NORTHAMPTON — The trees in the Healing Garden at Cooley Dickinson Hospital will again glow this season honoring friends, family members and neighbors. Through a suggested donation of $15, community members can designate a light in memory or in honor of a loved one in the annual Trees of Love & Thanksgiving.
Now in its 26th year, the Trees of Love & Thanksgiving has raised funding to support initiatives most critical to the hospital. This year, fundraising will support the music program for the hospital’s inpatient behavioral health unit.
Through mindfulness, calmness and reclaiming a sense of self outside of an illness, music therapy lowers distress levels for people living with mental health issues and engages those who might otherwise isolate themselves.
In addition to supporting the music therapy program, a portion of each donation will be used to purchase infant car beds which provide safe transportation for underweight newborns from the hospital to home.
The names of the honorees will be displayed in the hospital; in addition, an acknowledgement card will be mailed to those who are honored or to family members of people who are memorialized.
A lighting ceremony will be held Wednesday, Nov. 20, at 4:30 p.m. in the Healing Garden. A light reception will follow.
To donate to the Trees of Love & Thanksgiving, visit their donation page.
HOLYOKE — LightHouse Holyoke, an accredited middle and high school for self-directed learning, will hold a community open house at its newly-acquired campus, the former Gateway City Arts complex at 92 Race St. The event, scheduled for Thursday from 5-8 p.m., will showcase the transformed 40,000-square-foot facility and feature a free concert by Grammy-nominated Afro-Rican Jazz artist, William Cepeda.
The historic three-building complex, which LightHouse purchased in July, has already undergone extensive renovations, with more in the works. The campus features two performance venues – the intimate De la Luz Divine theater and the 500-person capacity De la Luz Soundstage – along with a commercial kitchen, café, and an 8,000-square-foot maker-space-to-be.
Through the new De la Luz Technical Arts Institute, LightHouse is now offering vocational tracks in sound and lighting engineering and live event production, unprecedented at the high school level. A culinary arts track will launch in January in conjunction with the reopening of the on-site café, while carpentry and metalworking programs are currently in development.
The open house will include guided tours, demonstrations and presentations about LightHouse’s educational programs, and The Carolyn Dufraine Trio will showcase in De la Luz Divine. The café will be open featuring local chef, Neftalí Duran. The evening culminates with a free concert at 7 p.m. featuring William Cepeda, a cultural icon of Puerto Rico known for pioneering Afro-Rican Jazz in the larger De la Luz Soundstage.
While admission is complimentary, donations are welcome to support LightHouse’s ongoing renovation and development efforts. To date, the organization has raised $1.6 million of its $3 million goal for facility improvements.
For more information about LightHouse Holyoke or the Open House event,visit lighthouseholyoke.org.
HOLYOKE — The St. Patrick’s Committee of Holyoke has announced that the 61st recipient of the O’Connell Award is Jeff Walsh. The George E. O’Connell Award is given to a member of the Parade Committee who has made significant contributions to the fundraising efforts of the parade.
Since joining the St. Patrick’s Committee, Walsh has been instrumental in raising needed funds for the parade, whether as co-chair of the Mike Ahearn Golf Tournament or other fundraising events.
Walsh’s passion for music is what compelled him to create and bring before the membership in 2019 a new event, known as “Marshal Mania.” This concert event traditionally held the first weekend in March has become an annual kick-off for Holyoke to begin celebrating Homecoming Weekend and is one of the Committee’s key fundraising events for the Holyoke St. Patrick’s Parade.
Walsh’s involvement with the Committee goes back to 2017 when his daughter, Margaret Walsh, was named the Grand Colleen.
Walsh lives in Holyoke with his wife Dianne and he is father to Amanda, Margaret, and Ryan, and is a grandfather to Camden and Reilly. He is a graduate of South Hadley High School and Westfield State University.
He will be honored at the Coronation Ball and Awards Dinner in February.