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Town of Milford - COVID-19 Updates
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The Town of Milford will be providing updates on the COVID 19 pandemic on the Town website here. The Town has included video announcements (in English, Portuguese and Spanish) from the Chairman of the Board of Selectmen, Fire Chief, Police Chief, Director of Public Health and Town Administrator. The Town will also be updating the public every Monday at Selectmen meetings.
For the Town Clerk's April newsletter, click here. For FAQ's on early voting by mail for the Annual Town Election, click here.
FYI: Effective at 5 pm on March 13 and until further notice, the following public buildings in Milford will be closed to the public:
* Town Hall
* Milford Youth Center
* Memorial Hall
* Animal Control
* Library
In addition, the Senior Center will be closed effective immediately, and until further notice.
Employees in these buildings will be working normal hours. Please conduct your business with these government employees via phone or email; check for offices' contact information at Town of Milford, MA. Also check out up-to-date information at Milford TV (information also available in Spanish and Portuguese). As the Town receives updated information about prevention and protection measures, it will use the Town of Milford website and Reverse-911 for additional announcements.
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Emergency Food for Milford
and Surrounding Community
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Due to the the amazing work and commitment from the Hockomock YMCA, Milford Public Schools Food Service team and the Milford Area Humanitarian Coalition, there is breakfast and lunch being served, Monday through Friday as a "grab and go" style!
This is for the whole community, not just Milford students. This is being offered daily at Memorial Elementary School, located at 12 Walnut Street in Milford. Breakfast will be served from 8 AM to 10 AM and lunch served 11 AM to 1 PM. No sign up or paperwork is required! If you have any questions, please contact [email protected]
- For the flier, in English, Spanish and Portuguese, click here.
- For updates about emergency meals through the efforts to the Hockomock Area YMCA, click here.
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COVID-19: Letter from the Director
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Dear MYC families and community partners. I wanted to communicate with you all directly to let you all know how much we miss you all and are saddened that we cannot share our beautiful building and programs with you at this time. Due to the current COVID-19 health crisis and with guidance from the State, Town and Board of Health, we do know that it is the right thing to do for the safety and well-being of the community. Therefore, all Youth Center programs and/or events/rentals will be cancelled and/or postponed until further notice. The Center follows the same closing policies at the Milford Public Schools and/or Town Hall, therefore if the schools and/or Town Hall are closed there will be no programs held at the Youth Center. As a precaution, the Town did hire an outside vendor to sanitize a number of Town buildings, including the Youth Center. This process included spraying a sanitizing solution in each of the offices and public areas.
 Katie (Asst. Director), Kathleen (Program Coordinator) and I have had to formulate a new routine, just like the rest of the community, commonwealth and country. We miss seeing our morning walkers, outside tutoring sessions, the Micheal Lisnow Respite Center and MYC Kids Play Group in the morning. We miss seeing the kids' storm in the building at 2:15 pm, especially the first after school member who is always so excited to make it here first! We are also so sad we had to cut the annual MYC March Madness Tourney short, in which we had over 80 kids participating in. We miss seeing our volunteers and our part-time staff, many of whom are seniors and are missing out on a lot of their end of the year celebrations and/or sport teams. We miss our evening programs and rentals, from Adult Open Gym to batting cages with Milford Softball and Baseball to HOOP Crew AAU practices. We were also disappointed that we had to postpone our annual St. Pat's Fundraiser at CraftRoots but we are determined to celebrate with you all when this time passes and it is safe to do so!
Although, the facility is not open to the public, the full-time staff are still working hard (split shifts and practicing social distancing) to allow us to continue our normal responsibilities and remain productive and creative. We have started offering virtual programming to the community with the help of our amazing volunteers and staff, who are providing daily programs via our social media and/or other online platforms. We have
also been utilizing part-time
staff to assist with other
projects at their
homes, like translating our rental contract in Spanish and Portuguese and making an MYC Scrapbook, something we have always wanted to create with years of
newspaper clippings and
photos of the Center's rich history! We have been able
to continue projects at the Youth Center, with small
crews, like our
HVAC Town allocation for AC and dehumidification and a two-man crew from Consilgi Construction Co., Inc., who have almost completed our Dance Room floors, donating all the labor!
