Louise Peacock is the Director of Warm Hearts of Stow, which provides holiday help and direct aid of food, clothing and other supplies as well as referrals to other social service agencies to Stow families in need.
 

Louise worked as the school nurse for the Town of Stow until she retired in 2007.  She told us that Warm Hearts of Stow began after Val’s Project was closed in 2007.  (Val’s Project was named after Val Ojlehlto who was Stow’s school nurse from 1950 to 1974.  She did things for people when she saw the need.  When Val died in 1985, Vivian Dean and Sylvia Estabrook took over the program and ran it until they retired in 2007.)

Currently, Warm Hearts of Stow has 136 individual clients (69 kids) and 52 families who all live in Stow.  Clients are referred to other organizations for services such as food pantries, the Lion’s Club for eye glasses, and the COA for fuel assistance.  Most of the clients live at Pilot Grove or Plantations Apartments.  Before they can receive assistance from Warm Hearts of Stow, clients need to show what assistance they are getting from the state and federal governments.  Many of the families are headed by single parents or by two parents who are both out of work.  Some of the clients have physical and/or mental disabilities.  The majority of clients grew up poor and don’t get out of poverty.  Now that the economy is beginning to improve, Louise thought that the number of clients would decrease.  Unfortunately, there was a 45% increase in clients last fall.

Only ten volunteers work for Warm Hearts of Stow.  They have projects celebrating holidays, like Valentine’s Day baskets for seniors, Easter baskets for kids, and Thanksgiving baskets for families.  In the summer they give kids a week at an out of town camp or to Stow Recreation Department’s camp.  In August, they buy school supplies and warm coats for kids.  For Christmas, they purchase gifts for kids based on the wish lists they completed in early November.

 

Guests: Jean Bott (Charter Member, Rotary Club of Stow), Gino Frattallone (Rotary Club of Acton Boxborough), John Peacock (Rotary Club of Waltham), and Louise Peacock (speaker).

 

Holiday Celebration: Nancy’s Airfield Café was decorated for Valentine’s Day and Nancy wore a red chef’s coat.  We also had festive plates for the occasion.  Did you know that Nancy can also bake?  She baked a pastry covered brie wheel for an appetizer and cookies for dessert.  They were delicious!

 

Club Announcements:

  • Reality Fair – Clinton Savings Bank has pledged $250 as a sponsor.  They will donate clipboards and other items for the event.  Family Federal Savings (Allison is the Branch Manager) will donate the presentation folders and pencils or pens.  Dana is building the wheel of fortune.  More volunteers are needed at the event on March 15 from 7 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.  Contact Carol to sign up!

  • Cruise Nights – Laura is the chair of the planning committee for this event.

  • Our next meeting is on February 21 at 7:15 a.m. at the Houghton Building in Bolton.  We will have a Club Assembly and a birthday party for our club.  (Our club was made an official Rotary Club on February 24, 2012.)  Contribute size 12 to 18 months clothing for a baby boy in Stow who is a client of Warm Hearts of Stow.

  • Opening Day Meals at COAs – Jim has talked to the COAs in Bolton, Lancaster, and Stow about this event and all are interested.

  • Mobile Dental Clinic – RichardS is in the Dominican Republic on vacation and doing work on the MDC project.  He wrote the grant application and is now working on the fundraising.

  • RYLA – our club will sponsor two high school sophomores at this year’s RYLA event.

  • Recycling Day in Lancaster – Natascha and Chuck are organizing this event.

  • Stow’s Kid Fest/Spring Fest – Bill and Barbara will work on this event.

Happy/Sad Fines: 

Happy Fines

  • Gino was happy to be at the meeting.
  • Chris was sad because Laura lost her Mom who had been ill for several months.
  • Dana was happy that Karin is his Valentine.
  • John was happy to be at the meeting with his wife, Louise.
  • Barbara was happy that we did not lose electricity in the Blizzard of 2013.
  • Ron was glad that his wife, Jean, was at the meeting.

 

Sad Fines

  • Dana was sad because he and Karin lost a friend to a stroke.

 

Non Club Announcements:

  • Volunteer Advocate Training for the Domestic Violence Services Network (DVSN) begins February 25.  Contact DVSN at (978) 318-3421 to sign up.

Future Meetings

First and third Thursdays:

7:15 AM to 8:30 AM

Houghton Building (across from the school)

697 Main Street, Bolton, MA 01740

(Route 117 West from I495, Exit 27)

Second and fourth Thursdays:

Nancy’s Airfield Café

302 Boxboro Road

Stow, MA 01775

5:45 PM to 6:45 PM

 

About Rotary:

Founded in Chicago in 1905 as the world's first volunteer service organization, Rotary now has 1.2 million members who provide humanitarian service and help build goodwill and promote world peace. About 33,000 Rotary clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas address today's challenges - including illiteracy, disease, hunger, poverty, lack of clean water, and environmental concerns - while encouraging high ethical standards in all vocations. For more information, go to www.rotary.org.

 

For more club information, contact Club President, Karin Gaffney, at karin.m.gaffney@rbscitizens.com or 978-387-5369.