistance to residents
and emergency workers
on Friday by providing breakfast,
lunch, and dinner at the
First Congregational Church
of Brimfield. Residents who
didn’t lose power were asked
to bring food to the church,
and a prayer service followed
a community dinner at 6 p.m.
“We wanted to give everyone
a place to decompress and
have a meal, whether they
were helping with the cleanup,
rescue workers, or residents
who were struggling
with this situation,” said
Gina Lynch. “In disasters
such as this, it is always nice
to have a place where you can
go to relax, unwind, and refuel,
a place for the rescue workers
as well as victims to call
home and talk to their loved
ones, take a nap and not have
to look at devastation for at
least a short time.”
The extensive tornado damage
prompted Tantasqua
Regional School District
Superintendent Daniel
Durgin to call off school on
Thursday and Friday,
although he expected the
TRHS graduation to continue
as scheduled on Sunday afternoon.
“Many families were still
without power on Friday, and
there was no chance of getting
buses out to some areas,”
Durgin said. “Members of the
guidance department are
ready to offer support, as this
was an extremely scary situation
for a lot of our students
and their families.”
Old Sturbridge Village was
also closed on Thursday due
to the extended power outage
in Sturbridge, which delayed
cleanup of downed trees and
debris in that area. One of the
tornadoes reportedly touched
down in a remote field at OSV
near the outskirts of the
property, but no visitors, staff,
or animals were hurt, and no
museum buildings or
exhibits were damaged. Old
Sturbridge Village reopened
on Friday, and none of its
weekend events were affected
“We are fortunate that Old
Sturbridge Village escaped
this severe weather situation
with no major damage, and
our thoughts are with those
around the commonwealth
who experienced greater loss
due to these severe storms,”
said Old Sturbridge Village
President and CEO Jim
Donahue. “Closing the
Village was a precautionary
step that allowed our grounds
crews time to clean up
downed trees and branches,
and gave area electrical crews
time to restore power to the
area.”
Residents are now looking
forward to the return of electricity
to their homes and the
long rebuilding process that,
for many, will last several
months.
“We are very grateful for
the work of the emergency
responders and everyone who
helped to remove trees from
roads and restore power,”
said Ian Lynch. “A lot of work
and community support will
be needed to rebuild everything
that was damaged.”
Kevin Flanders can be
reached at 508-909-4136, or by
email at kflanders@stonebridgepress.com.
Plenty to do at Holland Senior Center
BY KEVIN FLANDERS
VILLAGER STAFF WRITER
HOLLAND — There are plenty of activities
scheduled for the next few weeks at the
Holland Senior Center, beginning on
Wednesday, June 1 when personal trainer
Denise Pontbriand, of West Brookfield, will
come to the HSC.
Pontbriand has coordinated various
strength assessment exercises over the past
few weeks with seniors at the HSC, helping
them use the treadmill, recumbent bike,
resistance bands, and hand weights. At the
conclusion of those activities, she developed a
personalized exercise program for each individual
that caters to their specific needs and
takes into account any physical limitations
they have. In addition to her June 1 visit,
Pontbriand will also be at the HSC on Friday,
June 10. Her visits were made possible
through a recent health and fitness grant that
was awarded to the HSC.
Pontbriand also runs a business called Core
Fitness in the Millyard Marketplace in
Sturbridge, where she leads several strengthtraining
exercises. Moreover, she developed
and implemented an acute care protocol for
compression fractures, lectured at national
level Sara Meeks Seminars on acute compression
fracture protocol, and created Bone
Camp, a program that focuses on osteoporosis
education. She possesses more than 30 years
of experience working in rehabilitation as a
physical therapist assistant, and she also has
advanced training in orthopedics, osteoporosis,
geriatrics, and the perinatal population.
“This program has been very successful to
this point, and we are still accepting people at
the senior center who want to get this fitness
plan assessment,” said Deborah Tierney, who
manages community outreach for the Holland
Council on Aging. “A couple of women told
me after the last session that they were very
happy that a small town like Holland could
offer such a great program free of charge.”
Seniors can make appointments for these
sessions by calling 413-245-3163.
Members of the HSC are also gearing up for
the Summer Tea Party on Thursday, June 16
from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. at the senior center.
This annual event will feature HSC Activities
Coordinator Linda Artruc making pastries
and teas, and all guests are encouraged to
wear hats. Artruc develops a theme every year
for this event, and this year’s theme was fittingly
chosen as summertime. The event is
free to Holland seniors.
The Friends of the Holland Senior Center
will serve a spaghetti dinner on Friday, July 8,
at the senior center to raise funds for upcoming
HSC activities. There will be spaghetti,
meatballs, salad, bread, beverages, and
desserts offered at the dinner, and the ticket
prices are $7 for children under 10, $6 for seniors
over 60, and $8 at the door.
“We had a very successful fundraiser last
year, which was exceedingly well attended,”
Tierney added.
Finally, Thomas Baltazar has expanded his
stained glass class at the HSC to Thursdays. If
you are interested in signing up for this class,
call Baltazar at 508-245-2525.
Kevin Flanders can be reached at 508-909-
4136, or by email at kflanders@stonebridgepress.com.
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