We have also been working hard organizing our entire 32,000 sq. ft. building and donating things
that can benefit the community during this difficult time. Due to the generosity of Amazon and Ariea Bryan we have also been able to
go
through thousands of dollars' worth of old and new donations, and distribute to those most in need at this time. We have been able to drop off 4 car loads of toiletry items, pet food and nonperishable
goods to Milford High School to then be distributed to the community, through the hard work of the volunteers and staff of the Hockomock Area YMCA, Milford Public Schools and the Milford Area Humanitarian Coalition. We have also been able to create care packages and deliver them to our volunteers.
In collaboration with the Milford Board of Health and Milford TV, we will also be making mask kits to the community, with materials donated by Joann Fabrics of Milford and Home Depot of Mansfield! We have also been able to donate cat food items to the Milford Humane Society. In addition, while organizing storage closets we came across two unopened boxes of medical
face masks! We immediately donated one box of 500 masks to our community partner, the Milford Regional Medical Center and another 500 masks to Brigham and Women's Hospital and their Dana Farber unit.
Finally, we have tried to play our small role in supporting local restaurants and businesses, especially those who have also helped us in times of need for donations for fundraisers and events, including Genes Variety, Pizza Palace, Oliva's, Pizza Chef, Red Heat Tavern, East Main Pizza and CraftRoots (off-hours)! We hope to continue this as much as we can!
Although we may not be able to welcome you all into our building and programs at this time, we are adapting to the current situation to live up to our mission and vision, virtually and remotely as much as we can: "The MYC works together with other community organizations to provide resources and opportunities for youth to make healthy decisions. The MYC works to provide local youth with the necessary
activities and events that help them develop
physically,
mentally, socially and emotionally through their childhood years. By providing Milford youth with these types of programs and a safe environment during the after-school hours and during our monthly events, we hope to address adolescent risk factors as well as promoting the partnership among community members to ensure a comprehensive vision and plan for the health of the youth in the town of Milford."
Together, as a community, we will get through this very precarious situation and I have hope and have confidence that we will be back stronger and more collaborative that ever! Thank you all and stay safe!
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MYC After School Programs Closed:
Daily Programs Shared Online!
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Although we may not be open to the public this month, it won't stop us from bringing you MYC programs! Thanks to the outreach of support from our volunteers, staff, Milford TV, and our other community members we will be hosting virtual programs on our Facebook page and on the Milford TV local access channel (Comcast (channel 8) or Verizon (channel 38) if you live in Milford)! That's right, for the first time you can participate in some of our short virtual tutorials, crafts, activity ideas and other programs right from home!
Programs/times may be subject to change based on volunteer availability. All programs will be posted directly to our Facebook page so you can watch them whenever you have time!
This month we will
continue
with Martial Arts training with Anthony Miele on Mondays at 10:00 a.m. STEAM with Kate Poitras on Tuesdays at 10:00
a.m. Wednesdays
we will be switching between Science Club and Creative Writing with Victoria Williams. We will also continue with Arts & Crafts with Joanna Abrantes on Thursdays at 10:00 a.m. and on Fridays we will be switching between Kid's Fit and Nutrition also at 10:00 a.m. with our Assistant Director Katie
Covell!
FYI: If we do return
to regular programming we do plan to continue our MYC
March
Madness Tourney (more information to follow)!
You can also still help the Milford Youth Center by creating virtual programs of skills, hobbies or activities that you would like to share with everyone! You might even be featured on Milford TV! If interested, please email our Program Coordinator at [email protected]
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MYC's 10th Annual
St. Pat's Fundraiser Postponed
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Unfortunately, our 10th Annual St. Pat's Fundraiser, which was scheduled for Friday, March 20, 2020 at CraftRoots Brewing has been postponed. Although this is the largest fundraiser of the year and we were so excited to celebrate with the everyone, we knew it was the right decision for the safety of the community.
All tickets that have already purchased will be able to be used when the new date is announced. We want to thank everyone who has donated already, purchased tickets and or contributed raffles towards our cause! We will be able to utilize them all at the event (date TBD), which we still plan to have at CraftRoots with The Pub Kings and to honor our awardees, Ray Auger and the Milford MA Rotary Club! We would especially like to thank those who have continued to donate and/or purchase tickets after the announcement that the event was postponed. If you would still like to contribute, please click here.
