Business Bulletin

Cedar’s Tsakirellis Tells Haverhill Chamber Members How Family’s Story Shaped Her Values

By |

Aimee Tsakirellis, this year’s Greater Haverhill Chamber Community Leadership award recipient, not only works in the food industry, she has a special place in her heart for feeding the hungry. Tsakirellis, executive vice president of marketing at Haverhill-based Cedar’s Mediterranean Foods, said her lessons learned came from her parents’ own food insecurity. Her father was raised on a small island in Greece in a household without electricity or running water. His parents worked as cotton and potato farmers to support him and his siblings. “He told me they had one chicken in their yard, and they would pray it would lay an egg they could share it for dinner,” she explained.

Community Spotlight

Greater Haverhill, Newburyport Organizations Receive Anna Jaques Hospital Grants

By |

Anna Jaques Hospital is awarding $100,000 in grants over the next two years to 10 community-based organizations serving the health needs of residents throughout the Greater Haverhill and Newburyport areas. Receiving grants of $5,000 each for the next two years are Common Ground Ministries food pantry and thrift store in Haverhill; Mitch’s Place, Emmaus’ overnight emergency shelter in Haverhill; McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Program at Haverhill Pubic Schools; Youth Empowerment Services of the Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center in Amesbury; Children and Teen Center for Help of the Link House in Amesbury; Northern Essex Elder Transport; VEGOUT program of Nourishing the North Shore in northern Essex County; Wednesday Meal Program of Our Neighbor’s Table in Amesbury; Behavioral Event and Substance Support Team of Pettengill House; and Sarah’s Place adult day health program in Haverhill. “We are proud to support these local organizations and the important work they do to reduce health disparities and inequities throughout our region,” said Anna Jaques Hospital President Glenn Focht. Grants are part of the hospital’s Community Benefits Program, which supports organizations in Amesbury, Haverhill, Merrimac, Newburyport and Salisbury. Grants are based on how each organization supports the four major health priorities identified during the hospital’s most recent Community Health Needs Assessment, completed in 2022, including equitable access to care, social determinants of health, mental health and substance use and chronic/complex conditions.

Community Spotlight

Greater Haverhill Indivisible Hosts ‘Inequality for All’ Documentary Screening July 11

By |

Greater Haverhill Indivisible is screening “Inequality for All,” a documentary about wealth disparity in the United States, this Thursday. The documentary is based on former Labor Secretary Robert Reich’s book “Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future.” It seeks to examine the widening income gap in the U.S. and Reich’s work to reverse it during his time with the Clinton Administration. Following the screening, there will be a 30-minute discussion about the film and its subject

The screening is open to the public. It will be held Thursday, July 11, at HC Media Studio 101, 2 Merrimack St. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and the film will run from 7 to 8:30 p.m. The discussion session will finish at 9 p.m.

Business Bulletin

Chefs and Farms Pair Up to Celebrate Summer’s Bounty at Tattersall Farm-to-Table July 25

By |

Local chefs and restaurants partner with regional farms Thursday, July 25, at Tattersall Farm-to-Table for a walk-around tasting event to support local businesses. Attendees can enjoy all-evening access to locally grown food, drinks and live music. Peak-season food such as summer vegetables, pork sausage and Greek lamb will be provided by the participating farms including Heron Pond Farm, Lillooet Farm, Late Bloom Farm and Old Wild Farm. Dishes will be prepared by the chef and restaurant collective headed by Chef Kristen Carbone and including Scott Sanderson of L’Arche Boston North Culinary Program, Paul Emmitt, La Pizza Di Forno and Mark’s Deli. Welcome cocktails will be provided by Craft Collective, and five tables of drink selections including wine, hard cider, craft beer, spirits and mead will be provided by Tozi Imports, Marzae Wines, Saltbox Cider, Anchor & Hope Wine, 1634 Meadery, Bird Dog Cider, Idle Hands Craft Ales, Great Marsh Brewing Company, Ipswich Ale Brewery and Banded Brewing Co.

