Jewish women in sports
Olympic cyclist Nicole Freedman will appear next Sunday at the Jewish Community Center of the North Shore in Marblehead as part of the Jewish + Female = Athlete project.
Freedman, who is featured in a calendar that is part of the project, was a member of the 2000 US Olympic team, a 2000 US National Road Race champion, and a 2001 US National Criterium champion.
The evening will celebrate the project, which was introduced this summer by the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute. It includes a traveling exhibit, online resources, and a calendar that highlight the achievements of Jewish women athletes today, as well as those throughout sports history.
The exhibit was to go on display at the community center yesterday through Tuesday.
The goal is to raise awareness of the prominence of Jewish women in sports, dispel stereotypes, and inspire a new generation of athletes.
Shulamit Reinharz, founding director of the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, a research center at Brandeis University in Waltham, also will be on hand for a discussion beginning at 7 p.m., followed by a dessert buffet. A road bike, donated by Salem Cycle of Salem, will be raffled. Admission is free. Call 781-631-8330, ext. 150.
SONGS OF SANTA NIGHT: Each year, nonprofits and organizations around the country celebrate Santa Night by singing at shelters, homes for children and the elderly, and social-service organizations.
And now's the time to join in. Opportunity Works in Newburyport will gather tomorrow with the Newburyport High School Varsity Choir, community groups, and local officials for Santa Night festivities.
The singers will visit sites in Newburyport and Amesbury, including Country Manor Rehabilitation Center, DARE Family Services, Amesbury Village, Harborside, Anna Jaques Hospital Children's Psychiatric Unit and Sub-Acute Unit, and the Linkhouse Maris Women's Center.
Special guest singers will include mayors Mary Ann Clancy of Newburyport and David Hildt of Amesbury. Lisa Zaleski will direct the high school choir.
Opportunity Works serves more than 150 people in the Merrimack Valley with disabilities such as autism, cerebral palsy, and mental retardation. Anyone wishing to participate may call Claire Rivera at 978-462-6144, ext. 239.
GIVING BACK: Jeff Arcari of Gloucester recently visited India to check on the progress of a nonprofit school inspired by Landry & Arcari, the Oriental rug stores in Salem and Boston.
After obtaining some land, the company teamed with Barakat, a nonprofit agency in Cambridge, to raise money to build the school. The original idea was to serve children of the weavers employed by the company, but the school -- now in operation in the weaver's craft house -- was opened to any children in the area. It has a capacity of 500 students, kindergarten through Grade 8. Construction of the new school is scheduled for completion next summer.
Landry & Arcari has been producing rugs in India for about six years. The carpets are made with handspun wool and vegetable dyes. It is a cottage industry, with the rugs produced in the homes of the weavers.
Arcari, owner of the company, frequently travels to India, Pakistan, Tibet, and Nepal to visit with the families who design and make the rugs.
FAMILIES FIRST: This holiday season, Families First, a community health center in Portsmouth, N.H., is selling calendars and note cards as well as a special music CD to benefit the center.
Works by 13 local artists were chosen for the ''Artists of the Seacoast" 2006 calendar and note cards from 100 pieces submitted for exhibit last spring at the Children's Museum.
Featured artists are Nancy Morgan, Elizabeth Kreischer, Edith Pucci Couchman, Rosalind Fedeli, Ken Fellows, Joan Harlow, Judy Doughty, Dustan Knight Tarbell, Barbara D. Heinz, Cheri Dennett, Judith Custer, Teresa McCue, and Robert Hamilton.
The CD, ''Musica Animalia," includes compositions by ''The Da Vinci Code" author Dan Brown. It portrays 15 animals in music and poem.
Proceeds fund a range of healthcare and family-support services at Families First. Call 603-422-8208 or visit www.FamiliesFirstSeacoast.org.
SCHOLARSHIP WINNER: Mike Kalpin, a senior at Swampscott High School, has been named a Student of Integrity by the Better Business Bureau.
The award recognizes high school students who personify ethics through leadership, community service, personal integrity, and academics. Each participating high school selected a student, who was then required to write an essay on integrity.
Kalpin is one of three winners selected by the Better Business Bureau, which serves Eastern Massachusetts, Maine, and Vermont. Each receives a $2,500 college scholarship.
WHO, WHAT, WHERE: Sue Wollitz of Amesbury, who joined The Provident Bank in 1977 as a teller and most recently worked as assistant vice president focusing on technology and human resources, has been promoted to vice president of human resources. . . . New officers of the Jewish Family Service of the North Shore are Lauren Guley, president; Jayson Score, vice president; Steve Levine, treasurer; Robert Cashman, assistant treasurer; Pamela Shwachman, clerk; Mark Mulgay, government liaison; Stephanie Simon, immediate past president; and Barry Klickstein, agency counsel. . . . Daniel W. Bates of Ipswich, who worked for six years as a carpenter on Martha's Vineyard and has 10 years of experience as an architect, has been promoted to the position of associate with Olson Lewis Diolo & Doktor Architects & Planners Inc. in Manchester-by-the-Sea.
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