Jamaica Plain News (https://www.jamaicaplainnews.com/category/from-the-community/page/2)
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Jamaica Plain's Susan Krantz has been working with textiles since she was a teenager. At 9 years of age, her grandmother taught her to knit to distract her from being fidgety. Krantz then took sewing lessons while in high school from a woman who studied in Paris. Quilting was a spontaneous undertaking after purchasing a copy of Georgia Bonesteel’s first book Lap Quilting. Forty years later she is an avid quilter.
You still have time to see the an art show at the Arnold Arboretum featuring two Jamaica Plain painters. "Artists Redux" is an exhibit at the Arnold Arboretum’s Hunnewell Building Gallery in the Visitors Center through March 13 featuring work by JP painters Ginny Zanger and Lizi Brown. The Hunnewell Building is open every day 10 am to 4 pm
Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts spent Valentine's Day delivering 1,100 cases (that’s nearly 250,000 cookies) of their famous cookies to those who might not be able to spend the day with their loved ones. including the American Legion Post 76, with 50 cases of cookies. That included delivering 50 cases of cookies to the American Legion Post 76 in Jamaica Plain.
Community Servings, a nonprofit provider of medically tailored meals and nutrition services, and a leader in “food is medicine” research, advocacy and policy, has appointed Dianna MacPhee as its new executive chef. MacPhee has more than two decades of experience as an executive chef in a variety of culinary settings, including fine dining, boutique retail, country clubs, airport dining and educational food service. As someone living with psoriatic arthritis, she also personally identifies with the Jamaica Plain-based nonprofit's mission and understands the powerful connection between food and health. “While certain foods can inflame my condition, I am fortunate to have consistent access to fresh, healthy foods and a care team to help keep me on track,” said MacPhee. “Unfortunately, too many people in our community don’t have those resources to manage their illness – but Community Servings is working hard to change that.
The Emerald Necklace Conservancy is bringing back the lighting exhibition Lights in the Necklace, which will light up Necklace parks every evening from dusk to 9 pm through March 31. There are more than 9,500 trees in the Emerald Necklace Conservancy’s tree inventory across this 1,100-acre park system, which stretches from Franklin Park in Dorchester to Charlesgate in the Back Bay. This winter, the Conservancy is lighting the way to spring and celebrating the incredible work of the Olmsted Tree Society, the Conservancy’s tree care program which provides maintenance work of pruning, planting and inspecting trees throughout the park system’s canopy. Lights in the Necklace celebrates the power of urban parks to bring people together year-round. In partnership with Boston Parks and Recreation and Boston Public Works, the Emerald Necklace Conservancy hopes everyone can enjoy the emerald glow in several iconic Emerald Necklace parks as they light the way through winter into spring.
Postpartum depression does not discriminate when it comes to race, socio-economic status, education or ethnicity means that anyone can suffer from this illness. The Duxbury tragedy affects all of us even when you don’t know the family involved. However, access to mental health treatment is often not available particularly to poor families and people of color in marginalized communities. Studies show that twice as many White adults utilize mental health services (18.3%) compared to Black and Hispanic adults (8.9% and 8.7% respectively), according to a recent report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).This is a huge wake up call for Massachusetts to increase awareness and services around mental health to all people no matter the zip code. As the CEO and Founder of Ferreras Counseling and Wellness Center, a mental and behavioral health clinic serving the Latino and minority communities in Jamaica Plain, Lawrence and Lynn, Latino and Black individuals and their families are more at risk of suffering serious mental illness than white families because of the lack of financial resources or insurance, structural barriers and social stigma as stated in the report by SAMHSA.
Mass Center for the Book recently hosted winners of three years of Massachusetts Book Awards winners at the State House last week (January 18). On Jan. 18, Jamaica Plain residents Ethan and Vita Murrow, were honored for their 2021 Mass Book Award Honors in the Picture Book category for Zero Local: Next Stop: Kindness. The Massachusetts Book Awards recognize significant works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translated literature, and children’s/young adult literature written, illustrated, or translated by current Massachusetts residents.
The Fixit Clinic is coming back to the Jamaica Plain Library. The clinic will be on Dec. 10 from 10 am to 1 pm. Celebrating repair by conveying basic troubleshooting skills, Fixit Clinics are do-it-together hands-on STEM-oriented fix-n-learn community-based exploration and discovery workshops staffed by volunteer Fixit Coaches who generously share their time, tools and expertise to consult with you on the disassembly, troubleshooting, and repair of your item. So bring your broken, non-functioning things — electronics, appliances, computers, toys, sewing machines, bicycles, fabric items, etc.– for assessment, disassembly, and possible repair.
Kord Jablonski has been named the next leader of Boston Building Resources (BBR). BBR is a Roxbury-based consumer cooperative and nonprofit reuse center selling materials for home improvement and offering its more than 1,500 members knowledge and resources for maintaining, repairing, and improving one’s home. He is taking over for Matthew St. Onge, who will be retiring in the coming months. Most recently, Jablonski was Business Director for the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, where he provided leadership for overall museum operations, including all aspects of the visitor experience.
The sale of buildings commonly triggers an endless torrent of rent increases and housing instability, significantly now as we recover from the pandemic. But on Nov. 6th, a celebration was held after the Torrington Tenant Association’s finalized a 5-year agreement with capped rent for their home in Jamaica Plain. “I've been here for over 30 years and I'm grateful for my community,” said Wanda Turner, a Torrington Properties TA leader, “I was raised here I raised my kids here, and I’d like to stay here.¨
The Torrington Properties TA of Hyde Park Avenue in Jamaica Plain consists of two buildings with 52 units down the street from the public transit artery, the Forest Hills Orange Line train station, and public bus hub. Many tenants in The Torrington Properties TA are Black and Hispanic Latinos from the Caribbean and Central America and some have been there for decades.