Haverhill

Documentary ‘Strange Magick’ Films in Haverhill, Explores Mystery Between H.P. Lovecraft and Crowley

By |

(Additional photograph below.)

A documentary, “Strange Magick,” filmed partly in Haverhill and with a significant focus on the city in the 1920s, is destined for the film festival circuit and possibly a streaming television network. Filming last month in Haverhill and nearby locations, Haverhill native and WHAV writer Dave Goudsward helps investigate the connection between Howard Philips Lovecraft and infamous occultist Aleister Crowley, born Edward Alexander Crowley, in the documentary. In the early 20th century, H.P. Lovecraft, as he was popularly known, wrote amateur short stories and essays for the United Amateur Press Association, and Crowley was a well-known poet, novelist, ceremonial magician and, according to writer/researcher Richard B. Spence, suspected counterintelligence agent for the British government during World War I. The two did not have a direct connection, says Goudsward, an executive producer of the documentary. He explains the documentary explores a possible conspiracy between them produced by their mutual acquaintance with fellow amateur author Myrta Alice Little. “The whole key to this thing is Myrta Little—in terms of my end, which is the connection to Lovecraft and Tryout Smith.”

Goudsward notes Little, who was a very successful published author during her lifetime, was also connected to Crowley through her wider publishing circles.

Education

Local Freemasons Award $66k in Scholarships to Local Graduates

By |

Three local Freemason organizations awarded $66,000 in scholarships last Monday to 27 graduating students pursuing a college degree or technical certificate. Haverhill’s Saggahew Lodge Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Newburyport Commandery 3 and the Valley of the Merrimack Scottish Rite presented scholarships to students, all of whom are either children or grandchildren of Freemasons. Cera Bettencourt, who will be attending Merrimack College, received scholarships from all three organizations. She is also the first person to receive the James B Giannatsis Scholarship from family of Giannatsis for her essay on “What It Means to Me to Be an American.”

Receiving scholarships from both Saggahew Lodge and Newburyport Commandery 3 are Audrey and Olivia Sevigny, who will both attend Springfield College; Samantha Patterson, Fitchburg State University; Paige and Jacob Koterba, University of Vermont and University of Connecticut respectively; Chelsey Burns, Southern New Hampshire University; Nathaniel Potter, Florida Atlantic University; Aiden Dowd, University of New Hampshire; and Christopher Guarino, Northern Essex Community College. Emily Reid, UMass Amherst, and Conor and Jillian Wong, Western Governors University and UMass Medical School respectively, received scholarships from Saggahew Lodge and Valley of the Merrimack Scottish Rite.

Community Spotlight

Haverhill’s 411 Cares Collects ‘Tuna in July’ for Veterans During 2nd Annual Event

By |

411 Cares hosts its second annual “Tuna in July” fundraiser for military veterans and Haverhill families in need this month. Donors may give any size can of tuna or jar of mayonnaise at drop off locations around the city to support the Veterans Northeast Outreach Center and several food pantries around Haverhill. “In 2023, the Greater Haverhill community gave their overwhelming support with multiple cans of tuna dropped off at various locations throughout the entire month of July. We are hoping for an even greater response this July,” says 411 Cares Executive Director Dee Jacobs O’Neil. The tuna drive runs for the entire month of July.

Education

Haverhill School Super Gets Contract Renewal, Raising Salary to Nearly $270K After 4 Years

By |

Haverhill School Committee members unanimously approved Superintendent Margaret Marotta’s contract renewal at its meeting last Thursday, giving her increases rising from $237,490 to $269,552 in 2027. Committee negotiators said they altered the contract to more closely match teachers’ contracts, running four years instead of three. As of Monday’s start of the new budget year, the superintendent’s base salary is $223,000, plus $14,758 in an annuity and travel and telephone allowances and a 4% cost of living allowance of $8,920 for a total of $246,678. The stipends and allowances roll into her salary a year from now when Marotta’s base increases to $246,678 plus a 3% cost of living increase. The total compensation, with 3% cost of living increases, grows to $261,700 in the third year and $269,552 in the fourth.