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Western Mass Homes Lesley Lambert

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      • Stoney Hill Condominiums, Westfield, MA
      • Ridgecrest Area of Westfield, MA 01085
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Feb 17 2011

Update on Westfield Family in Need

First off, thank you so much to everyone who has already helped Thomas Skrodzki and his family. As you may know, they lost their home and everything in it to a fire this past Saturday. I had written a post requesting specific clothing items and within days there were bags of donations arriving at Park Square Realty at 44 Elm Street, Westfield

I was with two other REALTORS in Westfield who are working to help Tom and his family and we all agreed that at this point a donation or a gift card might be the most useful for the family as it is becoming difficult to track what items have already been donated. If you are willing and able, perhaps a gift card to somewhere like Sears, Walmart or Target would be good as they can use it towards both clothing and household items. Additionally, if you know someone at a restaurant or store who could work out a company donation for food or vouchers, that would be terrific, too!

Tom had this on his Facebook page today:

Once again our continued thanks and appreciation go out to everyone’s generosity and kindness with the donations and help while we go through this adjustment period. Several have requested they wanted to donate financially so an account has …been setup with Citizens Bank at Stop & Shop in Westfield. Donations can be made to the “housing fund – Skrodzki’s”

I am very proud to be part of a community that rallies and bands together to help a neighbor in need.
We truly feel blessed by everyone’s support, these have made this time much easier on us and our children. We thank and give praise to God as well everyday that no one was hurt in the fire and as a family we are safe.

Written by Lesley Lambert · Categorized: Westfield · Tagged: card, clothing, donation, donations, family, help, items, Westfield

Feb 13 2011

Western MA Valentine History

Vintage valentine
Image by seaside rose garden via Flickr

I saw a tweet today from Terran Birrell today who was expressing pride in his girlfriend’s contribution to a display of vintage valentines at Mount Holyoke and was sharing a link to a Republican story about the display. His girlfriend, Lori, also has a post on the subject.

Upon reading the Republican’s story I discovered that valentines in America hit their heyday in the late 1800’s when a woman named Esther Howland received an English valentine that was very elaborate with lace and ribbon trimmings.  Esther, a native of Worcester and a graduate of Mount Holyoke College, then decided to embark upon making her own elaborate valentine cards.   This turned into a full scale operation with reported income in the $75,000 to $100,000 mark, which for that time was quite a lot of money!

I hadn’t realized that Western Massachusetts had such a place in the history of the Valentine greeting.  My research brought me to remembering back to the mid 1990’s when my grandmother passed away.  I took responsibility for cleaning out her room and in doing so, discovered a large box containing decades worth of fancy and expensive valentine cards.

Esther Howland Valentine, circa 1850:
Image via Wikipedia

My grandfather was very much the romantic and this box contained beautiful symbols of his romantic love for my grandmother dating back to the 1920’s.

I don’t know where those valentines are now, I imagine my mom must have them in storage somewhere, but they were definitely the type that Esther Howland would have been proud of.

Happy Valentine’s Day Western Massachusetts, I hope you have a fabulous day and that you too receive a romantic and elaborate valentine greeting from someone that loves you!

Vintage Valentine's Day Postcard
Image by riptheskull via Flickr
Enhanced by Zemanta

Written by Lesley Lambert · Categorized: Lesley's Life · Tagged: card, day, esther howland, greeting, mount holyoke, valentine, western ma

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