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Lynnfield 11-29

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2<br />

INDEX<br />

Classifieds ...............................................................................13-16<br />

Obituaries ....................................................................................... 7<br />

Police Log ...................................................................................... 4<br />

Real Estate ..............................................................................14-16<br />

Religious Notes .............................................................................. 8<br />

Seniors ........................................................................................... 5<br />

Sports .......................................................................................9-12<br />

Taxes rising, new<br />

fire chief hired<br />

BY THOMAS GRILLO<br />

Homeowners will be facing a<br />

3 percent tax hike in 2019.<br />

Board of Selectmen set the<br />

tax rate Monday night.<br />

The average single family<br />

home will see its tax bill<br />

rise from $60 to $160.<br />

Condominium owners average<br />

bill will increase by $400.<br />

The residential tax rate is<br />

rising to $13.91 per thousand,<br />

up from $13.76 in 2018.<br />

Commercial property owners<br />

can expect to see a 5 percent<br />

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hike in their tax bills as the rate<br />

rose to $17.95 per thousand<br />

from $17.08.<br />

The panel also approved a<br />

three-year agreement to hire<br />

Glenn Davis as the town’s<br />

new fire chief. The job pays<br />

$135,000. In addtion, he will<br />

receive $2,500 once a year<br />

to serve as emergency management<br />

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Family bears its<br />

share of good cheer<br />

BY THOMAS GRILLO<br />

Don’t call her Mrs. Claus, but<br />

the title might fit.<br />

On Christmas Eve, Michelle<br />

Ayles and her two children will<br />

distribute hundreds of teddy<br />

bears to patients at Boston’s<br />

Children’s Hospital.<br />

“I wanted my kids to know<br />

Christmas is not about what<br />

you get under the tree,” she<br />

said. “It’s about what you give<br />

others.”<br />

The drive was launched five<br />

years ago after Ayles had a conversation<br />

when her neighbor’s<br />

nephew, Joey. The 6-year-old<br />

suffers from Morquio syndrome,<br />

a rare progressive disease<br />

that occurs in one of every<br />

200,000 births. Joey is one of<br />

two Massachusetts children<br />

with the ailment.<br />

“He loved to visit with my<br />

dog, and one year, around the<br />

holidays, I asked him what<br />

he had planned for Christmas<br />

Eve,” she recalled. “He said he<br />

has to go to Children’s Hospital<br />

for treatment, and that got<br />

me thinking. How many kids<br />

have to be in the hospital for<br />

Christmas and what can I do to<br />

help?”<br />

So the Teddy Bear Christmas<br />

was founded.<br />

Ayles and her family collected<br />

the stuffed treasures of<br />

all sizes, from a few inches to<br />

7 feet tall. The big ones are reserved<br />

for the hospital’s play<br />

rooms. That first year, they collected<br />

150 stuffed bears.<br />

“Everyone pitched in,” she<br />

said. “Friends and family<br />

spread the request by word of<br />

mouth and on Facebook,” she<br />

said. “My house was filled with<br />

teddies.”<br />

On that first Christmas Eve,<br />

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Michelle Ayles surrounded by some of the teddy bears she and her<br />

family will distribute to young hospital patients on Christmas Eve.<br />

Ayles, her 17-year-old daughter<br />

Megan, a senior at Peabody<br />

Veterans Memorial High<br />

School, her 13-year-old son<br />

Brady, a Higgins Middle School<br />

student, and Ayles’ mother<br />

brought them into Children’s<br />

Hospital.<br />

“It was life-changing for my<br />

kids,” Ayles said.<br />

That night in 2013, her<br />

mother met the Children’s CEO<br />

in the hospital’s lobby who told<br />

her they have 385 beds. That<br />

was enough to make the goal<br />

of 385 teddy bears in 2014, she<br />

said.<br />

“And we did it,” she said.<br />

“Last year, we distributed more<br />

than 1,000.”<br />

This year, as in previous<br />

years, the stuffed animals will<br />

be given to nurses who distribute<br />

them to children in their<br />

rooms. The Ayles family and<br />

friends will be greeters in the<br />

lobby.<br />

In addition, they plan to make<br />

a special donation to the ninth<br />

floor of Children’s Hospital in<br />

honor of Ella O’Donnell. The<br />

Peabody girl died last year from<br />

a brain tumor, one month before<br />

her <strong>11</strong>th birthday.<br />

Ayles refuses to take the<br />

credit for the program’s success.<br />

She said it’s a result of<br />

generous donations from families<br />

and businesses in Peabody,<br />

<strong>Lynnfield</strong> and all of the North<br />

Shore.<br />

The 47-year-old mother<br />

of two credits what she calls<br />

an army of people, including<br />

Northrup Associates, Coca<br />

Cola, the North Shore Dance<br />

Academy, ReMax on the River,<br />

the Peabody Public Schools,<br />

and more to make it a success.<br />

“Everyone rallies around<br />

this,” she said. “It’s the real<br />

spirit of Christmas.”<br />

If you want to contribute a<br />

stuffed animal, Teddy Bear Day<br />

will be held at the Northshore<br />

Mall on Sunday, Dec. 2 from <strong>11</strong><br />

a.m. to 7 p.m. There are drop<br />

off boxes at Peabody City Hall,<br />

Sidelines Sports Bar & Grill<br />

on Canal Street in Salem, and<br />

Salem Liquors on North Street<br />

in Salem.<br />

We want to hear<br />

from you!<br />

Send us a letter at<br />

editor@weeklynews.net.<br />

Letters should be no more<br />

than 300 words.<br />

BRUCE MCCORRY’S<br />

MARTIAL ARTS Est. 1978<br />

Route 1 South, Newbury Street, Peabody,<br />

MA 01960<br />

978-535-7878<br />

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www .brucemccorry.com

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