RED CROSS HELPERS - Jacquelyn Ocanez, team supervisor for the American Red Cross, joins Peabody Veterans Memorial High School seniors Rachel Trahan and Alex Tsoukalas during a blood drive at Beverly Hospital. The two teenagers volunteered at the recent drive.
19-day walk to mark one-year anniversary of nuclear accident in Fukushima
RED CROSS HELPERS - Jacquelyn Ocanez, team supervisor for the American Red Cross, joins Peabody Veterans Memorial High School seniors Rachel Trahan and Alex Tsoukalas during a blood drive at Beverly Hospital. The two teenagers volunteered at the recent drive.
MARCH FOR PEACE: Remember Fukushima, A 19-day walk marking the one-year anniversary of the Japanese nuclear accident begins on the New Hampshire Seacoast March 3.
People can participate for an hour, a day, or the entire walk, which is scheduled to end March 21 in Vernon, Vt., at Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.
Two local public forums and potlucks are being held in conjunction with the walk: from 4 to 6 p.m. March 2 at the Seabrook Public Library; and 6 to 9 p.m. March 3 at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Newburyport.
Speakers and organization representatives include Tim Bullock and others of The Peace Pagoda, Bruce Skud and Kristine Malpica of No More Fukushimas, and John Schuchardt and Paul Brailsford of Veterans for Peace.
The walk begins with an interfaith sunrise service at Hampton (N.H.) State Park from 6 to 7:30 a.m. March 3, proceeds to the Seabrook Station nuclear power plant for a public vigil from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., then continues to Newburyport for a public potluck and forum from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Unitarian Church. All are welcome to join for all or part of the walk and public forums.
This is the 10th annual event as part of Walk for a New Spring, which was started five months after the World Trade Center attacks in 2001.
The goal of each walk is to inspire people to live in a more peaceful and sustainable way.
The Remember Fukushima walk passes through four New England states, all home to nuclear power plants. Three in this area, Seabrook, Plymouth, Mass., and Vernon, Vt., are up for relicensing.
The main organizer is the New England Peace Pagoda, of Leverett, Mass. Local cosponsors include House of Peace in Ipswich and Imagine Studios in Amesbury.
For a map of the walk’s planned route and further details, contact Tim Bullock at walk4newspring@gmail.com or 413-485-8469.
VIDEOS LIGHT A FIRE: Students from Masconomet Regional High School in Topsfield and Nashoba Valley Technical High School in Westford were winners in a statewide burn awareness video contest.
Sixty teams from 10 high schools submitted entries to the contest, which is sponsored by the state Department of Fire Services, Mass. Association of Safety and Fire Educators (MA SAFE), and the Mass. Property Insurance Underwriting Association.
“YouTube is a powerful tool for communication around the globe as we have seen in recent years, but there are many negative, false, and just plain scary messages about fire and burns on the Internet,’’ said state fire marshal Stephen D. Coan.
“Our goal is to allow teenagers to research the truth for themselves without being lectured to by adults and without getting hurt,’’ added Captain Rick Tustin, president of MA SAFE.
“Our goal was to partner with high school media teachers and use burn prevention as a vehicle to help them reach their own education goals while allowing the students to harness their creativity.’’
One team from Masconomet Regional High received third place for its video “Girls Night Out.’’ Another team from Masconomet and a team from Nashoba Tech each received honorable mentions.
WHO’S WHAT WHERE: Jim Cunha (inset) of Newburyport is the new chairman of the board of Children’s Friend and Family Services, which is celebrating its 175th anniversary. The organization annually serves more than 3,000 children and families throughout Essex County and the Merrimack Valley through its four offices in Lynn, Salem, Gloucester, and Lawrence. Cunha is a senior vice president of the treasury and financial services group at the Federal Reserve Bank. . . . Sandy Doneski of Waltham, an associate professor of music and director of graduate programs in music education at Gordon College in Wenham, is being honored as the 2012 recipient of the Distinguished Service Award by the Massachusetts Music Educators Association at its annual statewide conference in Boston next Thursday. Doneski started the Gordon College Children’s Choir 12 years ago. A graduate of Gordon, she earned a master’s degree and doctorate from the Hartt School at the University of Hartford. Her research interests include the development of children’s and adolescent’s singing skills, music classroom pedagogy, and curriculum development and assessment in music education.
Wendy Killeen can be reached at wdkilleen@gmail.com. 
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