Thank you your understanding and we will make sure we announce the new date as soon as we can!
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Thank you Consigli Construction Co., Inc.!
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We are so happy to turn a negative into a positive during this difficult time. Consigli Construction Co., Inc., our 2018 Community Appreciation Awardee, sent a two-man crew to the Center to install flooring for our future dance and exercise room! Consilgi is donating all the labor to install the flooring for us! The Youth Center received a 2019 Greater Milford Community Health Network grant to support the finishing out of the 955 sq. ft of existing but undeveloped space in the basement but the budget did not allow us to finish the floors. Thank you, Consigli Construction, for giving back to your community and for always supporting the Youth Center. We cannot wait to share the space with the community and our youth when we are able to welcome you all back! We will share more pictures of the final product when it's done!
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Working Together to Create
Masks for the Community!
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We are partnering up with Milford TV and the Milford Board of Health to provide mask making kits to our community members! These mask kits will be available on Friday, April 10
th between 8-10 am and 11 am-1 pm at Memorial Elementary School, located at 12 Walnut St., Milford MA. The kits will be distributed with the free breakfast and lunch program, sponsored by the Hockomock Area YMCA, Milford Public Schools and the Milford Humanitarian Coalition. The first 40 families will also get a free 2020 Census drawstring backpack with information on why the Census is so important (in Spanish and Portuguese) to also help spread the word the importance of responding to get accurate numbers that reflect our community! We will also be distributing 100 mask kits to the Milford Senior Center to add to their daily food delivery!
These masks are intended solely for use within your house to reduce likelihood of spreading among your family members. We hope this
program will be successful in not only providing a safer environment for our families at home but creating a
community driven activity
for all to take
part in. We'd all love to see your projects in the making! If you have a video and/or photo that you want to share, please send them to our Program Coordinator Kathleen Irwin at
[email protected]
.
We want to thank Liz Harkins and Milford TV for their continued support and drive to help make this project a reality and the community as a whole, the best it can be! Another huge thank you to Joann Ann Fabrics of Milford and Home Depot of Mansfield for their donation of materials to make almost 1000 masks!
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MYC Thanks Community for Donations:
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The Youth Center would like to extend a very appreciative thank you to the following list who donated items and/or their time this month to the Center:
-
 Chrissy Ferreira for donating packages of snacks unopened for kids;
- Ariea Bryan & Amazon for donating various baby supplies, clothes, office supplies, shoes, pet food, packaged snacks and other various items;
- Mike Shain for donating a hands-free cell phone holder;
- Caiden Murray for donating platters of cookies, cupcakes and brownies for the kids;
- Maureen Brown for your generous monetary donation;
- Comaschi Family for their generous $150 donation towards our 10th Annual St. Pat's Fundraiser;
- Milford Special Ops. Police Unit who still came in to buy tickets for our postponed fundraiser event;
- The Committee to Elect Brian Murray for your generous monetary donation.
The Youth Center relies on donations to help sustain our programs! Please contact the Center if you would like to donate!
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 Although we would normally be opening up registrations for summer camp this month, we feel that it would be in the best interest of the community and the Youth Center to hold off until we feel it appropriate to collect registrations and deposits in person. We still hope to conduct our normal 6-week camp starting July 6 to August 14th for youth, ages 8-14, but we hope to share more information, after May 4th, in which the Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker has extended the non-essential employee order until. With that said, MYC staff is still working hard during this transition to plan fun in-town activities, while also booking trips including: Canobie Lake Park, Pinz, Water Wizz, Urban Air Trampoline & Adventure Park and more! Please check in next month and thank you for your patience and understanding!
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Volunteer Spotlight: Anthony Miele!
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 We are always looking for ways to thank our community and especially our volunteers. This month we would like to recognize the efforts of Anthony Miele!
Anthony is a newer volunteer as of the beginning of February but he has continued to be a vital part of our programming. Anthony was one of the first volunteers to take it upon themselves to create and send informative videos based on the Martial Arts program he has created for our After-School Program. This outreach of support has allowed us to continue providing programs on a virtual platform. Having volunteers who are so willing to collaborate in such uncertain times really highlights the ability, willingness and feeling of community that we all need during this time. Check out our Facebook page and Milford TV's local access channel to see all of Anthony's Martial Arts videos every Monday at 10 a.m.
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MYC Kid's Play Group
Postponed:
Activities will be Shared Online!
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Please stay tuned for further information for our MYC Kid's Play Group on Thursday's. We hope to continue this children's play group for parents and/or guardians to bring their kids to play, craft, and socialize, once town buildings are open to the public again.
We are excited to announce, that starting April 9th, we will be sharing age appropriate activities (0-5) for our Kid's Play group members and to the larger community as a whole to try at home! We will be sharing them on our Facebook page here!
Lookout via email, Facebook, or our website for information to come! Stay safe!
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MYC Morning Walking Thank you!
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The Milford Youth Center would like to thank all who participated in the last 5 months of our Morning Walking program! We really do love welcoming you into the building two days as week! We are sorry that it was cut short this March due to the unforeseen closing of town buildings, but we hope everyone is staying active, staying home, and staying safe! We had 43 people utilize the program this past winter!
Once town buildings are open to the public and if there are mornings with bad weather, you may call after 10 AM to see if there is availability to come and walk laps. Just please remember to call first at 508-473-1756! We will send out information as soon as it is readily available to us!
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Adult Open Gym
Postponed Until Further Notice
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Adult Open Gym will NOT continue on Wednesday nights until further notice. We are sorry that it was cut short this last month due to the unforeseen closing of town buildings, but will be in contact as soon as we know when we will be starting up again!
Keep a look out for an email or information posted on Facebook/website!
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Teachers Driving Academy (TDA) Update
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The Teacher's Driving Academy (TDA) would like to share the following update: The RMV has allowed for web-based classroom instruction TEMPORARILY during this time of the COVID-19 crisis. Many schools throughout the state may not be ready to support the web-based option at this time but here at TDA, we are ready to GO! We are offering the classroom instruction via web-cam for 5 weeks in a row. The only thing at this point that the RMV will not allow online is the FINAL EXAM. They are stating that this has to be done in person. We are CONFIDENT that this will change as this policy was just instituted a few days ago. The fee is only $119 and includes fee to RMV for your driver's education certificate. Click here to register for web-based virtual classroom. If you were already enrolled in for the standard classroom session, you can now switch to a virtual web-based format by clicking here.
Important Info:
- Virtual Web Based classes are Monday thru Friday, 10am-4pm
- On Tuesday of each week at 5pm, there will be a web-based parent class
- For all information visit the website here or email here.
The Milford Youth Center is pleased to partner with Teachers Driving Academy, who offers students a great program, at a reasonable price! We are very grateful for this partnership and the very appreciative of the estimated annual donation of over $25,000 each year!
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2020 Census: Easy, Safe and Important!
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 If you haven't already completed the 2020 Census, take 5 minutes to complete it NOW! The census invitations to respond online or by phone were sent out and people have received the first reminder by now.
School lunches. Plans for highways. Support for firefighters and families in need. Census results affect your community every day! Help get the word out to make sure that everyone is counted!
The results of the 2020 Census will help
determine how hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funding flow into communities every year for the next decade. That funding shapes many different aspects of every community, no matter the size, no matter the location.
We would like to share the good news that the self-response rate percentage for the town of Milford is at 39.8% and increasing everyday! You can check the percentage changes on a daily basis on this link here.
Just FYI: The 2020 Census invitations will not be delivered to a P.O.Box. The invitation is linked to physical residency address only. If you do have a P.O. Box, you should go online
here to fill out the census without the 12 digits census ID that is provided with the invitation. There is an option for "I don't have a census ID", in this case they need to type/ enter their residency address.
See fliers below with adjustments that have been made due to COVID-19. For more information on the Census, click
here.
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Milford Youth Center
Newsletter
April 2020
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| Join the Milford Youth Center on Facebook and Twitter |
 
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on Facebook and Twitter |
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| Check out one of our major sponsors |
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 Check out Newsletter Sponsor |
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